My name is Aoife. I am booked on to a Philippine Airlines flight PR 2375 from Siargao to Cebu today the 23rd of October. Booking confirmation: O2DOVV.
The the days coming up to the flight I tried numerous times to book additional baggage through the Philippine Airlines website. It was almost impossible to do it as there were glitches at a certain point in the process that prevented me and my friends too, from getting any further with the booking. It simply would not let us go further on the website. I knew there would be additional charges if our checked bags were not booked on to our booking within 4 hours of the flight so I was doing everything to make sure my bag was checked on before that time.
I used an ipad and a laptop to try again and it still didn't work. I eventually asked my partner in Ireland to do it for me, and he just about succeeded after the website crashed multiple times. I got an email confrimation right away to say I had added 20kg additional checked baggage, all good and I was happy but I still had to pay the outstanding balance. My partner could not get through the website to actually pay for the baggage. I tried again once it was confirmed and still no luck so I figured, now that its confirmed, I'll pay the 900pesos in the airport, because there was NO OTHER OPTION AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE.
My friends managed to finally get through to someone by phone and they were told they could pay on arrival at airport but their additional checked baggage was confirmed on the phone. And that is exactly what they did without any hassle at check in, no additional costs, nothing. They had the same confirmation as me on the website.
I arrive and show them my confirmation email that I had booked checked baggage and they said because I didn't pay before the flight, I had to pay the extra costs at the check in desk. The one thing I was trying to avoid and had done way more than should be necessary to try and prevent. They were charging me an additional 1200 pesos on top of the 900 pesos for a 21kg suitcase that I had already booked on. The staff at the check in desk were extremely unhelpful and rude to me when I tried to dispute the additional costs. They said because I didn't pay, the booking didn't exist but when I tried to tell them I couldn't pay online due to their website, they wouldnt listen and said I've 2 minutes to pay or I'll miss my flight, which was over an hour away. My friends had just paid up front at the desk their fees for their baggage that they had confirmed yesterday as I had. I had the email confirmation, I never got anything else afterward to say that it was not confirmed.
I couldn't believe how unfriendly they were and didn't even try to listen to my complaints. It's the worst experience I've ever had a check in desk or either anyome in customer service ever. They simply didn't care, left me waiting and didn't even try to smile, listen or be kind whatsoever.
I will take this further with the airline as well and coming about the two women at the desk. No one deserves to be treated the way they treated me today.
