Flying with Cebu Pacific: A Guide to Dozen Dos and Donts

Okay, you are finding the right medium to bring you to another Philippine Island. Like everyone else, you want ease in terms of travel experience and payment. After asking several Pinoy travelers and trying a trip from Manila to Cebu myself, here are the things that i have learned about Cebu Pacific Service

1. Payment 

- There is no exact payment for it depends on destination, time, date and baggage. You may check out their website for exact payment but on my case, i paid P1,439.20 (01/16/10)for a travel from Manila to Cebu including 15 kilos baggage allowance, 10 am flight.

- You will have to pay 100 per kilo on excess baggage. You will have to be aware of this if you are to travel under go lite promo.

- You have to pay P200 before yo enter the last gate. I am not sure what this is for.


2. Booking

You may book through Cebu Pacific accredited booths or go online with your credit card.

3. Finding the Terminal

Here is the Map provided by googlemap and pagenation:






If you are from the North, make sure to give at least three hours allowance in travel. You have to take the route along Roxas Boulevard, which will give you a headache if you don't expect heavy traffic. If i say heavy, i mean it. It will take you an hour from Manila City Hall to Roxas end point. But if your flight is earlier than 8 am, then you don't have to experience a long wait; Roxas Boulevard is vehicle friendly at this moment.

If you are to take a taxi cab from Monumento to Terminal III, your bill would be aroung 200 pesos, depending on the time of course.


4. From Entrance to Check-In Counter

On terminal III, you will see people in line outside the building, near the entrance. It is not a long walk, so it is advisable to ride a taxi or find a driver to drop you in the exact entrance gate.

Cebu Pacific opens its check-in counters two hours before the departure, so you are free to walk around if you are bit early. Inside Cebu Pacific Terminal 3 are mini-food stalls on the second floor. Just walk from entrance to extreme right and you will see an elevator pointing you to Jollibee, Mini-stop, and 3 other food stalls, sorry that i cannot remember the stalls.

Don't worry about the long line, it will take you just a moment.


5. Baggage 
 
I am not sure about the free baggage rules since my ticket is under 15 kilos baggage bracket. Anything in excess is charged 100 per kilo. So please be careful with your baggage, make sure to bring only the important things.

By the way, you have to pay this on the check-in counter.

Your bag will have its place so please, if you are thinking to bring your laptop, carry it with you unless you want it to roll over with other baggage.

Hand carry bags are free so if you want to have a good deal, carry the things you can.

Make sure not to bring things like:
- hair spray
- alcoholic drinks
- spoon, fork and other chinawares
- nippers, scissors and other pointed materials

The list are among the things that i saw inside the big transparent tube. I guesss they are confiscating those things.


6. Security

I can see that the security is A+. You will pass through 2 baggage xrays. You have to put off your shoes as you pass their final gate and the guard will inspect if you are bringing something with you.


7. Final Gate

You will have to pass through another xray and pay around 200 pesos.

After this gate, you may look for comfort room which is just few walks from the last gate. The comfort room is clean and there are plenty of cubicles so you don't have to wait.

There are plenty of food stalls again including Mrs. Fields, Gonuts Donuts and other breakfast and cofee stores. These stalls often charge bigger than usual branch prices.

You may also grab some emergency buys like map, Havianas sleepers, gogles, camera batteries and other travel necessities.

What caught my attention is the stall that sells branded clothes. A Giordano pants only cost P900, the polo is P500 and shirt is P350 - as i remmeber.

A voice prompt will announce your flight number so make sure that you are attentive if your departure time is near.


8. Flying Experience 
 
You will experience some shaking but it is pretty normal. It won't cause you to vomit even if it is your first time to fly, don't worry. There are food to buy and magazine to read so flight is not that boring.

There is safety pamphlets around and a flight stewardess to demonstrate what you should do in case you encounter a problem.

On my case, i was able to reach Cebu after approximately 1 hour. I arrived 8 minutes earlier but according to my friends, most Cebu Pacific flights are late.

By the way, the crew are accommodating and extra kind.

So, i can say that the flight is worth the price.