Fortun calls on passengers to join him in class action against airline


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Lawyer Raymond Fortun is sticking to his plan of suing Cebu Pacific Air over a flight cancellation that left him and his family stranded in Vietnam on Nov 19.

Not only that, he’s calling on other passengers to join him in a class action suit. 
 
“There is always strength in numbers. If our elected leaders cannot protect us, then we should protect each other. I offer you to be part of a class suit against an airline,” the high-profile lawyer posted on Facebook today.
 
He enumerated the objectives of his proposed class suit:
 
1. To obtain a reimbursement of the extra expenses you incurred as a result of the cancellation of your flight back to the Philippines/Manila without being given proper notice before you left the place where you are based.
 
2. To set a precedent for mass action against a big corporation that provides services to the general public.
 
3. To compel the big corporation to make long-lasting changes in the way that they deal with the public.
 
Fortun gave an assurance that this will not cost the complainants too much effort and it will not be expensive. The only thing that they need to do is to pay for the filing fee, share in the expenses for paper works, and to make an appearance in court when needed.
 
Fortun will not charge lawyer fees.
 
Cebu Pacific Air cancelled several flights to and from Manila during the APEC Summit. Fortun claims he and his family were not informed about their flight’s cancellation and, in fact, was sent an email asking them to check-in online.

They were able to check in and get a boarding pass, but upon reaching the airport for their early morning flight on Nov 19, they were informed that the flight was cancelled.

According to JR Mantaring, OIC of CEB Corporate Affairs, the email was automatically sent to everyone with flights departing within 72 hours. 

“This resulted in some passengers going to the airport, despite their flight being cancelled,” he explained.

Right after Fortun posted about his cancelled flight and threatened to sue Cebu Pacific, “someone from CebPac sent an email to my brother Tristan (who does consultancy work for them) if he could help. Tristan asked how we were and how CebPac can ease our stay,” Fortun told Coconuts Manila.
 
Fortun told his brother to tell Cebu Pacific to “please look after the other passengers and not us. We have the ability to cope; but the others are now hungry.”
 
Cebu Pacific rebooked the tickets of Fortun’s family to Nov 22 (1am), but on Nov 19, a Cebu Pacific lawyer informed him that they could take the earlier flight on Nov 20 (1am). 
 
“I found this surprising because we had been told that the Nov 20 and 21 flights were overbooked. I made them promise that they will not bump off a single passenger just to accommodate us,” he said.
 
When they reached the airport, however, there were only three available seats. Fortun’s wife and their two kids boarded the plane while the lawyer and their eldest son stayed behind.
 
That evening, at 6pm, Fortun was told by Cebu Pacific that the airline had bought two Philippine Airlines tickets for him and his son to use on Nov 21. They accepted the tickets.

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE STRANDED DURING APEC WEEKHello po.It is common knowledge that there are a lot of written…

Posted by Raymond Fortun on Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Photo: Raymond Fortun via Facebook



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