I am Janet Wenceslao-Elcano. I am a Cardiologist, currently having my subspecialization training in the Montreal Heart Institute for a duration of 2 years. I am here in Canada with a work permit. I have two children living with me here in Canada: Parfitt Elcano, 17 year old, Charl Margaux Elcano, 15 year old. Being my dependents, they have the opportunity to study here in Canada for free without the need of study permit. They have been issued a Quebec Acceptance Certificate valid until June 30, 2018. They are studying in Laurier Macdonald High School. Here are the details of their school registration in the English Montreal School Board:
Name Permanent Code ID Number
Parfitt Elcano ELCP79570005 3350121
Charl Margaux Elcano ELCC84520209 3350097

Last July 23, 2017, my children went to the Philippines to meet their father. Their ticket numbers were as follows: Parfitt W. Elcano- 0791095206589 and Charl Margaux W. Elcano- 0791095206590 (Montreal to Toronto via West Jet and Toronto to Manila via Philippine Airlines) I requested for a meet and greet assistance from West Jet but they said it will be available for children below 12 years old only. However, I was able to avail of the free assistance to unaccompanied minors from Philippine Airlines. The ticket that we booked was only one way because we were not sure of the arrival of my husband to The Philippines (My husband is a seafarer). The children did not have any problems with their flight going to Manila.

On August 3, 2017, my husband purchased their return ticket to Montreal . Their ticket numbers are as follows: Parfitt W. Elcano- 0791095371053 and Charl Margaux W. Elcano- 0791095371052 (Manila to Vancouver via Philippine Airlines and Vancouver to Montreal via West Jet). I called Philippine Airlines (toll free 18004359725) on August 5, 2017, 6:45 AM to request for a meet and greet assistance for my two girls from Manila to Vancouver. They made it clear to me that the children will not have any problems with their flight from Manila to Vancouver up to the Immigration as they will be assisted by the assigned personnel. Then, last August 28, 2017 at 18:36 , I again called Philippine Airlines to confirm the meet and greet assistance and the operator gladly confirmed it to me.

During the day of their flight, my children (assisted by my husband) were issued their boarding pass. However, on their way to the immigration, they were not allowed to go further to the immigration. The reason of the supervisor was that because they must be accompanied by an adult but if not possible, they must have a guardian from West Jet who will assist them upon their arrival to Vancouver up to their arrival in Montreal. The PAL supervisor said that West Jet has issued a memo to them not to allow unaccompanied minors board the plane without a Guardian from WestJet (a Guardian was defined by the supervisor as a personnel from West Jet who will assist my children from Vancouver to Montreal). I called multiple personnel thru the West Jet hotline 18889378538, 4x on August 29, 2017 and once this morning, 6:11 AM, August 30, 2017. The last conversation that I had was with a lady with an employee number of 1161. They gave me the same answer that an assistance will not be given to my children because they only consider children aged 11 years and below as minors. The lady with employee number 1161 also said that they did not issue a memo to Philippine Airlines stating that they will not allow unaccompanied minors to travel without a guardian from West Jet. She also confirmed that even if the children has boarded from an International flight (Manila-Vancouver) and will be taking a connecting flight, they will still be unable to assist my children because they are out of the age range of considered minors. And in addition, she said that there will be no problem in their part if the kids should travel on their own as long as they have an official consent from the parents.
I am filing a complaint because:
1. We were forced to shell out money from our depleting resources. I am just a newly graduate Cardiologist who has not started my practice yet and is currently undergoing a subspecialization training in Cardiac Electrophysiology here in Montreal Heart Institute with the objective of returning back to the Philippines after two years of training to improve the management of arrhythmia cases in our country (currently we have limited access to ablation and arrhythmia treatment). My husband on the other hand, was only onboard for 7 months. He requested to disembark the ship even if he doesn’t have enough savings yet just to be able to meet his daughters in the Philippines whom he haven’t seen for two years already. The cost of the tickets amounted to P93,246 Montreal-Manila and P114,200 Manila-Montreal. This amount took a huge chunk of our limited resources, but because my children have been away from their Dad for the longest time, we had to sacrifice our savings in order to give them the chance to be together for a month while they are having their summer vacation. And because they were not allowed to fly back to Canada on their supposed scheduled flight, we had to spend more money to pay for their extended accommodation and hotel in Manila.
2. Classes have already started today, August 30, 2017. My children are so passionate with their studies and they were in fact receiving academic and special awards in their school here in Canada. Skipping classes is definitely a big issue to them. They had to miss classes for days because they were prevented to board their flights.
3. The PAL supervisor who I talked to (We failed to get the name of the Supervisor who was on duty last August 29, 2017 around 4PM to 8PM) claimed that the rules of PAL regarding travels of unaccompanied minors has just recently been released. But how come my children were allowed to travel to the Philippines without any problem even in the absence of assistance from West Jet. And how come the PAL personnel who I spoke to last August 5 and August 28 did not have any idea about these new rules of PAL? If new rules are set by the PAL management, the details have to be disseminated to all concerned employees and travel agencies. With regards to the Memo from West Jet, how come the personnel from West Jet do not have any idea of this said Memo? Where is the proper coordination of the operating personnel?
4. The procurement of all the documents needed in preparation for my children’s flight back to Canada was a very tedious process. They had to go back and forth the DSWD office to secure their clearance. I also had to be absent from work for one whole day just to go to the Philippine consulate in Ottawa for a validated consent form of their travel.
5. We don’t want incidences such as these to happen again. The aftermath of mistakes and errors of the PAL personnel should not be shouldered upon by their passengers. In our case, we did our share of compliance to the regulations (procurement of DSWD clearance and request for minors’ assistance from PAL). Despite that, my children were not allowed to fly back to Canada.

I attached here a screen shot of my phone calls to Philippine Airlines and West Jet Airlines. You may view from it the date and time of the calls. I believe all of these calls are recorded so you may be able to retrieve all of our conversations for a thorough investigation. I hope this letter of complaint will be acted upon by your management. I will continue to follow up on the appropriate actions that will be carried out by the management as a response to this letter of complaint. My sincerest gratitude for taking time in reading this letter.

Respectfully,

Janet Wenceslao-Elcano

Charlemin Abapo Elcano
(husband)