Getting stranded due to a typhoon is surely not fun. Ignored by an airline’s Rebooking Department will only make it worse.

Travel blogger Josh Tanador of Mga Laag ni Josh got stuck in Dumaguete who was scheduled to fly on December 22 at 12:15 noon, but due to typhoon Vinta. He could not go to Cebu for his Cebu-Manila flight schedule. He then called AirAsia‘s Rebooking department for his flight to be moved on December 26, same time. For some reason, he was ignored, not just once, not twice, but four times.

Josh used to be my football teammate when I used to be based in Manila.

His emails seemingly went into the dark and smelly trash bins of the internet. Even his rebooking ticket was tagged as “urgent”, it was still overlooked.

Frustrated, he did the pretty unusual way. He directly emailed the AirAsia’s founder and CEO, Tony Fernandes himself. The airline executive responded quicker than the rebooking department. Josh emailed on December 24 at 6:38 PM, then the next day Fernandes replied at 12:41 PM. That’s Christmas day!

A few minutes after receiving the email from the AirAsia CEO, a representative from the airline called to arrange with him a flight bound for Manila.

I asked him if ‘he still willing to fly with AirAsia’ after their unresponsiveness. He seems to dismiss it as of little importance. Probably, giving the airline another chance.

If it happened to you, will you still fly with AirAsia or with another airline?