Once again, I have used Cebu Pacific on a return flight to Davao and on both occasions, we did not use the bridge that was designed to ferry passengers safely from the departure area to the plane and from the plane back to the airport.
But on this occasion as in many of the Cebu Pacific flights to and from Davao, plane is parked at the tarmac or at the docking bay but were not allowed to use the bridge. In so doing, passengers have to go down the tarmac and walk, yes, I repeat WALK to the airport. Here is what happened upon arrival at NAIA 3. Opening the rear door, the passengers at the rear went down the stairs, the passengers on the front row exited through the bridge at the front door but was instructed to go down the stairs of the bridge. All passengers walked to the airport entrance for about 100 meters, went up one floor where the bridge meets the airport, walked all the way to the other end of the airport and then went down the stairs to the conveyor belt to get the checked in luggage. If one is handicapped and forgot to request for assistance, then this is calvary. This airline may be promoting health to its passengers but this is unheard of.
What happened to the airport tax that we pay? Is this the service we get for the P200 pesos we pay each time we use the airport. How come PAL and other airlines does not do this? What about the other taxes that are charged with the ticket?
I complained to the attendant and her reply was that this is one one gets for cheap fare. WHATTTTT? Not all passengers are paying cheap tickets, I complained because I paid a regular-priced ticket. But more seriously, such practice is a security nightmare. Getting passengers to roam around at the tarmac is inviting possible security breach to happen. What is the use of installing all those strict security procedures when one gets to roam at the tarmac? There are no security personnel there to watch, only Cebu Pacific Attendants. Why did ATO allow this?
Shall we wait for something dreadful and deadly to happen?
Showing posts with label flyertalk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flyertalk. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Why You Too Should NOT Fly Cebu Pacific
When Cebu Pacific started operation using its DC9 planes, I have been their loyal customer and a gold miler at that despite the fact that their planes were older than 20 years. I simply trusted them, liked their very personal service, their on-board games, their spartan but pleasant summit lounges. I used to buy commuter pass and have been one of those that convinced a lot of people to try this company. In short, they were, at that time, far better than the national airline.
But when Cebu Pacific changed its fleet, it changed with it their way of doing business, from customer oriented service to pure profit using (rather abusing) the "value" airline concept.
Below are my reasons why:
1. Many (not sure if all)of their ticketing offices even at airports are private travel agencies, not in anyway attached to Cebu Pacific. Many of these ticketing offices charges additional service fees even at airports. Some scrupulous travel agencies add costs on offers of the cheapest rates.
2. Because of such setup, they are in no position to undertake changes in bookings (as in the case of Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore)and one has to buy a ticket at a regular rate. SO BE CAREFUL WHEN TRAVELING TO THEIR REGIONAL DESTINATIONS. ENSURE NOT TO CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE OR YOU WILL END UP BUYING AN EXPENSIVE REGULAR PRICED TICKET. (Tip: try other airlines, its cheaper)
3. Their baggage allowance is only 15 kg (10kg for small planes), not a bit more or you get to pay a hefty sum for excess baggage. Other airlines have 20 kg. If you are coming from abroad using other airlines, I advise you not to take this airline because all your savings will end up paying your baggages. They know how to exploit the culture of filipinos of bringing so many "pasalubongs".
4. When buying tickets on-line, never tick that no baggage because if you do, you will pay 400 pesos even if you only have a kilo to check in. I call this pure robbery. I wonder if this is legal.
5. When buying tickets on-line, the default is for you to get an insurance. Be careful to untick it. The only nice thing on line is they let you offset your carbon footprint by ticking that Panda of WWF. This should have been the default.
6. If you are plump, overweight (waistline over 36 inches), tall by filipino standard over 1.75 meter, this airline is not for you because seat distances between rows fit only small sizes comfortably. Their seatbelts are also very short. Unless of course you are willing to pay for their exit row seats which cost 200 pesos, I advise you to take up yoga or train to become a contortionist before taking the ride. CALLING ATTENTION OF ATO!! If we go by the rules of safety, the wider the rows the easier for people to get evacuated in emergencies.
7. Their marketing strategy rests on cheap ticket prices. Beware, the prices of tickets are the same for all the airlines, yet if you fly Cebu Pacific, you will have to buy your own food and water, there are no newspapers and you will freeze inside the plane because they carry no blankets. I just don't know if you need to pay for medicines for emergencies as I have not been sick.
8. Some flights of Cebu Pacific do not use the bridge because of cost saving measures. This is really one of the worst thing they do. Passengers pay for 200 pesos for airport tax but in some instances, eg in some Davao flights, the plane is parked on the tarmac where people use the stairs and walk to the arrival station, drench in rain or dried by sun, all because of savings, theirs, not yours.
9. On time 95% of the time? No longer and more likely the NOT on time 95% of the time. Airlines do not make money at the airports so the plane needs to be in the air most of the time. The consequence is that once the plane is late, it accumulates. A flight from Davao to Manila leaving at 8:30 pm finally took off at 12 midnight. They will offer food if the delay time is over four hours.
10. But their practice is not to inform the public immediately. They will inform of the delay on INSTALLMENT BASIS even if they knew before hand that the delay will be for several hours. This removes your posiblity of requesting for tranfer to another airline which they must shoulder!
11. Take note of their practice of telling people on their preflight announcement that flight duration is made longer by 10 minutes, such that upon arrival, they will boast that they arrive 10 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival. But this is announcement is done upon touchdown. How many times have we waited at the tarmac for over 10 minutes because the space where to dock is not yet free?
12. But the worst experience I have with this airline is when I was charged double on my credit card. I only realized this when I checked in where I am being charged for no-show for the same name, same flight, same date. It was only then I realized that they charged me twice.
13. It was good that they say they would rectify the problem and debit it back to may credit card. It is very bad because they did not tell me how long it would take. From the time I complained, it took them two months for their accounting to "process it" using with todays electronic technology. Today, three months later, the credit company still charges me with interest. I am still awaiting for the debit to be made.
14. I wont travel again on this airline. This is the only way to prevent number 15 to make it in this list.
I wish you revert back to your old planes and nice service.
But when Cebu Pacific changed its fleet, it changed with it their way of doing business, from customer oriented service to pure profit using (rather abusing) the "value" airline concept.
Below are my reasons why:
1. Many (not sure if all)of their ticketing offices even at airports are private travel agencies, not in anyway attached to Cebu Pacific. Many of these ticketing offices charges additional service fees even at airports. Some scrupulous travel agencies add costs on offers of the cheapest rates.
2. Because of such setup, they are in no position to undertake changes in bookings (as in the case of Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore)and one has to buy a ticket at a regular rate. SO BE CAREFUL WHEN TRAVELING TO THEIR REGIONAL DESTINATIONS. ENSURE NOT TO CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE OR YOU WILL END UP BUYING AN EXPENSIVE REGULAR PRICED TICKET. (Tip: try other airlines, its cheaper)
3. Their baggage allowance is only 15 kg (10kg for small planes), not a bit more or you get to pay a hefty sum for excess baggage. Other airlines have 20 kg. If you are coming from abroad using other airlines, I advise you not to take this airline because all your savings will end up paying your baggages. They know how to exploit the culture of filipinos of bringing so many "pasalubongs".
4. When buying tickets on-line, never tick that no baggage because if you do, you will pay 400 pesos even if you only have a kilo to check in. I call this pure robbery. I wonder if this is legal.
5. When buying tickets on-line, the default is for you to get an insurance. Be careful to untick it. The only nice thing on line is they let you offset your carbon footprint by ticking that Panda of WWF. This should have been the default.
6. If you are plump, overweight (waistline over 36 inches), tall by filipino standard over 1.75 meter, this airline is not for you because seat distances between rows fit only small sizes comfortably. Their seatbelts are also very short. Unless of course you are willing to pay for their exit row seats which cost 200 pesos, I advise you to take up yoga or train to become a contortionist before taking the ride. CALLING ATTENTION OF ATO!! If we go by the rules of safety, the wider the rows the easier for people to get evacuated in emergencies.
7. Their marketing strategy rests on cheap ticket prices. Beware, the prices of tickets are the same for all the airlines, yet if you fly Cebu Pacific, you will have to buy your own food and water, there are no newspapers and you will freeze inside the plane because they carry no blankets. I just don't know if you need to pay for medicines for emergencies as I have not been sick.
8. Some flights of Cebu Pacific do not use the bridge because of cost saving measures. This is really one of the worst thing they do. Passengers pay for 200 pesos for airport tax but in some instances, eg in some Davao flights, the plane is parked on the tarmac where people use the stairs and walk to the arrival station, drench in rain or dried by sun, all because of savings, theirs, not yours.
9. On time 95% of the time? No longer and more likely the NOT on time 95% of the time. Airlines do not make money at the airports so the plane needs to be in the air most of the time. The consequence is that once the plane is late, it accumulates. A flight from Davao to Manila leaving at 8:30 pm finally took off at 12 midnight. They will offer food if the delay time is over four hours.
10. But their practice is not to inform the public immediately. They will inform of the delay on INSTALLMENT BASIS even if they knew before hand that the delay will be for several hours. This removes your posiblity of requesting for tranfer to another airline which they must shoulder!
11. Take note of their practice of telling people on their preflight announcement that flight duration is made longer by 10 minutes, such that upon arrival, they will boast that they arrive 10 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival. But this is announcement is done upon touchdown. How many times have we waited at the tarmac for over 10 minutes because the space where to dock is not yet free?
12. But the worst experience I have with this airline is when I was charged double on my credit card. I only realized this when I checked in where I am being charged for no-show for the same name, same flight, same date. It was only then I realized that they charged me twice.
13. It was good that they say they would rectify the problem and debit it back to may credit card. It is very bad because they did not tell me how long it would take. From the time I complained, it took them two months for their accounting to "process it" using with todays electronic technology. Today, three months later, the credit company still charges me with interest. I am still awaiting for the debit to be made.
14. I wont travel again on this airline. This is the only way to prevent number 15 to make it in this list.
I wish you revert back to your old planes and nice service.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Riding on Consumer Ignorance
We Filipinos seem to be so much pre-occupied with the rise and fall of pump fuel prices and blames oil companies. Some even goes to the extent of demanding probe of the companies' books. But it is not just fuel, it is also true for every commodity, be it rice, flour, meat, fish, vegetables, spare parts, and a million other commodities. So why raise hell for just one commodity? Why don't they similarly investigate the books of a fish or vegetable dealer, or even notebook and pencil manufacturers?
Consider this argument. The rise and fall of fuel pump prices is a consequence of global trade, of supply and demand, the cornerstone of free trade. We should be thankful that global recession has reduced demand for oil. But this wont last long. As the global economy picks up again (it is actually picking up), fuel prices would surely rise and would reach, if not breach its highest level.
Media news and articles prod the government to take action. In reality little could be done by government to suppress how companies price their products. It is free trade. Installing price control and subsidies is expensive, distort prices. Funds to support subsidies could be taken from support of basic services such as education, heath and social welfare. However, much more could be done by the consumers, which NEVER raise a howl and complain because it leaves this function to the government or through our jeepney and bus drivers, the latter do so for vested interest.
The consumers could do the following:
1. Efficient use of fuel and its derivaties - this would reduce demand for more oil. What happened in this country was that the low fuel prices has made every Juan de la Cruz return to excessive use of fuel, making unnecessary trips that triggered massive traffic jams and resulted in even more fuel being burned and more greenhouse gasses being emitted.
2. live a green lifestyle - reduce, reuse and recycle, be it from plastics, bottles, cans. Choose products that is free of fossil fuel and its derivaties.
3. pressure government to invest in renewable energies (REs) - this is where government needs to take action, invest in research, support companies that promote REs, promote low carbon development in all aspects of life and forget about letting the oil companies to lead on this RE development. They will simply hinder it. Q: Why do you think electric cars never took off? A: because a major US-based company bought the patent of electric cars and simply don't want to produce them. They bought the patent so nobody could promote it.
4. don't believe everything what the media tell us - Many of us are ignorant on the economics of market and trade. Because of this, the media (whether knowingly and unknowingly)manipulates what they want the public to hear and to believe. READ and BE informed of both sides of the issue. Use the information available in the WEB.
5. As consumers, let us make more noise because, for every centavos increase in fuel prices, in transport fares that is added to the cost of goods, it is always passed to us CONSUMERS that pays for it. When jeepney drivers ask for a raise and held a strike, it is for their own good, not us. But it is us consumers who pays for all this. We could not go to work, we loose a day's income. What did we do? NOTHING!!!!
WHY?
1. because we are ignorant of our consumer rights - often we shiver at the thought of "no return no exchange policy"
2. because culturally, we are not a complaining people. we are simply ashamed to complain and demand our consumer rights and priveleges. why are there no class suits filed against the owners of many bankrupt pre-need plan companies?
3. because perhaps of amor propio - misused to mean that we consider ourselves destitute if we demand that we get an exact change from supermarkets instead of getting a piece of lead-laden labelled candies.
And because we are ignorant and ashamed, businesses exploit us. WE SHOULD GET OUT OF THIS "IGNORANCE TRAP".
Consider this argument. The rise and fall of fuel pump prices is a consequence of global trade, of supply and demand, the cornerstone of free trade. We should be thankful that global recession has reduced demand for oil. But this wont last long. As the global economy picks up again (it is actually picking up), fuel prices would surely rise and would reach, if not breach its highest level.
Media news and articles prod the government to take action. In reality little could be done by government to suppress how companies price their products. It is free trade. Installing price control and subsidies is expensive, distort prices. Funds to support subsidies could be taken from support of basic services such as education, heath and social welfare. However, much more could be done by the consumers, which NEVER raise a howl and complain because it leaves this function to the government or through our jeepney and bus drivers, the latter do so for vested interest.
The consumers could do the following:
1. Efficient use of fuel and its derivaties - this would reduce demand for more oil. What happened in this country was that the low fuel prices has made every Juan de la Cruz return to excessive use of fuel, making unnecessary trips that triggered massive traffic jams and resulted in even more fuel being burned and more greenhouse gasses being emitted.
2. live a green lifestyle - reduce, reuse and recycle, be it from plastics, bottles, cans. Choose products that is free of fossil fuel and its derivaties.
3. pressure government to invest in renewable energies (REs) - this is where government needs to take action, invest in research, support companies that promote REs, promote low carbon development in all aspects of life and forget about letting the oil companies to lead on this RE development. They will simply hinder it. Q: Why do you think electric cars never took off? A: because a major US-based company bought the patent of electric cars and simply don't want to produce them. They bought the patent so nobody could promote it.
4. don't believe everything what the media tell us - Many of us are ignorant on the economics of market and trade. Because of this, the media (whether knowingly and unknowingly)manipulates what they want the public to hear and to believe. READ and BE informed of both sides of the issue. Use the information available in the WEB.
5. As consumers, let us make more noise because, for every centavos increase in fuel prices, in transport fares that is added to the cost of goods, it is always passed to us CONSUMERS that pays for it. When jeepney drivers ask for a raise and held a strike, it is for their own good, not us. But it is us consumers who pays for all this. We could not go to work, we loose a day's income. What did we do? NOTHING!!!!
WHY?
1. because we are ignorant of our consumer rights - often we shiver at the thought of "no return no exchange policy"
2. because culturally, we are not a complaining people. we are simply ashamed to complain and demand our consumer rights and priveleges. why are there no class suits filed against the owners of many bankrupt pre-need plan companies?
3. because perhaps of amor propio - misused to mean that we consider ourselves destitute if we demand that we get an exact change from supermarkets instead of getting a piece of lead-laden labelled candies.
And because we are ignorant and ashamed, businesses exploit us. WE SHOULD GET OUT OF THIS "IGNORANCE TRAP".
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