Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo is urging airlines and travel agencies to allow the free cancellation and rebooking of flights and tours to and in countries with confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.
“If passengers who have booked flights to these destinations are allowed to refund or rebook their tickets without any penalty, we may be able to effectively and continuously prevent the spread of this deadly disease in our country,” she said in Resolution No. 749.
Castelo, who is vice chairperson of the House committee on Metro Manila development, said leniency on the part of airlines and tour operators would be their additional contribution to national efforts to combat COVID-19.
“There should be no extra cost on passengers worried about their safety in their intended destinations.”
She said if booking sites like Agoda.com and Booking.com allow free cancellation and rebooking, she does not see any reason why airline and travel companies cannot do the same especially for flights booked through the Internet.
“There should be no extra cost on the part of passengers worried about their safety in their intended destinations because of COVID-19,” she said.
There are reports that penalties for cancellation or rebooking amount to as much as $100 or about P5,000.
In her resolution, Castelo noted that COVID-19 has killed 3,500 people and infected more than 100,000, most of whom are Chinese.
It was in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the new virus was detected in the latter part of 2019.
Castelo said while coronavirus infections in China have decreased, cases in other countries like South Korea, Italy and the United States are increasing.
“We can never be complacent. We have to take all precautionary measures to prevent the entry and spread of more COVID-19 cases in the country,” she said.