15

I've never even had one flight of theirs that was late, out of maybe 40, not so much as I ever noticed, anyway, although each of them have been domestic - I think their international flights punctuality is worse.

I just haven't got a bad word to say about them. Service, who cares. The plane is never in the air for longer than about 70 minutes. Their website is fine, it's now better than Air Asia's, since Air Asia revamped theirs. I just booked another flight with them yesterday, Bacolod-Cebu, 1600 pesos leaving in 7 weeks. Not as cheap as they used to be. But I still have only ever paid over 2000 pesos for ONE of their flights. They're just not coming in at under 1500 as often as they used to.

16

1st flight with CP was on time, MNL to Iloilo, I thought is this the new PIs, however return flight was different, times changed by over 1 hour back, managed to get on an earlier flight but that was running over 2 hours late, then delay on landing so over an hour still. PAL on time going out to PP but about 1 hour late return to MNL due to congestion at MNL, all other flights were similarly delayed.

17

maybe I was just lucky

18

The issue here is that if an airline is taking on part of the role of Philippines Immigration then they have a duty to inform customers sufficiently. It's clearly not a good situation for customers if a budget airline, operating on extremely tight margins, where focus is on profit and not customer service is put in this position of authority and able to gain from it by not treating customers fairly.

Can anyone tell me where CP state an onward ticket must be shown at check-in?

19

whats does it matter whether they state it or not? they are the rules when visiting philippines -so if you havent got -then wont be allowed on plane

20

Clause 9 - Travel Formalities

9.1 General

9.1.1 Passengers are responsible for obtaining all required travel documents, visas and permits, and for complying with the laws, regulations, orders, demands and travel requirements of countries of origin, destination or transit.

9.1.2 Passengers alone are fully liable for, and the Airline disclaims any responsibility for, the consequences of the Passengers’ failure to obtain any required travel document, visa or permit, or to comply with applicable laws, regulations, orders and travel requirements.

9.2 Travel Documents

9.2.1 The Passenger must present prior to travel all exit, entry, health and other documents required by the countries concerned, and at the Airline’s request, allow the Airline to take and retain copies of these documents.

9.2.2 Without incurring liability to the Passenger, the Airline will refuse the Passenger carriage if the Passenger has not complied with any travel requirement or if his travel documents do not appear to the Airline to be in order.

21

Air Asia did not tell me either but its down to you to check.

22

Great thread you guys. Coming over July 13 and wil be prepared :-)

23

The Philippines has some really crazy laws about obtaining airline tickets. I was trying to get my onward ticket to Sydney online using my frequent flyer rewards miles. The government doesn't allow any outside airline to issue tickets (only country in the world that has this law). Problem was American Airlines has no office in the Philippines, so they could not issue me the airline ticket... they said I would need to go to a specific hotel in Manila to get the ticket. How do I show proof of the onward ticket when the airline can't issue me a ticket?

As a result, I had a very similar situation happen to me as the OP just the other day with the same airline. However, Cebu Pacific Air offered me an onward ticket at an inflated price ($210 USD to Hong Kong) which was unacceptable. After spending the night in the Bangkok airport, I tried to get the next flight as a round trip and pay the extra expense of returning to Bangkok, but they said my ticket had expired and was I considered a "no show", even though I was there trying to get on the plane. Cebu Pacific Air needs to inform people who buy their one way tickets online that they need to meet requirements of the onward travel or they will not be allowed on the plane. Seems they don't do this because they make more money keeping people uninformed.

Also, problem at the Bangkok airport is that it offers no wifi to purchase a ticket from another airline... it's not like the Hong Kong airport where there's free wifi all over the airport. This is all because the hotel at the Bangkok airport charges a fee for internet access and has a monopoly charging these inflated fees. In my book this is a real scam.

24

Cebu Pacific Air needs to inform people who buy their one way tickets online that they need to meet requirements of the onward travel or they will not be allowed on the plane. Seems they don't do this because they make more money keeping people uninformed.

no, there is a pop up on their site like all the other airline sites, where it says it's your responsibility to make sure you satisfy the requirements of entry into the country, which includes, just like nearly everywhere else in the world tourists visit, an onward ticket. And if you think it's all a bit 3rd world, try being from somewhere outside North America, no matter how rich a country it is, and visiting the United States as a tourist, without an onward ticket.

25

#23 - Sounds like you're trying to 'optimize' your travel by booking 1-way tickets and/or delaying booking till you decide you want to travel... ie at the last minute - it doesn't work in my experience. The way to optimize is to decide where you're gonna go, plan ahead and understand the ticketing constraints of the countries you visit. Don't expect everywhere to operate the same.

There IS an Internet Cafe in Bangkok Airport Departures - far right right hand corner... or there was a few months back... If you run your travel based on access to Free Wi-Fi don't be surprised if now and again you hit the buffers...

26

I've come to realize that my travels are an unexpected adventure, not a planned vacation. That's just the way I do it and it's very rewarding. I wasn't sure how long I would be able to stay in the Philippines, perhaps a couple months if I could extend my tourist visa, but I did make the attempt to get the onward airline ticket. Problem was the airline couldn't issue the ticket (as I explained) because of another stupid law. If they have the one stupid law about requiring the ticket, they need to allow people to buy a ticket online without the restraints they now have. It's not fair for people like me, but that government certainly can do as they please. It just makes it very difficult and complicated for travelers such as myself and I will NOT consider traveling to the Philippines again. I'm sure there's other people who feel the same way.

27

It's very sad what's happened in the Philippines as a result of super typhoon Bopha (Pablo). Perhaps it's a good thing I wasn't allowed to board that airplane because I was heading to Palawan, one of the areas hit by this killer storm. That's the way I see it now.... just very thankful I wasn't there.

As far as internet connection at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok... I had all night to search for a connection and found only the expensive hotel has wifi access (they charge for it). Indeed, I asked all the cafe's and Starbucks, and every airport information booth. They all assured me there was NO wifi connections in the airport, you have to purchase time on a card and the price is quite high. It's nothing like the Hong Kong airport.

28

globegalloper -there are lots of people on this forum who have been to philippines several times-and face some of the same issues as you ,there is nothing difficult about going there if u do some research and have the requirements necessary -the same as in any other country that require visas etc

29

I've been traveling in SE Asia for almost 4 months and have gone through 6 countries here without any problem. I have flown many airlines and when I purchased the ticket to Malaysia through AirAsia, they had a pop-up window on the page that clearly said I needed the required onward ticket when I fly to Malaysia or I could not board that plane. There was no such pop-up window on the Cebu Pacific Air web page when I bought my ticket online to the Philppines. Believe me, I would not have purchased that ticket if I had that information.

Also (again).... Philippines is the only country that doesn't allow an airline to sell tickets going from the Philippines unless that airline has an office in the Philippines. This creates complications if you are trying to purchase an onward ticket from an airline other than the very few that have an office there.