And on goes the saga of Zest Air over in the Philippines. Service seems to be NOT WRITTEN on their flag!
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Horrible airline
Tourism, according to Senator Dick Gordon, has one of the bright prospects for the Philippines in the face of what appears as bleak prospects for 2009 because of the continuing international financial crisis.
However, there are many issues that the Tourism Department and other regulatory agencies would have to address for tourism, especially domestic tourism, to achieve its full potentials.
Take for example the experience of Marge S. Polintan when she and 16 other passengers took a Zest Air a.k.a. Asian Spirit flight from Boracay last Nov. 24.
The series of letters that Marge and her fellow passenger Josefina S. Cristobal has sent to Zest Air/Asian Spirit as well as to their friends is one of the hot items on the Internet next to blogs on the “Alabang Boys” and the “Valley Golf brawl.”
Their account of the poor service and unsanitary condition of the Zest Air/Asian Spirit plane is very discouraging for those who want fly the smaller airlines which, unfortunately, are the only ones serving many of the country’s airports.
Marge’s letter to Customer Relations of Zest Air said:
“We are a party of 17 [15 adults and two minors] who all took the Manila-Caticlan on Nov. 22 and returned to Manila on Nov. 24 via Kalibo-Manila when our return flight was diverted from Caticlan to Kalibo.
“We checked in, all 17 of us, at Caticlan about 4:10 p.m. only to be told that we had to motor to Kalibo as our flight was diverted. When we asked why, we were given the most stupid reasons that only a moron can accept. Your Mr. Rodel Urguelles informed us that the plane could not take off as sunset was at 5:20. (1) Our flight was supposed to leave at 5 p.m. so clearly we would have been up in the sky when sunset was supposedly setting in. (2) Another stupid reason given to us was that the Caticlan airport had no runway lights making it impossible for us to take off!!! Why in heaven’s sake do you schedule later afternoon flights knowing that the Caticlan airport is not fitted with lights [I seriously doubt if this is true]. (3) We also asked why we were not contacted to let us know that they were moving our flight earlier. They were able to contact us before we left Manila that our departure was moved to an earlier time. (4) We informed your Mr. Urguelles that we had a pregnant lady in our party and were concerned about the long trip from Caticlan to Kalibo. We were asking for a guarantee that should she suffer a miscarriage, the airline will be made answerable for it. Of course he could not give any guarantee. Having no choice we took the risk and motored to Kalibo for a good one hour. Upon reaching Kalibo, we found out that two other Zest Air flights were likewise diverted. We were made to wait some more as the planes coming from Manila were delayed. I surmised that this was the main reason why our flight were moved from Caticlan to Kalibo.
“We were finally herded to an airplane for our flight to Manila. With grumbling stomachs and exhausted from the trip from Caticlan, we had to make our way inside the airplane in total darkness. When we asked the flight attendant why there were no cabin lights, we got another STUPID response and were informed that they were conserving energy and therefore we have to grope for our seats in darkness without any airconditioning. Madilim na, mainit pa!!!!!! What would have been a one-hour flight seemed like an eternity as it took us about an hour and a half to reach Manila in darkness.
“Having undergone through all these nerve-wracking experience, what was more irritating apart from the stupidity of your staff is the fact that they did not even offer any apology for the inconvenience we were experiencing. I think that you should go back to school and take course on basics of good manners, effective management and people skills. Your staff is sorely lacking in all of these!”
Another passenger on that flight, Josefina S. Cristobal, also wrote Zest Air Customer Relations and she has an even more horrible story to tell:
“Customer Relations,
“Your airline just sucks! I am 54 years old and had the most horrible flight in my entire life in your airline! I am well traveled and never in my trips have encountered such rudeness and heard such unreasonable answers. I have told your ground staff that I am not fit to travel long trips since I have a bad back having diagnosed with slip disc and severe scoliosis, but for whatever reason, we had to take a long trip by bus to Kalibo, Aklan when what we agreed upon when we bought tickets was for your airline to shuttle us to Manila-Caticlan, Caticlan-Manila. You did not even have the decency to inform us that it is impossible to fly to Caticlan when sunset sets in. We felt so cheated and no amount of reasoning or explanation can justify this very bad act. We paid you up to the last centavo you charged us and we expected good service. But what we all got from this very tiring trip was a mere Jollibee spaghetti and bottled water. We were 17 in all and got only 16 packs.
“The other thing was that when we were already inside the pitch black plane, [we had to crawl to our seats since the pilots won’t turn on the lights to conserve energy] they did not even have flashlights. We were all so dead tired from the long trip and was already getting sleepy when one of our foreigner companions shouted at the top of her voice since small cockroaches started crawling on us. Oh, it was plenty. How unsanitary could you guys get? It just clearly shows that you don’t clean your airplanes. It had this awful smell once you board the plane so no wonder there were cockroaches. Almost all of us had to grab the newspapers tucked on the seats to kill the cockroaches as much as we could. No amount of apology could justify all this harrowing experience. Rest assured that this will be the first and last flight with your airline and we will tell our friends and family about this experience with Zest Air, the lousiest airline company ever.”
One would think that after receiving these nasty letters, the management of Zest Air/Air Spirit would go out of its way to apologize and placate their angry passengers. All Marge Polintan, Josefina Cristobal and company got was a short letter from Zest Air Customer Relations which read:
“Mam (sic)
“I apologize for the inconvenience and have noted your concerns and complaints, the old planes will be grounded and 5 new planes will be in placed (sic).”
After reading the letters there are some things that the disgruntled Zest Air passengers should understand:
1. Zest Air did not want to put on the lights so you would not see the cockroaches;
2. You should be thankful that the airline was thoughtful enough to provide newspapers in case that you see the small crawling cockroaches despite the darkness;
3. Why do you expect intelligent answers from what you describe as very stupid people.
Levity aside, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano should look at the operations of Zest Air/Air Spirit and see what corrective measures his department can make to correct the airlines’ abominable service.
Durano has been trying to promote Philippine tourism but stories like those from the passengers of the Nov. 24 Zest Air flight negates all his efforts. He should remember the communications principle that the fastest way to kill a bad product is to promote it.