2 face raps in plane ticket scam

MANILA, Philippines - An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) filed a complaint against two employees of a travel firm for reportedly trying to dupe her into buying a plane ticket for almost double its regular price Thursday night.

Dalala Laila Liposen, 27, said she arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 (NAIA-1) from Jordan at around 5 p.m. when she decided to ask around for the nearest ticketing office for her trip home to Davao.

She said two employees of MASA Travel and Tours, a man and a woman who were distributing flyers across the NAIA-1 arrival area exit, told her she “cannot buy a ticket here at the airport. You can only get a plane ticket from us.”

Liposen said she told the two she needed a ticket for a 9 p.m. flight to Davao and they assured her she can buy one from their office.

They allegedly herded her into a waiting white van and drove her to the firm’s “office” along Domestic Road.

Liposen said the office turned out to be a garment retail store. They offered her a ticket for a morning flight to Davao, which they claimed was the last one available, for at least P7,000.

“I told them I can buy a ticket for just over P3,000 for a one-way trip to Davao and that I can buy one for the 9 p.m. flight I needed,” the teary-eyed Liposen recounted to Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) action officers Manny Rodriguez and Danny Chua.

“When they insisted that it was the only flight available, I demanded to be driven back to the NAIA-1,” she said.

Liposen added in Filipino, crying, “They made a fool of me. Even if I am from the province, I’m not a fool.”

Rodriguez and Chua helped Liposen after seeing her arguing with the two travel firm employees, who remain unidentified, at NAIA-1.

Liposen, accompanied by the action officers, lodged a complaint with the airport police department against the travel firm employees.

Rodriguez and Chua said they will file estafa charges against the employees and the travel firm, which has “no permit to do business at NAIA.”

Liposen was able to buy a ticket for P4,300 and fly to Davao on a Cebu Pacific flight before dawn yesterday.

Insiders said there are reportedly many “fly-by-night” travel firms seeking to con OFWs and travelers who wish to buy tickets to connecting flights to provincial airports upon arriving at NAIA.