8AM, waiting for boarding of my Cebu-to-Tacloban flight, this caught my delighted attention..,
In the 1990s or earlier, anyone who already often traveled by air could attest that, any time an airplane arrived at any airport, there were already the cabin cleaners lined up by the stairs, ready to "attack" the plane with cleaning paraphernalia. This 'service' was true at every PAL station in our country everyday.
Then came the era of budget airlines (also called LCC or low cost carriers), heralded in this country by Cebu Pacific. They hyped the 'no frills' service that was supposed to make them competitive by 'doing away with' or 'doing less of' many traditional airline services or amenities, but offering cheaper tickets.
The most obvious to us (the riding public) are the likes of 'no more free baggage allowance'; 'reduced cabin baggage weight'; 'no more free food'; 'less expensive materials for boarding passes and tickets - then it even became electronic (paperless)'; 'contractualization of airline functions', and many others.
The less obvious to us are the likes of 'departure times at unholy hours' (since airport rent is cheaper at those times); not using the skybridge or aerobridge (because they also rent that, so we are instead asked to ride buses or even walk to/from the plane); AND OMG, frequency of cabin cleaning, if at all!
So, o eh ano ang kinalaman ni PAL, 'di naman sya budget airline? Yun ang masaya, since nakakalusot naman pala si budget airline not doing mandatory cabin cleaning at every stop, me naki-gaya. Ganun!
It is actually a big savings on the part of any airline, by not anymore asking cabin cleaners (usually a contracted general services company) to clean a plane's inside every time it empties passengers out.
Thus, they do not anymore clean those planes every after it has been used by who knows what kind of damak passengers rode "in" it before us! Reason why we now rarely see the squads of cabin cleaners.
So, heavens help us! Please?
Bakit nakita natin ngayon sa eroplano ng PAL? Eh kaya nga isinulat natin ngayon dito.., dahil bihira na yan. As in it's very rare! Rejoice if you see them and you are the next passengers to board that aircraft.
Well, if I may guess, PAL still retains at least a little of its old respectable culture. Probably 'degrading' their cleaning standards to something like "do it when an aircraft came from an international flight". I mean, not to say na madudusing o mga salaula yung international passengers. I mean dahil matagal yung flight! For example (I'm guessing again), that plane must have just arrived from abroad. Ganun!
Assuming that, mas matagal namalagi ang mga tao sa loob ng plane, mas maraming dumi/kalat. At least me nakikita pa tayo (PAL nga lang yata) na me naglilinis pa naman ng plane paminsan-minsan!
The transition, or should we say "retrogression" of this standard of service just feels uncomfortably or horribly unclean, does it not? But mind you, wala silang nilalabag na batas. There are "guides" like that of WHO and there are even "best practices" published by the likes of IATA. But those are not laws. Pag ikaw airline hindi sumunod sa mga mungkahi ng mga nasabing pangkat na yan.., wala lang. Deadma!
In fact, dito ka mawawalan ng ulirat: try finding an office IN THE WORLD who can say they legislate or monitor penalize revoke-license of an airline not adhering to a cabin cleaning frequency standard. Wa!
Wala ngang specific batas eh, how much more 'taga-pag-patupad ng batas' hahaha!
Sa madaling sabi, always bring your wipes, sanitizer, alcohol and the likes. Avoid touching anything in the plane that you think has been (or are usually) touched by passengers or even the crew members!
And if you see cabin cleaners getting out of a plane you are about to board.., there's no assurance that plane will be 100% clean. But, under present conditions, it won't be wrong reciting 'thank you prayers'!
May the 'kagaw' stay away!
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