Cebu Pacific - “YOU’RE SO DAING!!!”
Cebu Pacific Airlines, you screwed up big-time in my personal opinion!!! Not once, not twice, but several times in the past two weeks. You screwed up so badly tonight that my blood pressure skyrocketed above its stately 110 over 80. And I am so pissed with what I have just gone through that instead of calmly firing off a letter to Lance Gokongwei, I will rant on my website instead so that roughly 8,000 – 10,000 of my regular and occasional readers, 90% of whom are your target market, can make their airline buying decisions with more intelligence. I once wrote a letter of complaint to Sonny Belmonte when he was President of Philippine Airlines many years ago that started with the sentence “I would rather stick needles in my eyes than voluntarily fly PAL on an international route ever again” and I have never liked PAL, but I am now thinking of a sentence that would be appropriate for a letter to Cebu Pacific… Mr. Belmonte, to his credit, called my home soon after to talk about the letter…
I have always cheered for and directly supported the “underdogs.” Particularly when it is an airline challenging PAL. I don’t like monopolies. So when Cebu Pacific first started out I took them a few times. I was impressed. Then they had a crash. Then I wondered about their really old planes. So I stopped taking them and vowed to return when they got newer planes. So when they got their new 757 and announced a Business Class to Cebu, I booked one of their earliest flights. Only to arrive at the airport to be told they decided to use the old DC-9’s instead and they were downgrading me. I was furious they didn’t bother to call beforehand, I don’t like old planes. With some firmness, I insisted they move me to PAL and they did, escorting me to the PAL terminal and paying for my business class ticket and shouldering the difference in cost. That was about 2 years ago. I stopped taking them again until the A319’s and A320’s arrived. In the past year, I have booked at least 60-70 flight segments to Cebu alone, so as a frequent passenger on PAL, I have one of their highest loyalty type cards…big whoopee, I get to eat lugaw in their lounge. But I have booked mostly Business Class flights as they have improved their service lately and I must say, they have been 85% or more on time (with some grave exceptions). But a Business Class ticket on PAL is now roughly PHP9,500 to Cebu. So I am not stupid. When Cebu Pacific offers PHP3,400 economy tickets and I can book them online and never go to a ticket office, I decide to really give them a good go this time around.
In fact, I had originally decided to give them 3 roundtrips to Cebu before I was going to write a hopefully glowing review. It started out well. I booked two tickets completely on-line with no hassle whatsoever. I was truly impressed. I hate lining up at PAL offices. For the first flight, I got to the airport 1.5 hours before the scheduled departure time. The check-in agent, when asked if the flight was on-time said “yes, as of now it is on time.” Well, the flight was nearly an hour late, and considering it was an early morning flight, that almost certainly meant many more flights that day would be late. What happened to all the boastful “we are always on time taglines”? Was this a fluke? The plane was new and nice. We got to Cebu about 70 minutes late. They served a bottle of RFM (family company) manufactured tea (PAL only serves Lucio Tan Virgin Cola instead of Coke). A few days later, on the way home to Manila, the plane was again nearly 1 hour late. And worse, they changed the equipment to the old DC-9 WITHOUT telling passengers at the check-in counter. I dislike old planes. I have flown over 5,000 flight segments in my entire career/life so I don’t tempt fate with old equipment. My ticket stated it would be a new A319…
Despite this poor showing the first time around, I decided to stick to my plan to take 3 trips before I reviewed the airline. The second trip I booked was also a morning flight. It was nearly 50 minutes late to Cebu. On the flight home, it was close to being on time. The third trip I booked was again nearly an hour late. On the flight back, the scheduled plane was over two hours late and they were able to book me on the earlier flight that was running 1.5 hours late. Since I traveled with one other colleague, we booked a total of about 12 flight segments and 10 segments were late. That means we experienced only 16.7% of our flights departing on time. Does it follow that just because tickets are cheap that the flights are late? Maybe their tagline should be “It’s time everyone flies…LATE!!!”
Despite those problems, and since I am flying on company money, I decided to try ONE more time and tried over the past two days to book flights to Cebu. Instead of the easy on-line booking, I kept getting unexplained and irritating error messages on their website. It kept telling me to call their reservations line but it was constantly busy. Finally, tonight, I got the number to ring. Then I went on hold for 22 (TWENTY BLOODY TWO) minutes and had to listen to the most inane chattering and sales pitches until I finally got a HUMAN on the line. I asked if they were having problems with their reservations systems on-line and they said “Yes, sir, we have had problems capturing on-line reservations and payments since Monday night…” That was 72 hours ago?!? Couldn’t they have put a notice up on their website that said that? How long would that take, 10 minutes??? Instead, the agent answered with some alarm, that he must check if my card had been charged with the tickets. And since I tried to book them 4 times in the past 2 days, I worried that my card had been charged with 2 tickets x four attempts! Yipes. And they say their site is secure? They think customers should not worry? They have agents telling me they could have screwed up even more big time than I could have imagined?
Thankfully, they claim, my card has not been charged. Let’s see. My credit card bill won’t come for several weeks. I should probably check with the card company.So what’s the kicker? After 22 minutes on hold waiting for a human, 5 minutes of their explaining their website is technologically challenged and unable to take reservations after they launch a massive campaign to promote more destinations, more flights, etc. while they can’t turn their planes around fast enough so they can depart on time, 5 more minutes of being put on hold again and a total of perhaps 40 minutes with my ear to the phone, they say “sir, you will have to go to a Cebu Pacific office and line up to get your tickets…” Well F#$@! THAT!!! I am so bloody annoyed at the moment I booked myself back on Philippine Airlines (it took 2 minutes total!), which has specials so their economy flights are only PHP600 or so more than Cebu Pacific but without the aggravation and a better chance of leaving on time… And since I have one of these premier thingee cards, I even get the lugaw on an economy ticket, and lounge in their lounge. You blew it Cebu Pacific!!! I could have easily given you 60 flight segments this year and I won’t return until you get your systems in gear, and PAL has a nervous breakdown that approximates your website’s at the moment. Until Cebu Pacific flights are back on time 90% of the time and only if your cost is significantly below your competitors will you ever get my business again. And if only 100 more seats are not booked with you because people read this post and act with their wallets, then I will have moved one entire Airbus A319 worth of passengers this year away from your airline. I can only hope this is a temporary 3-4 week hiccup, too bad I got stuck in the middle of it. But I suspect the problems will continue for a while as the airline is dramatically expanding destinations, timetables, etc. that will all serve to make their business far more complex. If you can’t even respond to a website glitch with a rapid basic service band-aid, you have problems. And here’s a cheap piece of advice… all you have to do right now is put a one sentence notice on your website to save thousands of irritated customers the hassle… it should read “Our website is experiencing difficulties at the moment and cannot take your reservations, please refer to one of our offices instead.” That simple sentence would have saved you a lot of bad will from thousands of folks trying to book tickets over the last 72 hours, clogged phone lines where agents are unable to correct the website glitch and simply tell you to go to a ticket office and high level decibel screaming in your agents ears…
I even liked your latest Bicol promotional advertisement. “We’re Not Laing.” Cute, but if you keep up this kind of service and flight delays, I’d say a better line would be “YOU’RE SO DAING”!!!
I’ve had so many good experiences with Cebu Pacific. The flights I took are either on time or even earlier than schedule. Booking online was easy especially those one peso tickets which I just used going to Zamboanga last weekend. And re-booking flights was easy as well. I had to rebook my one peso ticket to Davao and they explained to me clearly the extra charges if ever I re-book. And paying for the re-booking was easy since I could do it two hours before the flight. Really convenient.
August 10th, 2006I hope you are much better by this time.
I have never read a post of yours as irate and angry as this one. And you are so right, a lot of aggravation could have been prevented. Businesses that are in the service industry should take better care of their customers.
August 11th, 2006I can totally understand how you feel, Mr. Marketman. I was online trying to book a round-trip flight from Manila to Tagbilaran last Monday night, only to get an error after entering my cc info. For fear of being charged again, I called their call center at 3am Tues, only to be put on hold for 20 mins b4 a live agent took my call. I was told the same crap, that their system was unable to capture my credit card information. The agent took my cc info again, and I was told I will get my e-ticket on my e-mail that same day. No such email when I checked that night. So I called again at 3am Wed, same hold time and the agent insisted that it would be faster to have my tickets faxed to me instead of emailed. Duh! Finally got my tickets Thursday morning, only because I had it faxed to my cousin’s office. Makes me think twice about flying Cebu Pacific again when I go home to the province every few months.
August 11th, 2006Whew, Market Man, tell us how you REALLY feel!
August 11th, 2006Marketman I so know where you are coming from. My husband and I took Cebu Pacific last year to Cebu and the two hour wait from Manila to Cebu was inconvenient but tolerable. But the seven hour delay on our return flight was just too much! to make matters worse ,every fifteen minutes they would announce we would be boarding, then take it back! The people at the counter finally admitted that the planes were all defective and couldn’t take off. The crowd was getting ugly and i think that scared them into giving everyone a free Jollibee and unlimited C2 dinner—after 5 hours!I personally gave them a mouthful, told them they could keep their dinner and that I would never ride Cebu Pacific again! I hope someone from Cebu Pacific reads your post and will actually CARE to do something about their crappy airline!Thanks for a great blog!
August 11th, 2006I can hear your teeth grinding and see your ears smoking with anger through my screen. I understand your frustrations. I am with you on this. I hope you feel better and got over it now. Whether it is company’s expense or not, they should not make any misrepresentations on putting you in an old plane. They know well when they put in writing – on your issued ticket that your plane is a new one. It is one of their agents, clerks or employees who issued the ticket. BIG MISREPRESENTATIONS!!! Cebu Pacific will not tell the public/passengers how they maintain those planes. When you boarded their plane you sealed your faith in Cebu Pacific. Let us reach out to the management of Cebu Pacific to improve their service and avoid misrepresentations to the public that cause severe inconvenience, frustrations and anger to us – the paying passengers.
August 11th, 2006Cebu Pacific Airlines sucks bigtime…. Buti na lang di ko na sinubukan yung service nila nung umuwi ako sa Laoag… Thanks again MM for the “raNting”… hehehe
August 11th, 2006I had my run in with Cebu Pacific as well. I’ve been getting my tickets at the Quirino (Pasay) office, which has very limited space. Because of all the pakulo, people flock there, and the wait in the afternoons is hours…
The airconditioning was insufficient for a Manila summer. I stood and waited for my number to be called for more than an hour already, when the whole staff had halo halo delivered and some of the staff ate in full view of all the waiting people, who were fanning themselves with anything they can lay their hands on.
I told the security guard in a not so low voice, that surely the manager has seen the standing crowd everyday, it would have been prudent to add more plastic monoblock chairs for them to bear the waiting with…considering the thousands that we pay for tickets , surely we deserve chairs to lay our bums on, if we have to wait for hours everytime. Eh, ang mura mura ng mga upuan, ano? And, certainly, we are not cattle that can stand for hours on end?
Ang diperensya kasi sa Pinoy, kahit ano isubo mmo, hindi nagrereklamo. Kasi ba sanay na sa mga kahirapan sa buhay, kahit palengke-type na pang-asikaso sa mga tao, puede na?
August 11th, 2006As it was, I voted with my wallet, and left for the Centennial PAL office.
Wow. And I thought the US carriers were horrible.
:)
August 11th, 2006Our family stopped riding Cebu Pacific about 8 years ago when my dad placed his phone in the pocket in front of him where it (unknowingly) swam in soda for the duration of the flight (He was in the front row so the pocket was leather). They wouldn’t even replace his phone. Suffice to say, we changed airlines (he traveled Mla-Dvo every two weeks at that time).
August 11th, 2006Good luck on your credit card charges. I wouldn’t believe what CP’s call center agent told you. My friend booked on-line a flight going to tagbilaran early this year and in the middle of his transaction the system “hanged” making my friend “re-do” his transaction. He called the number posted in the website to check whether he was charged for only one transaction getting an assurance that it was. Upon receiving his credit card bill he was charged twice. After weeks of telephone and e-mail exchanges (with letters to the manager and lance gokongwei) he was able to convince that he only made one transaction. Up to now he is waiting for the reversal of the charge in his credit card. Efficient no?
August 11th, 2006I’ve had the same problem with cebu pacific. i tried their online booking and paid thru credit card. i even booked 4 persons altogether and the website keeps on having an error message. so i had to call the reservations number, i waited for almost an hour before i was able to talk with a human voice. only to find out that i should be the one to call the credit card company to inquire if the transaction got through. it was really a wasted time on my part. i booked 1 person to the other airline, also did online payment. it took me only 5 minutes with no hassles. btw, my flight was going to roxas city.
August 11th, 2006I almost died on a Cebu Pacific flight. Well, that’s an overstatement but that’s how it felt. Going for our holy week vacation last year to Bohol, we flew Cebu Pacific. Just after take off, black smoke came out from the ac! We became dizzy and we were asked to bow down on our knees. Pretty scary! We circled over Manila bay for an hour and landed right back to the Manila airport. We changed planes right after and that was it, no apologies or anything at all…
August 11th, 2006yikes! i knew it. i hate flying. and whenever i have to, i always make sure that it’s a big and somewhat new plane. i don’t like turbulence. i don’t even like to take the 320 plane of PAL to cebu…much less DC-9??? simbako! although the prices of Cebu Pacific are tempting, no way jose. thanks for the info, MM.
August 11th, 2006Hi MM!
August 11th, 2006I used to like Cebu Pacific too, BUT not anymore! Even in their ticketing office at the Manila Domestic Airport, I got so inconvenienced when I intended to buy a ticket for a same day morning flight. As I entered the ticketing office, the guard issued a number, mine was 38. So I dutifully sat down and waited for my turn, the ticketing person called out the number 5(haysus!) but being the civilized person that I am, I waited,and waited, and waited,and waited for 45 minutes before they called out the next number! In the meantime, there was a lot of activity going on in the counter. Suspecting something “daing-y” going on, I approached the counter and found out that the personnel were entertaining just about anybody who came in WITHOUT THE BLOODY ASSIGNED NUMBERS!!! Of course I promptly blew my top, and they got to hear a lot of invectives from this most patient person! You’re so right , Cebu Pacific is so DAING! Never again Cebu Pacific!
Whoa!!!
I have never tried Cebu Pacific before and come to think of it, they are also now offering budget/economy fares to Singapore.
Though I have suffered the same frustrations on experiencing delays on flights, and can totally understand the angst one feels. From now on, I will try to bear in mind the experiences MM and the others have gone through before even considering buying from Cebu Pacific.
What really bothers me is that it seems that they do not readily acknowledge their shortcomings and wouldn’t even bother giving an apology just like in ana’s case. That to me speaks a lot about how you run your business.
August 11th, 2006Three years ago the hubby and i were at Mactan airport, Boracay bound, checked in, waited at the departure lounge, then five minutes before the scheduled flight, they announced the flight has been cancelled. Just like that. We only got a lunch coupon. We booked for the next day (luckily i was the first to stand at their counter) and instead of going back to the city, checked in at the Waterfront. We paid for it ourselves. unfortunately.
August 11th, 2006We did the same route last February, but flew with Asian Spirit.
so I guess I’d better stick to PAL for domestic flights. I promised this year will be domestic travels for me. So far, so lucky with PAL for Manila - Cebu - Tagbilaran and back.
August 11th, 2006friendly advice para sa mga na-bad trip,
literally and figuratively,
sa online booking:
just book through a travel agent,
August 12th, 2006usually, only a token P50 service fee is charged,
and you avoid all the stress.
yes to everything said above, plus the fact that you have to contend with a super-crummy terminal (if coming from/arriving in manila), and also the fact that you don’t exactly know what to expect with the service: sometimes thay have newspaper, sometimes not; sometimes they have snacks, sometimes not. i mean, how hard is it to maintain minimum service standards? also, i consider it SOOOO MEAN to change planes without informing the passengers a day before, because i take pains to choose flights with the planes of my choice (the newer models, the better, siempre).
August 12th, 2006just wondering… have you been contacted by cebu pacific offering an apology for the bad service? if not, then they might not just be ‘daing’ but already dead!
August 12th, 2006Grace, I sent an email to their reservations group, an email comment on their website re: the problems, and an email directly to Mr. Gokongwei at his JG Summit address…I’d give them the weekend to mull this over and see if they get back to me Monday…from the sound of it, they have their hands full fighting fires…
August 12th, 2006Mm,
Fascinating read. thanks for sharing. Guess have been lucky so far, on my last trip to Singapore, PAL was expectedly late but they did offer food plus (with a little demanding) making up our lost time by paying for an extra night’s in our hotel room. KLM gave 10 euro food vouchers plus contact means (cellphone or email) to inform of late those at home. Ditto with Cathay Pacific.
I notice that a good number of industries in the country have mediocre services (not just the airline industry). I once took an Asian Spirit to Basco and had to wait about 45 mins inside the plane in the middle of Manila’s scorching summer heat (w/out AC!) before the plane took off!
August 13th, 2006One of the major factors of the delays to all carriers in the domestic terminal is the closure of the Manila domestic runway til December of this year. This causes a huge bottleneck in Manila and unfortunately, the big losers are those who use the old domestic terminal such as Asian Spirit, Airphils and Cebupacific. Imagine they get delayed 10-20 mins everytime they depart Manila.. this delay just builds up throughout the whole day.. Cebupac has rescheduled its flights because of this, but I think the gaps between flights still aren’t enough so delays still persist… it’s a real shame.
August 13th, 2006Hi Jade, Air Phil was transferred to the centennial airport sometime last May.
August 14th, 2006Air travel has been an inconvenience since the Britain bomb scare (check in all liquids even if you don’t have any luggage to check-in!)
The tag line of yours - is hilarious!!
That’s one for the books (for me!).. :)
August 14th, 2006POST UPDATE
Today I received an email from the CEO of Cebu Pacific in response to the email that I sent him last Friday. I am grateful for the rapid response and the attention given to the issues raised. It seems one of the commenters above is correct in that runway repairs are impairing on-time departures (though 3 of my flights were early morning flights that should not have been affected by cumulative delays)and I suppose one can conclude that flights will remain delayed in many cases until the runway is finished or unless the flight schedules are changed (which is not so easy to do). It raises the simple question though why Cebu Pacific staff simply don’t come clean and give that as the reason for the delays… On the website glitch, they acknowledge there were problems last week at the exact time that I and several other readers were trying to book flights. They report that all of those issues have now been corrected. As for refunds, they are working on speeding those up. As I told the CEO, I am glad they are being quite responsive, but I will now shift my business to PAL until the time that the runway is completed, and Cebu Pacific’s flights have achieved a more impressive “on time” departure record. Considering that the runway may not be done for say another 2-3 months, that’s still another couple of thousand flights out of Manila that are going to be affected… Many thanks to Cebu Pacific’s CEO. Two thumbs down to Cebu Pacific reservations staff and the website contact point that informed me they would get back to me in 24 hours and from whom I have heard nothing. I am on a PAL flight tomorrow morning early, let’s hope it’s on time… And finally, just so you see that a single passenger now has another venue to post their service experiences so that others are aware, if you Google Cebu Pacific delays, CP problems - this post comes as the #1 article identified. For a Google on CP service, this article is # 5 or so and for just plain old Cebu Pacific, this article comes out in the Top 20. I do hope Cebu Pacific service does eventually improve and I would be more than happy to write about it when I experience that for myself.
August 14th, 2006I agree with you Marketman.
August 15th, 2006Hi Marketman, I heard that Cebu Pacific has temporarily suspended their “on-time” guarantee because of the runway repairs at the Manila airport, which has left them with only two(?) usable runways for both domestic and international flights. If the runway repairs are the reason for the delay, I think it would be unfair to blame them for the delays.
The useless online reservation thing, however, well, that IS their fault and you are right to blame them for their inefficiency.
August 15th, 2006Also have the same problem with Cebu Pacific.. I flew with Cebu Pacific for 8 times since May and 6 out of the 8 flights are delayed!!!! I don’t think the closure of the runway is the only problem, the problem is the airline itself… If the problem’s really with the runway, then Asian Spirit and Seair passengers would also experience the same thing….There’s really a very big problem with Cebu Pacific, they are trying their best to compete with PAL, but in the end PAL still leads the game. I don’t believe in the saying that PAL is Plane Always Late for if there are any delays in PAL flights, its mostly the late afternoon flights… I experienced a 40 minute delay in a PAL flight from Manila to GenSan last month but it was because we’re still waiting for some passengers and the engine won’t start after push back, but after 20 minutes of waiting, everything’s ok… unlike Cebu Pacific, what really causes their delays???
August 15th, 2006haha!!! that is how consumers/clients should react if you have been dissatisfied with service etc. How could companies ever learn if “we” (the clients/consumers) don’t complain or just even comment. . . you know, it really helps a lot if you let them hear your voices and they should really know how to respond to complaints and other inquiries, i think this is whats lacking in service people here in Philippines, THEY LACK “PRODUCT” OR SERVICE KNOWLEDGE that is why they can’t or could not even respond to what you need to know. . . sorry but I think before you should employ staff, they should undergo EXTENSIVE training and also test them to know if they really understood what they need to do and what they should say. . .
August 16th, 2006Whew! with respect to all the grinds brought out, Cebu Pacific has been very accommodating especially the customer services. They personally handle special cases that may be beyond the call of duty. Yes! flights have been delayed lately, and i was a victim of that. But let’s make it more constructive this time. Delays are normal, after all, they are now a bonafide Low Cost Carrier. It was your choice to try Cebu Pacific, not them! What can you expect!?? The reservation agents sucks too bad!! Please train your people to speak at least straight English.. C’mon!! I know you can do better than that!!
August 18th, 2006Johny, delays are NOT normal. An airline with more than 25% delayed flights has serious issues. Delays on a regular basis suggests other problems, though in this case, CP explains recent delays are partially caused by runway repairs. However, in a service business dependent on timing, delays should not be a normal part of your experience. And LOW COST has nothing to do with whether they are prone to delays or not. Cost and on-time performance should hopefully have a low correlation. Yes, it was my choice to try them and I am now voting with my wallet by taking business elsewhere until delays are brought back to a minimum.
As for criticizing their (presumably CP’s staff) English, I would have checked my own more carefully if I were to leave a comment so filled with grammatical, usage, capitalization, punctuation and subject verb agreement issues…as you have above… I am not an English major either, and often write sentences that are less than ideal, but I think you’re fair game given the content of the comment above… The deterioration of English appears to be a national malaise…
August 18th, 2006Oh my! Thank you sooooo much for the review (rant?) of Cebu Pacific. I am going back to Manila in January and am contemplating on trying them out (after seeing their advertisement in Philippine Star) for a couple of flights to different vacation destinations. I only have a couple of weeks to spare and I’ll be damned if more than an hour of it will be spent waiting for outbound flights. Thank you so much for sharing this piece with us.
August 24th, 2006Mr MM -
I was really scared out of my wits after reading all the posts above. Seriously, I almost backed out of my Palawan trip after the “scary stories” …esp since I am a bit worried re: booking my full name incompletely. On hindsight, better to have a flava of what’s happening too since it put me on a longer patience limit.
My angst with the delay however is the “WAIT” for late comers. I presume it’s not isolated to CP but to all domestic carriers?? It’s quite irritating actually. These people are like freaking late - all people waiting for them and they have the luxury to STROLL towards the plane! Mahiya naman sila sa balat nila! The policy of reinforcing the latecomers-no boarding should be CONSISTENT and UPHELD. As if the plane delay is not irritating enough, this practice is the bomb!
Anyways, back to CP - I had been on the slowest line on earth - stood like an hour for my turn. The thing is they see that the line has really snaked till the airport entrance yet they NEVER EVER thought of opening another counter for it?! This is despite the fact that we are CLOSE to take off time?! I don’t think that it’s acceptable that the rationale behind the delay was bec of this. This is CLEARLY something w/in their control and they didn’t work on it. It’s quite a big PISS especially the fact that the flight sked after mine got ahead in boarding and take off.
August 26th, 2006you are so selfish. you think of nothing but your self.
think of this: turn around time of cebu pac is 30 mins. then the domino effect that if one flight is delayed, all the rest of the day’s flights utilizing the plane will be in some way delayed. then the closure of naia’s 13-31 runway. meaning all the plane taking off and landing will be using just the one functional runway. think, 1,300 flights landing and taking off using just one runway. and the lengthy taxxiing of planes because cebu pac is using the old domestic terminal which is a mile away from the runway.
the next time you rant on something… think first…
September 2nd, 2006raymund,
I would suggest that it is you who should consider the facts and THINK objectively before you leave a comment for the public to see and dissect. But let me begin with my thoughts first:
1. Cebu Pacific chose to make its turnaround time on its flights 30 minutes. So yes, I agree that if there is a delay at one or more points during the day, it IS likely to result in delays all throughout the day. That was an operational decision management took and they are therefore responsible for its consequences as far as on-time departures are concerned. Just three days ago I know of several engineers on the 650 am flight to Cebu that were at least 2.5 hours late. However, this DOES NOT fully explain why several of the early morning flights I took from Manila were already an average of 1 hour late considering that the aircraft was on only its first or second leg out of the Manila airport that day. I also note that PAL chooses to schedule an hour turnaround time and in the past two months they have had a much better on-time departure performance as far as my personal experience is concerned and I fly roughly 2 times a week, every week.
2. As far as the runway/taxiway closure is concerned, I agree that it is beyond Cebu Pacific’s control, however, it is a KNOWN operating condition and has been known for several months and for another month or two to come. As for your assertion as fact that the 1,300 flights at NAIA are affected, I beg to differ (unless you mean only Cebu Pacific has 1,300 flights per day? per month?). Perhaps 70+% of the plane traffic at NAIA should have no need for the closed runway/taxiway as they are located in terminals closer to the main runway. Thus, PAL, Air Philippines, and all foreign airlines should not be affected as you suggest. It is only Cebu Pacific, private planes, some cargo planes and SEA-AIR and other small carriers that should be affected. And I note that SEA-AIR flights for early morning departures the last four times I was taking Cebu Pacific were ALL departing on-time as opposed to the flights of Cebu Pacific. And worse, your logic simply doesn’t follow. If the runway repair results in CERTAIN delays then it would beg the question why some late afternoon flights of Cebu Pacific ARE in fact on time while many others are not…that suggests that the runway is NOT the only reason and it is not a CERTAIN factor in causing delays.
3. As for the CP terminal being far from the main runway, this is also an ILLOGICAL argument for their problems as this is a KNOWN operating condition and therefore airline management should take that into account when they schedule their flights. It sounds a bit ridiculous that they would set such short turnaround times when you have to taxi 5 or so more minutes than PAL on each leg into and out of the airport and when you add that all up during the day you have phenomenal delays even without a runway closure!
As opposed to you, I do think before I write a rant. In fact, I have only written a handful of rants since this blog was started. I do try to focus on the issues, I do try to get the facts and I do try to get to the right people in the company with which I have an issue.
If you read the post carefully and objectively and the many comments that follow, you will notice that it raises several critical issues:
1. Why are the flights so consistently late? In my experience, only 16.7% of flights took off on time. All of my morning flights out of Manila on 8 segments were late. And why do they not mention the real cause of the delays, the runway repairs being a major one.
2. Why did they have such a massive failure in their reservations systems that had thousands of folks waiting on phone lines and unable to book online? And why did they not put a simple notice on the website that could have saved everyone a lot of wasted time?
3. Why are refunds taking so long (an issue raised by a reader, not me)?
And if you read further, no less than the CEO of Cebu Pacific has responded and basically, in answer to the issues raised above, the airline responds:
1. They acknowledge that there are in FACT departure delays and they assert mostly due to the runway issues (though they do not address the fact that many early morning flights were already late). They hope that when the runway is re-opened soon they will be able to recover; though with the 30 minute turnaround and distant terminal as you point out that is a target I want to see actually met. They have taken my suggestion and are asking cabin crew to announce the reason for the delay being the runway closure.
2. They acknowledge that they had a serious glitch in their reservations systems for about 4 WHOLE days and they did not put a notice on the website and they did have a surge in customers calling on the phone lines as a result. They have fixed this problem.
3. They acknowledge a problem with slow refunds and are working to correct this issue as we type.
So, in conclusion, I seem to have raised VERY VALID ISSUES in fact and so much so that the CEO felt it necessary to respond rapidly and comprehensively. No, I do not consider this post to be selfish; in fact, considering the thousands of customers who are probably flying late on CP lately, I consider this to be just one voice among many who do not have the time or energy to raise these issues to the right people. After all, Cebu Pacific is in a SERVICE BUSINESS and ANY service company should be closely watching their SERVICE LEVELS or risk obvious consequences to their bottom line. I consider my post to be factual and an actual representation of a service experience on several flights with Cebu Pacific. As you can see from the resulting comments, many other readers have voiced both positive and negative views. I consider this post to be useful because it has identified critical issues that are now being addressed. If customers all over the Philippines simply swallowed BAD SERVICE and did not complain, then we would all have increasingly poor service to contend with.
As for the motives for your comment, I am not sure whether you are connected to Cebu Pacific or not, but regardless of affiliation, I would suggest that it is you who should think objectively about any rant that I choose to write about on this website. Since you are a first time commenter, I would guess that you came upon this rant while specifically searching a Cebu Pacific related topic. Instead of excuses, ALL service companies should focus on improving their service rather than trying to come up with lame excuses for poor service. And as for your specific comments, isn’t it funny how some people who cannot carry an argument with solid logic attack an individual’s person instead rather than sticking to the facts…
As for impartiality, I would write a similar post if I experienced something similar at PAL or any other airline…
Marketman
September 2nd, 2006If CP has a systemic problem in the form of delays then they should make adjustments para naman di sila nakakaabala sa mga tao. Or, inform everyone ahead of time that delays may occur.
If they refuse to do that then that means wala sila pakialam sa mga clients nila after taking the latters’ money.
Let those who are willing to wait indefinetly in return for cheaper fares wait, but they should be informed about that bago sila bumili ng ticket.
As it is, hindi ako sasakay sa CP in the forseeable future. Kahit 1 peso lang ang pamasahe doon.
September 3rd, 2006Hi MM,
I had a pleasant flight to CDO two weekends ago. My flights (to and back) were not delayed (maybe because i took the first flights - my favorite). In fact they were 10minutes earlier than scheduled. We even had a fun trivia game during the return flight to manila. BUT they did not take the time out to inform the early bookings on the change in sked. I only found out after I was able to get a live person from their hotline after an entire night of calling. Ugh. The calling was such a bad experience plus the long line for baggage check because their x ray machine was broken in CDO. Ugh.
September 4th, 2006Me too still waiting for the refunds of our on-line booking. Im waiting til my October billing pagwala pa talagang susulatan ko sila, like what you did, blah,blah, blah! Kainis sila ano? Pasensyosa pa ako nyan.
September 4th, 2006kainis talaga! i booked a flight, sept 5 around 6am MNL-SIN-MNL and i was charged PHP7,971…tapos, 6 hours later, when i checked the website, the exact same flights for the exact same dates now cost PHP5,971… there is a PROMO according the website if you purchase between Sept5-12 and travel dates are between Oct 2-Dec… so i called, sabi hindi raw nila pwedeng ibigay sa aking ang promo rate kasi when i booked my flight yun daw ang binigay na price ng website…. ano klaseng excuse yan???!!!
from http://www.cebupacificair.com/aboutus/vision.html
Our equipment, facilities and systems enable us to ensure consistent highly efficient levels of operation.
—YOU’RE JOKING, RIGHT???
from http://www.cebupacificair.com/aboutus/culture.html
Accountability
We take responsibility for what we say, decide and do.
We own up to mistakes we make rather than blame others.
We make decisions in a timely and effective manner.
We meet our deadlines so that others can meet theirs.
We protect the interest of Cebu Pacific.
— ONLY THE LAST ONE IS TRUE!!!
Excellence
We strive to be the best we could ever be, in any situation
and in any undertaking.
We set high standards for ourselves.
We are untiring in our efforts to improve our capabilities.
Multi-tasking, volunteerism and out-of-the-box thinking are a
way of life to ensure that each task is done in the best possible manner.
We are relentless in our efforts to improve cost-efficiency—the best possible choice for the least cost.
We are not content with the status quo.
We aim to consistently meet and exceed our customer’s expectations.
We go the extra mile.
We are trailblazers in our drive for continuous improvement.
Our service is impeccable.
— OWS TALAGA??? NONE OF THE ABOVE are TRUE!
from http://www.cebupacificair.com/aboutus/index.html
“The Cebu Pacific Spirit is defined as a compelling passion
to treat all customers and each other with a true heart and soul for service. ”
HELLLOOOOOO???? Check your english dictionary, u got the wrong words!!!!!!!!!
September 6th, 2006I’m from Cebu. Booked a flight online with CP for Manila-Cebu-Manila. Can you imagine, after 5 hours of the transaction, I didn’t get an email confirmation that my ticket had been booked. When I called the reservations office in Cebu(which took me half a day to get a real human), do you know what they told me? They told me to call the manila office to check with them if my ticket had been booked. Isn’t that stupid? I have to pay extra to make that long distance call to inquire if my ticket was booked. All the agent in cebu could tell me was payment was already taken from my credit card. Wow! How convenient. They take my money and then “bahala ka na” if you get your ticket. Usually daw, it takes 10 mins after you hit the “confirm” button online before you get an email confirmation. But 5 hours which later became 3 days. I called again to speak to another agent and this time, the agent told me that he would fax me the “e-ticket” Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of having an “e-ticket”? When I told her that the passenger is coming from Manila and asked her why I have to be the one to fax the copy to Manila, she said, that’s the only way that I can get a copy of the ticket. They don’t have outgoing email daw? Are they stupid or what? They can offer online ticketing but they don’t have an outgoing email account? Anyway, getting back to my story…not everyone has a fax machine and the only reason I booked online was so that I could email the “e-ticket” to my uncle who is coming from the US. Guess how long it took them to email me? 3 days after my transaction online. Talk about convenience with their e-ticketing service. I wrote them an email on the day I made the booking and until now(1 week has passed), I have not received a single reply or explanation from them. They may offer cheap fares but my goodness, the aggrevation you have to endure to get reasonable service is outrageous. Good luck CP! At the rate you’re going, you’re going to lose more customers with your type of “non-existent customer service”
September 21st, 2006Thank God I always take PAL for my domestic travel!!!
September 27th, 2006Flew with PAL on my MNL-DVO-MNL flights last Sept 28 and oct 2, all flights were on sched, in fact ahead of schedule… I just noticed that a cebu pacific flight from Davao to Cebu that is scheduled to depart at 6pm is delayed and its new departure time is 8pm… was the flight delayed because of the runway closure in Manila???? or just because of the lousy CEB service??? I took the same CEB-DVO-CEB flight last June, both Leg was delayed for more than an hour…
October 4th, 2006I would definetly agree ” Cebu pacific air sucks”.
October 5th, 2006I only tried them once last sept. 7, 2006 MNL-HKG-MNL and i will never try them again. last sept. 3 i was super happy for it’s my first time flying to hong kong and the supposedly departing time was 7:00 pm… but ofcourse they were 2 hours late and we left manila around 9:00 pm.
It was ok probably for i was kinda excited atleast i will be in hongkong for a few hours. But i got hungry while on board and guess what they have for dinner… C2 Ice tea…. i asked them if they have a coffee for i was so sleepy … they said they don’t have ” they only have hot water incase i have a 3 in 1 sachet of coffee with me… hmmm…. and they are selling cup noodles too for 10$ hongkong… too much but since i was straving, i grabbed one.
I was at the exit row and i don’t know why all the time during the flight i feel uncomfortable. why i was thinking of bad scenarios and all that…. maybe because of the plane crashed that they had before and also their plane was super old…
while in hongkong on the way to manila, They forced my husband to buy a refundable return ticket to manila but until now we haven’t refunded it for their customer service doesn’t want to do some help with us… they were telling us to refund it at hongkong…. God, i will not be flying back to hong kong just to refund a ticket. i will just call our bank and cancel that ticket if with in a few days i still didn’t get any response from them..
I will not use cebu pacific anymore.
i will try PAL or any other airline next time. :-)
Mr Marketman,
I sooooo agree with you. I too have a bad experience with Cebu Pacific the last time I was in the Philippines. They changed my flight schedule from 10 AM to 3 PM without even informing me. Bloody people.
I would think twice about taking this airline again.
October 11th, 2006Aloha MM,
Once again you have saved the day for me. I live in Hawaii and I’ve planned a trip to visit folks in Naval Biliran for Christmas and New Years. I was going to purchase tickets on-line with CP, MNL TAC MNL, but was holding off doing so until November. Now I’m convinced to forget about CP and go with PAL which I originally fly in to Manila on. CP’s low cost had me sold at first, but reading these posts has steered me back to the PAL.
Thanks again and great job!
James
October 13th, 2006James, I think PAL may even be nice to you if you book tickets together (international and local segments) as they will probably give you the larger baggage allowance. Otherwise, excess fees will apply. By the way, when did Biliran become a separate province? I know I was in grammar school decades ago but I only realized Biliran was a province when my daughter was studying for a test a few weeks ago! Duh… Also, while I am NOT a great fan of PAL either, my last dozen flights or so only had one delay… let’s see if they can keep up that record towards the busy holidays.
October 13th, 2006MM,
Biliran became a province May 11, 1992. I’m having a ball reading these posts! :-)
James
October 13th, 2006My Dad will be celebrating his 75th Birthday on 1st November. I cant afford to fly to UK for this, but suggested he visit us here in Cebu. He last visited 3 years ago with my Mum to attend our wedding.
With only pension income, the cost of a return flught UK to Cebu is significant. It was with interest that I learnt of a new airline - OASIS HongKong, that started flying daily service beteen LGW and HKG. Tickets are available at £75 or HK$1,000 (+Taxes). This meant my Dad to fly for £261.05 Total.
He still needed a return flight HKG-CEB however.
This is where I looked into CebuPacific since they are now operating flights direct to/from HKG and CEB.
Thir posters say this will be using their new Airbus and the Fare is only Php2,499 one way (+Taxes), so I thought I woul;d give it a go, using their on-line booking to get an E-Ticket that would be sent to my Dad directly.
It started off OK with their Reservations showing the availability and Fare prices.
The earliest available date with a one way Fare HKG-CEB was 7th November on 5J239, Fare HK$423.14 + Tax of HK$237 making HK$660.14 Total.
I wanted to book it as a ’single’ flight, since me and my asawa intended to fly with him back to Hong Kong, spend 5 days there before he flew on to LGW on Oasis, and we returned to CEB on Cebu Pacific.
That was the plan, and I sorted out a schedule and confirmed Hotel avilability in Hong Kong.
So time to go ahead and make the On-Line Booking.
Everything went well, with selecting flight and entering my HSBC Premier MastCard details, but when I submitted this, a problem occured!
“An error has occurred processing your payment”.
Invalid Digital Order
W5005-10122221: Invalid Merchant ID
This was from MasterCard. My MasterCard had not been debited since it has MasterCard SecureCode enabled and CebuPacific display the SecureCode Logo ojn their website. I would have to have seen the automatic SecureCode window with my personalised greeting and a prompt to enter my unique SecureCode. this did not show, so the problem occered between the CebuPacific on-line system and the MasterCard Authorisation logon.
The message generated by CebuPacific system said -
“Warning - Payment Error.
Sorry but an error occured during payment. Your booking is confirmed so please contact our Call Center at (632) 70-20-888 quoting the reference number ITD00285183CEB. They will confirm with you if payment has been successfully received or not. Please do not book again as you may be charged twice”.
I dont have to state the problems I experienced, and the cost of PLDT National Trunk Calls, trying to het through to that 02 70 20 888 number!
What’s more when I finally did get an operator to answer (after many repeated attempts to get a line, then delays on hold for nearly 15 minutes), she asked me to “please hold for a few minutes whilst I check into your problem”.
I waited more than a few minutes - then got DIAL TONE!
So I had to repeat that frustrating, time consuming and costly (Trunk call) to get the CebuPacific Call Center again in Manila (I tried Cebu, but they said it HAD to be the Manila Office!). When the operator came on line again, and asked “..and how may I help you?” I replied “By taking a note of my phone number so you might have the consideration to call me back if I get cut off like my first attempt”.
The operator perhaps did make a note of my phone number, and again said “Please hold for a few minutes whilst I check into this”. At least I did NOT get cut off this time. She eventually came back and informed me the booking for my father, was on the CebuPacific system. She told me to go to a Booking Office to pay for the ticket.
So I went along to Cebu Pacific Office @ Robinsons, Cebu.
After a 40 minute delay, I was able to go to the counter. I showed the girl a print out of the Flight booking and the error messages with the ITD Reference No. that I was asked to quote.
The girl then asked “Can I see the Passport for the passenger, please”. Now that was going t be a problem since the passenger was my Dad, who is in the UK, so I do not have his passport with ME here in Cebu!
The girl did not suggest my showing her a copy of his passport. Pity as I could have got my Dad to e-mail me a copy of his passport and I then print it out to show CebuPacific staff.
Even if they had accepted a copy of his passport, the girl said this would NOT be an ‘E-Ticket’, but a ‘convential’ one. I would then have the hassle and expense of sending it to my Dad in the UK via secure, fast, delivery service.
All she suggested was “Try Booking on-line again sir:.
My Dad tried this from the UK and experienced the same Credit Card Authorisation problems that I did. You can also imagine how much his International phone call to Cebu Pacific Call Center cost, with same delay problems once connected!
Do you happen to have the CEO of Cebu Pacific contact details?
I have sent in an e-mail with my complaint, much like i have given here. If they ignore this complaint and acknowledge ther is a severe problem with their on-line reservations system and its interface with the Credit Card companies authorisation system, not only are they going to lose money, with potential passengers not being billed for the flights, but it screws up the available seats allocation, AND frustrates and anoys would be passengers so much they go elsewhere.
I am now checking into alternatives for my Dad’s visit to Cebu, and perhaps just give up on the idea of him visiting us after his 75th Birthday, if we cant find any we can afford.
Best Regards,
October 14th, 2006A frustrated and annoyed, potential Cebu Pacific passenger,
David, I totally commiserate with you re: Cebu Pacific experience. I do have the CEO’s email but unfortunately it was not given to me publicly so I do not think it is appropriate to pass it on. However, I suggest you call the trunk line of JG Summit Holdings 02-633-7638 according to the Manila white pages, then ask to be connected with Mr. Lance Gokongwei’s assistant and nicely ask her for a facsimile number… that usually works for me when I can’t find the number of the key person… Good luck!
October 14th, 2006This is the reply that I got, aftr finding the e-mail to
Cebu Pacific HR
caihr@jgsummit.com.ph
Tht I found on the www.jgssummit.com.ph website:-
—–Original Message—–
From: CEB Customer Service [mailto:customerservice@cebupacificair.com]
Sent: 14 October 2006 19:01
To: David Whittall
Cc: caihr@jgsummit.com.ph
Subject: RE:
Dear Mr. Whittall,
Good day. Thank you for writing Cebu Pacific.
We apologize for the inconvenience you have encountered with our website. Please let us explain our side.
We have verified to our ticketing supervisor that we can only issue e-ticket through the website for Hong Kong flights. However, for ticket purchase over the counter / ticket office, we issue paper/conventional tickets. There are still internal configuration within our organization that needs to be enhanced for us to be able to issue an e-ticket for Hong Kong. We strongly suggest to please try again using our online facility available on our website.
Again, we apologize for the inconvenience.
Regards,
Yendie
October 14th, 2006Customer Services
I flew Cebu Pacific last month. Unfortunately, my domestic flight also with Cebu Pacific was cancelled. The junior staff were pleasant but could not offer much help. On my return, I wrote to Cebu’s customer service twice and ten days over, I have not got any reply.
Can someone please give me the e mail address of its CEO, because I believe that he deserves a chance to put something right.
October 23rd, 2006Thanks for the helpful data and updates, MM. They help us a lot in plotting our forthcoming trips - esp this coming holidays. Keep it up.
To raymund, as to your objectives, you didn’t define them well. Your labelling, logic, and way of reasoning does not speak well of you. The next time you react on something… think first…
October 25th, 2006I have flown cebu pacific from zamboanga to manila, zamboanga to cebu and zamboanga to davao. since now, they always use there new 319. its still good.
December 5th, 2006Cebu Pacific promises 95% On-Time Performance is a TOTAL LIE.
My last 3 flights were.. ALL LATE!
Legazpi-Manila last January 28 was supposed to leave at afternoon, but we left the airport at 6:30 PM.. I’ve never seen a plane leaving Legaspi Airport later than.. And I understand why.. It’s because the airport runway doesnt have enough runway and tarmac lights to support night operations. I’m telling you that take-off was really scary. In addition to a bumpy and rough landing at Manila.
My next flight was Manila to Cagayan de Oro the following day.
I had an intuition that my flight will be late again, but I still went to the terminal on-time and alas! malas! we board the plane about 30 minutes late to the scheduled departure time. The check-in counter was talking about some american guy was playing prank jokes on the other plane which causes disruptions on the airport operations.
My flight back to Manila was not delayed.. just 10 minutes late. but it’s OK.
My last flight Legazpi to Manila was again late.. we left 1:30 hours late.
Is this what we get from cheap tickets? cheap service?
April 7th, 2007I agree with all of the negative comments. I’ve been trying to purchase a ticket online for someone else to come from Manila to Hong Kong. It keeps saying: “We apologise that your transaction cannot be processed at this time, kindly retry your transaction using another credit card.”
I experienced the same long holds on the phone, etc. The people were clueless. I called them 2x and my credit card company 2x.
Initially this was going to be a $130 ticket. I’m having similar problems with PAL too (”Sorry. We are having difficulty in validating your credit card. You may wish to enter details of an alternative card and try again. (M009)”), so I may have to get a $500 ticket from Cathay Pacific!
April 8th, 2007Same problems for me with Cebu Pacific - the online payment system will not take a UK Visa card, but you only find that out at the end of the process, after wasting your time filling in the details. They do have flagged on the website (not very prominently) that they are not accepting US Visa at present but otherwise nothing. In addition, impossible to get through on the phone to any of their numbers and no reply to emails. They would go bust if they didn’t have a captive and long suffering Pinoy clientele. Probably will anyway if this level of service continues. HOPELESS!!!
June 5th, 2007I get the same error message, “We apologise that your transaction cannot be processed at this time, kindly retry your transaction using another credit card”,when I use my Norwegian Visa card. Have never had any problems book tickets with my card online at cebupacific before. I have sent two emails to Customer relations without any answer.
June 6th, 2007Hello this is my answer.
Greetings from Cebu Pacific! We regret to you inform that any credit card issued outside the Philippines is not accepted for online payment.
Please be advised that we have a 24 hours ticket office located beside Domestic Airport ( Philippines ) and you can purchase it right there. You may call our reservation @ 02 7020888 or mail at ceb.reservation@cebupacificair.com.
Thank you and Godbless!
Joei
June 6th, 2007Customer Service
Cebu Pacific Air
……i encountered same problem with a german VISA Card…..it seems they not accept any foreign Creditcard….but today is June 25 , 2007.
Promoting 99P flights…..it takes no wonder for me that they try to sale flights…..coz nobody can book it online….
June 26th, 2007maybe cebu pacific will be soon faced by bancrupty and no foreign CC-Company accept their billings anymore…..
Once again, Cebu Pacific screw up by not accepting UK VISA cards - or indeed any credit card issued outside of the Philippines.
We’re frequent travellers with them and we have noticed that their service has deteriorated rapidly over the past 12 months.
Planes are now usually delayed, check in queues are getting slower and now no payments by VISA are accepted. Getting hold of a human on their helpline is like waiting for aliens to reply to messages beamed into outer space.
There is no way am I going to give Cebu Pacific another chance until the get their act together and sort out the basics of air travel aimed at satisfying paying customers.
As soon as I have written this, I’m visiting the Asian Spirit website to book with them.
Two fingers up to Cebu Pacific!
June 26th, 2007Does anybody have the email ad of Lance Gokongwei or any other Gokongwei for that matter? I simply cannot get hold of any call center agent, my emails to them are being read (I get return receipts but after my 3rd email I think they disabled it) but I’m getting no answers at all! Their website states that rebooking of etickets via credit card is 45 days. It’s been 60 days and no news from them yet!
Thanks in advance.
June 30th, 2007I TRIED TO MAKE A FLIGHT BOOKING SEVERAL DAYS AGO.
July 14th, 2007THIS AIRLINES FLIGHT BOOKING SERVICE IS AN ABSOLOUT SHAMBLES
AFTER 3 DAYS OF TRYING TO BOOK A FLIGHT FROM MANILA TO HONG KONG I FINALLY GAVE UP……
I FOUND A WEBSITE THAT LETS YOU BOOK CEBU PACIFIC FLIGHTS ONLINE WHICH ACCEPT ALL MAJOR UK/US CREDIT & DEBIT CARDS.
GIVE THEM A GO THE SITE IS CALLED
http://www.alternativeairlines.com
I BOOKED & PAID FOR MY FLIGHT HERE & IT TOOK FIVE MINUITES WITH NO MESSING AROUND
I found this blog entry when looking for an alternative way to cantact CP customer service.
Currently, I am on the phone listening to their annoying ads while waiting for someone to pick up again! just 30 seconds ago someone answered, asked what she can do for me, then I don’t know what happened but the ads started to play again.
I only flew via CP a couple of times. The first one was two summers ago, a flight to Kalibo and back to Manila, and I don’t recall any delays whatsoever. The second time was just last may, a flight to Bangkok and back, and the flight back was an hour late. (Update on my call: I just received a busy tone.)
For the Bangkok trip, I booked everything online but I had to change my return flight and they asked me to pay the re-booking fee in their ticketing office. I decided to go to one in Galleria because it was the nearest to my house. I was there about just an hour after the mall opened and already the place was so full people there wasn’t an empty seat. Since I was already leaving the next day, I just decided to get a number stick it out. My friend and I ended up sitting on the floor waiting for several hours before our number was called. (I do not know why on earth their service is so friggin slow!!!)
The reason I’m calling them now is to follow-up on the reimbursement of a canceled flight. I need to free up credit in my one and only card (I just graduated last March and only have one supplementary card) for my trip to Sri Lanka two weeks from now. How long did it take for some of you to get reimbursed?
August 2nd, 2007Hi there switchico. I booked a flight for my ‘rents to SG. Unfortunately they had to cancel. I called their customer service number in Manila. No answer, just ads. I was able to talk to somebody from the Cebu hotline number. I was able to cancel the flight bookings right away. The agent told me it will take 30-45 working days before they can credit back the money. But first, I have to wait for the email confirmation of the cancellation. It took them 2 weeks to send me that email (after I called and sent emails to 2 of their customer service emails). Today is exactly one month since I cancelled the flights and I have yet to see the credit back in my account.
August 2nd, 2007i’m just waiting for their bad karma. i have this refunds more yhan 90-days ago and still not credited back to my credit card. dapat may interest na yun. bwahahah.
August 3rd, 2007have just receive an email from CP customer service that they have just transmitted the refund.although the info given is not that clear that I need to follow up again for the bank details kung saan nila pinadaan ang refund. The total days I need for them to do this started from March 2007 until today(Aug 2007) which took me almost 6 months before they od a refund. I emailed them everyday and am thinking of filing a complain to the proper authorities/news channel to expose this very very long process.
August 14th, 2007My friend had to rebook his Hongkong Manila flight due to bad weather. He was so pissed off that he had to pay HK$750 fine!! Looks like Cebu Pacific will pull their prices all the way down but kill you with their rebooking charges.
And have you heard lately, they are no longer Cebu Pacific. The more appropriate name for them will be Cebu PATHETIC.
August 15th, 2007hi, i’m a korean citizen.. i really had a bad experience getting a refund on our ticket.. we bought the ticket last march 30, 2007 but until now, 5 months has passed no refund from cebu pacific yet.. what a bad immpression from aliens like us..
August 23rd, 2007I am also waiting for my Cebu Pacific credit card refund. It’s been more than 70 days now since I initially asked for a refund. Looks like i will not be getting the refund in the near future unless I go to the CEO directly. Very very poor service - I’ll never fly Cebu Pacific!
August 27th, 2007oh my! i just book myself and my mom and my bestfriend with Cebu Pacific for this coming Oct for a round trip from Manila- Hongkong…reading all those things in here….it makes me wonder if i did the right thing or if i will be ending up experiencing what you guys just had.
September 2nd, 2007actually, Cebu Pacific is not the only airline who is suffering from customer dissatisfaction. i work as a customer svc rep for an online travel agency and i can say that the “inconveniences” that you have all experienced is the negative side of low cost carriers. lucky for CP pax b/c CP fares are refundable and most low cost carriers in the US/Europe/SEA offer non ref fares.
in justice to CP, they have started the low fare revolution. w/o them, PAL could have monopolized the airline industry in the US. i myself flew from CDO to MNL via CP and our flt was delayed by 30mins. i do think it’s better to be late than sorry when it comes to flights. aircraft turnaround could be b/c of CP making sure their planes are fit to fly, hence the delays.
September 4th, 2007and by the way, im not an endorser for CP but they fly to more domestic destinations in the phils so let us just thank them for flying more Filipinos to places that could have been “remote” for people in MNL or CBU b/c no airline is flyint to those places. ;-)
September 4th, 2007yeap! my question is if they accept credit card for puchasing ticket through internet, because i tried to book over the internet and it never get through so i’m frustrated.
September 9th, 2007hmmm…actually, based on my job experience, using the credit card to buy plane tkts over airline websites maybe a bit risky if ever when making the reservation the website just went down. normally, there will be a soft charge on your credit card. that is a temporary charge on your credit card that will fall off (in NORMAL conditions)within 1-2 biz days…so better yet, book the tkt via a/l tktng office…;-) better safe than sorry.
September 10th, 2007I have been applying for refund since the first week of March. Until now no refund was made… upon calling Cebu Pacific Customer Service. Refunds takes up to 6 months.
So their 60 days refund processing days is a hoax, it should have been 6 months processing date.
This is sooo frustrating, better to stick with other airlines. Cebu Pacific isn’t worth the Peso savings compared to the hassle and frustrations it will provide you.
September 11th, 2007i tried to use my visa card(it function always), but get the same error message, “We apologise that your transaction cannot be processed at this time, kindly retry your transaction using another credit card”,when I use my Austrian Visa card. Have never had any problems book tickets with my card online at cebupacific before. I have sent two emails to Customer relations without any answer.
September 13th, 2007what a nonsense!!
ingat to all
hans
I definitely agree with you!
I am so pissed off with that friggin airlines!
In the past 3 mos I have been calling and emailing them regarding my refund complaint. I was told that the refund would be given to me 30 to 60 days after the flight cancellation. Well guess what, I have canceled the flight last December 2006, called their reservations hotline (and each time I call I have to wait for about 30 to 40 minutes before someone answers) then I was asked to call the Accounting department, then I was asked to email their customer service and 10 or so emails later, still nothing happened.
I really want to go directly to Gokongwei if that’s what it takes to get a response from these people. Its actually not about the money anymore, it’s about the frustration and emotional distress you get from dealing with their employees.
Right now, I am composing a consumer complaint letter to DTI.
Im not sure if that would work but if any of you can give me advise on how to get hold of Gokongwei’s email add, I’d very much appreciate it.
Thank you.
September 20th, 2007Been waiting almost 1 year for my refund. I paid cash.
September 23rd, 2007All I get is lies, excuses, and ignorance.
This airline will never make it big if it does not improve it’s customer service.
Why do they have refund supervisors when refunds seem to be non-existant. What is their policy, if someone complains long enough… a year or more, then they might give a refund. Otherwise, they will just pocket the money after people give up on receiving their refund. It is a SCAM.
I hear they will try to fly non-stop flights to the U.S. starting in 2008. Puuuh-LeeeZ, give me a break.
I wouldn’t trust this airline to put enough fuel in the tanks to make the entire trip.
I had much more to say in an earlier post, but it was never posted?? Is that because I named names within the refund department of Cebu Pacific? Those were the people who have constantly lied and given excuses to me through their delayed emails in which they never answered my questions directly.
CEBU PACIFIC SUCKS and they will never again receive one single peso of my money. I’d rather swim.
I can understand how you feel. I applied for a refund with Cebu Pacific for over six month and still can’t get any status. I phoned 24 hours a day 7 days a week on the telephone number they provided, but no luck for any Human to answer me, instead I can only hear inane trite longplaying verbal repition. I don’t think the number exist, or if it does I don’t think Cebu Pacific had somebody actually assigned to answer that number. I tried sending them the same email everyday but still can’t get any reply. Same as you, am just so pissed off with that Airline!
October 2nd, 2007wow, looks like you get what you pay for. i’m considering CP for a vacation to macau, but they have not uploaded any rates nor will they answer the phone. i think i’ll pass this one.
October 9th, 2007I found your blog in the internet while waiting in the Singapore Budget Terminal for a delayed Cebu Pacific flight.
To think your blog was written in August 2006, Cebu Pacific should have done something to improve operations today, more than a year after. Sad to say, Cebu Pacific is still LATE, as of now, my flight is already two and a half hours late.
Earlier, the ground staff said it will be an hour late. Then an hour after, they revised the “official forecast” to two hours. As of now the “official forecast” is ETD 3:35AM, three and a half hours delayed from the original 12:05AM flight schedule.
How I wished I have done a bit of research in the internet before I booked this flight. Well, I am not taking Cebu Pacific ever again. My plan in taking this flight was to catch a very important business meeting in Manila, scheduled at 8:00 AM. Now I am totally pissed off!
October 17th, 2007I don’t have any personal experiences w/ Cebu Pacific (and I’m not planning to have one because of your shared stories, guys/gals =D… My family prefers PAL, we cannot risk our lives/ any important business matters, in exchange for small amount of flight charges/ fees!!!); I just want to share my employer’s experience, he has his own story to tell (but I’ll tell you now =D). His major concern is the refunds from his canceled flights; he has been told that in 90 days, they’ll be able to grant the intended amount. It has been 4 months now and yet there are no feedbacks or whatsoever. We have tried every means possible but to no avail, of course. I even joked to my associates that I might apply to Cebu Pacific solely for the position of Customer Service Agent/ answering their phone calls; we even doubted and still doubting if they do have a Customer Service Department/ Staff on these matters. With their ads over the phone, that’s really irritating; specially when you’re in a hurry to hear from them & they keep on promoting their other services. Good luck People!!! =D
October 26th, 2007I’m been calling your office for quit sometime regarding your low fares promo, but your listed phone number is alway busy.Please improve your service if you want to be No.1 ???
October 26th, 2007Reading on this subject. Not only makes me shake my head in despair and discontent, its just disgusts me on how CP Air Does Business, its a Business entity after all sounds like a mom & pop shop Airline Company. Shouldn’t it had been kept to a minimum system hiccup? 30,40, up to 2 hours hold common?? that is just ridiculous, 3,4 months turn around for refund Damn!! are they using chissel and machestes still? its just unacceptable. Sure would make many people’s blood pressure rise, with all the good hearty food philippines has to offer!! “no pun intended”
Unethical way of doing business if you ask me. Mr MM, you are right on every aspect, of this argument. imagine if you have an important business meeting? a tight time schedule, i know the system doesn’t always work %100. At least get close to it if not outstand it, you always wanna have a good reputation specially to the patrons..
Thanks for the heads up. Next time i visit Philippines. I, for sure wont be boarding a CP flight, Air Philippines planes are old scary looking as well. They looked like they came from World War II era “tora tora” a BIG NO NO…
Lastly “D” They Are DAING, ohhhh mann you made me CRACK!! that might be a good marketing logo for them hee hee..
November 9th, 2007it is just easy to have a booking in cebu pacific but then when you want to change your booking it is very very difficult very very hard to connect the hot lines of cebu pacific as well as the given telephone numbers in manila and cebu my phone bills increased. is there really a chance for me to rebook my tickets?
November 13th, 2007I couldn’t agree more with this article. I will *never* again be tempted by Cebu Pacific’s low advertised fares. I did once and I got burned…bad.
I was going to fly from Chicago O’Hare to Hong Kong with Korean Air, then transfer to a flight with Cebu Pacific from Hong Kong to Manila…however Korean Air denied my boarding because I did not have a copy of my itinerary of Cebu Pacific.
To make a long story short, since I could not purchase the ticket online, I had to call an agent on the telephone. They misspelled my last name and I never received my eTicket via email. I later called to have this corrected, but again, I never received it. So I was stuck in Chicago and had to cancel my other flight and rebook a different flight, all because Cebu Pacific sucks! It cost me over $600 USD in extra fees!!!
Never fly Cebu Pacific again! I’m glad this web site exists.
November 21st, 2007ALL our Cebu Pacific flights from starting from cebu to manila to xiamen to manila to legaspi to manila to cebu were all delayed that made our vacation a great nightmare instead of a nice leasure trip,,,never again Cebu Pacific,,nakaka dala,,hope you improve BIG TIME para ma gain back ninyo ang trust and loyalty naming mga pasahero who were so disappointed by your services and delays,,….
January 7th, 2008Had to call the call center all the way from California ,I’m about to take a vacation to Thailand, Staying there for 7 days but let me tell you the hassle I have to go trough just to get 3 round trip tickets from Manila to Bangkok. Let me set up the scene for you. 1rst of I had to make a phone call to the call center to Cebu since the Manila center was busy for about 20 minutes. So I finally got a hold of an agent over some choppy voice over IP connection. Blah, blah BLAH ! got most my info credit card number ( US based Master Card that prompted the phone call / can’t book on-line ) 30 minutes had pass my lunch break was done I had to stay on the phone to give the rest of my info to complete the ticket purchase. 10 Minutes pass by and the agents finally tells me we can’t call you back at the international number so we will email you if there are any changes or call you provided number in Manila. For the mean time 2 days have passed I’m going to be flying to the Philippines via Korean air ( PAL sucks the hairy one ) in 5 days I will be in Manila so I’m at a panic here. To top it off my hotels in Bangkok/Cha am are booked but I have no flight number to give the airport limousine service so that they can send a driver to pick me up. Now I’m hearing about his old airplane mess that’s got me worried. I’ll give them till tonight to send me my e-tickets before I try to call them again. I hope all goes well, this is the 1rst time my daughter is traveling out of the US and I want everything to run smooth as possible. I’ll be putting up a report on how the whole ordeal when I’m back home..
January 12th, 2008I have always had issues with Cebu Pacific and the frustrating thing is that they do not accept American Credit Cards. I am an American Living in the Philippines and I cannot book through them because I have an American Credit card? That is crap. When I finally was able to fly I got a ticket for 2200 PHP but I had taxes worth 2500 PHP so 4700 PHP for a one way ticket.. that is just wrong. How tan a tax be worth more than the product?
Now, I was mis-booked for my next travel dates and I I cannot get ahold of them to change my ticket because their lines are busy, I am going to demand a refund or they change me to PAL.
January 14th, 2008This website fits exactly what I need to be able to rant about the BAD service that I got from the Customer Service People of Cebu Pacific. I admit that they give you low fares. But, if it takes a lot of hassle to book a flight, especially if you are going as a group or make changes, it is not worth it since all promo fare tickets are non refundable including the taxes that you pay. Also, the supervisors in customer service do not even know how to deal with customers. they have a very haughty attitude that is designed to intimidate the customer rather than accommodate. If you are planning to take Cebu Pacific, take them if you really do not have a choice or else you will regret it. The only good thing I can say about Cebu Pacific are that the pilots are more skilled than PAL, since the flight I had with Cebu Pacific had a very smooth take off and landing as compared with PAL wherein you felt every bump that the aircraft encountered. But PAL customer service is better. :)
January 18th, 2008thank you for creating this link. my brother has recently encountered a verrry baaaad experience with cbu pacific. does anyone know the email address of mr. lance gokongwei..? just would like to make sure our letter of complaint reaches him directly and would not be filtered out by those below. thanks..
January 28th, 2008p.s. still waiting for permission from my brother if he wants to share his story here. if he doesnt get an immediate response and remedy from cbu pcfc management, he might be filing a case.. (just to give you an idea of how bad it is…)
thanks again. hope you can send me the email ad info. really urgent.
I went to the Office of CEBU PACIFIC in the NEW BACOLOD SILAY AIRPORT today to request for a print out of my online reservation with CEBU PACIFIC. However, before the girl printed out the ticket, she told me i had to pay P 50.00 to print it out for me. I asked her why? She told me their office is a GENERAL SALES AGENT OF CEBU PACIFIC, and not the organic office of the airline. I THINK IT IS RIDICULOUS, that it is not CEBU PACIFIC’S OWN OFFICE that is in the NEW BACOLOD SILAY AIRPORT- and with such an arrangement, their General Sales agent would charge P 50.00 for a print out.
January 31st, 2008I am really pissed…CEBU PACIFIC SHOULD MAINTAIN A TICKETING OFFICE MANNED BY ITS OWN PERSONNEL IN THE AIRPORT…
I had a VERY BAD EXPERIENCE with CEBUPACIFIC. I purchased a ticket online bound to Singapore. And so, I have to rebook it, for some reasons. When I clicked the button for booking changes, i was shocked for it says…”For changes in your booking, please contact our 24/7 Call Center at (632) 70-20-888.”. I said “WHAT! HOW COULD THEY OFFER INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT AND YET THEY DO NOT ATTEND ONLINE REBOOKING!” It was very frustrating, so i tried calling them but sad to say, sobrang hirap maka-contak sa kanila. Ang mahal kaya ng tawag from Singapore to Manila. So I called my friend and ask him to ask whether they have an international toll free number so I can call them and I could rebook my flight. Kaso wala daw, haay naku! uminit na lalo ang ulo ko…sa susunod CEBUPACIFIC, DO NOT ENTERTAIN INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS, KUNG GANYANG PALPAK ANG SERVICE NYO. FLIGHTS WERE ALWAYS LATE AND YOU WERE ALWAYS HAD OVER BOOKING ENCOUNTERS!
IT WAS A HASSLE AND INCONVENIENT EXPERIENCE! I AM VERY ASHAMED! AND SO I PITY THE OTHER CUSTOMERS ESPECIALLY FOREIGNERS IF EVER THEY WOULD EXPERIENCE YOUR KIND OF SERVICE!
February 5th, 2008Back to the USA, and Cebu Pacific was not so bad. Just wish the international flights out of Manila weren’t so late at night or early morning. One word of advice if you are going to Hong Kong or Thailand in my case. bring some food or your own snacks. It’s ether that or be subjected to buy the sorry little triangle things they call Ham sandwiches. Oh you have to buy the food. Other than that it was all good. Happy flying people.
February 9th, 2008Well being a foreigner in this country i always thought very high of the service standards of all the service industries in this country, but unfortunately Cebu Pacific was a terrible experience. I don’t even know where to start. I booked a flight from Bangkok to Manila to come back here after a vacation in INDIA. I had to get the ticket cancelled and re-booked for the next day due to some reason. There is where it started getting terrible. It takes atleast 15-20 mins to even get to a live agent and specially when u are making int’l calls it doesn’t please you. They cancelled the ticket and promised me that my money would be refunded in 60 DAYS. More than 90 days have passed and there is no sign of my money getting refunded. Numerous calls to their call cantre have only resulted in frustration as u can’t get through and even when u do agents keep putting you on hold or giving you other numbers 1 after the other to call. No one can answer whats the status of the refund. I finally lost my patience and decided to send an email instead, days after my email where i requested for a registration of a formal complaint i have had no response at all, forget it being addressed in a professional manner. SWEAR NEVER TO FLY THEM
February 9th, 2008I am just as pissed as all of the guys who left their comments here. Yesterday, I booked a flight for next week via Cebu Pacific’s online booking. I guess their system still has its glitches. Yep, everything was a breeze from the start but when I got to the last part for payment, my card was also denied. So, I then tried calling their call center and after several attempts, I was finally able to talk to one of their customer service reps. She assured me that my card wasn’t charged for the online booking that I made. Hmmm…well let’s just see about that then…I then proceeded to book and pay the transaction via phone which I find weird because you’re giving out all personal card info to someone you don’t even know. I was wondering of the possibility that the agent might use that info for her own. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Anyways, kept waiting for an e-mail but up until today, I still haven’t received any. And so, I had to push some buttons AGAIN and wait for some miracle to happen that I might be able to get thru immediately their VERY busy line. Up until now, I’m still waiting for someone to pick up the other end. Hmmm…might as well get some sleep first…
February 12th, 2008TO MARKETMAN:
With regards to their online booking, it is STILL not working. They still give you that error message when you click on the CONFIRM AND PAY button. I don’t think it’s just a 4 day server glitch. As per your post which is dated last August 10, 2006, it’s more like a 1year 6months 2days AND running glitch. hmmm…i thought they have repaired it already…That is just plain BULL$#!%!!! Arggggggg…
TO CEBU PACIFIC:
Where is the “excellent” customer service there? I had to spend a couple of hours staring at the computer screen and had several attempts to book a flight but all it gives you is an error message at the end. Geez!
To top it all off, I would already call it a miracle if my call to your call center gets answered within at least 30 minutes by a HUMAN. And as for that HUMAN, I have never encountered any customer service agents as rude and as ill-mannered as the ones in CP. Talk about finally heaving a sigh of relief coz my call has already been answered only to be put on hold again for like eternity.
I had a bad experience before with CP. Imagine, I was scheduled for a 5:45pm flight from Cebu to Manila last July 2007. With a 1year old toddler in tow, we waited for like 4hours more coz our flight was delayed. My daughter and I were supposed to take that 5:45 flight for Manila coz we had to bid goodbye to my husband (a seafarer) who was in Manila at that time and was already bound to take an international flight the next day to catch up on his vessel. A toddler that was already getting irritated by the minute and a mom who was just fuming mad as the clock slowly ticked by were only given a Jollibee meal for dinner and no explanations whatsoever why our flight was SOOO delayed. Well, at least the free COKE appeased my daughter for awhile…geeez! We were only able to depart at around quarter to 10 in the evening. We would have wanted to spend more family time before he departs for work for another 6months. But nooo…CP’s fucked up “on-time” schedules ripped us all…
February 12th, 2008I’m so glad I stumbled onto this blog. It will be my first time to fly CP internationally. (So far, no complaints for domestic flights yet).
I was thinking of having our tickets refunded since another airline has offered a more reasonable package. But after hearing all the complaints about not getting their refunds back, I know it won’t be a wise decision to cancel our booking. I just hope everything will go well. I saved up for this vacation and hope it won’t get ruined.
February 26th, 2008hindi lng dyan may prublema..
March 7th, 2008pati sa ticketing ofis..
4hours bago ako na entertain.
last month naman i have to wait for 2hours…
sobra dami ng tao sa ticketing ofis nila sa robinson manila
sa sobrang dami hindi na kasya sa kanilang opis ang tao
yun iba sa sobrang inip hindi na nakayanan mag intay..
umalis na lang…
kulang sila ng tao sa ticketing ofis kaya sobrang bagal..
sana sa next flight ko sana on-time na…
yun huli kasi late cya ng 1hour 15minutes.
tapos yun stewardes pa mga suplada at di man lang ngumiti at bumati man lang ng “good evening” at hindi nag sorry..
i think kulang sila ng eroplano dahil dami nilang additional flights.. kaya kapag na late dating ng eroplano late na lahat ng departures..
I have just been reading your site. Thank you for the info. I tried to book 2 tickets last year from Manila to Hong Kong online. It took me 2 days to finally find out that the site would not accept international flights by credit card. I was told on the phone that i could buy, pay for and pick up my tickets in Kalibo airport. I also asked if i could pay by by credit card at the airport. I was told that i could. I live on Boracay Island. So to get to Kalibo is a 2 hour journey including, boats. When i arrived at the Cebu Pacific office at the airport, the girl behind the desk looked up my reservation on their ticketing system. It was confirmed, but when i produced my card to pay for it, i was told that they did not accept credit cards in their office as they were not equipped to take them.
I was, as you can imagine, furious, and let them know how incompetent they were.
I finally booked my tickets at a local office on Boracay, but had to pay an extra 3000 Pesos to book.
I am trying to avoid using Cebu Pacific so your site has further convinced me not to.
Thanks.
March 7th, 2008I have been trying to make a reservation on a flight less from one month from now - Gaungzhou to Manila - since the last 5 days I have found that there was a seat, at the special rate, after two days, it became a higher fare…but my credit card was rejected. It was a card with a US bank. They asked me at Cebu Pacific to use another card - I did, this time another card, wh