MikeLigalig.com

By Miko Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Like other passengers affected by the cancellations of several Philippine Airlines flights Saturday morning, Mary Ann Solano could only sympathize with the pilots who left their jobs with the national carrier for better-paying jobs with foreign airlines.

“If you want to be practical and that kind of opportunity presents itself, you should grab it,” she told the Inquirer at the waiting area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. “I understand their situation, but I cannot help but feel inconvenienced by the cancellation.

Solano, 31 and eight months into pregnancy, said she was going home to Silay City in Negros Occidental where she intended to give birth. Her husband works in Manila.

She arrived at the airport terminal past noon to check in but to her surprise, her 2:00 p.m. flight to Bacolod was to be delayed by a couple of hours.

The airline offered an option to Solano, which it also did to other passengers: If they agreed to have their flights rebooked to a later one, they would get free round-trip tickets to any local destination of their choice.

Solano said though she was hassled by the incident, “taking the bargain was a way to assuage my inconvenience.”

“If not for my relatives who are keeping me company, I would have been on the warpath,” she said.