Footage that showed a passenger’s outrage at an airline worker triggered a discussion on good customer service during difficult situations.
The video, which was uploaded on TikTok, showed a female passenger who lost her cool and screamed at a female airline worker after her flight got canceled due to bad weather.
“We need answers!” she yelled at the airline staff member.
The passenger then demanded to see the latter’s manager.
The video did not indicate or show the reason that led to the passenger’s outburst.
The TikTok user who recorded the incident, however, placed a text on it that provided some context of the situation.
“Most flights canceled from the Philippines airport and then…” the text reads.
On October 31, this video was posted on a big online forum called r/PublicFreakout with 4.3 million members.
As the name suggests, the subreddit is dedicated to “people freaking out, melting down, losing their cool, or being weird in public.”
On the post, the Redditor said: “Flights [canceled] from the Philippines due to poor weather, [a person] loses it at airline workers who have no control over weather conditions.”
The post has since been upvoted 1,600 times on the forum.
On the same day, it was cross-posted or reshared on another online forum—the subreddit for topics about the Philippines r/Philippines.
The post also gained traction there. It garnered 2,400 upvotes from the members of the r/Philippines community.
Several flights from different airline companies have been canceled or postponed due to the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” from October 29 to 31.
Previous reports said that the Manila International Airport Authority canceled 21 international flights and 136 domestic flights on October 30.
MIAA handles the four terminals of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s premiere airport.
Affected airport airline companies at that time were the Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and Air Asia.
On customer service
A customer lashing out at a service worker is a scene most people are opposed to and are uncomfortable witnessing.
This time, however, the incident garnered mixed reactions on Reddit.
Some Redditors perceived the passenger’s treatment of the worker as uncalled for.
“Nakakahiyang kasama yung ganyan. This incident clearly speaks highly of her character,” one Reddit user said.
Other Redditors, meanwhile, discussed the perceived poor customer service of airport and airline authorities in the county that might have led to the passenger’s outburst.
“There’s bad systems in place that makes frontliners clueless about the situation and what to tell customers. The leadership does not care about making improvements like this to save costs. But still, we still bite and book with them because they’re cheap,” an online user said.
“While sobra yung outburst niya, kung walang magrereklamo, they would get away with not providing your air passenger rights. Makikinabang din kayo sa pagrereklamo niya, while not the best execution, I totally understand her,” another Reddit user said.
“We don’t have good customer service really. In other countries, if you get stuck due to bad weather and the middle of transit they give you hotel accommodations,” a Reddit user commented.
Several Redditors also shared via the comments section their horrible airport experiences with airline companies in the country.
Similar occasions
Prior to this viral video involving canceled flights, videos that showed customers losing cool while interacting with service employees in the country have been making rounds on social media.
Panay News, a publication dedicated to news and information about Western Visayas, posted footage of a customer who was caught yelling and hurting an employee after the former’s clothes got stained with paint.
VISOR, a page dedicated to mobility-related content, also posted a video that showed a Filipino driver who got mad at a service worker at a drive-thru of a fast food chain.
This video gained traction on the platform. So far, it garnered 132,000 reactions, 102,000 comments and 8.6 million views.
