Dear Cebu Pacific,
I could not believe how ignorant and racist your staff were on your December 23, 2009 flight for them to disallow a special child along with her mother to board your airplane bound for Manila from HongKong because they mistook the child with autism as someone who is mentally ill. I think you should suspend those staff and put them back to school or better yet let me talk to them and teach them about autism. Or better, get all your staff attend a two-day Introduction to Autism seminar by CARD so they can understand better and not make the same mistake again regarding children with special needs.
Your apology is not accepted. With the way you handled the situation delaying the flight for an hour and embarrassing the parent. That act alone is a violation of Republic Act 9442 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Person which was signed last April 30, 2009 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The law which prohibits verbal or non-verbal ridicule and vilification against persons with disability.
If you don’t know, my daughter has autism and we were in your airplanes last year, December 25, 2008 round trip to HongKong. It was surprisingly a pleasant experience for me and my daughter, I even wrote a post about the experience in this blog because it was her first airplane trip.
This incident is a surprise for me, to actually believe Cebu Pacific is a family friendly airline. I even recommended it to my friends who has kids with autism.
If the child is not disruptive and the parents can control them, I don’t see any reason to disallow two special children on board the same flight in your airplane. During our trip back to Manila my child and I was aboard a trip with like 10 other kids, some of them are young fussy ones, crying almost half the trip, but since most of the passengers were parents, grandparents and kids, we understood that the child is probably feeling discomfort because of the air pressure.
To the parent of that child go for the suit, we will support you. Let’s teach ignorant people that their insensitive ways can not be tolerated.
To Cebu Pacific, mental retardation and autism are two different things. Learn that and learn that well!
To the airline industry I think its time to have an airline that caters to people with disability.
Your sincerely,
Earth Rullan
18 Comments
Very well said Earth! Their staff should be retrained for good customer service.
.-= Badet´s last blog ..Lucky colors and lucky charms for 2010 (Metal Tiger) =-.
napanood ko nga yung news na to kagabi sa 24 Oras… nagulat nga rin ako na ginawa pala to ng Cebu Pac.. tsk tsk.. dapat talaga maging malinaw sa mga staff ang guidelines ng mental retardation at autism…
I wrote the same blog article about relevant experiences and observations with Cebu Pacific and I believe that their management needs to push positive chances especially on customer service. All these issues are to be addressed immediately.
ON TRAVEL WOES AND A RAINBOW BRIGHT
http://ryanericsongcanlas.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/on-travel-woes-and-a-rainbow-bright/
ON FLIGHT DISCRIMINATION AND WHY PETS AND SPECIAL CHILDREN CAN’T FLY CEBU PACIFIC
http://ryanericsongcanlas.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/warning-special-children-cant-fly-cebu-pacific-period/
I was not surprised to hear something like this happen. It was inevitable since Cebu Pacific really has REALLY BAD customer service. I have had my own bad experiences with this airline and I hope they would start training their staff in serving their customers.
.-= Jeff of My Online MOney Making Experience´s last blog ..How to Drop 300 Entrecards Fast =-.
Way to go, Earth! I agree with you. The staff involved should be suspended. I think, Cebu Pacific should also brush up on their customer service/satisfaction trainings and enlighten their staff about RA 9442.
.-= Mauie´s last blog ..Litratong Pinoy: Makapal (Thick) =-.