News
Philippines accuses AirAsia MOVE of the “unauthorised sale of air tickets” in the country
June 3rd 2025
The Philippines Department of Transportation (DOTr) has issued AirAsia MOVE a cease and desist letter alleging the booking platform engaged in the “unauthorised sale of airline tickets for carriers in the Philippines at prices exceeding the approved fare structures” established by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). Read More » The government cited a case where AirAsia MOVE sold a ticket for a Philippine Airlines flight from Tacloban to Manila at more than three times the price when booked directly on the carrier’s website. “Clearly, this is just absurd, and actually criminal,” Philippines transportation secretary, Vince Dizon, told local media. AirAsia MOVE CEO, Nadia Omer, said the booking platform was cooperating with the Filipino government to uphold transparent and fair pricing, noting it did not manually set or manipulate airfares. “As an online travel agency, MOVE displays flight inventory and pricing data as provided by its authorised upstream suppliers, including third-party aggregators and global distribution systems,” Omer said. “The discrepancies in fare displays for certain routes, including domestic flights operated by Philippine Airlines, were caused by temporary data synchronization issues with flight pricing partners. This technical discrepancy caused by the third-party provider is not isolated to MOVE as it also affected other booking platforms across the industry.”
