Last week, I featured my incoming flight to Cagayan de Oro, as well as my trip to the largest city in northern Mindanao.
Notes:
- This is a personal blog on our travel experience and is neither promoted nor endorsed by Cebu Pacific.
- This is a three-part series of my trip to Cagayan de Oro; this is the third part, click here for Parts 1 (incoming flight) and 2 (main trip).
Booking process
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| RP-C4117 takes us home from Northern Mindanao. |
In March 2026, Cebu Pacific celebrated its 30th anniversary with a seat sale lasting until the end of the month. We snagged an affordable deal right before the sale ended, but due to our flights coinciding with a long weekend, fares were higher than usual.
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. We did just that, and we selected our pre-selected our seats and bought our checked baggage allowance two weeks before departure.
Main review
Since we were free of any city-related activities after hearing Mass at the cathedral, we checked out early from GV Hotel at 8:30 am. We then rode a van to the airport, located around 46 kilometers away from the city center, for 300 pesos/pax.
Flight information
Check-in and pre-departure
We arrived at 9:16 am. In a structure format followed by modern regional airports in the Philippines, the entrance to the departures is located at street level (the same as arrival), and following the initial security check and check-in, passengers are taken up an escalator to the pre-departure area and gates. This is also followed at the airports in Iloilo, Bacolod, and Bohol (despite the latter having floor-level gates). This airport, along with the ones in Cebu and Bohol, have been under private operations by Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.
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| Laguindingan Airport's check-in counters |
Checking in was surprisingly quick as only a few travelers were lining up at the time for baggage dropping. Around ten minutes later, the line suddenly became long as more travelers arrived to check in for the next Cebu Pacific flights. We then stopped at a café where I ordered a cookies-and-cream smoothie for a dessert stop. Because we arrived very early, we stayed there to watch the final game of the NBA Finals, with the New York Knicks winning their first championship since 1973 after a close 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
At 11:30 am, following the conclusion of the game, we headed to the airside area.
Boarding and take-off
We were booked on a flight that left an hour after noon, which we chose over other flights that leave from 4:00 pm onwards because the latter flights at the end of long weekends are more expensive than earlier flights, since people choose to maximize the day instead of going home early.
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| Seated at 24A for this flight. |
RP-C4117 was one of seven (and the last to be delivered in December 2018) CFM56-powered Airbus A321-211s ordered by Cebu Pacific in 2017 to augment its fleet expansion while delivery of its A321neos were delayed due to problems with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM engines. All A321ceos are configured with 230 seats in an all-economy configuration.
Boarding started at 12:15 pm with priority passengers going first, followed by those seated towards the back, and towards the front. Pushing back twenty-two minutes later, we took off via Runway 27 (09/27) at 12:55 pm.
In-flight experience
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| Nagaraya and C2 - for 210 pesos |
The flight was relatively uneventful. A few minutes later, two flight attendants came to us so that my mom could order Nagaraya and C2 for 210 pesos. Soon after this, the seatbelt sign was switched on as we rattled through mild turbulence.
One of Cebu Pacific’s ways to keep its passengers entertained despite the absence of an in-flight entertainment system (the standard for low-cost carriers) is their signature Fun Games. This began at past noon. Topics vary per flight; the game on this flight was about a trivia about the rainy season. The mechanics are simple: just answer correctly and you win a prize. Only three lucky passengers won prizes. The purser usually does not moderate the game, but rather, his or her second-hand (one FA stationed in front). I raised my hand for the third question but was eventually overtaken by someone on the right, who won the last prize.
I then read the inflight magazine following a lavatory break.
Arrival
We eventually landed in Manila via Runway 24 (06/24) at 2:05 pm, forty minutes ahead of schedule, after seventy minutes in the air. We then parked at a remote gate off Terminal 3, where we came to a stop by 2:20 pm. When passengers started disembarking, I decided to go to the opposing direction, where flight attendants Cat and Collene were stationed at. I decided to do this because they saw my A320 papercraft that I made for the airline's 30th anniversary: a special liveried plane with the "Let's Fly Every Juan" airline motto which was used on three of CEB's A320ceo planes, which are slowly being phased out in favor of the NEO equivalents. I also wanted to talk with them for a short while.
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| Taken with permission - flight attendants Cat and Collene with me and my A320 papercraft. |
Flight attendant Cat, on my request, wrote a short message for me. Around two minutes later, we disembarked and rode the bus going to the terminal.
Our baggage carousel was full of hundreds of passengers waiting to reclaim their baggage. One belt is usually used for multiple flights, which is an unusual sight in some countries (where in special cases, used for two flights). Most of the passengers came from Bohol on a 459-seater Airbus A330-941neo, in which they claimed their bags on the same belt as our flight from CDO.
We then rode a Grab from Terminal 3 going home.
Verdict
Timing and frequency
Cebu Pacific operates around 9 to 10 times daily between Manila and Cagayan de Oro. In this route, the earliest flight leaves CDO between 7:30 and 8:00 am, and the last flight leaves between 9:30 and 10:00 pm. There are multiple options for flights in the morning, midday, and afternoon.
Overall service
Compared to the previous trip report, everything went fine, without any significant negatives.
Positive indicators
- Friendly crew
- Clean aircraft
- Flexible snack options
Points for improvement
- The USB ports must be placed in front, not at the back (this is an older plane, but newer planes have those in front)
Ratings
I rate each aspect of the flight in a scale of 1 to 10.
- Check-in – 9.8/10
- Punctuality – 10/10
- Seat quality – 9.8/10
- Snack options – 9.6/10
- Crew – 10/10
- Value for money – 9.0/10
Overall, ETJ rates this round-trip journey a 9.7 out of 10 points.
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