Happy New Year! How did your 2023 start?
Mine started with being a part of Philippine aviation history, when my family’s Manila to Bacolod flight was cancelled by the now infamous “glitch” that somehow managed to shut down the country’s air space for practically an entire day.
In hindsight I should’ve paid more attention to the news report of airport troubles my brother showed me, right before we left for NAIA terminal 2, just after lunch of New Year’s Day. But because we didn’t get any notifications from our usually trustworthy airline, we still decided to go ahead.
When we got to the terminal, the traffic was unusually light, which didn’t really worry us as it is normal when traveling on New Year’s Day. Our in-laws dropped us off, and after the usual selfies and goodbyes, we started walking into the building. On the way in, a lady told us flights were cancelled. And when we tried to get inside the terminal, the guards told us not to bother going in.
Fortunately, my in-laws were still parked so we were able to call them to stick around while we tried to see what could be done. My wife, a seasoned traveler who earns enough airline miles annually to be afforded priority boarding and extra baggage allowance, was already power walking towards the ticketing office, while the kids and I followed, along with our luggage.
All flights were indeed cancelled, by some weird-ass pathetic glitch that could only happen to a banana republic riddled by corruption and run by incompetents. Our airspace had apparently turned into a black hole where no aircraft can cross. Only in the Philippines!
We were a bit early, so the ticketing office hadn’t descended into chaos yet. This was going to happen in less than 30 minutes, but I guess the gods of air travel had decided to bless our little party that day. The wife got a number but wasn’t allowed into the ticketing office yet, as they were limiting the number of people inside. We are about 40 numbers away from the current one being served but we could sense the dread and chaos setting in.
This was when my alert wife saved the day with her idea to rush over to the Terminal 1 (international) ticketing office to get our rebooking. Our party split up, with me staying at T2 with the number, our kids waiting outside with the luggage, and my wife getting into the car with her parents to give rebooking at T1 a shot.
As I waited for my turn to face a ticketing agent at the T2 office, the line to get inside wasn’t moving and was starting to grow by the minute, as more people started arriving, get the ridiculous news and start to panic.
After a few minutes of nothing happening on my end, the wife called to tell me she was already sitting in front of a ticketing agent and processing our rebooking. I held on to our number for a little while longer, just to make sure we were truly getting rebooked, before giving it back to the guard, who at this point was no longer giving out numbers to small crowd that had gathered as he stood in front of the door to the ticketing office. As far as I can tell, something was wrong on that end and the numbers had not moved at all. By this time, the line to get into the ticketing office was almost reaching the drop-off driveway.
Because we were able to think on our feet and act quickly, we were able to rebook our cancelled flight to the next available one, which was the following morning. Based on the reports coming from the tens of thousands of stranded travelers, not everyone was as fortunate as us and could only be booked on much later flights.
We didn’t really feel it then because we were able to quickly rebook our flight, we didn’t need a hotel, and we still had a car to take us to plan B, but what happened to the country’s airports and terminals on January 1 was a disaster of colossal proportions for tens of thousands of affected travelers, domestic and international, who didn’t have as many options available.
Never having been made to face the mind-blowing incompetence of a government agency that is supposed to ensure that everything runs properly, come hell or high water, the airlines treated the glitch as force majeure or an act of God. God of what, we don’t know. After the flights were cancelled, all they did was waive rebooking and refunding charges. It was up to the poor passengers to sort out their cancelled bookings, find food, accommodations and transportation.
There were so many things both the airlines and government could’ve and should’ve done better that day, but as usual, it was up to the resilient and ma-diskarte Filipino to fend for themselves. And for the most part, those of us who were affected found a way to cope. What is sad is that we shouldn’t have to be subjected through such trials and tribulations, especially by our own government that should give a bigger damn.
That is my unfortunate New Year lesson. Until we gather the collective resolve to demand better from the people in charge, we are on our own and that means we should be ready for whatever failures, breaches and glitches that comes with having incompetent people in charge.
Happy New Year everybody. Stay ready, stay alert. Mabuhay ang Pilipino.*
