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immigration cards and travel documents to Ms. Erlinda Ponce at the reception desk.
After about fifteen (15) minutes, petitioners noticed that their travel documents were
not being processed at the check-in counter. They were informed that there were no
more seats on the plane for which reason they could not be accommodated on the
flight.
Petitioner Morris contacted Staats Travel Service and asked the latter to contact the
management of SAS to find out what was the problem. After ten (10) minutes, Staats
Travel Service called and confirmed their booking. Thereafter, petitioners Morris and
Whittier returned to respondent's check-in counter anticipating that they would be
allowed to check-in. However, the check-in counter was closed. When they informed
Ms. Ponce, in-charge at the check-in counter that arrangements had been made with
respondent's office, she ignored them. Even respondent's supervisor, Raul Basa,
ignored them and refused to answer their question why they could not be
accommodated in the flight despite their confirmed booking.
When petitioners went to the supervisor's desk to check the flight manifest, they saw
that their names on top of the list of the first class section had been crossed out. They
pressed the supervisor to allow them in the flight as they had confirmed tickets. Mr.
Basa informed them that it could not be done because the flight was closed and it was
too late to do anything. They checked in at exactly 3:10 in the afternoon and the flight
was scheduled to leave Manila International Airport at 3:50 in the afternoon.[2]
Petitioner Morris said that they were advised to be at the airport at least an hour before
departure time. This has been respondent's policy in petitioner's previous travels
abroad.[3]
Ms. Erlinda Ponce, SAS employee on duty at the check-in counter on February 14, 1978
testified that the economy class of SAS Flight SK 893 was overbooked; however, the
first class section was open. She met petitioners, who were booked in the first class
section, when they approached the counter to check-in. They were not accommodated
on the flight because they checked-in after the flight manifest had been closed, forty
(40) minutes prior to the plane's departure. Petitioners' seats were given to economy
class passengers who were upgraded to first class.[4]
Upon cross-examination, Ms. Ponce said that petitioners might have arrived at the
airport earlier than 3:10 in the afternoon when the flight manifest was closed; she was
sure that they arrived at the check-in counter at past 3:10 in the afternoon. The first
class seats of petitioners were given to upgraded economy class passengers three (3)
minutes before the flight manifest was closed.[5]
Raul Cruz Basa, a supervisor of respondent airline company, testified that SAS Flight SK
893 on February 14, 1978 was overbooked in the economy class. Petitioner Morris and
Whittier were among the names listed in the first class section of the flight manifest.
However, their names were crossed out and the symbols "NOSH," meaning NO SHOW,
written after their names. The "NO SHOW" notation could mean either that the booked
passengers or his travel documents were not at the counter at the time of the closing of
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/50293
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