Cebu Pacific Airlines
Cebu Pacific Airlines - Low Cost Airline Cebu Pacific
I recently travelled on two separate flights with this airline.
5J239 24 January 2013 from Hong Kong to Cebu
There were three of us travelling and with this being a low cost airline we made sure we checked in on time and also stayed within the pre-purchased baggage limits. Check in was fine at Hong Kong and without issue. We were at the departure gate on time and the boarding process was quite smooth. The only issue with this flight was the 1.35 am departure time, but the price more than made up for this.
On boarding I noticed that the aircraft an Airbus A320 aircraft was sparse. No normal carpets but a linoleum surface which was quite noisy when walking. The aircraft was all economy and was completely full. As expected the passengers were carrying more cabin baggage than normal. This is quite normal on Philippine, Indian and other country flights. This does concern me slightly, but the bigger issue is having space in the overhead bins. The flight time was two and half hour and was fairly smooth without issue. We landed on time and went through immigration without issue to find our arrival transfer waiting. We then transferred to our accommodation for 3 days at the Maribago Bluewaters in Cebu.
For the return we were scheduled to fly on 5J547 from Cebu to Singapore on 27 January 2013.
We arrived at the airport for this flight 2 hours prior due to late pick up from the hotel. When we arrived at the airport Mactan Cebu International Airport we were shocked to find that you had to clear a security screening before check in. There was a huge queue and this really slowed the process down. After security and baggage check we then had to queue for another 45 minutes to check-in for the flight. Once checked-in we went to the departures area. Here we had a shock to find that a 550PHP was payable for airport departure and was only allowed in cash. As we had insufficient funds I was told I needed to go back outside and downstairs to get cash from the ATM. 6 ATMs later and having gone from International to Domestic and then to a hotel casino nearby I managed to get funds. All the ATMs were out of money. This was a shocker. I do believe that if an airport is going to have a locally paid departure fee they need to either accept cards or have a working ATM at the departure area. We were almost off loaded from our flight due to arriving so late to the gate after then having to pay the fee and clear customs.
The flight from Cebu to Singapore went without a hitch and was on time, but the bad taste of the ground staff hounding us about offloading left a nasty taste. I understand that low cost airlines have to get away on time and keep within their schedules, but to hassle unnecessarily (especially given we were travelling with an 80 year old) was a little aggravating. I would definitely not recommend the airline, but would seek to pay a bit more a travel with another airline, unless the routing and price are the main issue – but beware. Arrive with plenty of time and carry spare cash.