G.R. No.

124110

April 20, 2001

UNITED AIRLINES, INC., Petitioner vs. COURT OF APPEALS, ANICETO FONTANILLA, in his personal capacity and in behalf of his minor son MYCHAL ANDREW FONTANILLA, Respondents. FACTS: Aniceto Fontanilla bought from United Airlines, through the Philippine Travel Bureau in Manila, three Visit the U.S.A. tickets from himself, his wife nd his minor son, !"ch l, to #isit the cities of $ shington %C, Chic go nd &os Angeles. All All flights had been confirmed previously by United Airlines. ' #ing used the first cou(on to %C nd while t the $ shington %ulles Air(ort, Aniceto ch nged their itiner r", ( id the (en lt" for rewriting their tickets nd w s issued tickets with corres(onding bo rding ( sses with the words: Check)in) re*uired. The" were then set to le #e but were denied bo rding bec use the flight w s o#erbooked. The A ruled that private respondents! failure to comply "ith the chec#$in re%uirement "ill not defeat his claim as the denied boarding rules "ere not complied "ith applying the la"s of the U&A, relying on the ode of Federal Regulation Part on 'versales of the U&A. (&&U)* +', the -)./* ,o. According to the doctrine of 0le1 loci contractus2, the la" of the place "here a contract is made or entered into governs "ith respect to its nature and validity, obligation and interpretation shall govern. This has been said to be the rule even though the place "here the contract "as made is different from the place "here it is to be performed. -ence, the court should apply the la" of the place "here the airline tic#et "as issued, "here the passengers are residents and nationals of the forum and the tic#et is issued in such &tate by the defendant airline. Therefore, although, the contract of carriage "as to be performed in the United &tates, the tic#ets "ere purchased through petitioner!s agent in Manila. (t is true that the tic#ets "ere 3re"ritten3 in /. ., ho"ever, such fact did not change the nature of the original contract of carriage entered into by the parties in Manila. A is correct in applying the la"s of U&A.