On June 30, 2023, I flew on Cebu Pacific's Airbus A330 for the first time. Although my past low-cost flights are in narrow-body aircraft (like the A320/A321 to be exact, because I also flew with CEB in the past and AirAsia more recently), this is the first time I flew no-frills on a wide-body—the A330.
Note: This is a personal blog on our travel experience and is neither promoted nor endorsed by Cebu Pacific.
Background
See also: Philippine Airlines: Flying the Heart of the Filipino to Nagoya
Our visit to the Land of the Rising Sun came about three years after our initial plans for May 2020—roughly two months before Tokyo was set to host the Olympics—were dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused millions of people to cancel their trips or vacations. We even applied for single-entry visas which were eventually approved but were left forfeited due to the pandemic. Three years later, in January 2023, we thought of trying again shortly after Japan reopened to tourists in October 2022.
Booking process
We booked our A330 flights as part of our visit to Japan—a destination I have longed to visit since childhood—in mid-2023.
Just three months prior, in March, I helped my mom finalize our flight tickets for a multi-city trip arriving in Tokyo and departing from Osaka. Initially, I would only travel with my mom, but my dad wanted, so we chipped him in. The prices were way too high; the base fare was almost 13,600 Philippine pesos (around USD 249) per passenger, excluding add-ons like the seats and onboard meals.
We chose Cebu Pacific for its affordability, but we made the booking wrongly timed as fuel surcharge rates were up at the time of booking (March 2023). But nevertheless, we were able to book early as both flights became fully booked by the time we boarded the flights. Cebu Pacific does have a multi-city option in its bookings, allowing multiple flights to be booked within one booking. This is in the contrast of AirAsia, another low-cost carrier, which does not have this option (although it has partnered with Kiwi.com, where such flights are available, it is a third-party website and thus doesn't count).
Cebu Pacific has three booking options ranged from the cheapest to the most expensive: Go Basic, Go Easy, and Go Flexi. While passengers have a free 7-kilogram carry-on baggage allowance in all options, Go Basic only comes with a random seat with provisions for purchasing add-ons (baggage, pre-selected seats, inflight meals) later at a regular price. Go Easy, meanwhile, comes with a 20-kilogram free baggage allowance and a preferred seat, while Go Flexi has the same perks as Go Easy but allows for free cancellation when your plans change. For more information, visit this page.
In almost all our flights, I chose the Go Basic option, especially when we book our flights months in advance. However, in this itinerary, we pre-selected our seats and bought our checked baggage immediately.
Departing flight: Friday, June 30, 2023
I was shocked to be informed by Cebu Pacific around twelve hours before our original departure time that our flight would be DELAYED BY TWO HOURS! Well, I found out that our aircraft would arrive late.
We arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at two hours past midnight. This is where Cebu Pacific operates all its flights, both domestic and international, except for Cebgo, its domestic regional turboprop subsidiary, which operates at Terminal 4 (temporarily at T2 from Nov. 2024 to Feb. 2025). There were almost no lines at the international check-in counters, making us finish the process within ten minutes (we checked in online a few days before).
Cebu Pacific operates two daily flights between Manila and Tokyo. One flight departs in the morning while another departs in the afternoon. At the time, the morning flight (5J 5054) operated in a mix of Airbus A321s and A330s, with the A330 being used twice a week — every Tuesdays and Fridays. Since October 2024, Cebu Pacific operates its twice-daily Tokyo flights entirely using A330s.
While waiting, at past six, ground staff distributed complimentary snacks and meal vouchers as compensation. Good thing that Cebu Pacific informed us while we were rushing to prepare our things; the two-hour delay gave us a bit more time to finalize our Japan travel itinerary. I would say that Cebu Pacific handled the delay quite well.
Flight information
Route map
Our aircraft for this flight is a 2020-built Airbus A330-900, registered RP-C3903. This aircraft arrived as flight 5J 19 from Dubai at 06:32. Mentioning the almost-two-hour-delay for our flight earlier, a longer turnaround time is needed for a large aircraft — at an hour and a half — quite more than the 45-minute (or up to 1 hour) turnaround time for its narrow-body A320 family planes.
 |
| RP-C3903, a 2022-delivered A330-900neo, took me to my first-ever trip to Japan! |
Since 2013, Cebu Pacific has operated the wide-body Airbus A330 for use primarily on long-haul flights, and select high-demand domestic (Cebu, Davao, General Santos) and international regional flights (Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Tokyo, and Osaka). This allowed the low-cost airline to launch seven-to-eight-hour flights to, for example, Dubai, Sydney, and Melbourne, to serve areas with large concentrations of Overseas Filipino Workers. It operated eight of the 436-seater A330-300 until 2024, when the newer, more fuel-efficient A330-900neo took over the older –300s. The –900s are equipped with 459 seats in an all-economy configuration — the densest configuration of an A330neo in service.
After waiting for almost an hour, boarding began at 07:23.
 |
| This is what you get when you are seated at Row 21: a close view to the engines! |
Seated at 21A, the A330neo seats are 16.8 inches wide — 0.2 inches narrower than the 17 inches of their A320 family planes — and have a pitch of 30 to 31 inches. The legroom was quite fine, and the tray table works well. There are also two charging ports: one each for USB-A and Type C cables.
 |
| My breakfast: a simple $5 Char Siu Chicken meal I pre-ordered online! |
After a long delay, we took off at 08:42 — 2 hours and 17 minutes behind schedule. Upon reaching cruising altitude, flight attendants began serving in-flight meals. I pre-ordered their Char Siu Chicken for 320 pesos as my breakfast. It tasted fine, like your usual in-flight meal on a low-cost flight. There are other options that you can also pre-order online before your flight. Hot meals like this are only exclusive for pre-ordering online.
 |
| Interior of our plane with most of the window shades rolled down for passengers to rest. |
Cebu Pacific participates in the “Change for Good” program by UNICEF. It does a donation drive in all its flights and is a good way for them to help underprivileged children. The Fun Games, a signature staple of the airline, soon followed. For this flight, it featured questions on Philippine history (as we took this flight in June, which is the month of Philippine Independence). The rest of the flight was uneventful, and I took this opportunity to have some more rest before we landed.
After almost four hours in the sky, we began our descent to Japan. Overall, the flight was okay, and I appreciated how Cebu Pacific properly handled the day. We landed despite moderate winds at 13:46, almost two hours behind schedule.
A picture with flight attendant Nesh (left) and the pilots (right); we removed our masks with permission from them for picture purposes. Sorry for my "fake smile" though with the pilots. But thank you to them for a fun flight!
Before disembarking, I took this opportunity to visit the cockpit and have a picture with flight attendant Nesh. Of course, at the time of filming in June 2023, mask mandates were still in effect; hence, we wore face masks. But thank you to the pilots and cabin crew for making my flight fun indeed!
 |
| Feels good to be in Japan! A picture of Narita's Terminal 2. |
Narita International Airport is one of two airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area and is used as an international hub; the other is Haneda, located just right within Tokyo’s boundaries, used mostly for domestic flights. Several low-cost carriers including Cebu Pacific, AirAsia, and Japanese low-cost carriers Jetstar and Peach serve Narita, while full-service carriers Philippine Airlines and All Nippon Airways serve both airports.
Narita has had a dark history of its inception to its opening. The airport was built on former agricultural land which was expropriated by the Japanese government. Because residents were not properly consulted, this led to a series of violent protests, known as the Sanrizuka Struggle. Its direct proximity to residential areas meant that a six-hour curfew from 00:00 to 06:00. was implemented to reduce noise pollution. Eventually, the airport opened in 1978, and with NRT's success, the conflict subsided.
Narita is roughly sixty kilometers away from central Tokyo. You can take either the Narita Express or the Skyliner limited express trains; we took the latter for only 2,470 yen (₱988; US$18) to Ueno Station.
Watch my trip report here:
Return flight: Friday, July 7, 2023
With our multi-city booking, we were able to book a flight out of Osaka, Japan's second-largest city behind Tokyo. In the middle of our eight-day stay in Japan, we took the famous Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka as we switched cities.
We brought lots of large bags with us. Because of the difficulty of looking for taxis from our hotel to Shin-Osaka Station — where our Haruka limited express train would depart — we took the subway and multiple trains until we arrived at Kansai International Airport.
Interestingly, KIX is located in the middle of the sea — on an artificial island which was optimal for 24-hour operations, unlike NRT, which was built right next to residential areas. The construction of KIX learned the problems of what NRT was experiencing and building it off the shore would make it optimal for non-stop operations. Offshore airports built using land reclamation are also found in the airports of Kobe (UKB) and Nagoya (NGO). However, the airport's islands are sinking at an alarming rate.
KIX has two terminals. Terminal 1 is used by most airlines, while Terminal 2, designed for low-cost travel, is only operated by homegrown Peach, as well as Spring Airlines of China, and the Korean-based Jeju Air. Other low-cost carriers, such as the Jetstar Group and Cebu Pacific, serve Terminal 1.
 |
| RP-C3900, a 2021-built Airbus A330-900neo, took us home. |
Cebu Pacific operates only one daily flights between Manila and Osaka. The outbound, arriving flight (5J 828) departs in the afternoon and arrives in the early evening, while the departing flight (5J 827) is an entirely evening flight.
Flight information
Route map
5J 828/827 is operated daily by a mix of Airbus A321s and A330s, with the A330 being used thrice a week at the time of this flight: every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Our aircraft for this flight is a 2021-built Airbus A330-900, registered RP-C3900. Delivered in November 2021, it was the first A330neo it received after placing 16 firm orders in 2019. It has a distinction among other Cebu Pacific aircraft, which has a '25' decal placed on the left side of the cockpit to commemorate its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2021.
 |
| Window view of what would be the last glimpse of my first-ever Japan trip. |
Boarding commenced at 19:45. Priority passengers went first, followed by regular ones. This time, I was seated on the right (21F), as opposed to the left (21A) on my previous flight. After a short delay, we pushed back at 20:40. However, the plane's air-conditioning system did not start until a few minutes later, causing warm temperatures that led to some passengers using the safety card as their hand-held fans — or what we Filipinos call as pamaypay. We then took off at 20:59.
 |
| My delicious Chicken and Mushroom Pasta meal I pre-ordered for this flight. |
I pre-ordered the Chicken and Mushroom Pasta hot meal for 320 pesos. It was the most delicious meal I had on a no-frills flight. The rest of the flight was uneventful, and I took a short nap afterwards. Moreover, unlike my previous morning flight which featured the Fun Games, this time, they don't. Evening flights usually don't feature such, probably to give time for passengers to rest.
 |
| Interior of our A330neo plane on the flight from Osaka back home! |
The crew then made a donation drive before descent. It is the same UNICEF program I mentioned earlier in this blog, which seeks to help underprivileged children. We then started our descent to Manila, where we landed at 23:33, seventeen minutes early, after more than three hours of flying.
We then disembarked at 00:07 of July 8. A quick immigration process followed, and we claimed our baggage in no time. We then took an airport taxi home.
Watch my trip report here:
Verdict
Timing and frequency
Cebu Pacific flies twice daily to Tokyo from Manila. The midday arrival of the first flight (5J 5054) makes it perfect for those arriving to catch up for hotel check-ins. On the return side, the midday departure and late-afternoon arrival of the first return flight (5J 5055) is convenient enough for those wishing to rest and wind down from their vacations to prepare for the next working week or day. It does also operate a second return flight in the evening (5J 5057), which is perfect for those wanting to maximize their day in Japan.
On the other hand, Cebu Pacific flies once daily to Osaka from Manila. The departing flight departs in the afternoon and arrives in the evening (around 19:00). In my opinion, booking a Cebu Pacific flight to Osaka is unfavorable, because every day matters in our vacation. A morning flight is the most feasible option to start a vacation, which Cebu Pacific does not offer in the Manila-Osaka sector. At the time (June 2023), AirAsia only offered one daily flight departing in the morning and arriving in the afternoon, while Jetstar was yet to resume its similar flight which continued from Singapore (they resumed it in November 2023). On the other hand, if you're a loyal fan of Cebu Pacific, you would definitely choose it anyway. Meanwhile, the return flight (5J 827) shares the same opinion I gave to 5J 5057.
Overall review
Although we paid an expensive price for three passengers due to the high fuel surcharge at the time we booked the flights (March 2023), Cebu Pacific's flights are well within our expectations. Since entering the Japanese market in late 2008, it became one of its important overseas markets, as many Filipinos like me flock to one of the world's best places to visit: Japan.
Their almost-bargain prices make Cebu Pacific a good choice for budget travelers like us, and that's why we chose it. Although I view AirAsia's prices quite much than CEB, the Japanese low-cost counterparts like Zipair and Jetstar Japan are, on paper, quite expensive for us to afford. CEB's prices are almost half of full-service counterparts like Philippine Airlines and All Nippon Airways, and that's why I got to explore Japan for the very first time in 2023.
See also my other blogs:For more updates, visit my blog site and subscribe to my YouTube channel, Enzo's Travel Journals!
Comments
Post a Comment