THE country’s two biggest carriers on Saturday took further steps to safeguard against infection by the novel coronavirus (2019 n-CoV).
Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) announced it has cancelled all its flights between the Philippines and mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzen) from February 2 to March 29, 2020.
Flights between the Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau, on the other hand, have been reduced.
CEB said it took the drastic steps “in light of developments related to coronavirus.”
Starting February 1, Philippine Airlines (PAL) said it is cutting back flights to mainland China by about 50 percent.
The carrier said “there is a need to maintain a number of our flights on the various Manila-China routes, so that we can serve the urgent travel needs of our passengers, including many Chinese nationals returning to the mainland following their Lunar New Year holidays, and Filipinos who are returning home from their stays in China.”
PAL also announced scores of flights that were cancelled to Hong Kong, Jinjiang, Xiamen, Shanghai and Beijing.
These drastic moves were made following the Chinese lockdown on 16 cities, affecting an estimated 50 million people.
Options for passengers
CEB said passengers affected by flight cancellations have been notified through the contact details provided upon booking.
“They may also check the status of their flights through the Manage Booking portal in the Cebu Pacific website, https://book.cebupacificair.com/Manage/Retrieve/.”
The following options are made available for passengers on cancelled CEB flights:
-Rebook the flight (new flight date within 30 days of original travel date,
-Refund the tickets in full,
-Store the value of the ticket in a Travel Fund for future use.
In a statement, CEB said: “We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank our passengers for their understanding. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.”
PAL advisory
The legacy carrier PAL said for certain flights, passengers “have protection” where they would receive email notification regarding their accommodation, “but they have the option to rebook on other flights until June 5, 2020.”
According to PAL, all other Manila-China and China-Manila flights are still operational. The carrier expects it would have to further reduce its China flights in the coming weeks, “based on our daily assessment of the situation and subject to guidelines and instructions from the Health, Quarantine, and concerned government authorities.”
PAL advised passengers to check their advisories in the coming weeks for any further changes.
“Rebooking and Rerouting are allowed for travel until 30 June 2020 with penalties waived (note: fare difference and applicable taxes shall apply), while refunding the cost of tickets is allowed with penalties waived
“Rebooking, rerouting and refunds should be made from the travel agencies where the tickets were bought,” PAL said
For online tickets, passengers are advised to contact PAL hotline (+632) 8855-8888 for rebooking, rerouting and refund.