MANILA — Local airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) has dismissed the baggage tampering claim of a female passenger who reported her belongings were missing after taking a CEB flight from Hong Kong to Manila last April 14.
As far as Cebu Pacific is concerned, the case is closed, the airline’s spokesperson, Charo Lagamon, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Lagamon said CEB had thoroughly probed the incident and based on footage, there was no tampering that happened at all and the female passenger’s baggage still had its lock even after she complained.
Last weekend, the female passenger complained that the lock in her baggage was missing and that clothes were the only things left inside it.
In a Facebook video posted by Anthony Enriquez, the complainant was shown making a scene beside the baggage carousel. In that video, the female passenger also claimed that the perfumes and an iPad she had put inside her bag were missing.
“The complainant used a different airline from London to Hong Kong where she retrieved her luggage before checking in for CEB flight 5J 113 bound for Manila,” Lagamon clarified earlier, adding that the baggage was placed inside a Unit Load Device (ULD) or baggage container and secured aboard CEB aircraft.
CEB also coordinated with ground handlers at Hong Kong International Airport to trace how the complainant’s luggage was handled from the time she arrived there.
The airline has announced that a thorough investigation was undertaken and found no discrepancies and indications of tampering in the baggage while under the custody of CEB.
Lagamon told PNA that CEB has examined all the video and CCTV footage from the arrival of the aircraft to Manila all the way to the unloading of the baggage.
“We are submitting a full report, including the footage, to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA),” she added.
Also last Monday, MIAA Public Affairs Department’s officer-in-charge, Ma. Consuelo Bungag, told airport reporters that initial investigation also indicated no discrepancy in the baggage weight when the passenger checked-in at Hong Kong International Airport and when she arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Bungag added that the baggage weight of 8 kilograms weighed the same after the female passenger complained. (Ma. Cristina Arayata/PNA)
