CASE DIGEST
I. CAPTION
G.R. No. 138334. August 25, 2003
ESTELA L. CRISOSTOMO, petitioner, vs. the Court of Appeals and CARAVAN
TRAVEL & TOURS INTERNATIONAL, INC., respondents.
II. FACTS
Crisostomo contracted the services Caravan Travel and Tours International, Inc. to
arrange and facilitate her booking, ticketing and accommodation in a tour dubbed “Jewels of
Europe”. Petitioner was given a 5% discount on the amount, which included airfare, and the
booking fee was also waived because petitioner’s niece, Meriam Menor, was respondent
company’s ticketing manager. Pursuant to said contract, Menor went to her aunt’s residence
on June 12, 1991, a Wednesday to deliver petitioner’s travel documents and plane tickets.
Petitioner, in turn, gave Menor the full payment for the package tour. Menor then told her to
be at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Saturday, two hours before her
flight on board British Airways. Without checking her travel documents, petitioner went to
NAIA on Saturday, June 15, 1991, to take the flight for the first leg of her journey from
Manila to Hong Kong. To petitioner’s dismay, she discovered that the flight she was
supposed to take had already departed the previous day. She learned that her plane ticket was
for the flight scheduled on June 14, 1991. She thus called up Menor to complain.
Subsequently, Menor prevailed upon petitioner to take another tour the “British Pageant”.
She gave respondent partial payment and commenced the trip in July 1991. Upon petitioner’s
return from Europe, she demanded from respondent the reimbursement of P61,421.70,
representing the difference between the sum she paid for “Jewels of Europe” and the amount
she owed respondent for the “British Pageant” tour. Despite several demands, respondent
company refused to reimburse the amount, contending that the same was non-refundable.
Petitioner was thus constrained to file a complaint against respondent for breach of contract
of carriage and damages.
III. ISSUE
Whether or not, Caravan Travel and Tours, as a travel agency, is required to exercise
extraordinary diligence within the purview of a common carrier?
