Nelson Morales

Transport chief wants AirAsia Move taken down over 'very high' fares to Leyte

Article (news)

Andrea Taguines

Arthur Fuentes

ABS-CBN News

<h2 id="isPasted">AirAsia Move blames 3rd party supplier for issue </h2><div><br/></div><p>MANILA (UPDATE) — Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon has ordered the takedown of flight booking site AirAsia Move over what he said were the &quot;unreasonably high&quot; prices of one-way flights to Leyte booked through the platform.</p><p>&quot;I have asked the PNP [Philippine National Police], PNP Cybercrime to take down this website today,&quot; Dizon said during a press briefing on Monday.</p><p>AirAsia Move is a Malaysian company that is an affiliate of budget carrier AirAsia Philippines. It sells tickets for airlines other than AirAsia, as well as hotel reservations in several countries.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:560px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1929336924868653418&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-06-02T07%3A14%3A09.446489%3A2d574dd2-69b6-4e5c-bc44-478e6d2ade8c%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=41e30103466b59ced5b7462f4db34b0e7ddf8f83&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:absolute;visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;display:block;flex-grow:1"></iframe></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:560px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1929336924868653418&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-06-02T07%3A14%3A09.446489%3A2d574dd2-69b6-4e5c-bc44-478e6d2ade8c%26action%3Dview&amp;sessionId=407864be3039e0a72e2fd41cd4831f3bced88e4b&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:498px;height:281px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1929336924868653418"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p>According to Dizon, Leyte 4th District Rep. Richard Gomez called him up to report that he and his wife, Ormoc Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez, were charged more than P77,000 for two one-way tickets to Tacloban.</p><p>“That’s almost P40,000 per ticket. Times three po ang china-charge ni AirAsia Move for that one way (compared to other airline prices). Clearly, alam nila merong crisis doon. Hirap ang movement ng goods and ng people dahil nga sa partial closure ng San Juanico to heavy vehicles, buses and trucks kaya clearly nagtatake advantage,” said Dizon.</p><p>Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said this constitutes as price gouging.</p><p>“Price gouging is the situation where a provider or any entity unreasonably increases the price of services on account of a shortage, scarcity or high demand of the product on account of certain abnormal situations… This is beyond the cost of operating service,” he said.</p><p>Last May 26, the Civil Aeronautics Board sent a cease and desist order against AirAsia Move but Dizon said the company “did not comply” and is still up and running, saying the CAB only has jurisdiction over air carriers but not foreign-based OTAs.</p><p>But Arcilla said the case is still covered under the doctrine of necessary implication.</p><p>“It’s not only about the jurisdiction over the person or entity. There’s also jurisdiction over the subject matter and the subject matter here is the fact that the fare ceilings are approved by the CAB and when that ceiling is violated by an entity, they come within our enforcement proceedings,” he noted.</p><p>Meanwhile, Dizon has also ordered an investigation into other online platforms accused of overcharging.</p><p>“Not just for Tacloban but for other destinations as well. I’ve heard stories about Siargao, tickets going up to P45,000, P50,000. We will not allow this,” he said.</p><p>For now, Dizon advised passengers to buy plane tickets directly from airlines, especially when heading to the affected region.</p><p>“Para sigurado tayo. Kasi sa nakita natin dito, itong mga online na ganito pumapatong nang malaki. Yung presyo ng airline yan ay namomonitor at nareregulate yan ng gobyerno</p><p>hindi yan pwedeng sumobrang tumaas,” he said.</p><div><strong>AIRASIA MOVE CLARIFIES FARES</strong></div><p>In a statement, AirAsia MOVE clarified that it does not manually set or manipulate airfares.</p><p>“As an Online Travel Agency (OTA), MOVE displays flight inventory and pricing data as provided by its authorized upstream suppliers, including third-party aggregators and Global Distribution Systems,” it said.</p><p>The company said the issue was due to &quot;temporary data synchronization issues with flight pricing partners,&quot; which also affected other booking platforms across the industry.</p><p>&quot;As a matter of due diligence, upon identifying the issue, MOVE took immediate steps and brought up the matter with the third-party pricing provider for immediate resolution. MOVE also took steps to further enhance safeguards to prevent any future recurrence,&quot; the company added. </p><p>It also affirmed its full cooperation with Philippine regulations.</p><p>“AirAsia MOVE affirms its full cooperation with the Philippine government to uphold transparent and fare pricing and consumer protection,” it said.</p>

<p>Dizon said he has received reports that the platform has been charging P40,000 or higher for one-way flights to Tacloban.</p>

Dizon said he has received reports that the platform has been charging P40,000 or higher for one-way flights to Tacloban.