Check in today, fly tomorrow!

It is easy to be deceived by Cebu Pacific’s budget fare from Singapore to Manila. The unsuspecting passenger will get a printed e-ticket showing the departure date of, for example, Nov. 11, at 0040. Normally, a passenger checks in at the date printed on the ticket and, in the case of Cebu Pacific’s flight 5J804 from Singapore to Manila, the time of departure is very tricky. My wife and I, like many other OFWs, fell into the tourist trap. The departure is actually past midnight, and considered by the airlines as the next day as far as booking is concerned.

We were told that we should have checked in on the 10^th of November in order to fly on the 11^th at 0040 (meaning, 12:40 am) and when we checked in around 10 pm on Nov. 11, we had missed our flight early that morning! To revalidate our ticket, we had to pay penalty charges of US$230 each for the supposedly budget fare. The Singapore Airlines male clerk offered the information that that it will only cost us an additional US$50 if we were to rebook the next day’s flight (meaning, we stay overnight in Singapore). Since we had been traveling for the past two weeks, and our connecting flight from Bangkok via Air Asia had already been delayed by two hours, we were anxious of going home that evening and not spending another 24 hours at the budget terminal of Singapore.

I asked the obviously irritated Singapore Airlines clerk (don’t they teach these guys courtesy?) how often passengers make this mistake. “All the time,” he answered indifferently, pointing to a line of OFWs who did not have the ready cash to pay the penalty charges. We felt immense pity for them as they languished in the airport. Is this how Cebu Pacific treats the heroes of the Philippines?

My wife and I are both senior citizens yet our complaints were met with indifference. My wife took out all the remaining cash we had and dashed to the ATM outside the terminal building for currency conversion. She was worried for my fragile health since my seven-arterial heart bypass in 2002. Ironically, since we had only forty pesos left after paying the penalty of $460, we couldn’t even buy a bottle of water inside the plane (which costs P50) for us to drink our medicines! The flight attendant was sympathetic, and offered a free bottle of juice instead. Sorry, no water.

It takes a seasoned traveler to realize the tricky time of departure, especially since this was an online transaction, with no advice from a customer relations staff and no word of caution or warning can be seen on the website as to the company policy on flights past midnight/dawn and the subsequent penalty charges. And why the usurious penalty charges of rebooking the flight on the same day (US$230) and the day after flight (US$50)? We find this deceitful, cruel and hurtful especially to the old and weak! We had a most unpleasant travel experience with Cebu Pacific and now we have to warn all our friends, neighbors and relatives of this tourist trap.

For us, it’s goodbye Cebu Pacific, hello PAL!