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Philippine flight foul-up leaves some 170 Jeju-bound travelers stranded

Published: 06 Mar. 2025, 12:35 Updated: 06 Mar. 2025, 14:14

Passengers of Royal Air Philippines flight RW242 come out of the waiting room at Jeju International Airport on March 5. [CHOI CHOONG-IL]

Some 170 travelers were left stranded in the Philippines after a charter flight to Jeju Island departed empty.

The tourists, mostly residents of Jeju, were on a four-day trip to the Philippines and expected to leave for Jeju at 4:30 p.m. on Monday but the Royal Air Philippines flight departed four hours earlier than the scheduled time without any passengers, according to the Jeju Tourism Organization on Wednesday.

As a result, around 170 travelers who were supposed to return to Jeju after a trip that began on Feb. 28 were unable to return on time and only arrived in Jeju on Wednesday afternoon.

Kim, a 55-year-old passenger who disembarked from Royal Air Philippines flight RW242 at Jeju International Airport at 5:02 p.m. on Tuesday, said he suffered a loss of over 5 million won ($3,475) due to missing two days of work.

"The departure time was clearly stated as 4:30 p.m. on March 3 on my e-ticket," said Kim. "I wasted both my money and time."

"It seems like the airline and the Philippine travel industry have no sense of time,” said Yang, a 61-year-old passenger. “Since I was visiting my wife’s family in the Philippines, I wasn’t too inconvenienced, but others must have had a tough time."

An elementary school student expressed disappointment, saying, "I couldn’t attend my school entrance ceremony on Tuesday."

Passengers of Royal Air Philippines flight RW242 coming out of the waiting room at the Jeju International Airport on March 5. [CHOI CHOONG-IL]

The passengers who finally arrived at their destination had to stay in Manila for an extra two days before they could return.

The travel agency was transporting travelers to the airport at the time when the flight departed early but upon realizing the situation, the agency turned back and returned the travelers to their accommodation.

The incident is attributed to a failure in communication between the Jeju travel agency, the local travel agency in the Philippines and the airline.

The Jeju travel agency was responsible for attracting travelers, while the local travel agency in the Philippines handled the itinerary and coordination of flight schedules with the airline. The Jeju-based travel agency claimed it followed the flight schedule provided by the airline.

"From the beginning, the scheduled departure time for the return charter flight was 4:30 p.m. local time, and this was also stated on the flight tickets,” said a staffer from the travel agency that offered the travel package. “The Philippine travel agency and Royal Air are currently investigating the exact cause of the issue."

The airline, however, maintains that there was no change in the charter flight schedule and that the travel agency had simply misunderstood the time.

The flight was the first charter operation launched by the Korea Tourism Organization this year to attract foreign tourists, and transport Korean travelers to. Six charter flights were planned for the year, supported by incentives from the Jeju local government and Jeju Tourism Organization. The flights are a collaboration between Jeju and Philippine travel agencies.

BY CHOI CHOONG-IL, KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]