My Worst Airline Award For 2011
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Image courtesy Martyn Willes
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My worst airline award for 2011 award goes to AirPhil Express. It receives this award for the worst possible customer service ever encountered from any airline in 26 years of international flying. AirPhil Express does not care about its reputation enough to apologize for its shortcomings and it apparently has an anti-customer support policy that amounts to premeditated theft.
In October 2011 I booked a flight for a client with AirPhil Express; the booking was made over the Internet, through the AirPhil Express booking website, and paid for using my Mastercard credit card, issued by the BDO Unibank, and confirmed by that bank to be a valid payment instrument for purchasing airline tickets. As apparent confirmation of the credit card’s validity, I received a receipt from the AirPhil Express flight booking website, confirming payment and instructing me as to my obligations at check–in, having used a credit card for payment.
Five days later, I escorted said client to the AirPhil Express check–in counter, at NAIA Terminal 3, so that I could fulfill my obligations (present a valid ID and my credit card used for the booking) as prescribed by the instructions on the receipt I had obtained during the booking process.
At check–in all went well until I presented the credit card used during the booking process. The AirPhil Express counter staff advised me that the credit card was not valid for booking flights through the AirPhil Express flight booking website and I would have to purchase another ticket if I wanted my client to fly that day. My protests, that the airline had already received my money and therefore a contract existed between us that it should fulfill, fell on deaf ears. I was further advised that nevertheless a full refund would be provided within 45 days!
With some difficulty I managed to extract sufficient money from an ATM at the airport with which to pay for a replacement ticket. I asked for the telephone number and email address of the customer support office.
The next day I telephoned the customer support office but the telephone just kept ringing. It was not actually answered during a period of ten days of trying. Bored with telephone calls that do not get answered I instead emailed my complaint about the treatment my client and I had received to the email address previously provided (onlinesupport@), and waited. No reply.
I sent a second email, with my complaint about the rejection of the booking at check–in, and received a short email reply, advising me that that was the wrong email address and that in fact there was another email address for customer support (customercare@). I wrote to the newly provided email address, copy to the first email address. I received no reply.
A few days later I wrote a second email to the newly provided email address and received a curt reply saying that I was in the wrong and that I should have known that that particular credit card was not valid for purchasing tickets with AirPhil Express.
A telephone call to the telephone number previously provided just kept ringing so I called AirPhil Express reservations hotline and was informed that they would handle my complaint instead. However, after a couple more telephone calls I was informed by a supervisor that the answer given in the email still stood, i.e. despite the fact that its computer had accepted the booking and taken my money the transaction was not valid and I should have known this even though they agreed that there was absolutely no way for me to know this from the information available on the AirPhil Express website.
I persisted and was given another AirPhil Express customer support telephone number where I had the opportunity of speaking to the author of the original complaint-rejection email – Ms. Liberty Esteban, “Customer Care Specialist”.
After some direct questioning Ms. Esteban confirmed the following to me during the recorded telephone conversation:
- AirPhil Express do not publish a list of credit cards that are not acceptable for purchasing tickets over the Internet
- There was actually no way for me (or anyone else) to know that a particular credit card was not acceptable to AirPhil Express unless I (or anyone else) had had the foresight to call the customer support telephone number that never gets answered
- AirPhil Express do not consider that its action in rejecting an Internet booking at check-in is a breach of contract, even though they have already taken the money and issued a receipt for the booking, nor does it accept any responsibility for any inconvenience or additional expense its rejection may cause a passenger
- The 45 day refund policy is not automatic, as previously advised by the check–in counter staff, and is only honored if a customer actually complains, otherwise it is AirPhil Express company policy to actually keep the money forever (I think that is actually classed as premeditated theft)
- AirPhil Express do not care enough that I am a travel writer to make an official apology
Any company can make a mistake; how a company handles a mistake is what separates it from its peers. How AirPhil Express handled this mistake was, in my opinion, contemptible and demonstrated a complete lack of consideration for its erstwhile client.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author – Martyn Willes – based upon his own experience and do not necessarily reflect the experience of all people using AirPhil Express. If you have other experiences you would like to share then email them to The Editor