FOLLOWING the complaints of scammed 60 Philippine Airlines passengers bound for Japan last week, the regional office of the Department of Tourism (DOT) urged the public to only transact with travel agencies that are accredited by the agency.
DOT-Davao Regional Director Roberto Alabado III told reporters Monday, January 9, at the Marco Polo Hotel that consumers should make the “Double A Traveling Agency scam” incident a warning to not fall into scams next time.
“We are urging consumers to exercise caution in dealing with travel agencies, they should make sure that they are contacting solely DOT-accredited agencies,” he said.
The accredited agencies, he said, are compliant with the standards set by the department.
As to sanctions for erring travel agencies, Alabado said the local government can revoke the business permit of the violating company and shut down the operations of the travel agency.
“DOT is more of regulatory institution. We are enforcing national laws to uphold consumer protection,” he said.
Based on DOT-Davao Region data, there are a total of 39 DOT-accredited travel and tours in the region as of January 10, 2017.
Davao Travel Agencies Association (DTAA) President Alexander Divinagracia confirmed Double A Travel is not a member of their association.
“But I am sure that Double A Travel has City Tourism Office Accreditation because it's a prerequisite to get a business permit to operate a travel agency. But in behalf of DTAA, we do not have sanction against them because they are not our member,” Divinagracia said.
He added just beyond making sure that an agency is DOT-accredited, the public should check on the ticket sent to them. A legitimate ticket, he said, has both a ticket number and reservation number.
“You will know if the ticket is legal if these two are present. After booking, the passenger can call the airline to have their reservation number checked. Reservation number can actually be faked by traveling agents but not the ticket number because it should tally with the ticket number of the airline,” Divinagracia said.
Last week, the 60 passengers complained about their scammed transaction with Double A Traveling Agency after discovering at Davao International Airport that their flights were not booked by the said traveling agency.
Double A Traveling Agency was located at Door 6, Doña Segunda Building but was already closed down last Wednesday.
