Open letter to PAL

Dear Sir,

As a premium elite member of Philippine Airlines and a former loyal client I feel it is time that I made a formal complaint about the deterioration of Philippine Airlines over the past few years.

It seems obvious that with both yourself and Lucio Tan sitting on a combined 124 boards between you, neither of you would have any time to know the workings of your own company, so it will take the customers to bring it to your attention.

I started flying with PAL back in 2008 and always found your airline to have courteous staff who worked under difficult conditions at times to deliver top class service. In the early days I had some disappointing experiences dealing with your Manila based PAL office when it came to ticketing issues but I was able to avoid most of the dramas by dealing with the PAL Melbourne office.

The staff there in Melbourne, in particular my contacts Nenette and Darren, displayed common sense and great pride in their work and were always willing to help.

It is with great sadness when I heard the Melbourne office was closed as I knew then I was going to have to return to dealing with the 'robots' you employ and train at the Manila office, who keep you on hold for up to 45 minutes at times, and just keep repeating the same 4 or 5 stupid answers over and over again.

Well it has all come to a head with me now after a string of frustrating experiences with my last few bookings. It all started when I was recently told I could not upgrade my last flight because apparently "I didn't book the right code of flight," despite the fact that it is impossible to know what code of flight you are booking when on your website.

If you are going to have policies such as this then I suggest you have a warning that comes up to alert the customer, which says something like WARNING - THIS FLIGHT IS NOT UPGRADABLE.

To be even more insulting, when I complained about it I was told I should ring the Manila office to book all my flights in future, to ensure the flight I get is upgradable. Imagine that - being told I have to make an international call from Australia to book my flights, because apparently its my fault I booked the wrong flight.

The way your Manila ticketing office operates, the phone call would end up costing me more than the flight.

This is NO WAY to treat your best customers. As a premium Elite member, who flies between 40,000 and 50,000 miles a year with your airline, I am insulted by the treatment I have received.

Next Tuesday the 21st of October I fly back to Melbourne with your airline and during the horrific experience I just had trying to upgrade this ticket with some of the 130,000 + points I have, I stated that if my ticket wasn't upgraded I would never fly PAL again, and interestingly I never received a reply to that email. This just shows that no-one at Philippine Airlines really even cares whether their customers fly or not.

So true to my word this will be last ever-international flight with PAL. I am returning my Premium Elite member card (enclosed) as I consider this to be a completely useless piece of rubbish.

I only hope that you take a minute or two from your 82 board meetings and take some genuine interest in your airline policies. It's too late for me but hopefully I can elicit some positive change for customers who come after me.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Linford

Suite 403

585 Little Collins Street

Melbourne    Vic   3000

Australia

Premium Elite Member 205 469 751