Before I prepare things up for the new year, let me bring you to a flight down memory lane.
It was 2022. COVID-19 travel restrictions were suddenly being loosened one by one. And that meant that people were having their "revenge travel". I was one of the millions of passengers who traveled again that year.
But I want to share a story of how our delayed flight turned out to be not only handled properly, but a lucky one for me at the end of it. This is my experience onboard one of our domestic flights on Cebu Pacific from Iloilo to Manila in July 2022.
Notes:
- This is a personal blog on our travel experience and is neither promoted nor endorsed by Cebu Pacific.
- Exchange rates between currencies as of July 2022 were: 1 USD = 55.88 Philippine pesos
Booking process
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| A Cebu Pacific Airbus A321neo as pictured in Manila. File photo of Enzo's Travel Journals |
We booked our flights roughly three days before departure. My Iloilo travel was planned out of my melancholy from our Boracay trip on AirAsia a week earlier at the time. Since 2018, we would usually choose AirAsia over Cebu Pacific, but this time around, we chose the latter due to its "good booking quality". It was chosen over the former because of CEB’s afternoon return flight, as opposed to the late-night return departure with AirAsia. Even though CEB’s fares are slightly costlier than AirAsia, we planned to end our vacation in the afternoon.
Due to the very close date of our departure, we were charged roughly 12,700 pesos (around 227 USD) for two passengers for this round-trip itinerary, inclusive of add-ons and other fees.
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 allowance immediately.
Main review: Thursday, July 7, 2022
One Thursday afternoon, on a sunny day in Iloilo City in the Visayas island group of the Philippines, we were preparing to wrap up four days of our last-minute "revenge travel" trip there.
Flight information
Overview of Iloilo International Airport
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| Iloilo Airport's check-in area |
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| Iloilo Airport's airside area |
Since June 14, 2007, the international airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo has been used as the main airport serving the province and city. Built from April 2004 to March 2007 with Japanese funding, it replaced the congested Mandurriao Airport in the city (1937), which could not be expanded due to space constraints. It is the site of the present-day Festive Walk by Megaworld.
The airport serves not only domestic flights, but also international flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, and just recently, Bangkok in Thailand.
Check-in fiasco!
We failed our first attempt to check in because of bulky hand carry items; the majority were from a Biscocho Haus store. Cebu Pacific only allows one overhead baggage per passenger, as compared to AirAsia’s maximum of two. Airlines have different hand carry baggage policies, but in this case, we were confused on what to do. After adjusting all our bags in a rush, we passed the second attempt and proceeded to the pre-departure area.
Dear airlines, please clarify your baggage policies next time...
Delay announcement
We soon went up to the pre-departure airside. However, we were left disappointed when ground staff announced that our flight would be delayed due to "air traffic congestion" in Manila. Everyone remained calm throughout this period between this announcement and the boarding of our flight. |
| Compensation #1: A pack of snacks and drinks |
A few minutes after the announcement, the airline's first thing that they did was to immediately compensate passengers. We were given a pack of snacks and bottled water. This is pursuant to the 2012 Air Passenger Bill of Rights, where passengers are entitled to refreshments in case of a terminal delay of 2-3 hours.
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| A Philippine Airlines Airbus A321 and a Cebu Pacific A320 at Iloilo Airport's tarmac. |
While waiting, an Airbus A320 flight to Davao, also on Cebu Pacific, had to be prioritized first. Eventually, we waited out the last few hours of our time in Iloilo by doing a plane spotting activity. There was also a Philippine Airlines A321 that arrived before the other CEB flight to Davao.
Boarding
At 17:30, our plane, a 2020-built Airbus A321neo, finally arrived. Boarding commenced ten minutes later as passengers disembarked from the arriving flight. While boarding, everyone stopped as the passengers disembarked from the airplane. Before six, we had the Angelus Prayer which was broadcast through the speakers.
Cebu Pacific’s A321neos are configured with 236 Recaro SL3510 economy seats, with a 28-inch pitch and a 17-inch width, with no recline.
Dinner on the ground
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| Ground staff and cabin crew served us Jollibee meals to make our tummies full before we take off. |
After seating, I first watched a live news program via YouTube on my cellphone. Before we would even depart, ground staff and the flight attendants served us a small Jollibee meal. Cebu Pacific did well in compensating us for the very long delay, and this served as our dinner.
In-flight experience
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| Interior of our Airbus A321neo |
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| The bright lights in this picture is the airport where we took off in Iloilo. |
I was seated at 25F, a window seat. We eventually took off at 18:58, almost four hours behind schedule.
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| The "pandemic-era" seat pocket, where the safety card and airsickness bag were the only ones in there. |
Cebu Pacific’s A321neo seats are 17 inches wide and have a pitch of 28 inches. The tray table works well, and there are also two charging ports. Our plane was equipped with two for USB Type A; newer aircraft are equipped with one each for Types A and C. Moreover, at the time of recording, the seat pocket only had the safety card and an airsickness bag. Magazines and menus for inflight meals and merchandises returned in 2023.
I rested for most of this flight.
Arrival and disembarkation (with pictures)
Not long after, we started our descent to Manila. We eventually landed at 19:50.
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| Flight attendants Pia and Ivy posing with me and my paper model. Thank you so much! =) |
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| My first-ever visit to a plane cockpit! |
Soon after the plane parked at Terminal 3, I pictured myself with flight attendants Pia and Ivy (the latter was the purser). something interesting happened. Because I was holding my Cebu Pacific A320 paper model, one of the pilots invited me to visit the cockpit. This was the VERY FIRST TIME I went inside such, and it was a new and surreal experience for me.
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| Our final picture with the pilots and flight attendants. Nice meeting y'all! =) |
Not long after, I took a picture with First Officer Rey Soldevilla Jr., the husband of actress Yasmien Kurdi. Soon after, I had a picture with all crew members. After exchanging some words of appreciation, we immediately alighted, as the bus driver honked his horn to call us to board the bus going to the arrival area.
Verdict
Overall service
I like the way how Cebu Pacific handled our flight's delay. The extra meal served right inside the plane, just before departure was also a good move by the airline. But consistent delays are the ones that make passengers frustrated with the airline's service, but honestly, I don't find anything wrong with them.
The crew were the "saving grace" of this flight, as I got to bond with them for a short while and even met the husband of a celebrity.
Ratings
I rate each aspect of the flight in a scale of 1 to 10. These are my ratings:
- Check-in - 8.0/10
- Punctuality - 3.0/10
- Seat - 9.8/10
- Crew - 10/10
- Price - 8.7/10
Overall, I and my mom give this flight 7.9 out of 10 points.
Watch my trip report here:
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