Cebu Pacific Flight Delays — Is this CHRONIC???

124 Responses

1. i was bumped off last year to attend my mom’s wake because they overbooked their flight. i was so pissed off but eventually after a free lunch, priority seating and waiver of overweight baggage i eventually made my flight in the afternoon. i hate the wait at the terminal.

   i then wrote to the inquirer consumer column a scathing article about their ineptitude whereby it was published and after a few days the article went out, the cebu pac called to give me a free ticket (as long as i waive my right to sue their sorry asses off)

   their service sucks really.

2. suggestion ko lang, forward this to all the daily broadsheets…

3. I don’t think I’ll be taking Cebu Pacific when I go to Davao. I loathe flight delays! Ugh! Thanks for sharing this MM. I second juls…maybe you should send this piece to the newspapers =)

4. Sadly we dont have much options when it comes to domestic flights. Honestly I have only tried CP once since PAL was fully booked, that lone experience was too bad. I have never tried CP again even if it is cheaper and I can even still get it at the lowest price possible since a relative works in the company. PAL isnt great at all but good enough for me, I dont expect too much anyway. For now I stick to my Miles.

5. I flew Cebupac in June to Dumaguete. The flight there was an hour and 40 minutes late (it was the first flight out), and the flight to Manila was an hour late. Im facing another CP flight for a quick turn around trip this August. Shudder.

6. You are still lucky that you only got a delayed flight. My nephew and his family and a group of friends were bumped off. They were early in the airpot for their flight to Kalibo for Boracay, only to be told that their flight will be delayed for 2 hours, then two hours came and still no flight. They made them wait till 3pm and they patiently waited until they announced that the flight will resume the ff day for the reason that the plane that they were supposed to ride in didnt arrive on time from Cebu because of technical difficulties. Pissed off, my nephew demanded for a refund of their ticket but the manager on duty of Cebu Pacific, tried to settle the issue by offering them a free overnite stay at a cheap hotel near the airport and a free one way ticket to the visayas valid for one year. All passengers just took the offer kesa daw walang mangyari. And besides even if you sue, knowing how how justice system works, sige na lang. How pathetic! So helpless! Kakainis. This happened only last February 12, 2007. Cebu Pacific, you get one peso service for their P1 for Juan and Juan for all promo, now everybody can fly, superdelay nga lang, where you get to spend one whole day in the airport, parusa.

7. Actually, they’re all the same. As with telecom companies, you have no choice really but to simply opt for the less evil at the time you need their services.

   Nevertheless, I couldn’t agree with you more. All that waiting is an absolute loss of many a productive man-hours. If passengers are penalized for late arrivals, so must these corporations be penalized for lousy service (e.g. delayed flights). Afterall, any backlash in any of the passengers’ schedules due to delayed departures and/or arrivals has a subsequent negative effect on their and their organisations’ productivity; and eventually, the country’s economy.

   So, how to translate passengers’ legitimate complaints and grievances into practicable law?

8. OMG i had the worst experience last May when my friends and I went to Boracay. Since we’re a group of college kids, we opted to take CP flight than spend more bucks on PAL. Our flight was supposed to leave at 3 PM so we still had ample time to ride the van to kalibo and get to boracay before the sun completely sets. imagine our shock when our flight got delayed for 2 hours. two hours!!

   not just that. i find the airport kind of irresponsible too. since our flight got delayed, the tv set flashing the flight schedules stopped showing our flight details. AS IN NOTHING. as if our plane already flew and left us. we were in super panic mode. we really complained our asses off at the airport. they gave us a lousy excuse that the computer automatically disregards the flight because it’s long overdue..

   another thing, i think it should be imperative that CP give free snacks after looooooong delays.

   when we got to Kalibo it was already dark, so we were a little scared of the van ride and really scared of the boat ride. thank god we got to boracay safely in one piece.

9. I booked a roundtrip ticket to Singapore last March because the fare was soooo cheap. I spent less on airfare than a friend did for tickets to Boracay. The Manila-Singapore flight was delayed for an hour & the return flight was (drum rolls please…)almost 3 hours late from the orig sked of 12 am.If we weren’t travelling with a 1 yr old baby it would have been great, since my travelmates and I were desperate to freeze time and stay in Singapore longer. However the kid was getting cranky-ier by the minute and so the delay became less of a “blessing” for us adults. Despite the delays though I admit I’ll still fly CebuPac on my next trip because of the rates. It will be so much better though if they give us better service along with good rates.

10. Over the last three months I’ve flown Cebu Pacific to Legaspi, Bohol and Hong Kong. Flights were pseudo on time, with delays of 30 minutes to an hour for all flights (longest delay was for the international one). It’s come to a ridiculous point where if they arrive according to their scheduled time you almost feel grateful …

11. So sorry to hear about that…I think a cheap/budget fare should not equate to bad service(and not give a damn about it)and much more if you pay premium. We took Cebu Pacific a couple of years back to Cebu and we were lucky then..in fact we were impressed with the in-flight service and they were ahead of their schedule. It was a fun flight. I never thought their service would go from good to bad. People lose a lot of productivity time in road traffic and now, by air travel na rin…now that is pitiful! They should clean up their acts before they lose their customers even the simple juans who go by their budget fares.

12. my family left for palawan just this morning and their flight was on time. hopefully they will be as lucky for their return flight on monday =)

13. My boyfriend and I went to Singapore in June and the flight was on time. Then again, it *was* Singapore, and you know how they’re such sticklers for rules…

14. I am with you on this! Annoying and irritating waiting at the terminal switching seat when it gets uncomfortable and spending hard earned money at over priced food at the terminal.

15. I’ve flown Cebu Pacific twice. First time in late 2005, for HK trip. Flight left on time but I was appalled with how the check-in staff treated passengers, especially the OFWs. They were extremely rude! I was shocked that we were only served juice and a sandwich, I was hungry pa naman. I didn’t know they didn’t serve full meals. The flight from HK-MNL also left on time, but at that time there was a storm in HK. My friends flying PAL were delayed by an hour. Kami on time pero I was a little worried bec. of the weather. Next time was summer of 2006, to Kalibo naman with friends. Flights were on time but it’s really a hassle to get through their hotline. It’s rather unfortunate that I’ve been hearing mostly complaints regarding their service since mid-2006. I salute them for making travel more affordable but I hope they learn to balance their service. Mura nga, ang dami namang problema. Now I’m reluctant to take Cebu Pacific, I think I’m better off with PAL. At least I get full meals and slightly better terminal.

16. Dear Marketman,

    Get over it. I’m not a big fan of PAL. Afterall a friend told me that PAL stands for Pilipino Always Late. LOL

17. OH, NO… We are booked to fly CP to BKK next month — no choice, since I am using NW mileage and that’s the Asian airline they’re aligned with. They’re also the cheapest. I’ve flown them once before and was satisfied. But now I’m worried. Even a slight delay would be a big inconvenience, because the flight arrives in BKK after 1 am (therefore I would be putting out my friend picking me up from the airport), and leaves from there at around the same time, too (no inconvenience to friends, but a HUGE hassle on us, because we’d have to stay awake till dawn). It looks like prayers will be required more than usual… :-(

18. Katrina et al, it seems the international flights tend to leave more on time than domestic. I suspect it is because they only do a few flights to each international destination, and landing rights, times, etc. are more difficult to mess with. So overall, they seem to be doing better on the international routes. Jdawgg, PAL, used to stand for Plane Always Late, not Pilipino Always Late, and that acronym was used say 10+ years ago. As I said in the post, I flew PAL 60+ times last year and less than 15% of flights were late, that is my FACTUAL experience as a passenger. And yes, I don’t think they are God’s gift to airlines either but it is the lesser of two evils at this point. If I could find reliable data, I would PUBLISH the on-time or delay performance for each carrier on the Manila-Cebu route and the fare they charge, then folks could choose how much they want to save versus the probability they will be twiddling their thumbs. But the only published on-time data I can find are samples, not entire schedules…

19. I work in Singapore, I went home last April and I booked with Cebu Pacific. My flight was delayed for 2 hours, so instead of leaving at 12:50am (red eye flight) we left at 2:50am. That was annoying because it was only changed when I’ve already checked in and it was too late to inform the driver we hired about the change in my flight schedule. I even checked their site for flight times prior to leaving my house! My mom and the driver ended up waking up at an ungodly hour and waited for me for almost 3 hours.

20. This is not related to Cebu Pacific or PAL, but I something I’ve been wanting to ask for some time.

    The last 2-3 times I went home to visit, I found myself on the receiving end of several people using “Madam”, pronounced “Ma-Dam!”… as in “Hello. Ma-dam, pakausap nga kay xxxx” or “Oy, Ma-dam, kamusta ka na?” or “Ma-dam! Pirma ka nga rito”.

    Personally I found it offensive. However, I held my tongue. I have been away from home for many years, for all I know this is the “modern” way of expressing politeness among Manilenos.

    So my question is… what is this trend of using “Madam” all about?

21. I have flown Cebu Pacific for several years now and the flights have generally been on time — but that may be because I usually fly early morning. Once, though, my 5 a.m. flight was delayed by almost an hour to wait for a single passenger. You can imagine how very noisy everyone else complained! When the tardy passenger arrived (male Caucasian), the cabin erupted in sarcastic cheers and hoots. Still don’t understand why they let that happen. The one time I took a late afternoon flight, it was delayed by 45 minutes. No announcement or apology.

    My sister has similar experiences of late departures during daytime domestic flights, and a two-hour delay returning from Singapore. Again, no announcement or apology.

    And MM, I agree their rates for snacks/drinks are ridiculous. Fifty pesos for a bottle of water! And we don’t have a choice since we’re not allowed to bring in our own water into the terminal.

    But whilst I value my time and HATE waiting at the terminal, I still intend to fly Cebu Pacific. Bottom line for me is the price, and just minimise risk by continuing to take early morning flights. I just wish they’d stop bragging (lying) about on-time arrivals.

22. Glad some people are leaving on time, yes, I encourage all readers to post a comment on their CP experiences, it is much more representative then… bluegirl, to be honest, I haven’t noticed the Madam reference, but then again, I would hope they wouldn’t call me that… :) Ivyjelly, that is an interesting departure time because the Manila airport runway is CLOSED I believe from 1 am to 4 am I think, so that schedule just gets them to Manila as it is opening…

23. I’ve only flown via Cebu Pacific once, and that was 10 years ago. 3 weeks after that flight, a plane crash occured. I’ve never flown via Cebu Pacific since.

    This is rather disappointing, considering Lance Gokongwei won last year’s Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Cebu Pacific.

24. hi! i totally agree with you. Cebu Pacific Airlines’ service sucks big time. i am a frequent cebu pacific passenger (tacloban-manila), and i noticed that ever since they had the cheap fares promo their flights have experienced delays and over booking.

    however, i think delayed flights are nothing compared to my recent experience with them last 12 june 2007. i will not go into details because i dont want to relive the trauma. but this may be regarded as an isolated case, wherein the tacloban ground crew of cebu pacific was inefficient, arrogant and unprofessional in handling a cancelled flight. i wrote a written complaint to the management, and they sent a reply promising to conduct an investigation and to institute disciplinary action on the crew.

    my sister and mom also had an unpleasant experience with them. they flew cebu pacific from bangkok to manila last 5 july 2007. upon arrival here in manila, the passengers were informed that half of their baggage was left in thailand. the baggage will be brought to manila via thai airways ten hours later. cebu pac did not apologize nor gave an explanation for the incident. worse, when the passengers demanded that the baggage be delivered to their respective houses, cebu pac declined saying that since this is a budget flight, they will not deliver. haay!

    anyways, the lesson that we learned from these two experiences (because it topped all of our bad experience with them) is never to fly cebu pac again.

25. i’ve been taking cebu pacific 3-4 years already both domestic and international and my flight has only been late once .. and that was because the runway in manila was under construction..

    i also believe that cebu pacific has made traveling more accessible to more people and i for one am grateful for that.

26. three irritating reasons for flight delay:
    1. when a VIP (read: politician) is on board and everybody has to wait for him/her to finish their meeting so the plane can leave
    2. when half of the passengers get to the terminal 45 minutes before the flight
    3. plane overbooking: there is too little time in between flights
    this is why i try to call the airline before i leave the house if the flight will be delayed.

27. Had a CP flight nightmare last Feb. We were scheduled to take a 6 PM flight from Iloilo to Manila. We ended up leaving at around 9 PM!!! That was the last time I flew CP. They can have all th promos they want but MY time is more important to me. I have switched back to PAL eversince. The low fares just isn’t worth it.
    My folks would tell me that we always get what we pay for— low fare, bad service.

    Wish CP can rise above that and offer the public a better and wiser alternative— low fare and prompt, efficient service.

    So far, I think that they are helping PAL’s business by making PAL look more efficient and trust-worthy.

28. My internat flights on Ceu pac to/from Hk were both on time
    but i had to wait 1 hour in their Cebu Fuente Osmena office to reconfirm my ticket because the counter staff were too busy talking to each other and doing their nails
    I think I’ll print out this blog+comments and mail it to the chairman LG-with a HK stamp it might get thru to God himself

29. Jdawgg, like MM said, it’s “PLANE always late” and NOT “PILIPINO always late”. By all means, all Filipinos should be aware of what is wrong with us then let us address these issues and problems. But whatever problems we have does not justify such demeaning general statements. The planes are late and the people behind their operations are responsible for all these troubles. It doesn’t mean to say that all Filipinos are late at just about everything. Open your eyes and your heart to the rest of your country men and the rest of the Philippines if you haven’t yet. Then perhaps, you will become a little bit more discerning about ourselves.

    Trish, tama ka.

30. This morning I actually had a conversation with my husband if we should take Cebu Pacific to HK.. Your post is so timely as we are ready to book.. WE WILL DEFINITELY NOT! Last April, we were in Cebu with friends. To make a long story short, when we got to the airport to return to Manila, those of us on PAL were on time and those on the Cebu Pacific flight were two hours delayed. Not to mention they were delayed on their way to Cebu as well! Last week a friend of mine was on a Cebu Pacific flight from Bangkok which leaves at 1am, she was delayed two hours and left past 3am… Can you imagine, 3AM!!!

31. Bluegirl, Yes, “Madame” has become a common way for servicepeople or staff to address women; it IS considered polite. Not sure how or when it started, though it might have something to do with Imelda Marcos insisting she be called “Madame” during their time. I suspect that people began using the term almost as a parody, until it became mainstream. A friend of mine was so offended by being called “Madame” by a salesgirl that she told her to stop; then another salesgirl approached and called her that, too! As we left the shop, they instinctively said, “Thank you, Madame!” My friend was fuming! I explained to her that it really is no different from being called the usual “Ma’am” (another misused term here) but for some reason she just hated — as you do — “Madame” more.

    My own pet peeve is how people use “Ms.” as a form of respect, in particular as a prefix for mature or award-winning actresses. You see this most often on movie credits — everyone else’s name is plainly-written, then you’ll see, e.g., “Ms. Maricel Soriano.” If they want to give her even more respect, they’ll put her at the end of all the names, then say, “AND Ms. Maricel Soriano.” HUH?!?!?!

32. I took CP when I went back to Singapore and the flight was delayed by over an hour. A few weeks later, my mom and sister visited and their flight from MNL-SG was delayed by an hour as well. Their return flight was worse, though. The SG-MNL flight was delayed by nearly three hours.

33. MM, when i went to Cebu last april, I swore that that Cebu Pacific Flight will be my first and last flight with them!… i was travelling with 3 kids in tow arrived at the desk just in time ( i guessed it was even a bit earlier) but we were refused and denied seats BUT the foreigner was accepted and given seats!!!! I politely requested for their consideration but the guy who was the desk manager I think was being so unreasonable, so I asked for their night manager – whatever they call it and he glared at me so I raised my voice as well!!! even the guys at the gate was wondering why we were not accepted.. my BIL was so mad but what to do? So I queued at the reservation office to get seats on the first morning flight which is 5am?? and paid extra fees as we were late ???? we didn’t go back home we stayed at the airport (and yes, with 3 kids in tow!) and would you believe, while waiting at the boarding area,I noticed that it was already 15min to (supposed) departure but they are still waiting for passenger and desk is still open??!?!?! grrr…even the kidos with me noticed that too!
    anyways – i swear – CEBU PACIFIC – that is my last flight with you!!!!

34. We went to Bohol last April via Cebu Pacific. The flight to Bohol was on time. However, the flight back was two hours delayed. Thank goodness for cellphones and vacation leaves. We were able to call home ahead of time to inform them of the delay. And since we were on vacation, the delay was more tolerable. We didn’t have to rush off anywhere after we landed.

    But yes, it was such a waste of (precious) time!

35. Why would being addressed as Madame be so offensive? Is it because of its association with a former first lady? It’s just the French equivalent of Mrs. (or Mistress, and Ma’am, incidentally, is a contraction of Madame). Unless of course you are still a Mademoiselle, in which case you have to correct the offender, perhaps by saying Hoy! Miss pa po ako! ;P

36. I was reading this post early this morning with much interest since i frequently travel myself, but since i always take PAL i never really had much to contribute to the matter. but i met with a cousin for dinner who took Cebu Pacific flight from Bangkok last night, and lo and behold… it was delayed for almost 4 hours!! Originally scheduled to leave at 1 am, they took off at almost 4 am! They mentioned that they wouldn’t have minded the delay but there wasn’t even any consideration at all for the passengers. No flight announcement at all which made them wonder if the plane took off without them. This really is a very serious issue and i think the management should do something soon, otherwise the multi million budget they spend on advertising their low fares will all be for naught.

37. ooops, i meant almost delayed for almost 3 hours

38. I took a Cebu Pacific flight to Cebu from Iloilo last February — they have one flight out and it was 2 hours late.

    My mother in-law took Cebu Pacific from Manila to Iloilo last June and that flight was late too.

    Regarding the PAL vs Cebu Pacific fares — I’ve discovered that, if you are lucky and you book early enough, you can get a PAL ticket for about PhP100 to PhP200 more than Cebu Pacific. Considering how little the difference is, and how much more comfortable Terminal 3 is, I always get PAL. In a pinch, I take Air Philippines.

    About Cebu Pacific refunds, I’m still waiting for refunds which I applied for A YEAR AGO. I hope you get your refund faster than I me.

39. My dad took a Cebu Pacific flight from Bacolod yesterday and yes, the flight was delayed too. Reading the horror stories here, I am thankful his flight was only delayed by an hour. My father’s not exactly that young anymore and I wouldn’t want him sitting alone in the airport for three hours!

40. I booked a round trip connecting flight from legaszpi-manila-aklan a few months ago. the flight from legazpi was on time but the one from manila to aklan, we had to wait for about an hour. i don’t know why. there was no hitch on the way back

41. This problem is common with budget airlines.They are able to make a profit even though the fare is cheap because they maximize the number of flights their plane can make in a day. If one sector is delayed depending oh how long there will be a domino effect of delayed arrivals/departures on the subsequent flights that the affected aircraft still has to accomplish. My flight from SIN last week was only delayed by one hour, better than the 3 hours delay I had with my Hanoi to BKK trip on board Air Asia.

42. Budget airlines are supposed to give “no-frills service” not “bad service.” Frills are stainless cutlery (as opposed to plastic), having your food served on china, hot towels, and other such non-essentials. Heck, they can even do away with hot food altogether! But leaving on time according to the published scheduled is by no means a frill. Accuracy is demanded on all businesses, even more so from airlines. When you order steak from a restaurant, you expect steak not chicken, no matter how cheap the prices are. When you buy a 5:00 am ticket from an airline, it better leave at 5:00 am! On time departures should be the rule no matter how cheap the ticket.

43. for some weird reason our mnl-ceb and ceb-mnl flights always get delayed. and it really gets annoying since we always book the last flight out (ceb-mnl), only to find ourselves stuck in the airport for 3 HOURS because of some delay. apparently it seems like they collapse the last two flights to just one flight, so i think one is better off booking the LAST flight out.

    i had a much better experience with PAL. our mnl-bacolod flight got delayed for two hours, and they were responsible enough to serve refreshments (hotdog sandwich and a can of softdrinks) to the passengers.

44. Katrina, thanks for the explanation. I will keep it mind the next time someone calls me Madame.

    Chris, I was pondering on why I found it so offensive since it was meant to be polite. I think it comes from the tone of the speaker. Unfortunately for me, the times I heard this, the speaker would say it in the tone & manner that was familiar, like we are long-time friends. You could replace the “Madame” in their sentence with “Tita”, that other term from the early 90s.

45. If you think the 3 to 4 hour wait is long, wait until you try to get a refund for your ticket. 45 to 60 business days!! That on top of the wait one has to endure to talk to a CP service rep. Perhaps you really do get what you pay for.

46. richbeat is right. Here is an excerpt from an email I sent Mr. Gokongwei and crew after I googled my way to his email address:

    ….Suffice it to say that getting through these numbers are a task onto itself as they remain busy for hours on end. To be unceremoniously cut off is therefore a great source of inconvenience on my part. Allow me therefore to propose the following so as not to further inconvenience other people who, like me, have higher hopes about your company’s services:

    1)Hire more CSAs, enough to accommodate the deluge of queries that are bound to crop up in view of your expansion and promotional activities;
    2)Designate point persons who can fast-track processing of refund requests and WHO ARE ABLE TO GIVE DEFINITE ANSWERS to customer concerns:
    3)WORK HARDER.

    Thank you and I hope one of you make sure that those phone lines are not forever clogged.

    Also, I emailed you before and it took about two weeks before a reply was made. I hope you guys do better this time.

    Thank you very much.

    FULL STOP.

    I got my refund after a week :) Seven months of waiting and a freaking email….

47. Oh yes yes! Cebu Pacific has disappointed me and my family countless times because of delay. I hope they could improve their service soon. It’s a waste because they have a good advantage over PAL, what, with the pricing scheme, the online ticketing, new aircrafts, and all. I also agree they should do refunds sooner, I haven’t got mine which is a standing order from almost a year ago. Hope this gets to them.

48. Joyce, are you KIDDING me? One year to get a refund? That is horrific?! Seven months for bambooshootjr in the comment above? Yikes. I wish I could give you Mr. Gokongwei’s email but I can’t as it was given to me privately. Look him up as bambooshootjr has and managed to find his email address…geez, all of you guys waiting for refunds for more than 45 days…I would go ape… :(

49. I had a very nightmare-ish experience with cebu pacific! Last year, I got this really cheap manila-shanghai tour package to visit my sister(she’s based there). Since I am from cebu, I still had to book a flight to manila. Since my manila-shanghai was scheduled at 7am, I took the earliest cebu-manila flight (via CP) at 3am thinking that if there would be an hour delay, I could still catch my shanghai flight! Upon checking in at the CP counter, I was told that there was indeed an hour delay (which I wasnt surprised at all!). I asked the CP guy if he was sure that it’s only an hour delay since I have a flight to catch at 7am! He said I still have plenty of time, and he’ll just put a priority tag on all our stuffs (he sounded really sure!)! Having heard that, it eased my worries a little… So my bro and I waited at the lounge… 4am came, still no boarding call… 5am came, still none… Finally at 6am, the PA announced for boarding! I was hoping my shanghai flight would somehow be delayed so I could still catch it(wishful thinking). Expectedly when we got to manila, our plane to shanghai already left! Not knowing anyone in Manila, we didn’t know what to do! Out return flight to cebu was still 5 days away! So we went to their office and had our tickets changed to the earliest flight to leave manila, which was 4pm. The CP guy even had us pay some fees for changing the schedule! I told them it was their fault I wasn’t able to get on my shanghai flight, and the guy didn’t give a crap! I was so pissed but I had to pay the fees or else I couldn’t go home! And surprise2x (sarcasm), the flight to cebu was delayed and we arrived cebu at 9pm! So we spent our whole day at different airports! When we arrived Cebu, we had our tickets refund, but CP said it wasn’t their fault and they wouldn’t refund anything! So I was double pissed! Talk about 98% on time -their slogan before! So basically, I lost a lot of thousands just because of CP! Not only thousands, but also time! My parents back home were worried sick that they had cancelled all their plans for the day! Really, it was a nightmare and I wish CP would do something about their system!

50. Couldn’t agree with you more. The delays are enough to drive you crazy. “Your flight is delayed due to turn around aircraft”. Does that sound familiar. Have told myself I will never again.

51. PAL has a buy 1 take 2 promo atm, hopefully this can price tickets more competitively :)

52. mm,

    i rememember when i was on a PAL flight with you to cebu few months back, and it was delayed. you had just written your rant about cebu pac then and said you were transferring your travel business to ‘reliable’ PAL from then on. while we were waiting for almost an hour in our passenger seats and they were announcing that the delay was only due to one remaining passenger, i was expecting a scathing rant from you, and i was ready to be your ‘resbak’ cause i had a hearing that morning (why doesnt PAL just leave this remaining pasenger like everyone else when we’re late for a flight!whotheheck does this VIP think he is??! the president?!?! not even she will be spared by our wrath! what an inconsiderate public official!!! schwarschwar).

    but then the lone passenger we were waiting for apparently had cerebral palsy, pitifully arriving in a wheelchair, so we just swallowed the inconvenience. and left it at that. hehehe.

    btw, pal has a promo that if you purchase a ticket now and fly in september, you get another free.

53. filet minion, I recall that flight clearly… and yes, I CAN BITE my tongue when necessary…and a late arriving wheelchair bound patient is one of those times… And if I recall correctly, that was the flight where your seatmate, a strapping young lad, dropped his breath mints all over your lap, seat and legal papers, and in true filet minion style, you asked him with doeful eyes and a less than intimidating court manner “are these mints, can I eat them?” (while popping a few into your mouth) Hahaha… I loved it. I was going to do a post on that but I think it slipped my mind then… The poor guy wanted to shrink into his seat and disappear forever… Meekerz and filet, as for the cheap PAL flights, I called. You buy one for about P4000 and get two more flights free but you pay the taxes. All in all, the effect is that the tickets only cost PHP2,600 or so each (RT) but you must already identify the dates you are flying. Not bad if you are certain, but I think I’ll just stick with the regular tickets for now… I hope your case went well! :)

54. Hello MM,
    My recent experience with CP is as follows:

    April:
    Dumaguete – Manila Delayed 2.0 hours
    Manila – Dumaguete Delayed 1 hour
    Dumaguete – Manila On time

    May:
    Manila – Cebu On time
    Cebu – Manila On time

    July:
    Butuan – Manila Delayed over an hour

    Hey,I know that it is only a snapshot but….50% success rate! Very poor for a ‘service ‘industry. In every business I have been involved in, a 50% success rate would / should see heads rolling, resignations and management clear outs.

    The trouble is that eventually flight delays and issues wear you down and you more or less accept that there are likely to be delays. If a flight departs on time it feels like a pleasant surprise which is slightly ridiculous. Actually I don’t mind CP too much – it’s Asian Spirit who drive me mad. Sorry, not trying to open up the thread here, but they really do. Virtually every flight I have ever booked with them has been delayed or cancelled.

55. Adam, I only took Asian Spirit once, from Caticlan to Manila… it was late. :(

56. It’s good you were told an estimated tiime of departure. My experience, there was no time frame nor any explanation given. The first try of the plane took off, in the middle of the runway it suddenly stopped and went back to the terminal with no explanation whatever and again (our fully booked flight)we were brought to the terminal with no explanation at all. By the way, we were given one piece chicken fastfood with bottled iced tea initially but during this return tot he terminal all food outlets and even the airport was about to close so all shops were closed. Since all flights were delayed, some of the passengers had to sit down on the floor not knowing our faith. The entire delay took over 6 hours and this could have been spent with our dying friend whom we visited – we arrived morning and leave that early evening (we could have doubled our time with her). To top it all, I still have to go home to the province from Manila for another 8 hours – I was hoping at that time there will be no more buses. By the way, they have a connecting flight and there and then they promised to give me a free ticket to our province to facilitate my going back home.

    There you go – not only was there a more than 6 hours delay which could have been spent with a dying friend, the manager that time dont even have answers as to what time we were suppose to leave, left hungry at the airport (no more food outlets), stressed by the sudden brake at the runway (sira daw pala plane – imagine they tried the plane full of people paano kung may nangyari talaga?), false promises, inconvenient airport (full packed with the 3-4 fully booked flights). Who can beat that experience?

57. Yikes! Ang daming not so good experience on CP. I am planning to travel pa naman with my friend to Kuala Lumpur this September and CP is offering very good fares in the internet thru their GO fares. Now, I am having second thoughts……..

58. Just got back from Bangkok via CP and my flight was delayed an hour going there but was on time getting back, so overall it wasn’t so bad. Just one complaint, since these Bangkok flights leave around 1:30 am, and most people are sleeping for the duration, I suggest that the cabin crew turn down the lights when hawking their refreshments. It was 2am in the morning on my flight back and the cabin lights were at full power, I guess so as to keep the passengers awake to buy their crap. I asked that the lights be dimmed but was ignored. Went to Hong Kong last May and the flights were on time.

59. By the way, I hope that these complaints will force CP to address these issues similar to what the Jet Blue CEO did on US national TV.I’m not too familiar with what happened there but I think there was a snow problem that forced the delay of several flights. Passengers were forced to wait in the planes for several hours, since disembarking them would cost Jet Blue some money. People almost rioted and forced the airline to change policies. Although I’ve had relatively good experiences with CP, they or the government should make public the performance of the airline with regards to meeting their schedules.

60. Oh how stressful. I can feel all your stress and irritation. I do hope that CP does something to improve their service. Maybe I’m just used to the delays so I try not to mind it, hehehe. My trips during the past 3 months were mostly serviced by PAL, usually delayed too and then on the last trip we had to stay on the air for 30 minutes before landing. The last part scared me as I’ve never experienced that before. I thought there was something wrong with the plane or the airport :-)

61. I hope CP cleans up their act. They have made mid income workers like me be able to travel around Asia. This would not have been possible with the expensive tickets that the other airlines offer before 5J started the local airfare war.

62. Hi MM, our family boycotted CP about 10yrs ago when my dad’s phone went swimming in a leather seat pocket with the previous passenger’s leftover soda.

    I take Airphil or PAL for my domestic travels (6x a year when I was in college). Although most flights are delayed during the peak seasons of Christmas and Holy Week, CP’s flights were the most delayed (2hrs vs. 30min on other airlines).

    I’ve tried CP again for their piso fares. Surprisingly, my BKK and CDO trips were on time.

63. Same thing here : last year we flew CP for about 5 times (Manila -Davao) all of them were delayed. The problem with CP is that they need their planes to fly the maximum amount of time per day (lets say at least 15 hrs per day) so that they could utilize it to the fullest and have enough money to pay for their brand new planes). In order to do that they created additional routes and increased flight frequencies. So a flight delay during the first flight of the day will certainly create a domino effect that will continue througout…So now I Fly PAL…

64. I totally agree with MarketMan. The only time CP pacific left on time is when its the first flight out. Just last week my officemates and I flew to Cebu… to and fro… the flight was delayed…2 hours! we were so hungry when we got to Cebu and we got back to Manila.

65. Man, why am I not surprised with your horrifying experiences with the sh*ttiest airline ever existed in this planet?

    And, I think we were on the same flight? Jul 10 I took Cebu Pac (unfortunately since I bought the ticket during their promo) which was supposed to leave at 6:45AM. I wasn’t really surprised when they only announced for boarding around 30minutes way past quarter to 7. And yes! They have all the nerve to announce that the flight was how-many-minutes-early. Right after hearing that lie I blurted that it was late not even early and I honestly don’t care whether their snotty FA’s dressed in cheap Bench poloshirt and khaki skirt hear it. Quite loud enough for the other passengers on the other side to hear it and commented the same thing.

    And, that’s not the end of it. I was supposed to take the 10:15AM flight to Manila 2 mondays ago. When I called their head office to chance my booking, the agent informed me that the supposedly 10:15AM flight I’m supposed to take was moved to 12:15PM.

    Not to mention their staff are so damn proud that the company they’re working for has a lot of lawsuits. I really don’t know if the guy I argued with is just plain stupid or simply said this just to say “something” atleast.

66. And, may I add:

    PAL and Air Phil airfares are way cheaper than Cebu Pacific by a few hundreds.

    Is Lance Gokongwei aware that these things are actually happening in his company?!

67. I am never one to gripe or complain at several incidents but when the incidents keep piling up then i think a stand ha sto be made.

    I regularly used both PAL, Air Phil & Cebu pacific of course cost wise Cebu Pacific was lowest and Ok max 1 hour flights one never needs luxuries, any seat will do even a jump seat for that matter.

    However i stuck to Cebu Pacific due to lower fares than the other two, but i find that Cebu pacific is always late, especially when im booked with them, i tend to call and inquire before i leave for the airport, and they say it’s on time for departure or arrival.

    having arrived at the airport 2 hours prior to departure to HK we were delayed for a good 3 hours thereby missing our connection to Europe.

    that night i vowed never to use Cebu Pacific again
    But the cost outweighs the trouble, so it seems i end up using the Cebu manila cebu route far more with Cebu pacific.

    I wish the management was more passenger focussed than profits focussed which is the fact, as they also charge a hefty 50P for water and drinks which are just 10P in actual retail, but when a passenger needs water for medicines etc and dont have change then what, be human, of course profitability is always an issue here.

    I find the average Filipinos are so apt never to complain or say a harsh word even though they may suffer silently.

    I think it’s time we all do whether we are born n bred Filipinos of any origin, it is a basic human right to expect a good helpful service, and apologetic announcements are welcome.

    i say to Cebu Pacific management wake up to a good service or in time you may be extinct too, so many of similar setup like yours have floundered over time.

    Dont treat the indigenous population as stupid, they have feelings too.

68. My uncle’s flight was delayed 6 hours, he is supposed to fly in from Cebu to Manila at 5:30pm, but Cebu Pac said they have a problem with their plane (as in may sira daw), and eventually they were able to fly only at 11:30pm already.. and he got in Manila at 12:30am na, imagine, naka-rest na sana siya..

    He got a free one-way ticket though..

69. my friends and I were discussing Cebu pacific (I, of course was telling them to check MM site for the other comments).

    Then one of my friends said that during a flight to Davao, instead of the snacks that they give out, they were each given P100 pesos each. YES, in cash.

    unbelievable. tsk. tsk.

70. those delayed issues were so long happened even before their EVERY JUAN FLIES lllaaattteeeeeeee. what is chronic today is that their refunds will go a loooooooooooong long time. are they using our money to buy their upcoming ATR planes? hope not.

71. good news to everyone!

    PAL now has a new and good booking engine.
    easy and secure. see you in pal. bye cebu pacific air.
    you’re so more than daing.

72. i’ve flown with air asia and tiger asia for asian trips…they’re both budget airlines like cebu p.we even got the P 0 fare of air asia …didnt think anybody can top the P1 fare promo of CP….and guess what…all our flights left on time and arrived at our destinations ahead of schedule…

    being a budget airline or giving out promos doesnt give any company excuse for sloppy or non-existent service

73. Indeed, i was in cebu pacific flight last July 26 and it was a maddenning experience. I was supposed to leave CEbu at 9PM bound for manila and it was delayed until finally we left at 11:30 PM. Can u imagine? it’s halfway my travelling time to Baguio City from Manila……
    Victory Liner is even better as they are on time!!!! lol

74. My boyfriend and I booked 2 tickets from Cebu to Singapore last week. We decided to change these to fly out of manila. They charged us 30000 pesos for the privilege.
    The website also was unable to take UK issued visa cards meaning we had to ring the ‘customer service’ desk each time. We often had the phone put down on us and found the service terrible.
    When we finally got the tickets booked, we went to the airport to be told the ticket was cancelled by the company as we hadnt confirmed the ticket by 3 oclock that afternoon (which they hadnt asked us to do).
    Multiple emails and phone calls later and they are unwilling to help us in anyway. Having travelled extensively throughout Asia and Europe on budget carriers, I have never seen service like this.

75. I was born in Cebu but grew up in Manila. Almost yearly, my parents and I go back to Cebu for a few weeks for a reunion with the clan. From Sulpicio Lines (katakot pa kasi ang PAL noon) until 1992, we tried PAL, then GrandAir, then Cebu Pacific nung mga year 2000.

    During the days of their DC-9 fleet, lahat ng flights namin were always on-time. And an aviation enthusiast, I know that those DC-9s are very very safe basta well-maintained.

    The only delay during this time was nung May 2005. 40 minutes delay MNL-CEB. Pero nung pauwi na, CEB-MNL was on time.

    When I went to HK last November 2006, I also took Cebu Pacific, but this time, on an A320. MNL-HKG and HKG-MNL were both on time.

    However, the nightmare for me began just recently… April 2007. MNL-CEB was delayed by 1 hour according to the announcement, but it was actually 2 hours. 5 days lang ang vacation ko nun and already I wasted 2 hours. Then, nung pauwi na, CEB-MNL was announced na 15 minutes delayed lang daw. So instead na 9:00pm, 9:15pm dapat. 9:30pm na, wala pang announcement. Nung 9:40pm, they announced na 11:30pm na daw ang departure. Boarding was done at 11:45pm. 12:00mn na (and may work pa ko ng 8am), the plane won’t depart yet because of a late Korean-looking guy. He caused further delay by standing up and calling the flight attendants in the middle of the safety demo and engine startup! 12:10am na naka-takeoff! Pati nga yung kasunod na flight namin, badly delayed na almost magkasunod na nakapila sa runway yung two planes. And take note na around 10pm ang departure time nung kasunod na yun. 12mn na din sila nakadating. And so past 1am na ko nakadating ng Manila.

    And did I say that at my age of 24, I have hypertension and heart problems? These inconveniences made my illnesses worse. I had to be sent to the hospital after a few days because of the stress and frustration.

    I had no idea that Cebu Pacific would deteriorate like this.

    Now that we’re going to Cebu again this coming September 19, I’m arguing with my mom to forego Cebu Pacific’s low fares and choose PAL instead. Nakatipid nga kami sa fare, malaki naman gagastusin namin sa hospital bills due to all the inconvenience and frustration. :(

76. its sad to read all those bad comments about our company, as a cabin attendant of cebupac, i appologize on behalf of all who works hard for the company. Let me reiterate that its not all bad experiences, i have talked to people and read a lot of good comments about cebu pacific. But this one needs serious attention.

    Reasons why our ontime performance is deteriorating:
    1. So many flights, less aircraft (4 a320-10 a319) to how many flights a day, including international flight.
    2. Ground time is only 30 mins per flight, compared before at 50 min. So if we depart 15 mins delayed, we can do the quick turnaround before (DC9 days) and still catch up. now its harder to catch up.
    3.Airport congestion. imagine 89% more guest, almost double compared before. but no expansion at manila airport.
    4.Ramp and air traffic at naia.
    5.The worst thing to happen. Aircraft on ground (AOG) or aircraft situation. This is the one creating the 2 to 3 hours delays.
    6.Other things like heavy rains at the tarmac, slow boarding and deplaning because of bad weather, because we dont have an airbridge. :O(

    And some other reasons. i think thanks to us fares have gone down dramatically in the Philippines. And thats a threat to us. Sana nga we can be the same again when it comes to on time performance. Now you all have the choice, but give us a chance to make it all up to you. if not now maybe in the near future. Thanx a lot.

77. Hmmm… I’ve only flown Cebu Pacific thrice, Manila-Kalibo (2x) and Manila-Bacolod (once), within a recent six-month period. E-ticketing was painless, new planes, all flights left on time and arrived on time.

    The only thing that irritated me were the passengers who insisted on using their cellphones while the plane was still taxiing.

    Was thinking of taking the Manila-Shanghai flight because of the very attractive ticket price, but will keep my eyes peeled for alternatives. Traveling in relative comfort and arriving on time is worth paying for naman din.

78. Haay, have the same problem with CP. Just flew in fr Davao to Manila and the last flight @ 9:55 was delayed for two hours. Can you imagine arriving in Manila early in the morning. No one from the airline staff “consoled” the tired passengers, as if it were normal to see passengers laying down, buying exorbitant priced drinks, etc. CP could have at least offered coffee to tired passengers, already lying everywhere. On top of that big frustration over the delay, a flight attendant, named Jonathan Castaneda acted very rude and arrogant. Although the flight leader apologized, as well as the pilot, he never did. Cebu Pacific wake up and straighten your acts on these delays and work ethics of your crew. One thing for sure, I’ll revert back to PAL, though they have delays, at least the members of their staff act more professional.

79. though i am also pretty disappointed with cebu pacific lately, i still can’t scratch them off completely, because they offer really cheap fares.

    reading CP experiences from other people, my feelings towards this airline may be highly due to the fact that i have not experienced anything as drastic as a three-hour flight delay.

    my worst experience in CP can be read here: https://i-gotta-go.blogspot.com/2007/07/off-to-confusing-start.html

80. No flight delays me for with 4 of my flight experience with CP = return flights to KL, Malaysia and return flights to Kalibo. Cheap airfare, what can I say?

    However, there is this troubling FACT with regards to their FAs.

    Imagine: serving passengers and catching the attention of your co-FA with “uy, girl!” Uh, hello?! Are they so at home onboard the plane that it should be treated as such with their passengers all around them? I know comfort plays a good deal in terms of work, but as professionals, i think it would be best to leave all the “girls”, “guys” and all Taglish terms and expressions outside the plane.

81. oh great. my mom insisted on taking Cebu Pacific instead of PAL. so i guess 2-3 hours delay na naman papunta and pauwi ng MNL and CEB…

    i’d better take my heart and blood pressure medication kasi for sure makukunsumisyon ako sa severe delays.

    sabagay mura naman ang fare. mapapamura ka nga lang din sa grabe ng delay.

82. Hi, my fiance and I flew CP from Manila to Hong Kong for a short holiday to celebrate my birthday. The flight was OK but the baggage handling was terrible. One of my bags had the lock cut off and a new bottle of Bvulgari stolen from just inside the bag, it was still wrapped as it was a gift for my fiance that I had brought at London Airport. They left the empty bag! On returning to Manila, there was no desk to complain, so 2 days later when I was returning to UK my fiance took me to the airport early to file a complaint,..There was no one in the CP offices on the 4th floor, the info desk in departures kept calling them and they didn’t answer the phone, I went to a CP check in desk who made out they didn’t understand the ‘raving mad’ english woman!! so in the end I reported it to the Airport Police. I have sent emails to Cebu Pacific Customer Services who have not had the curtesy to reply! To add salt to the wound, while I was in the airport waiting to come home, my credit card was being used by a fraudster to obtain p35,000 from my UK bank account! (copied at ATM at Mall of Asia on 20th Sept).
    My fiance is ashamed of the treatment the Filippinos have given to a ‘tourist’. What do I want from this? The gift replaced and delivered to Randy and baggage handlers should be reprimanded. The courtesy of a reply would be good!

83. you get what you pay for. my suggestion is, if you can, book the early AM flights or the last flights. Chances of a delay are less.

84. Dear fellow travelers,

    I can feel your woes with Cebu Pacific, as my family and are experiening since 24 of Jan 2007.

    Can anyone kindly give me information on how I can effectively deliver my message to CEO M. Lance Gokongwei, such as email addresses that he actually checks and snail-mail mail addresses? I’m afraid that writing to customer service email addresses will be fruitless as the message can be filtered.
    What should have been a pleasant conclusion to our month-long vacation in Davao has become a nightmare, due to a simple negligence in communications between their Davao staff and Cebu staff. I have no complaints against the Davao staff, but I am very furious at some Cebu staff, especially management-level people who have no inkling what customer service is all about.
    On 24th Jan 2008 our family of 6 (4 adults & 2 kids) was on the way back on Qatar via Cebu from Davao.
    After some 30 mins waiting at the departure lounge we learned that our 8:55 pm flight to Cebu will be delayed to 10:05 pm. We alerted Cebu Pacific staff that we had a connecting flight to Doha (Qatar) at 12:20 am the following day and were afraid we might not catch it.
    They advised us that we can still make it because they were arranging a special case whereby an officer at Cebu will meet us as soon as the plane landed at Mactan airport, and speed up things for us. They said they will alert Qatar Airways check-in staff not to give away our seats.
    They also listed our the tag number of all our 9 pieces check-in baggages so they would unload it in a priority basis. They said our baggaes would be waiting for us at the doorstep towards international side of the terminal.
    With that assurance we proceeded with the flight to Cebu. We started boarding at exactly 10:05 pm.
    We landed in Cebu at about 10:45 pm, but noboby came to meet us or assist us. We were lost.
    We rushed to the baggage claim area but it took us up to 11:30 pm to wait, collect and ferry our stuff from ground (arrival) floor to 2nd floor (international departure). We had to make 3 elevator trips to bring our stuff. For security reasons, we had to move them 3 times within the airport, with no trolleys offered us. No assistance from any CP staff. In short we were so tired, so angry and frustrated.
    By the time we reached the check-in counter the QA staff said loading is closed and they had given all our seats to chance passengers.
    It will be too long to tell the complete story, and details of our agony so I’ll just sum it up:
    They sent us back to Davao on 5 am flight, so no sleep for us that night and gave us Travel Vouchers for flight back to Cebu.
    Management and staff assured us they would take care of all costs of rebooking our QA flights and that management would arrange with QA our next chance to fly to Doha.
    They took the numbers of our two mobile phones as well as the landline in Davao, so they could update us.
    I learned that the root of the whole problem was the Load Controller who received the message from Davao at 8pm failed to inform Qatar Airways check-in staff.
    By noontime in Davao there were still no calls from Cebu Pacifc.
    So I called the Cebu office, but the person I talked to said they had no further obligations whatsoever to us.
    Now my running actual costs (with all receipts) for re-booking, no-show charges, upgrade fees, lost salary (absence from work) is so far totalling some PHP150,000. I am determined to get this back from Cebu Pacific. It does not include all phone costs to Qatar and Cebu, and the costs of all our stress and worries, time lost following up our wait-listing with QA. If the CEO does not do anything then I’ll file a case. I want to give them a chance to rectify their negligence, so I need a way to reach him.
    Any advise might help.

    Jun S. OFW

85. Hi MM,

    Let me add on the list on rants on Cebu Pac. My friends decided to go to Boracay flying via Cebu Pac’s new planes. We booked our tickets and accommodation as early as October. Last week, we got a text saying that our flights were moved. We were lucky that we got advised. We found out later that some other travellers were not advised at all and they show up at the airport only to find out that their flights have either been cancelled or they have to fly via KAlibo. Flying out Cebu Pac did well. No delay. But the nightmare began flying back.

    Since our flight was moved to 430 from 330, we arrived at the airport at 330 only to find out that the cp counter decided to close. Apparently, they overbooked and couldn’t accommodate us. We had confirmed tickets and they told us to wait. They even scolded us for not being in the airport 2 hours before the flight. The supervisor didn’t even see us until my husband insistted that she faced us. We have children travelling with us. At first she offered to fly via Kalibo and we said no. What was more irritating was that the ground crew knew as early as in the morning that our flight may potentially be overbooked and didn’t do anything proactively because they were hoping we don’t show up. What kind of thinking is that. Finally they decided to check with Asian Spirit or Seaair if there were vacant seats available. It was a good thing that there were otherwise we would be waiting in Caticlan until the next day. Like most other readers here, I swore never again to fly Cebu Pac to any destination. It’s better to pay more than go through the hassle. I’m sure there are more exasperated customers out there who made the same mistake of trying the Cebu Pac Caticlan route. It’s a pain.

86. i wrote a very angry blog about my cebu pacific experience. they have the worse customer service and the worse customer oriented airline that i have ever encountered. you can view my very, very angry blog at http://www.margoism.multiply.com

87. My experiences with Cebu Pacific has been very bad. Do you know how we can all get back at Cebu Pacific. By telling everybody not to buy Cebu Pacific shares when they go public!

88. Let’s all get back at this airline! join us and log on to

    cebupacificsucks.multiply.com

    join the community!!!!

89. For Anton. Are you the same Anton that was on-board flight 5J967 last May 24, 2008?

90. It happened to me and my bf say 3-5 times this year alone.

    The first one, My flight was on a Sunday, 8:20 flight to Shanghai, and they called me up that Morning and told me that nothing’s flying out because of technical problems. I tried to tell them that i really have to get back to shanghai and if they could assist me in getting another flight, they called again and said there would have to be additional charges if i use another airline and i said it’s ok, the agent called me again and said that there was no flight available with other airlines, i was so desperate to get a flight that i took a 700USD-one way ticket from Cathay 5:30pm just so I can get back to work on Monday. at 6:00 pm they called and said “Ok na po, tuloy na po ang flight!” I was so pissed! I told them if u guys would reconfirm a flight, you could have atleast told us earlier! so i thought about it and cancelled the cathay flight because atleast i would still get something from the refund even if there are huge penalties of cancelling the flight purchased on the same day! If you refund ur cebu pac ticket, probably won’t get anything at all, 500 perhaps! the charge for the penalties was about 6000 php, so that’s like throwing 150 USD in minutes! it’s just horrible.

    2nd time, My friend got us tickets from the promo, but i had to change the dates because my schedule changed, we bought the ticket for about 6000 pesos, but i had to pay 6500PHP for the penalties..This was so weird!!

    3rd, my bf was going back to Shanghai from manila and he was at the airport, there was suddenly an announcement saying that they cannot accomodate everyone because the plane will be overweight! This is so crazy! They overbooked people because they thought there will be last minute cancellations. When people started to complain because some of them are just on business trips, one staff said, “Ok nga un Sir eh, mamimigay cla ng roundtrip tickets, libre!!” When some foreigners were complaining, Nobody can even speak to them in English.. The staffs were laughing, they probably think that was a big joke! There were about 25 people who was promised to be automatically checked in the next day, then, on the next day, when my bf was checking in, his name was not on the check in list and they said his ticket was invalid, because it was valid yesterday.. how idiotic! they are the ones who told them they cannot board the plane because of a possible overload the other day and then on the next day the ticket was not valid! Good thing my bf got so pissed and demanded to board the plane( well after 1 hour of arguing!)

    4th, i had to reschedule my flight as my dad passed and i have to stay longer in the phils, asked my agent to check with them and then my agent said ma’am bili nlang po kayo ng bagong ticket, the new ticket will be priced so much more than the old one. If you want you can have it refunded nlang po. How much will be the refund? 400 pesos po. nevermind, i would need to pay you a lot more if you process it on my behalf.

    &nd now, my bf’s trying to book the voucher that was given to him for free, and the people on their call centers are totally useless, sir, hindi po ito valid kasi hindi po full name ninyo yung nkalagay.. Bf: hindi ko problema yan dhil hindi namn ako ang ngsulat ng pangalan ko jan, ibinigay ko un passport ko at cla ang nagsulat, and then we was put on hold for about 15 mins, cge po sir pakisend nlang po un passport copy nyo and voucher by email. Then my bf complied and sent everything to the email provided and he gives them a call everyday to check and he even gave them his credit card number for the additional charges, until now, the flight has not been confirmed. They are saying that the voucher needs to be booked 4 days earlier, and my bf has been trying to get this sorted out for a week now and wala padin ngyayri! Thank god he’s getting a september flight! the best thing to do is to not expect that this flight will be confirmed ever and get another ticket. it’s a total waste of time and effort!!

    Cebu Pacific is totally a disaster. Siguro if some victims has heart problems, mamamtay ka tlga sa inis!! Their staffs are so incompetent, The planes are prone to turbulence because of it’s size and the online system is just so useless!! it maybe cheap, but it really sucks bigtime! go with pal nlang or cathay!

91. our company had a company outing to puerto prinsesa last February 16 to 18. i booked it November last year to avail of the cheap rates and paid using a credit card. but one week before feb 16 they informed me that the feb 18 (going back to manila) flight is canceled due to aircraft problem. we can be take flight schedule that is so inconvenient for us. so we decided to cancel the feb 18 flight with full refund. according to them refund processing is 45-60 working days. i made lots of follow-ups. and was even asked to call their revenue accounting department, the one who handles credit card refund processing. nobody answers. i’ve been calling them for follow-up since march 2008 until this am.

    Know what? still no refund. and no feedback. i should charge them interest already for loaning them the money. hmph! the guy i talked to at their call center told me the best thing is to go their accounting department office in domestic. so now i need to spend gas, parking fee, and time just to get my refund due to CEBU PACIFIC’S FLIGHT CANCELLATION. i should also charge them for that.

    they should not accept credit card payments from customers if they cannot refund it on time. they are just offering cheap rates in advance so they use our money. and then they cancel flights and let us wait for the refund. that is if you use credit cards to pay them.

    so don’t get swayed to buying through online or paying via credit card. when you cancel or they cancel you will need to have a saint’s patience. because you will wait a very looooonggg time to get your refund. or better yet use PAL instead.

92. Caveat Emptor………

    Aside from several delayed flights both domestic and international i had with CP (pretty much a normal thing for them already), so far this is the worst experience….I received a text message informing that our trip to Hanoi on November 20 was cancelled. I thought it was a just nightmare, imagine receiving text message at around 1:30AM. I guess they just dont want to be bombarded with calls from the fuming clients kaya they had it in wee hours. The following day, i spent practically the whole morning dialing their hotline 702-0888 for possible rebooking and even email their customer service. But up to know i havnt receive any response yet.

    We already paid for the ticket which consider them liable. when can we get our money back? how? wer having a hard time coordinating with their office.

    Im just wondering aren’t they suppose to have a risk management control given the price volatility of fuel.which they claim to be the reason of their flight cancellation.

    You just don’t promise something that you can’t deliver.

    Its time everyone flies! tsk tsk (Guilty of False Advertisement)

    this really sucks! what are we going to do instead? should we rent a junk boat na lang that will fetch us from Manila Bay to Halong Bay.

93. All the delays discussed in the blog are of legitimate concern to Filipinos and others using 5J. However, could I put matters into perspective? In Australia, where I live, flight delays for Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Tiger Airways of two hours are not uncommon – and Australia is supposedly a first world country with not many weather problems (fog at Canberra in winter is the most common holdup.)

    On my recent Cebu – Bacolod – Cebu flights with CP, its ATR 500 departed close to time each way. Yes, a Jakarta – Manila ‘redeye special’ I was on last year was two hours late (annoying) but it’s no worse than Australia.

    CP’s fares are often cheaper than PAL, and yes CP does cancel some flights after you book, but overall, it’s a good airline with relatively new planes. It seems professional enough, but of course it is not perfect. So let’s be thankful that its brought the cost of flying down for Filipinos and is doing its bit to create more tourism-related jobs for 90 million Filipinos.

94. I have to agree this airline must be shutdown!!

    I had a flight from Macau to Manila last july 1 originally I am suppose to fly back to manila july 22nd but i rebooked it(was charged of course)

    then came the last minute cancellation june 30th midnight less than 24 hours before my flight back to manila, thru sms asking me to call manila office thinking i am overseas to confirm the new sched flight for july 3rd. I had to move hell to get to them and demanded that they get me an alternative flight from HK to Manila the next day july 2nd instead and asked them that extra expenses on my part is unacceptable. I asked for refund, my ferry ride from Macau to HK, my airport express fees, my taxi expenses, food expenses etc… Of course I am shooting for the stars hoping that they will pay me back. I emailed them so many times and I have not heard from them since I lodged my demands. I even CC a letter to DTI unfortunately same rotten system I never heard from anyone.

    I friend of mine from Holland booked a flight, and was charged twice and has been asking for a refund. He wrote 18 times to cebu pacific but never heard from them.

    yesterday my brother was suppose to fly to bicol and his balikbayan friend from UK got a last minute cancellation, so they had to take a bus ride instead.

    I wonder with all the screw-ups and all the inconvenience they cause people why on earth this airline is still operating and get passengers? CEBU PACIFIC IS A WASTE OF MONEY NOT EVEN FOR A SINGLE CENTAVO. STAY AWAY FROM THIS AIRLINE

95. I REALLY HATE CEBU PACIFIC. THIS IS THE WORST AMONG THE WORST……………………………………… AT 3:30 AM IM AT DUMAGUETE AIRPORT NA FOR MY FLIGHT SCHEDULE AT 7:10 AM FOR MANILA. BUT UNTIL TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF MY BOILING POINT AT 12NN. WE STILL WAITING FOR OUR FLIGHT AND EVEN A BOTTLE OF COLD WATER WE DONT GET FROM SHIT….. CP …JUST TO PACIFY OUR THIRST…..

96. https://oliboycastro.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-cebu-pacific-story.html

97. i took cebu pacific sometime in April 2008 from MNL to SIN. the flight was 1 hour delayed. I cancelled another ticket from SIN-MNL, i sent an email to the customers service of cebu pacific in the philippines but they did not reply. i resent the same email three (3) times but i received no response from them. i had to make an overseas call to the customers service in manila to know if they would refund my money as it was stated in the cancellation confirmation that i have to wait for 45 days before i get refunded. they held the line for over 30 minutes only to ask me to write to the accounting department. the customers service email is unreliable what more with the accounting department?! so i didnt bother sending an email to them. now, it has been 90 days and my S$300++ 1-way LOW fare is not yet refunded. i would like to know if there is any office or agency in the philippines where i could address my complaints against this unreliable airline.

98. Thinking that all this news about Cebu Pacific was just some random ranting, I booked a flight with Cebu Pacific on the early MNL-HKG flight last Aug 2. It was going to be an exciting flight, what with us going through the new airport. The flight was delayed, we finally left at almost 9. Started the chaing reaction of delayed meetings, lunches, and dinners. Did I learn my lesson? No. Come that Monday, return flight via Cebu Pacific again, delayed, this time, another 3 hours. explanations? none offered. What a shame. Ningas Cogon, just good at the start. . . so typical

99. I frequently travel Manila-Legazpi, Manila-Cebu and for the past three years I’ve been all around south east asia so you can imagine my joy when Cebu Pacific offered Go fares. I’ve taken it a couple of times and each time gets even more worse. All domestic flights I took with CP are usually delayed about 2-3 hours on average. No snacks, no nothing.

    Last time I took an international flight with them was to Kuala Lumpur. Going there the flight was delayed for 3 hours, no dinner on the plane so I was starving and I was absolutely pissed coz the driver who was supposed to pick me up left me already and KL’s budget airport is really so far from the city so I had to rush after the last departing bus just to get to my hotel.

    And it got worse, coming back to Manila, we were supposed to leave around 1 am but the turnaround plane was delayed again so we left almost daylight already.

    After that I stopped taking Cebu Pacific. Cheap but waste of lots of time, not just my time but those who are waiting for us.

100. e2 lang masasabi ko, i fly more than 10 times a year to cebu with cebu pacific and i only had average 2 delays with around 20 mins. maximum,, and while flying PAL for the first time i had to wait 5 hours till 11 pm just to fly to manila,, my father also takes cebu pacific 2x a month every year and never had that to wait that long as you say…
     maybe your exaggerating!

101. nette, I am glad you have had such a good experience with the airline, but I don’t think I was exaggerating as I was on every flight. And while you may fly to cebu ten times a year, I do close to thirty segments and my office crew another 30-40 flights so I do have extensive local flying time as well. Besides, all you have to do is look at their on time performance from sites that track this and you will see that they aren’t doing so hot these days. I have had delays on PAL as well, but not like Cebu Pacific when this post was written. Also, check out the comments left by passengers… duh, that’s nearly a 100 to one of yours. Also check out an earlier post I did on issues with Cebu Pacific which were addressed by the President of the company himself. The credibility of this blog and its posts is well established, in my opinion.

102. PARA SA AIRLINE NA WALANG ALAM SA CUSTOMER SERVICE-CEBUPACIFIC.
     tIME FOR them to wake up, listen and act to our complaints.

     They always act dumb and stupid and the paying customer can’t do anything about it. UNTIL THIS WEBSITE IS BORN.

     https://wehatecebupacific.webs.com

     Please visit the site. Thanks

103. I am also a frequent flyer of Cebu Pac as I go to Samar every other month to visit my 90 y.o father. I don’t mind the 1-2 hours delay specially if it’s only a domestic flight. Unfortunately last August 19 we flew to HK via CP and was supposed to be back Aug 22. But because of Typhoon Nuri, all flights were cancelled that day. We got stranded in HK and had to book in our Hotel for another day which cost us double than the rate we had when we booked online.
     but the sad thing we did not know where to inquire when will our flight will resume. My sister had to call her son here in Manila to check on our flight status. And she spent alot for this. the rest of my story is in the youtube. Here’s the link
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryx_eO6ym74

104. in all of the 4 flights that i took with Cebu Pacific from BKK to MNL, they were all delayed by at least 1 hour. I should be happy with this since most of the time, they are two hours delayed. As i have to take a subsequent flight to Cebu, one time I was so pissed off that the domestic check-in attendant asked me to pay for 600pesos because I missed my sked flight and had to rebook for the next flight. I had to remind the check in counter personnel that if not for the delayed flight from BKK, i shouldnt have been late.

     much more, when i checked-in at the BKK airport, i usually tell the personnel that i want all the luggages check thru to Cebu. I was hoping that should save me and my family some energy on having to extract and carry our luggages and transfer it to the domestic airport (just like what PAL does)but it doesnt happen that way. Check-thru arrangements are just in the papers and nothing much. now i wonder if it would be the same now that Cebu Pacific is leasing the NAIA terminal III. with the fare rates that Cebu Pacific is advertising for the holidays, it’s not much different with PAL. of course PAL would still be expensive by 1T to 2T bahts. no food, cramp seats and very unhelpful stewardees, i will go back flying PAL.

105. hehehe hindi sila delayed, re-timed lang..

     yan na trade mark ng cebu pacific.. kaya lang no choice para sa mga sakto lang ang budget.. pero sa kabilang banda hindi din makatao trato nila sa consumers, aba kahit pano nagbayad din tayo ng fuel and surcharges no!!!!

     dyos ko po sana wag ma delay ang flight ng family ko manila to hk sa ocotber huhu..kasi promo lang sya 0.00

     pero sabi ng sis ko nung nag book ako ng piso for my whole family on time daw flight nila from mnl to sg and sg to manila.. medyo malakas manalangin ata sis ko na wag ma delay..

     pero sa lahat ng flights ko sa cebu pac puro retimed ung byahe.. sa tiger oks na oks kaya lang layo pero to be fair with tiger airways minsan ahead sila ng 20 min. sa scheduled arrival.

106. I guess i have no luck with Cebu Pacific, two of my trips were spoiled because of this chronic delays. Now i give up.

     our flight was 7 hours delayed last August, read my Story here..

     My unbelievable donsol trip In April here.

107. I think PAL refund is a breeze! I had my refund just about 30 minutes…

108. guys, I haven’t really read all your email but just browsed it… I’m supposed to confirm my flight for tomorrow so I went online when I came across this… gosssh, it angers me more to find so many others in my position… anyway, I’d like to know that aside from these emails, did you all really try to make your complaints known to them formally? What action did they take? You see, I have several bad experiences with Cebu Pacific..and still accruing, take note… I;m supposed to make an email regarding my complaints to them when I get back in Manila… would such action be futile? Don’t they really act on those complaints?

109. I’m looking at booking a flight thru CP but after perusing all your comments I will be booking thru PAL instead. Forewarned is forarmed. Thanks to all of you who shared your experiences. On the other hand, shame on CP.

110. my CEBU PACIFIC EXPERIENCE IS ALSO BULLSHIT…
     1. Una.. nagparebook ako ang ticket… at ang hayup n cebupacific n yan.. parang bumili rin ako ng bagong ticket sa price kc yung cencellation and rebooking fes nila grabe sa mahal…

     2. One time, I asked for refund… pero yung branch na panagkuhanan ko ng ticket, gusto ibalik ko daw yung ticket n inisyu nila.. eh sabi ko kinuha na yung half ng ticket kc ginamit ko n nga yung one way… pero ayaw irefund.. katarantaduhan yung hinihingi nilang requirement.. ayaw lang talaga magrefund.

     3. Sa anim ba pagbalik balik ko sa Singapore Apat na beses ko nang nararanasan na 1hr delayed ang flight… gago talaga mga naandyan… di marunong sumunod sa schedule.

     4. Hindi laging mura ang cebupacific… and infact.. there are a lot of times na mas mahal pa sa Cebu pacific kesa sa PAL, JETSTAR and TIGER AIRWAYS… One time I paid 400dollars – singapore – to manila flight.. only to discover na hindi nmn peak kasi kalahati lang ng eroplano ang occupied…

     5. Last december 13,2008 2.5 hrs late sa booked schedule yung flight ko ng singapore to Clark… tapos mataray pa yung mga staff and di man lang nag-apologise… mga siraulo talaga.. mukhang pera.. gusto lang kumita ng kumita.. sa customer service bagsak.

     6. Minsan bumili ako ng coke on board… 50 pesos ang price nya… tapos walang panukli.. so sabi sakin bayad na lang ako in singapore dollars… so nag-abot ako ng 5dollars… aba wla na sukli.. yun daw equivalent nun pag dollars binayad…

     Bullshit talaga… 5 dollars translates to 150 pesos.. sobrang abusado talaga grabe… from 50 pesos naging 150pesos tuloy yung coke ko…

111. bakit laging retimed tinatawag nila pag di nila kayang masunod schedules….

     Dpat nilalagay talaga nila dun is… CEBU PACIFIC DELAYED… or CANNOT COMMIT SCHEDULE… pwede rin… BUSINESS IS LATE AS USUAL.

112. If there is anything that would define a bad business company for 2008, it would be carelessness, incompetence and lack of care for clients. Cebu Pacific perfectly fits the bill. In my view, they are the worst company in the whole country all year long.

     Up until now, these passenger horror stories continue to happen: Very long delayed flights (up to 17 hours), unexplained cancellations, long delays of refunds, lost luggage, hidden charges, etc. Every month, there is always something bad that happens, and the victims are quite many.

     Just this past Christmas Eve, my ten friends and cousins from Manila were supposed to have Noche Buena here in Cebu and took Cebu Pacific’s mid-afternoon flight. Unfortunately for them, their flight was delayed by five hours due to “technical adjustments”, according to the much-criticized airline. All because of Cebu Pacific, our reunion and celebration got spoiled!

     The pathetic service does not end. It is also clear that Cebu Pacific’s corporate officials display arrogance and a lack of care for their clients. They simply dismissed every complaint without giving any detailed explanations at all. Even if you fax or send them via mail a complaint or letter of concern, they will never respond to you.

     Because Cebu Pacific’s service is often terrible and that their officials don’t really care about their clients, they gave us Cebuanos a bad image all over the nation and in some parts of the world!

     Luckily for us Cebuanos and travelers, we’ve got other alternative airlines to take when traveling by air. We’re also lucky that Cebu Pacific does not have a monopoly of flight routes.

     Could you just imagine how Cebu Pacific could take part in ruining our nation’s tourism industry? Could you imagine how Cebu Pacific’s poor services could turn potential tourists and investors away from Cebu?

     All in all, Cebu Pacific’s flights are cheap but not so much compared to other airlines. Just a mere few hundreds in difference. Worse, even if you pay low rates, Cebu Pacific often fails to live up to its promises. First and foremost, we pay fares not only to fly but also to get to our destination in due time. Cebu Pacific does not care about that because they are obsessed in profiting at the expense of the traveler.

     Jake Moralde

113. Sinusumpa ko ang BS na CP na yan.
     Last may during my last vacation sa PI. 3x ako bumili nang ticket sa kanila. 2 roundtrips to cabu and 1 roundtrip to bora.
     Sa 1st flight ko sa Cebu di ko nasakyan ang pabalik sa Mla so kumuha na lang ako nang ibang filght and decided na i refund na lang yung na missed ko na flight.
     Then nagpunta kami sa Bora at di namin nagamit ang returning ticket kasi conflict sa sched namin, kumuha na lang kami nang ticket sa Asean Spirit. Then nang i refund na namin ang ticket sabi nang agent nla take note sa Airport office to ha na i credit na lang sa aking account in 2 months. and thats May 2008. Hanggang sa ngayon wla. At di rin ako mabigyan nang confirmation number or copy nang transaction na yun. Buwisit.
     Then ginamit ko ang pangalawa kung roundtrip sa Cebu. Yung di ko nagamit na return trip ay pina refund ko sa aming driver with the authorization letter na naka state lahat na info like the flight number date and everything. Nasa cebu na ako tumawag ang driver para ibalita na nakuha nya ang refund. Here goes the worst part. The next day after i refund nang driver ang cancelled ticket nasa Mactan airport ako 2 hrs earlier sa flight ko just to be inform that I cant board the flight because my return ticket is already refunder or cancelled by my driver. I argue to them al the way to there so called manager yet wla maka bigay sa akin nang explainbation why they refunded a wrong ticket. Confirm na manila office nla na nagkamali sila di pa rin ako pasakayin nang mga buang na employees nla. Pinapunta ako sa ticketing office and sinabihan na kung gusto akong sumakay I have to pay 6500+ for another seat in there fucking plane.
     So I went to PAL and they immediately issue me a ticket for 2800 and board the plane the next hour.
     Pumunta ako the next day sa Aiport office and they gave me a turn around. So I declared and shouted that I want to see a upper management or I’ll sue there fucking ass.
     Thats the time na na trace nila na sila talaga ang mali and why the hell nobody take the responsibilty of letting me board the plane. The plane is not even halp empty.
     I shouted at there so called Vice President that this is the last time I gonna used CP and sinusumpa ko talaga ang airline na yan.
     I’m so fuckin pissed everytime I remeber that stupid time.

     Right now this people still owe me $150 for tha un refunded Bora to Manila ticket.

     May you rot in hell Cebu Pacific.

114. CP walang fix rate..excess baggage 200 per kilo.

115. Got the confirmation on February 6, confirmed flight for 4 roundtrip tickets to Hong Kong and paid thru visa card amounting to almost 39k+, and when I checked their online booking now, same flight, same date only arrives to the amount of P22,117K for 4pax and the flight sked still on April 6, a month away.
     My wife from Canada just called their hotline just to be informed by Ms. Gretchen Francisco that when we made the payment, it’s a regular fare and suddenly the P22K+ for 4 pax is based on their sudden promo. Somewhat we felt cheated. We’ll be traveling “Go Lite”, and my fellow passengers who paid less will get more privileges, considering I paid almost twice of the amount.
     Hotline informed me beforehand there will be no promo for the month of April and I was encouraged to book early to pay less. From Qatar, I made an early booking but after three weeks, the airfare was slashed into half. I felt I was just being grabbed of P17k and it’s really annoying. Just reading numerous complaints on web, asking refund is a suicidal option, if not a scam.
     Yeah, almost the same fare of PAL but I chose cebupac since my kids are all staying near Clark. My wife booked for P42k to PAL but I asked her to cancel, I booked Cebu Pacific for P40k Go Stress. As a frequent traveler, this is the only time I felt bad. It really was a big mistake.
     So it’s final, my kidz and I will be traveling on April 6 via promo airbus which I previously paid on a regular fare, and I have to pay more before checking in our luggage since I chose “Go Lite”, I already paid extra for our four seats and my 3 kids will definitely order and pay for their snacks onboard and I definitely need a beer too just to cool down. My wife’s overseas calls from Canada to their hotline just cost her too and we’re spending every minute. I could land to a business class seat just accumulating all these expenses. Hope there’ll be enough misadventure for I could not handle anymore surprises from Cebupac. It’s a big joke flying via Cebu Pacific but I’m expecting some clowns onboard too, at least, they’ve got the edge and my kidz will love their crews, hopefully.
     Have somebody seen one of Chiquito’s movie, his jeepney with stewardess selling stuff while on board, yeah, Cebupac just copied Chiquito’s marketing strategy, speaking of originality…kinopya lang nila yan kay Chiquito , cool…at least you could see his passengers getting off with happy faces.

116. so glad to have come across these super-negative lashings on cebupacific bcoz i also have my own horror story to tell! really, this airline pissed me off to the max!!! and i swear to high heavens we will never fly this airline again!!! i’m even telling friends abroad to beware!!!

     i am a balikbayan travelling with my 3 minor children and we were booked for our domestic flight to iloilo on feb 19 with 20kgs baggage allowance. to my surprise, i was informed at the counter that we are allowed only 15kgs per passenger. i tried to insist as politely & best i could that we were advised of the 20kgs baggage allowance when we made the booking but the girl at the counter just said that they are cutting the 20kgs to 15kgs bcoz of the low-fare promo and she even blamed the travel agency for not informing the travellers of the new baggage allowance. she’s not even polite! and seemed sarcastic to me! why, is it our fault that they have this promo? they will offer low-fare rates and then they will overkill their customers in charging too much for excess baggage? imagine my horror when she told me that i will be charged p100/kg for our excess baggage for a total of p4,500!

     i still keep my cool and tried to negotiate that maybe they can give us consideration being balikbayans and that i am travelling with 3 minor children and it is very difficult for us to handcarry an extra 6-7kgs each! my God, these people (& this company) are just plain inconsiderate and said that it is not possible at all (fuck them!) in short, they charged me an extra p4,500 for our excess baggage! i am so tired already from our international flight attending to 3 kids to be harassed like this! i have been looking forward to be in the Philippines again (my beloved country) but i feel like im being robbed of my hard earned money by cebu pacific right at that moment! and as if adding insult to injury, we were asked to pay an extra p200 each for terminal fee! halleluiah! what is this?! it is indeed very sad that on our first day of vacation, in our own country, my family were already held up at the airport!

     what’s more, our flight was delayed more than 1hour! my golly, will they ever fly on time? finally, when we were already on board, carts of goodies started rolling down the aisle and my kids unfolded their tables for the coming snacks. surprise again! they are for sale!!! i almost laugh aloud in embarrassment & annoyance bcoz i don’t have any idea that this is now the business trend in domestic travel esp. in cebu pacific! ha-ha! it’s so pathetic…if not funny!

     for our other domestic flights during our vacation, we booked with pal.

117. I was going to buy the domain http://www.cebupacificairsucks.com today but found out somebody beat me to it. Too bad there was no contact information. I want to get that website rolling.

     I have been trying to book a flight to Manila from Cebu for NEXT Month. I have been trying for the last 5 days with 2 credit cards and a handfull of cash.

     I tried online; system error with 2 cards.

     I tried the hotline, the agent just told me they cant process the cards. The same cards that we use everywhere else. After he told me that they were not able to process the cards he just stopped talking to me and somewhat waiting for me to hang up. I told him his job was to help me find the solution and not wait for me to hang up. I dont know if he realizes that his job is Customer Service NOT Customer UN-Service.

     I tried going to a ticketing office where I found myself waiting for 100 people ahead of me to get done. I looked for the manager to get some explanation, some smooth talking even, or at least an apology. But of course, they treat you like you have to beg them to take your money.

     We give them the revenue to pay their expenses and their freaking salaries!

     Can anyone give me Lance Gokongwei’s email address?

     What is the counter part of the US Better Business Bureau in the Philippines?

118. I would like to remind all the staff and customer service personnel of this wretched airline; Especially Mary Janith Tajo (OIC for Cebu Pacific Fuente Osmena Cebu Branch) that the people that you frown at everyday are the same people that bring revenue to the company you work for that pays your salary.

     Do not take it on us that you were not hired by PAL or other airlines far better than yours.

119. I agree with the stories about this poor excuse for a company. I filed for my refund ONE YEAR AGO and they told me that it would take 6 months, understandable since I bought the ticket in Hong Kong. I followed up in December which was 11 months later and they informed me that “They could not find my file on record”, so the lady asked me to leave my receipt, contact number, etc. I followed up again in March. I blew up on the staff, again with the same excuse “They could not find my file on record”. I spoke to the manager, I yelled at an employee just to get my point across, I came back that same day to MAKE SURE THEY SENT SOMETHING to their office. I was given printouts and confirmation. I called back today, the lady again gave me the excuse “They could not find my file on record” and I was given the email address, cebrefacctg@cebupacificair.com. I wrote them a polite email stating my situation. 2 min ago? My email inbox just informed me that a permanent failure on delivery occurred. The email address doesn’t exist.

     Over 14 months and my refund hasn’t been processed, I don’t even think they’ve done anything regarding the booking and money owed. I will never deal with this airline again, I refuse to sacrifice my hard earned money for service that is comparable to the trash being brought out to the garbage bin. I would give them a harsher review to let everyone know what I think of Cebu Pacific Air.

     During my last visit there, I kept stating at the top of my lungs so everyone could hear, “It’s so easy for me to give you MY MONEY and for your company to take it. But when I want MY MONEY back, you’re company finds every way possible to keep it. It doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to me.”

120. Gusto ko lang po i-share sa inyo ang experience ko sa CP. I travelled from Tacloban-Manila last April 9, 2009, and my flight was delayed for over an hour. May 16, 2009 Tac-Mla is on time, but my return flight last May 20, 2009 was also delayed for over an hour. And the worst is, my baggage didn’t arrive with me as we land Tacloban airport. I immediately reported this to the management, and they promised to collect my baggage and return it back to me. But, hanggang ngayun,hindi pa rin naibalik ang baggage ko despite of so many follow ups.They just kept on promising to do something, which i doubt it.

     Hindi lang po delayed flights ang problema sa CP. Really poor service talaga.

121. i’m college student here in baguio.. tnx for your comments for now, i have sumthing to write regarding my assignment on management where in we have to choose a company and find its strenth and weaknesses inside and out… and i’ve chosen cebu pacific for my ass. now, atleast i have something to write about it…. jeje.. wala lang… i’m just a first year student and i didn’t experience any flight yet….. jaja.. ang galing nyong mag comment…

122. promo fare = poor service
     Sometimes you really have to justify the worth of your money,
     But not because they are giving / or making us believe that they offer low fares, that would be their excuse to give us POOR SERVICE.

     i have a solid experience early this year. the plane has not reached the destination due to bad weather. They claimed that it was not the airline’s fault. The trip was cut to Cebu, supposedly bound to Butuan.

     Here’s the thing. If you decide to be left in Cebu, your ticket will be considered good as sold, its like you find your own way on how to reach your desired destination. no refund, no option on getting the next flight available near to Butuan (could be cagayan de oro or davao, you could reach Butuan by bus) but Cebu is a different thing. you have to ride an overnight boat (10-12hour ride and another 700-800 fare)

     If you decide to fly back again to Manila, the flight will be rescheduled, not necessarily the day after. No hotel accommodation for passenger not coming frm Manila.

     Leaving the people with no choice, no free lunch (the flight was on lunch time)

     Pilots and flight attendants were not that accommodating to hungry, furious, desperate passengers… tsk tsk..
     atleast those little effort to comfort passengers would somehow show compensation on the airlines shortcoming.. again,
     tsk tsk tsk.

     POOR SERVICE!!!
     POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

123. I took a Cebu Pacific flight to Taiwan and it was delayed for over 3 hours too. It was supposed to leave a certain hour, and I asked the ground crew (who are so unprofessional by the way), how come we have not boarded. She said the flight won’t leave until another hour. I was so pissed because we arrived 2 hours before and there was no announcement of any delays. An hour after, I asked again why we have not boarded. It will leave in another hour daw! It’s like they’re guessing the time of departure. Then they continue chatting with other ground crew members.

     They later gave out lousy food from the nearby Mini stop. Extremely not eatable. When the plane finally called passenger to board, I walked towards the boarding entrance and saw a foreigner stick a post-it note by the pillar — “Cebu Pacific sucks.”

     By the way, the worst part is — Cebu Pacific uses the new airport terminal where at that time, not a single retail establishment apart from Seattles Best was open. The comfort rooms were too far from most waiting areas too. It was one hell of a wait.

     .

124. Lots of horror stories when it comes to Cebu Pacific!

     The common joke nowadays is, “you get what you pay for”. This is okay of you have a day to waste. But if you NEED to be somewhere, just take PAL. Costs more, but will save you from the hassle.

     Last May, we attended a wedding in Boracay and there were so many instances of Cebu Pacific mess-ups. First, baggages were left behind and received a day or two after. Thank God it happened on the return flight. Imagine if the wedding stuff (clothes, flowers, video/photo equipment) arrived in Boracay after the wedding!?!? Second, a few friends were delayed all of 13+ hours, from an original 6am flight to an 8pm flight, PLUS they all of a sudden re-routed the flight to Kalibo. Other friends re-booked their flight to a later time (paying close to P2000 each), only to have their flight delayed and also re-routed to Kalibo. I on the other hand, was on a PAL flight, and, as we were all in the Caticlan Airport all at the same time, could not believe that i was already at home relaxing when one of my friends texted to tell me that they were in transit to Kalibo. They really need to work on this one. Forget the free C2 drinks and URC snacks, just get us there on time!!!!

     Keep it up MM! Great blog!