Philippine Airlines (PAL) 3 hrs. late - promised to arrange new connecting flight, then refused San Francisco California

I scheduled a flight with Philippine Airlines for August 10th Manila time, and paid for a Non-Stop flight from San Francisco, CA to Manila. The plane was almost an hour late arriving in San Francisco. I thought it would be okay because I scheduled my connecting flight from Manila for more than 2 hours after the scheduled arrival in Manila. Then Philippine Airlines rerouted the plane to Japan because they said they needed to avoid a volcanic ash cloud from Russia. So my non-stop flight ended up having a 2 hour stop in Japan and arrived in Manila over 3 hours late, causing me to miss my connecting flight. The airline personnel told me that the airline would arrange for another connecting flight when I got to Manila. I had my husband call Philippine Airlines to be sure it was arranged while I flew from Japan to Manila. Their customer dis-service assured my husband that they would coordinate with Cebu Pacific to get me on another flight that day. My grandfather who raised me, had passed away and I was on my way to make funeral arrangements and settle hospital bills. My grandmother, who also raised me, was dying as well and I needed to be there as soon as I could get there.

When I arrived at Manila, the counter help refused to help me with anything. They would not coordinate with Cebu Pacific to arrange another flight. They would not pay for a hotel if I needed to stay the night. They would not even print a "Delayed Flight Manifest" to present to Cebu Pacific showing the late flight. We spent 5 hours trying to work this out with absolutely no help or compassion on the airlines part. 

I paid for a non-stop flight I didn't recieve. The airlines habitual tardiness caused me to miss my connecting flight, costing me hundreds of dollars more for a ticket I had already paid for. On top of all that, at San Francisco, they charged me an additional $150 for a small carry on bag because they said it was overweight, even though the airline from Salt Lake City to San Francisco didn't charge me, nor did Cebu Pacific. After I paid the extra $150 carry one fee, I noticed that most people were leaving their bags with strangers while they checked in so they didn't have to pay. Many of those bags and boxes were much larger than allowable.

After this happened, I researched other airline complaint sites, and the fllight delays seem to be the norm for Philippine Airlines, as well as the lies and non-existant customer service. They were polite, but absolutely no help at all. This was the most frustrating experience I have ever had with a company. I would advise other travelers to avoid them at all costs.