Roar

Allow me to rant a bit.

Cebu Pacific has a comparably lower rate than that of Philippine Airlines, be it a domestic or an international flight. And according to a newspaper ad, the former leads the latter when it comes to total passengers carried last year. Good job then, Cebu Pacific!

I am in Thailand and working for almost a year already. My friend is planning to take a vacation at the end of March and had requested me to do the online booking using my credit card. I tried, but my transaction was denied. Funny but my card had no outstanding balance or whatsoever. Zilch. I told my friend that I will buy her ticket when I return to the Philippines via Philippines Airlines, lol.

Anyway, 330 pm, Monday, I went to Cebu Pacific (lol, I won’t be mentioning the outlet here) to purchase the ticket. They had a separate queue for international flights, and I was lucky enough that my number was called at 4 pm. To my surprise they (Cebu Pacific staff) asked me to wait as they will check the availability of my friend’s preferred flight and called the next number. 430 pm, a little commotion took place as the guard locked the door even when it says they close at 5 pm. Perhaps they are expecting that at 5 pm, all who are inside will be finished so they can go their way. No overtime for them. Haha! 5 pm arrived and they said there still checking the schedule. WTF? 30 minutes after, they confirmed that there is still an available seat. I immediately asked how much and if I can pay by card. Its about 18K pesos and only a portion of it (60%, IIRC) can be paid by card and the rest by cash according to them. So I told them if I can withdraw since I didn’t bring enough money, lol, and an ATM machine is only on the other street. They said, they’ll just reserve the seat and I have to pay the next day. I said fine, I’ll just return tomorrow morning, its 630 pm already! But they said, wait! We haven’t confirmed the reservation yet, so if I can wait for a bit to be sure. WOW! Just wow! I insisted that I’ll just withdraw some money, but they said it won’t take long and they are already closed. Okay.

While waiting, I was able to ask a staff regarding the online booking. I told her my transaction was denied. She said that it needs a manual approval from Cebu Pacific (which means that you have to call the main offices – Manila or Cebu). So, what’s the use of online booking then? She answered confidently, its our policy. WTF? Its 715 pm when they finally confirmed that the seat is reserved and I’ll just pay tomorrow morning.

I went to the said outlet at 930 am, and of course they know me already after spending a couple of hours the day before. I was pretty pumped up that I’ll just spend 30 minutes the maximum but lo and behold, the staff asked me, sir can I get your preferred schedule??? WTF? I thought it was okay already and you will give me the ticket as soon as I arrive, of course, after paying. And here we go again, starting with the computation of how much I am going to pay, and this and that. It’s the policy, sir. De javu, anyone? They finally gave me the ticket at exactly 1230 pm. Fuck!

The next day my friend asked me if I can rebook the ticket on a later date. I checked the online booking and the price was lower than the original one. So I called Cebu Pacific and asked if I can rebook the ticket. The staff answered that its okay you just have to pay 1.5K pesos for rebooking fee and requested me to go their office and since its lunch time she can’t stay long on the phone. WTF?

I went there Thursday, 110 pm. I let them check the new schedule and was confident enough that the fare will be cheaper. They said that I have to pay an additional 7K pesos if I want to rebook the ticket since there are no more ‘cheap’ seats available. So I argue and showed the print out based on the online booking. They insisted its different from online booking and actual booking. I told them how can it be different? They told me, just because. WTF?

Whew! So I asked them what if I will just refund the ticket and they said its fine but I’ll have to wait for 2-3 months before they can return the money. Wow! I paid in cash, yes sir, but it’s the policy! I told them I guess you refer to the online booking since it will take time obviously. They showed the bulletin that for refund based on online booking, it will take 8-10 months before it will be returned. Amazing Cebu Pacific! I left the place at 430 pm.

I am not sure if they are properly trained or what? Management, look at your staff. Tsk, tsk.

And by the way, another friend of mine was able to rebook his ticket with a cheaper price. Must be their computers doing some random selections, lol.

I hope I won’t deal with this kind of people in the near future. Well, I guess I won’t as I haven’t taken an international flight via fucking Cebu Pacific!

Cebu Pacific Air - It's time everyone flies... after your patience had been tested. LOL!

/totomai
03/20/08