Phoenix thoughts

I have always been a fan of Cebu Pacific, not just with their on-time and friendly service, but more so with the dynamic business ethic that they project through their advertising and the latest media releases that they send out - the low cost carrier model, the refleeting program, the fun games, and the in-flight magazine. Yes, the in-flight magazine. Personally I think any self-respecting airline should offer an in-flight magazine to all its passengers - in all flights, domestic or international, and in all classes- from economy to first class. That is why I have always been impressed with CEB and even Seair! I don’t understand why PAL, with all its boastfulness of still being number one can’t offer its Mabuhay mag to all its guests.

However, let me recount to you my latest experience with Cebu Pacific last week. Flew to Cebu last Thursday through the depressing and chaotic Manila Domestic Airport terminal and saw how Cebu Pacific could further improve its service. Since CEB is the largest airline now operating out of Manila Domestic, it should exert more effort on ensuring that its several check-in counters are manned. CEB seems to open a lot of routes that fly at the same time and that definitely causes congestion in the terminal. That particular morning - flights to Butuan, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Tacloban, and Dipolog were all flying out at the same time - with only one counter per flight. There were at least three more vacant counters which were unmanned. Imagine if those counters were manned, it would have helped decongest the queues significantly!

Actually, my travails with Cebu Pacific started when I chose to rebook my flight. Initially, I was impressed with the airline’s on-line reservation, payment, and ticketing system. And I still am impressed. But is it really asking too much from CEB to also include rebooking in its online system? The current situation does not offer on-line rebooking such as other budget airlines like Air Asia. So one has to call the reservation hotlline (which takes a lot of time) and then going to an airline office to get your “revalidated ticket.”

So I went to its office in Makati and tried to pay my penalty charge - but unfortunately, they don’t accept credit cards for the penalties! I really don’t understand why. I would understand why they won’t accept credit cards for taxes, but for penalty charges and rebooking fees that certainly go to their coffers - I don’t know why!

So I withdrew some cash (PHP 1,500) and then returned to the ticketing office to find that their computers are down. Oh well….

Back in the terminal, there was a sign in my check-in counter (for Cebu) “Sorry for the inconvenience, our computer system is down.” NICE.

In Cebu, I contacted their reservation office to confirm by rebooked flight. The agent told me that I can pay for the revalidated ticket at their ticketing office at the Ayala Center Mall. When I went there, there were a lot of people. After waiting for 20 minutes, my number was called only to learn that their office does not handle “online booking transactions” and since my original booking was made online, they couldn’t help me and was advised to go their main office at the Robinsons Mall. For heavens’ sake I don’t know why they couldn’t help me - what’s the philosophy why they cant handle both online transactions and the traditional “over the counter” bookings.

So off I went to Cebu Pacific’s main office at the Robinsons Mall in Fuente Osmena where I waited for one hour and fifteen minutes to: secure a number, find a seat, watch Mr. Bean reruns, watch agents chatting and going for a coffee break (yes, I understand they’re entitled to it.), and finally having my number called, paying the amount, and receiving my ticket - a process that could be done with a phone call, or a log-in in the Internet, or even more agents at their customer service counter.

Nonetheless, I would still choose to fly Cebu Pacific over Philippine Airlines for its efforts to improve the concept of flying in this part of the world. And really, I always get to win a prize in their games!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2007 at 6:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.