keepitfirstclass

Hi there, I am currently stuck in the UK trying to get back to Manila. I had a flight booked with Philippine Airlines for Jan 12th (booked in Nov) that was cancelled just before Christmas. My visa to stay in the UK will expire on Jan 15th (already kindly extended by Immigration by a month) and am in contact with Immigration to extend it further. The next PAL flights scheduled to dep LHR-MNL are weekly from March 4th. Called PAL as soon as it was cancelled. They said no flights were available until the end of June (that was as far as they checked) with my fare class and when I pointed out fare class should be irrelevant they asked me to call back after 24 hours. Called back.... they said I am waitlisted/standby for March 4th but couldn't confirm the flight. It turns out that I booked ECONOMY VALUE but when I check online the only tickets they are selling for March 4th onward are Economy Flex (982 GBP one way vs the 748 GBP I paid).

Surely this cannot be legal? They have cancelled my flight and won't put me on the next available one? I am also not sure how I explain this to immigration who have so far been very understanding of my overstay. When I argue this point with PAL I get fobbed off with 'we understand... I will talk to my manager and call you back..." and never do.

I am going to tweet PAL but please let me know if anyone has had this same experience?

ahopkins767

Wow, that sounds like some rotten luck. Unfortunately, the Philippines has a daily cap on arrivals which limits what can come in, and as far as I understand they have further limited arrivals from certain countries with incidences of COVID-19 variants - the UK being one. Your cancelled flight on the 12th would have been covered by a flight ban for UK-MNL flights - see link. I don't know if the ban has been extended (probable in my opinion), but I would reckon PAL have decided it isn't worth trying to run flights with rolling (and not much notice) bans being imposed.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/phil...eks-1.76134921

As for alternative flights - you wouldn't have much choice because of the daily caps on arrivals (which is prioritized on you being Filipino and then long term visa holder if not) and possibly the ban of UK-Philippine flights (even indirect). I don't think PAL have an alternative to offer. I would recommend filing for refund and looking for another carrier when opportunity arises, resorting to chargeback if they don't co-operate.

Your best solution with UK immigration is to explain the situation your in - that you had a ticket booked and the airline cancelled it and there is no availability until March. They will tell you what they can do for you and then you will need to act on that.

I hope things work out for you!

keepitfirstclass

Thank you ahopkins767 for your reply. Yes, crazy times abound and I do understand and appreciate all the restrictions with getting to the Philippines from the UK. Actually, Immigration here has been very understanding, but my problem is that even though PAL theoretically has a flight scheduled for March 4th (which I could go online now and book) they will not confirm me on that flight after canceling the Jan 12th one. They will only put me on standby for the 4th of March. They explained that it is because the flight I booked was Economy Value and they are only selling Economy Flex. That just seems wrong and frankly maybe even illegal? Being on standby makes it a difficult case to bring to immigration.

jeffrocowboy

it's pretty shoddy treatment from PAL - but really what do you expect - they are inconsistent and uncommunicative and never give a straight foorward reply

if it was that importatnt to -get to PHL, and it was possible to pay the extra pounds to change fare class and to secure a seat I would be doing that. I would jsut be resigned to getting screwed, but hopefully would get to MNL.

keepitfirstclass

Thanks jeffrocowboy - funnily enough they didn't even mention or advise I could do that i.e. to cancel and rebook. Really is pretty useless when you call them although they are very polite... just a bit useless! I may end up doing that so thank you for the advice :-)

MSPeconomist

If you cancel and rebook, it could take a long time to get a refund, and you might need to do a chargeback if a credit card was used. It would be better if the airline (I assume you purchased the ticket directly and didn't use an OLTA or even a human travel agent) would permit you to just pay the fare difference rather than having you buy a new ticket.

brunos

I feel for you, The current situation for people trying to return to the Philippines is very bad, especially from the UK.

PR is only planning one flight per week in March, assuming that they do fly then. It is unlikely that the arrival cap will be removed by the end of February given the surge in new variants.
The first PR flight on 4 March will probably accommodate many pax with cancelled flights caused by the arrival caps and UK ban. Many trying to return well before 12 January are already stranded and trying to get a flight back in March. You are not the only one to have visa problems, and PR has no real options to offer you until the situation improves. How they will allocate seats then has to follow some rules. With the Australian arrival caps, airlines have been giving priority to high fares, so it is not specific to PR and not illegal.
There might be more clarity in a month time.

ahopkins767

Can you not get PAL to confirm you are on standby with a valid ticket in lieu of a confirmed reservation?