CEBU PACIFIC AIR   Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  18 February 2010 by Ron Howard (Philippines)

I've lived in Cebu for almost 5 years and used this airline frequently. Overall satisfied with services inflight but booking prices vary widely depending on time and availability. One horrific experience when typhoon hit during a flight Cebu-Manila. We landed somewhere other than Manila but nobody told us where we were prompting questions from many passengers. It was Pampanga (Clark). Later flew to Manila. My onward flight to Taipei was scheduled for 1730 but was finally cancelled at 2200.No follow up customer care and just had to sleep on floor at Manila.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  23 November 2009 by Gary Hanson (Australia)

It is a budget airline, you get what you pay for. The aircraft are modern, flight crew good and I have had some minor delays but no worse than any other airline. Where they fall down is when something goes wrong, the follow up customer service is quite frankly abysmal. I have been battling for 14 months to get refund on my credit card for a ticket they received authorisation for and payment for but decided not to honor.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  23 November 2009 by Tomek Janiak (Poland)

HKG-MNL-HKG. Flights very punctual. Handling agent in HK nice, but in HKG (half empty flight) they were enforcing cabin baggage size , in MNL (full flight) nobody cared. Return ticket price (booked about 4 weeks in advance) was less than USD 100. Seats cramped. Prices reasonable (beer about USD 2.00).

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  15 September 2009 by N Sutherland (UK)

Have used CP on a dozen round trips to various international destinations: BKK, HKG, SIN and ICN. Reliability and punctuality has been excellent - mostly on-time arrivals and departures and never more than an hour late. (Wish I could say the same about PAL). Operations are much smoother now using NAIA-3, Seats and Cabin Service are fine unless you're very tall. Very good prices compared to the competition. As evidenced by other posts here there are problems with their Customer Service, Refunds and a low (15kg) Check-In Baggage allowance. Bottom Line - CP is a cheap and reliable no-frills airline offering a good service and I'll continue to use them around SE Asia.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  11 September 2009 by G Antonio (Philippines)

Cebu Pacific is a classic example of an airline deteriorating as fast is it growing. In the past few years service has gone from bad to horrific! The last 4 or 5 flights I've flown with then were all either delayed or just outright cancelled. A BAC-MNL flight was first delayed by more than 4 hours only to be announced late at night that the flight was cancelled. I had to raise hell at the airport so they would transfer me to a PAL flight which was about to leave. About a month after, my MPH-MNL flight was delayed by more than 4 hours and had to be transferred to another airport an hour and a half away. The worst was my SIN-MNL flight which they cancelled a day before my departure. Though I was sent a text message whilst in Singapore, I was instructed to get in touch with their call center in Manila which was close to impossible calling. I had to call and wait and wait and mind you, this was a long distance call. Sure you do pay less but it's still not worth it considering all the trouble and anxiety they can cause. I have not flown Cebu Pacific since the last incident.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  18 August 2009 by A Francia (Ireland)

I have a good experience with Cebu Pacific. I booked three different flights while i was on holiday in the Philippines. First to Caticlan, although Caticlan airport was closed, they send email and text message about the changes on the route two weeks before the flight. Instead of Caticlan we flew to Kalibo Airport due to some Caticlan airport closure to big aircraft. Flying back to Manila runs smoothly from checking in through arriving in NAIA 3. Second booking is for Singapore. Checking in went very smooth, maybe because its early flight and the aircraft is not full. Our flight left on time and arrived 10 minutes early. Same thing flying back to Manila, everything went fine. Last flight was going to Puerto Princesa. We were group of 8 with small children. On the time of checking in, we were given all front seats, seating together. On board games made children happy.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  7 August 2009 by I Chan (USA)

We had a good experience. Hong Kong to Clark and back. Party of five, three are children. Plane not very new, but comfortable enough. Staff courteous. Return trip about the same. No delays. Short lines. Check-in pretty easy. Purchase of tickets pretty smooth, read about Verified by Visa in one of the reviews, I think that made a huge difference. Overall satisfied.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  3 August 2009 by J Sabaduquia (USA)

MNL-CGY on a new A320. Delayed for 2 hours, then we boarded in the rain without an umbrella, then we taxied in the runway, delayed for 1 hour again! Legroom was the worst I've encountered! Seats didn't recline, no free food, FAs kept chatting and chatting as if they're paid to just talk. On the positive side I enjoyed their little games. Overall, I think PR is the way to go on domestic flights since PR is professional, good legroom and entertainment and has free and decent food!

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review :  8 July 2009 by Malcolm Goode (UK)

For a budget airline this equates with others - no frills, just a cheap flight with everything other than the air being charged for as an extra. This is acceptable. What is not acceptable is their policy of never refunding if a refund is due. I, like many others that have been tricked by Cebu Pacific, was told that the flights that I needed to change would be charged a second time and a refund would be issued for the original tickets. The refund never arrived and it is now almost 2 years since. Searching the web I find many others in the same situation. Cebu Pacific did state that the refund could take up to 6 months to appear but after 6 months I complained to HSBC who say they cannot handle complaints for items over 4 months since. Clever rip off! No refund and too long for the bank to get involved. Flights are OK but never get involved in a situation with them where a refund will be due because it will not happen. Our 3 tickets cost approx USD300 but I actually ended up paying USD600.

CEBU PACIFIC AIR review : 22 June 2009 : by G Chew

Customer Rating : 4/5

Hong Kong-Manila, Manila-Shanghai. Cheap fares found a month before the flight. Both flights arrived early. Aircraft were clean and seat pitch adequate. BOB not expensive, but the sandwiches weren't great - cheap and nasty ham. They tried to rip me off with the USD exchange rate, but when challenged, the rate changed dramatically. Arrival into T3 in MNL was fast, and I was in a taxi within 20 minutes. Check in in MNL was slower for no other reason than the staff making everyone join random queues for no apparent reason. Steep excess baggage rate for the return flight. Overall, no problems fairly positive experience.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 17 June 2009 : by Jim Benson

Customer Rating : 1/5

Good operations for a budget airline but the customer service is the very worst. If you ever have a problem and call the customer service number, be prepared to be on hold for a long time and if you do speak to someone, nothing will be done. If you address an email to customer service on their website, it will never be answered. Many problems would not occur if credit cards from Canada and America were accepted. You can spend many frustrating minutes making a reservation only to have your credit card declined. Don't waste your time trying it again as the same thing will happen. Your best bet is to use one of their competitors. Hopefully, they will get the message before they go out of business.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 8 April 2009 : by Edmund Carew

Customer Rating : 5/5

MN -TAG. Check-in was slow because the airline has recently made passengers for each flight at MNL's modern and pleasantly airconditioned Terminal 3 wait in separate lines rather than combining all flights in one queue as it used to do. True to form, my mother and me picked the slowest moving queue though in fairness the difference was only three or four minutes: the perception, however, when standing is a bit like being in a bank queue: one assumes that the wait is far longer than actuality. Departure was more or less on time and arrival at TAG after a smooth flight with a load factor of about 85 per cent was a few minutes early. Baggage was offloaded quickly which was pleasing.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 6 April 2009 : by A Cruz

Customer Rating : 2/5

In booking via the internet, beware. Never ever make cancellation because it's very very hard to get back your refund. I have experienced a nightmare of calling every time for follow-up on my refund. And guess what, it's more than five months since last week of Oct 2008 and I haven't got my refund until now. They always say, to call by next week because the request is already on cue with accounting. Same line always. I'm working overseas and I've been calling via long distance call every time. I'm already having huge charges on every call because they always put me on hold once I got a successful connection after having numerous tries on calling. Now, I'm about to go home for a vacation and I haven't got a single cent on my refund. So, beware in case you buy your ticket in the internet because if you ask for refund later on, it's a dead end. It will take ages before you could have your refund...

CEBU PACIFIC review : 12 March 2009 : by J Gray

Customer Rating : 5/5

Iloilo to Cebu, Cebu to Puerto Princesa and Puerto Princesa to Manila. Every flight on time, smooth check in, friendly cabin crew and clean and tidy aircraft. Had no issues with using the website and foreign credit card online. For a low cost carrier, this airline provides full service where it counts.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 10 March 2009 : by S Ledesma

Customer Rating : 2/5

We applied for a refund on June 13 '08 in Hong Kong because we decided to extend our stay. It has been 8 months and we have not received our refund even after 3 difficult follow ups. We were told that their refund policy usually takes 8 weeks but at 8 months we have not received anything!

CEBU PACIFIC review : 6 March 2009 : by A Duggan

Customer Rating : 1/5

After one year I am still waiting for a refund after a cancellation. I finally contacted the Dept of Tourism and they forwarded my letter to the Civil Aeronautics Board. So far there was no reaction. If there is no class action suite against Cebu Pacific then I can only suggest going via other Philippine authorities.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 23 February 2009 : by Iain Rogers

Customer Rating : 4/5

Hong Kong - Angeles City & return. Check-in at HKG was quick. FBA is 15 Kg. per person plus 7Kg. for hand carry. Unlike other LCC's, two people travelling together on the same booking may combine their individual allowance, provided it does not exceed 30 Kg. after which excess charges will apply. Equipment was A319 less than two years old. Leather seats a bit tight at 29" but exit rows 10 & 11 are great. Push-back was 10 minutes early and arrival at CRK was 20 minutes early. Chatting to one on the FA's on this flight, I explained the difficulty in booking online and trying to contact the Manila office. I was taken aback when she said "yes, our customer service sucks". She agreed with me when I said that a customer had a better chance of getting through to Manila by means of telepathy or prayer. Another passenger overheard my comments and interjected that she had spent six hours trying to book on-line. She used five different cards (two declined, two blocked) before she succeeded. She, too, discovered the vagaries of trying to use CP's website. However, there are no hidden charges such as a handling fee for CC booking (Ryanair take note). Cebu is a great airline. If it could only sort out its website I would give it five stars.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 1 February 2009 : by S Chan

Customer Rating : 4/5

Hong Kong-Davao return A319, seats 3D-4E. First time to use Cebu Pacific and good impression. The booking of the flight was quick and painless. I used a local Hong Kong bank's MasterCard and quickly confirmed it. Seat Selector was great (rather expensive @ HK$18 while you could just pick one at the airport, but I didn't see the Terms & Conditions and could not refund it later. I saw an ad in the local newspaper stating zero fares for international flights (excluding tax and fuel surcharge). Total fare for 5 people was HK$2705 [PHP 16180] (including taxes, seat selector etc.) I immediately booked a flight to Davao (since Manila and Cebu were full) for our family of 2 adults and 3 kids. Departure from Hong Kong International Airport departure was completely handled by Menzies Aviation, only 1 counter open and flight 10 minutes late. Checked luggage limit was acceptable at 15kg person. However, schedule of the flight was poor as it departed 00:15AM (arrive 3:05AM) to maximize use of aircraft. Seats a bit uncomfortable to sleep in but legroom was still ok (around as much as an average city bus). They started off with in-flight snacks (they shouted "Snacks For Sale", which wasn't professional). Load factor about 73%. Flight from Davao to Hong Kong was very full at around 92% with 2 back rows almost empty. Time of departure more reasonable this time departing at 8:40PM and arriving at 11:30PM. We departed 10 min. early but still arrived 7 minutes later than planned. Inflight, the cabin lights were dimmed way too late into the flight. Overall, good experience.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 25 January 2009 : by Alfons Wilbert

Customer Rating : 4/5

SIN-DVO A320 Y-Class, seat no 1C. This was the first time that I used Cebu Pacific on an International Flight after having used them a number of times in the past on Domestic routes. The booking of the flight was the usual nightmare you find described in plenty of the stories here posted, however, I may have found one of the problems that are encountered trying to pay with a Non-Philippines Credit Card. Like in many countries, Belgium, too, has a centralised Bank Card System. This means, whilst the various Credit Cards are issued by the various local Banks and even carry the Name of the Bank on them, the actual Clearance is done by one Centralised Agency, in the Case of Belgium, the Belgium Bank Card Company, BCC for short. The actual problem is, that Cebu Pacific asks you to enter the name of the Issuing Bank and this is where the problem lies. They do not actually want the Name of the Issuing Bank, they need the name of the Clearing Institute. Once I realised that, my payment was authorised without any problems. As for the flight, I have to say that we left SIN with about 3 hours delay, however, this delay was in no way down to Cebu Pacific but caused by Singapore Airport Terminal Services. Cebu Pacific fly from the new Budget Terminal - it has a number of implications for the traveller connecting through SIN Changi Airport. Firstly, despite the fact that you may had your luggage checked through to your final destination, you actually have to collected it from the belt of your connecting flight at SIN Changi and go through Emigrations and Customs, as you will have to physically leave the airport to get to the Budget Terminal. As for the flight itself, it was a good flight in a new aircraft with a crew that has an infectious smile! Flying with Cebu Pacific has always been a nice experience for me, its the booking of your ticket that is the problem. How else can you explain that an airline does not even accept Credit Cards in their own booking offices (Cebu Pacific Booking Office, Victoria Mall, Davao City) any more ??

CEBU PACIFIC review : 24 January 2009 : by Iain Rogers

Customer Rating : 0/5

I have just booked online with Cebu Pacific. Their website is configured for North American/Philippine standards. Required fields, such as Postal Code will not accept alpha/numeric codes, eg. UK and Canada. Knowing that the Philippines uses a four digit postal code, I entered "1234". This was accepted. Same again for 'phone numbers (too long/too short). I entered Cebu Pacific's own 'phone number as my contact number. Again, it was accepted. Trying to pay was frustrating, after three attempts at submitting payment, my card was "blocked". A call to my bank managed to un-block the card. They suggested (HSBC) that I should register with Verified by Visa. I did so, and when I tried the booking again it went perfectly. Verified by Visa is the way to go. It is also "secure" in that it uses a password.

CEBU PACIFIC review : 10 December 2008 : by E Carew

Customer Rating : 4/5

MNl - CEB. Unlike some other travellers I have not experienced any recent problems booking online with this efficient airline. The key may be to use a credit card that is 'Verified by Visa' or the equivalent MasterCard security program. For check-in at the 'new' NAIA Terminal 3, the wait in the single queue was about 10 to 15 minutes, which is acceptable. Dining options both landside and airside were spartan, but hopefully in a few months some permanent concessions may open instead of the 'temporary' facilities currently available. The terminal was a pleasant temperature for Westerners although some Asians who are used to the tropical heat and humidity may have found it cold. There was plenty of seating at the departure gate though getting there involved a reasonably long walk, and some small unfinished, unoccupied spaces across the aisle from the boarding gate was noticeable. Boarding was effortless as aerobridges are now in use. The flight was about 15 minutes late leaving but on time by Cebu, such are the slack timetables. FAs were pleasant but with the flight only 85 per cent full, they were not under maximum pressure when serving pay-as-you-go drinks and nibbles. All in all, a reasonable flight at a value for money fare.