DOTr to sue online travel app for overpriced tickets
AirAsia Move, the online travel agent platform of aviation group AirAsia, is facing an economic sabotage case that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is targeting to file this week for allegedly selling plane tickets at “unreasonably” high prices.
In a press briefing on Monday, Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said the case was based on the complaint of couple Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez and Ormoc Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez who booked Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights from Tacloban to Manila via AirAsia Move.
The two one-way tickets cost them about P77,704. But had they booked directly on the PAL website, they would have been charged only P49,507 in total, Dizon said, adding: “Clearly, this is just absurd and … actually criminal.”
According to him, the online travel agent platform was pricing plane tickets high amid a transport crisis in Tacloban where last week, the city council declared a state of emergency. The transport of goods and medical supplies between Leyte and Samar provinces has been disrupted because of the partial closure of San Juanico Bridge for repairs.
For now, the DOTr chief said they were working with the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group to take down the website and mobile application.
Other online travel agent platforms would also be investigated, he said as he advised passengers to buy their tickets directly from airline companies to avoid being overcharged.
AirAsia Move is a super app that offers travel services like flights, hotel accommodation, ride-hailing and financial services.
Before this, the DOTr ordered the Malaysia-based company on May 26 “to cease and desist from offering, promoting or selling tickets of other Philippine carriers at prices that exceed the approved fare structures established by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).”
In response, AirAsia Move said it has “implemented measures to ensure compliance” with the order although it stressed that CAB’s authority does not cover foreign-based online travel agent platforms like itself.
CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla, however, said this was not the case this time. The regulating body sets the price ceilings for plane fares to protect passengers and ensure fair competition.
“When that ceiling is violated by an entity even if they are not defined [to be] under our jurisdiction, they come within our enforcement proceedings,” he explained.
Arcilla said the incident was tantamount to price gouging—a “situation where a provider or any entity unreasonably increases the prices of services on account of a shortage, scarcity or high demand for the product.”
“Price gouging is frowned upon and abhorred all over the world. We will not allow it,” he added.
Technical discrepancy
AirAsia Move CEO Nadia Omer, in a statement, said they do not “manually set or manipulate airfares in light of the fare discrepancy issues.”
“The discrepancies in fare displays for certain routes, including domestic flights operated by Philippine Airlines, were caused by temporary data synchronization issues with flight pricing partners,” she explained.
Omer said this was not an isolated case for AirAsia Move as other booking platforms like Aguda, Kiwi.com and Traveloka also deal with the same problem.
She said they had reached out to their third-party pricing provider to immediately resolve the matter, in addition to implementing measures to “further enhance safeguards to prevent any future recurrence.”
