Cebupacific Own Goal

[Asianrider]

they have changed their evening flight from Bangkok to Clark without warning, now arrives 3-55am in the morning !! Very disappointing having already booked my flights months ago - effectively lose a night of my holiday. The flight had originally been scheduled to arrive at 19-40pm

[gotlost]

they have changed their evening flight from Bangkok to Clark without warning, now arrives 3-55am in the morning !! Very disappointing having already booked my flights months ago - effectively lose a night of my holiday. The flight had originally been scheduled to arrive at 19-40pm

At that time it you should get a pretty good discount.

[KunMatt]

Cebu Pacific are, by far, the most frustratingly pathetic airline I have ever used - and I've even flown all over Asia and West Africa!!

The actual flight was fine but it was were near impossible to book online, over the phone or even in one of their offices in anywhere but Manila.

The first time I booked a flight online from Singapore to Manila using their website, everything was confirmed and I had my electronic ticket number. Got to the airport - no booking. No money was taken from my credit card either which was lucky and just proves a breakdown in their system. The girl who was "customer support" (a single telephone number in Manila covering the whole world) knew nothing of the booking I made online even though I was looking at the confirmation email they had sent me with all the details.

Next I was in Palawan trying to book my flights from Manila to Singapore over the phone. No dice as they wouldn't accept any of my UK debit or credit cards to pay for the booking I had made. There was a Cebu Pacifc office in Palawan but they could not take payment for international flights. So even though I had booked my flight from Manila to Singapore I could not pay for it because their system does not accept international cards, their offices outside of Manila will not accept payment for international flights and their website does not really book flights even though it will give you a ticket number and confirmation. They also would not hold my booking until I would get to Manila airport to pay by cash (only 2 days away) as after 24 hours the booking would be cancelled. No matter how I explained my situation nobody could do anything to help me and I was looking at the possibility of missing my connecting flight back to work from Singapore.

I was at the end of my tether and after 2 days of being at the mercy of CP's pathetic "internation" system I booked my flights with Singapore airlines which was over 4 times the price but it was worth it to deal with a proper company.

I swore I would never deal with CP ever again. And the one flight they actually let me pay for and take was heavily delayed too so I hope that a real airline in Philipines comes along and takes them over, at present there are other airlines in the Philipines but they are all just about as bad.

Edited November 5, 2009 by UKMatt

[Asianrider]

they have changed their evening flight from Bangkok to Clark without warning, now arrives 3-55am in the morning !! Very disappointing having already booked my flights months ago - effectively lose a night of my holiday. The flight had originally been scheduled to arrive at 19-40pm

At that time it you should get a pretty good discount.

This was a promotional offer to start with, less than a 1000 baht each way. Terrific value, but the quality of the airline sucks !

[davee58]

I have always been lucky with Cebu Pacific, out of more than twenty flights, the only problem I have had has been a two hour delay in Cebu.

However when planning our visit from Philippines to Thailand next April, I noticed (as the op points out) that the Clark - Bangkok route has moved from being at a reasonable Daytime hour to a Late night slot:

Out Clark - BKK = 20:45 - 23:00

Back BKK - Clark = 23:40 - 03:55

Not the best travel times for me... I just don't like arriving after midnight.

I think we might have to travel Philippine Airlines from Manila to Bangkok,

This seems the best option now as Philippine Airlines fly from Manila terminal 2, rather than the infamous terminal 1.

Edited January 31, 2010 by davee58

[sharecropper]

I have always been lucky with Cebu Pacific, out of more than twenty flights, the only problem I have had has been a two hour delay in Cebu.

However when planning our visit from Philippines to Thailand next April, I noticed (as the op points out) that the Clark - Bangkok route has moved from being at a reasonable Daytime hour to a Late night slot:

Out Clark - BKK = 20:45 - 23:00

Back BKK - Clark = 23:40 - 03:55

Not the best travel times for me... I just don't like arriving after midnight.

I think we might have to travel Philippine Airlines from Manila to Bangkok,

This seems the best option now as Philippine Airlines fly from Manila terminal 2, rather than the infamous terminal 1.

Thanks for this info. That is disappointing as the old Clark-Bangkok flight was at a very civilised time of the day.

Have they changed their Bangkok-Manila-Bangkok times as well?

I have flown Cebu Pacific many times between Thailand and the PI, and never had a problem with them.

But the big bonus for PAL flights is terminal 2, and the last time I flew PAL from Bangkok to Manila (in December) they weren't too expensive either.

[davee58]

Thanks for this info. That is disappointing as the old Clark-Bangkok flight was at a very civilised time of the day.

Have they changed their Bangkok-Manila-Bangkok times as well?

I have flown Cebu Pacific many times between Thailand and the PI, and never had a problem with them.

But the big bonus for PAL flights is terminal 2, and the last time I flew PAL from Bangkok to Manila (in December) they weren't too expensive either.

Cebu Pacific have one flight per day (Daily) from Manila to Bangkok, the current times are:

MNL - BKK = 21:35 - 23:50

BKK - MNL = 00:35 - 04:50

Philippine Airlines have flights leaving Manila at 10:25 and 19:30, and leaving Bangkok at 13:50 (and 23:30), far better times for travelling.

The big benefit of flying Cebu Pacific is that they charge for a one way journey not the return trip, which makes travel plans far easier. Flying from Tacloban via Manila to Bangkok then returning to Clark is easy.

We flew from Tacloban (via Manila) to Hong Kong returning to Clark with Cebu Pacific last September, that was a perfect flight, and all in the daytime.

According to bulletin boards, the problem with Cebu Pacific seems to be that when things do go wrong, or they "decide" to cancel a flight their customer service is appalling.