Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific is a budget airline operating in the Philippines and neighboring countries. I was really put off by them every time I flew with them. The last straw came when I missed my flight from Manila to Cebu. I had gotten there about 5 minutes after the cutoff boarding time (but still quite in advance for a domestic flight). While I was upset at the lack of flexibility, I was ready to admit my mistake and rebook a later plane. The problem was that their rebooking fees were higher than just buying a whole new ticket.

When I complained of this, the answer was "Miss, you are entitled to your opinion." Which, let's admit it, is a more polite way of saying "Screw you, we don't care." This is a very quick retelling of the incident, but the event combined with the overall poor staff made me swear off ever flying with them - even if it meant having to pay more to fly with somebody else (I did pay higher fees on one occasion to avoid them).

I agree that you should expect to get what you pay for with a budget airline. The problem with Cebu Airlines is that you don't even get that. When I buy a budget ticket, I fully expect to not get any food or drinks on the flight. Forget entertainment units or other commodities such as blankets. However, what I do expect is professional staff, this shouldn't change regardless of the airline you choose. Budget airlines shouldn't equate poor staff services. I have rarely seen personnel as rude as I had experienced with Cebu Pacific. I am very good at keeping my cool normally, but in this instance I was just appalled by their behavior.

There are plenty of budgets airlines out there. I'm thinking of Tiger Air, Jet Star and Air Asia, among others. With them you get what you pay for, or rather there are many things you don't get as expected from a budget airlines, but never in all the times I flew with them have their staff been rude to me or even treated me as some sort of lower class citizen.

I would recommend staying clear of Cebu Pacific.