Assunta de Rossi's husband draws flak over PAL ticket mix-up
Jules Ledesma and Assunta de Rossi’s PAL ticket-name dispute sparks online debate after the actress was briefly held at the airline’s Bacolod counter.
Netizens called out Negros Occidental 1st district representative Jules Ledesma after he complained about Philippine Airlines (PAL) holding his wife, actress Assunta de Rossi, at its Bacolod counter over a discrepancy in her ticket name.
Instead of “Ma. Assunta,” de Rossi’s plane ticket bore the name “Maria Assunta,” prompting airline personnel to initially prevent her from boarding her flight.
Ledesma argued that there should be no issue since “Ma. Assunta” and “Maria Assunta” refer to the same person. He also revealed that they had encountered a similar problem on a previous trip.
However, netizens pointed out that Ledesma could have addressed the issue beforehand, given that it had happened before. Others argued that whoever booked the flight should have checked the passenger details against de Rossi’s government-issued identification to avoid such problems.
He then claimed that de Rossi had waited approximately 50 minutes for her boarding pass to be reissued to reflect the name on her identification.
Ledesma also questioned why the airline's requirements appeared more stringent than those of government agencies that accept electronic documents. He acknowledged raising his voice at the airport counter and later apologized to the airline personnel involved.
“It’s ironic that our Immigration Bureau accepts e-passports and PAL’s standard exceeds a relevant governmentt authority?” he wrote.
He also suggested that he could raise the matter in Congress when sessions resume, particularly if PAL’s requirements are found to be inconsistent with those of other airlines.
The Civil Aeronautics Board advises passengers to ensure that their flight bookings use the names appearing on their identifying documents to avoid erroneous bookings. While “Ma.” is commonly used as an abbreviation for “Maria,” the two are not automatically interchangeable in every official transaction.
Responding to Ledesma’s initial online complaint, PAL wrote: “We understand how upsetting this was for you. We will be emailing you directly.”