A Viajero's Nightmare

Aug 26, 2009 - I sent a letter to Zestair's "corporate" email: z2_zestair@yahoo.com

Dear Meg Obejas:

I’d like to raise a concern regarding some information about your online booking as advised by Christine Boras during my inquiries on your customer hotlines.

I’m about to get married on Nov 6 and will flying to Boracay for our honeymoon the following day, Nov 7. During the time of booking, I was aware of the advisory regarding diverted flights from Caticlan to Kalibo. I was looking through promo rates of Cebu Pacific, PAL and was pleasantly surprised that ZestAir still services to Caticlan. During that time, CebuPac and PAL have already updated their arrival destinations to remove Caticlan, while yours haven’t.

I gathered I was in the impression that the advisory was applicable to diverted flights from Caticlan to Kalibo prior to the advisory. However, I CAN still book to Caticlan, giving me an impression that Zestair has limited but still available flights to Caticlan. Taking convenience into consideration, I chose Zestair over other airlines since I really wanted a direct flight to Caticlan. Please see screen cap of my eticket for your review.

  

I shortened my trip from Nov 14 to Nov 12, and was informed that my flight is non rebookable and non refundable. I was advised to book a new one way flight on Nov 12 since it was non rebookable. However, upon booking, I noticed that the return flight from Caticlan to Manila was no longer available. At the time of inquiry, flights from Manila to Caticlan still is available as an option but not the flight back. I made a call to customer service and was able to talk to Christine regarding the flight back to Manila. Only then did I know that Zestair was no longer servicing Caticlan, yet the website still contains booking to Caticlan!

This is very confusing to your customers and I would have made entirely new plans had I known that Caticlan is never an option in your website. Had I known that Zestair wasn’t servicing Caticlan, I could have booked in another airline or destination. Nevertheless, I have already made reservations for accommodations at this time.  

For now, I have 2 options I’d like to suggest:

• Allow me to refund whatever costs I incurred due to misinformation so I can book to another airline - this will be my last transaction with the airline considering I’ll be at a loss as well as promo rates at other airlines are no longer applicable.
• Allow me to pursue my plans - I’m willing to compromise on the Kalibo arrival - granted that I be allowed to rebook my flight to Nov 12 to compensate for any stress and confusion this transaction may have incurred.

  

I hope to hear from your office soon so I can update my plans as soon as I can. I’m hoping for your consideration on the 2ndoption which I believe is a win-win scenario for both parties.

Thank you,

Christian 

Aug 31, 2009 - I followed up and they are on holiday. So far, I haven't received an email or any acknowledgment from the manager Ms. Meg, which i believe is the polite thing to do.

UPDATE:

Sept 1, 2009 - I called ZestAir to follow up on my request. The customer service agent asked my record locator and I had to explain myself all over again. It seems they don't keep track of the background of the complaint and I have to explain myself whenever I call. Since the status is still pending, and no updates were available at this time, I decided to go on with life and booked with another airline. I informed ZestAir that I'm going for option 1 and will ask for a refund of my flight booking.

Sept 2, 2009 - After 7 days since the email request was sent, and a day after I asked to have my flight refunded, I received a call from ZestAir that I have the option to rebook my return flight WITH penalties and rebooking fees. I told them that it's no longer an option as I need to make a decision regarding my plans. They'll try to get back to me. I'm starting to doubt.