Part 1 of the Libotero Eastern Visayas series.
All of the flights that are lined up for me this year are with Cebu Pacific. I’ve been flying with them on a monthly basis for a year already and so far, I have never experienced any hitch. Almost flawless! The worst experience could be that one hour delay on my Manila-Cebu flight last January but that’s perfectly normal for outbound-Manila flights especially in the afternoon where air traffic is very heavy.
Anyway, when Airphil Express, the country’s fastest growing affordable carrier, offers irresistible promos and I still have vacant slots in my travel schedules, I also book flights with them. WHY NOT? …when their P100 promo, when coupled with all the other taxes and charges, is still more affordable compared to Cebu Pacific’s PISO FARE. Besides that, when I need to book flights on a short notice, Airphil Express’s regular fares are far lower compared to Cebu Pacific’s!
My first flight with Airphil Express was September last year and it didn’t give me the ideal first impression. WHY? I arrived at the airport only to know that my flight was rescheduled to an earlier time. I was dumbfounded. I was never notified through text, landline or e-mail of the flight changes. Luckily, the next flight bound for Bacolod in the afternoon still had some vacant slots so Airphil Express accommodated me without charging me anything. *Sigh of relief* But I had at least five hours to kill, so I took a cab to the city, and yeah, an extra expense for me. Airphil Express is lucky that I am more patient than the average person or who knows what curse words and outrage they might have received.
In fairness to Airphil Express, all the next flights I had with them were flawless and always on schedule (most of which are 20-30 minutes ahead of schedule) and their aircrafts have wider legroom which is always a plus for me, being long-legged LOL. But I didn’t expect what I experienced last June 26. My Cebu-Tacloban flight was scheduled for 2pm. I arrived at the airport at 12 noon so I expected the check-in counter for my flight to be open but when I approached the counter, I was informed that my flight was rescheduled to 4:10pm. STRIKE TWO! Oh my! Once more, I was never notified through text, landline or e-mail of the flight changes! It’s really quite annoying, especially that the other airline is very organized when it comes to the handling of these schedule changes. They send you a text message instructing you to open your e-mail and decide whether to accept or not the new flight schedule. The only consolation I got during this experience was that my flight was rescheduled to a later and not an earlier time. At least I was not left by my flight. But still, it’s a hassle especially for those who are running after a certain schedule in their destination.
I’m just wondering, is it only me who gets to experience these things with Airphil Express? If yes, why just me? Or if there are a few other people who get to experience the same, why just us? Is it because our tickets are just promo rates? So we are deprived of flight updates just because we’re paying much less than the regular fare? I hope not. I have nothing against Airphil Express. I am just a no-frills passenger who wants to explore our country. I see their potential. They are indeed growing very fast and my number of future flights with them is increasing as well. I have at least 3 more round trip tickets with them towards the end of the year and I’m just worried that they might suffer the same fate as with those two previous flights. I just hope that with the continued growth of Airphil Express, they also won’t forget about the concerns of their passengers.
(…to be continued)
From jabberedonion:
i am one of the unlucky few sinj. our camsur trip a few months back was moved to an earlier flight and instead of a direct flight, we had to stop in manila for an hour. good thing we called a day before so we didn’t miss our flight.
From ian dela pena:
well I think they are famous for that resked, bumping, delayed…. my sister actually and literally screamed just to stop me when I was in front of my computer trying to book a flight….
From chyng:
APX is not very consistent in informing their guests, be in a promo fare or not, about the reskeds. Luckily, I havent experience this yet. Actually, may MNL-SG flight was smooth and on time. But when it comes to resked of flight, I prefer Cebupac, daming options to choose from.
From GeoRge:
Our flight to Davao this Friday is being re-scheduled to a later time (from 1:55 PM it’s now 6:50 PM). My partner received an e-mail from AirPhil explaining the change in schedule. I’m glad they informed us in advance. I tend to be a worry wart when it comes to these flight changes.
I definitely understand your point. This is the dark side of promo fare. Since we’re not paying top peso for these promo flights, it’s like we have little protection as the consumer. It’s the sad truth. Isipin natin that these days, usong uso ang budget traveler. It’s part of the whole risk.
I think if we’re flying domestic I can relax a bit. A little delay is okay. Maybe a few smiles from the crew or the people at the check-in counters will make up for it. But if we’re flying international, delays like these can ruin the connecting flight. So it’s best to invest in some form of travel insurance para less hassle.
From maria gatbonton:
BE CAREFUL…..Airphil is the worst airlines that i couldnt even imagine……
Me and my husband booked over online from Caticlan to Manila,
We are pretty much aware of 45 minutes prior to the check in…
When we arrive Caticlan airport, were about 15 minutes early, however due to
luggage checking, we were stucked up, but still have 5 more minutes to go,
One of the securities told us that were nearly running out of time, so my
husband went straight to the check in, and after weighing both of us and our luggage,
suddenly, one of the staff started to explained that were already late,and system
is already closed etc etc…they politely informed us that if we want to catch another
flight, we need to purchase new tickets as our current tickets was totally forfeited…
To make the story short, we walked outside and find the closes airphil ticket office,
I started to dealth with one of the staff and asked if they can still accomodate us
on the same flight…the manager started to used his walkie talky and finally told us that
theres no seat available…and that explained me, that nothing to deal of being late as we are not…
but, its the company who accomodated passengers who are walked in and filled in the
airplane and not to worry about the passengers who definitely booked their tickets
and paid in full????????THIS EXPLAINED VERY SIMPLE, THAT AIRPHIL ARE DOUBLE DIPPERS….
they forfeit tickets of passengers who booked and paid online and get cash from the
walk in passengers….HOW IS THAT!!!!!!How i wish that this scenario will not gonna happen
to others…and hoping that the whole family of this company will get karma as their not
humanitarian people….AIRPHIL ARE SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!for the ending, as we dont have any
option, we have decided to take the next flight which costs us P4300 each one way from
Caticlan to manila with no apologies at all.
From Tuffy:
I had also experience their bad customer service. I also got promo tickets from them last year but I had a hard time re-booking them because their Customer Service Representatives do not know the accurate information to a simple inquiry. To know more about my sentiments check this out:
http://wp.me/p1T5iK-i or visit my blog tuffy06.wordpress.com
And because of this horrible experience, now,I am always having second thoughts purchasing cheaper products.