Filipina sues PAL in New York

Philippine Airlines (Wikipedia)

MANILA — The Philippine Airlines is now facing charges filed by a Filipina mother living in Queens, New York City.

Cherilyn Darilag, a mother of two children filed a complaint dated May 20 with three causes of action including breach of contract, promisory estoppel and unjust enrichment.

Darilag is one of the passengers scheduled to leave for Manila on PAL’s Airbus 340-300 jet last May 17. The flight was, however, cancelled due to “mechanical problem” of the plane.

Darilag is represented by three lawyers including Gabriel dela Merced, Manuel Quintal and Felix Vinluan.

In a statement to the Philippine Daily Mirror, a news partner of Inquirer.net, dela Merced said that Darilag was supposed to travel to the Philippines and took a leave of absence to pick up her son who is staying there.

“She has not been back to the Philippines for about 20 years and was all excited and proud to be on board PAL,” dela Merced said in a report written by Ricky Rillera.

Following the flight’s cancellation, PAL provided hotel accommodation to passengers. However, the complainant alleged that due to the number of passengers, there was not a smooth booking for all of them.

The complaint also cited that Darilag, a middle-aged woman had to endure carrying her heavy luggage without any assistance from PAL.

She also waited for four hours to get her room assignment at the Radisson Hotel lobby because there was no room reserved for her.

Darilag allegedly pleaded to be booked for a flight the next morning but was refused and was told that all the flights are fully booked.

The complainant also said that PAL issued flight transfers that were not honored by other airlines.

This is because the vouchers “were not properly filled out and/or lacked validation stamps by PAL employees.”

“PAL abused its position of trust as an air carrier to the Plaintiff by making a misrepresentation to the Plaintiff,” the complaint said.