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02 January 2008

Cebu Pacific Hidden Charges, Taxes, Excess Baggage and other Information

Once again, Cebu Pacific is offering their famous P1 domestic seat sale for cheapest domestic airline travel fare in the Philippines. Tutubi gathered these information on hidden charges, taxes and other information based on his own personal experience and others available on the Internet including Cebu Pacific official website.

P1 fare, popularly called Piso fare offers only 1P for selected domestic destinations at some given time usually with a limited sale period of a few days covering a "flying time window" of a few months. P1 are the cheapest flights in the Philippines for domestic travelers (next is the seasonal P8 fare for domestic and P888 for international flights). Cebu Pacific announces its availability in their mailing list and gets posted quickly on forums and blogs. The best way to get one is to quickly browse Cebu Pacific's website once they announced one then perform a mock flight booking transaction.

Go Fares are Cebu Pacific’s starting fare for each destination, offered all year-round, in contrast with P1 fare that are promo prices offered at certain times by Cebu Pacific management. Go fares go up as the date of departure nears. Be wary also of Cebu Pacific "hidden" charges with examples below:

Manila to Hong Kong roundtrip (Go Fare) is PhP8,500 inclusive of Philippine Travel Tax (PhP1620.00) and Hong Kong Travel Tax (HK$120)

Manila to Singapore round trip for P1 fare is PhP 5,148

P1 promo fare Manila to Caticlan is around PhP3,700.00 round trip
P1 fare to Bohol: PhP 1,800 for a round trip ticket
P1 fare to Dumaguete: PhP 2,200 for a round trip ticket


So that makes P1 plus taxes and surcharges for estimates.

There are no on-board refreshments in Cebu Pacific flights due to being a budget carrier. Food, soda in cans and beer can bought at slightly premium prices e.g. soda in can is P50, beer at P100.

What Tutubi loves about Cebu Pacific are in-flight games to entertain passengers where flight attendants will ask passengers certain questions to answer or require them to show something to win various prizes.

In case of loss, or damaged baggage, Baggage Settlement liability domestic travel, the limit is approximately PhP 40 per kilogram for checked-in baggage. For international flights, the liability limit is around US$20/kilogram for checked-in luggage.

For check-in luggage, Cebu Pacific's allowance is 15 kilograms per passenger for Airbus airplanes and 10 kigs for ATR aircraft, domestic and international flights (with exceptions, so better check with Cebu Pacific or as stated in your e-ticket)

In case of excess baggage/over-baggage (common to Filipinos with tons of pasalubong)
PhP 100/kg for domestic flights. Excess baggage charges vary for international destination, contact the Cebu Pacific hotline for details.

You need to call Cebu Pacific hotline for the latest excess baggage charge for international flights.

Cebu Pacific's fleet of aircraft consists of Airbus A320 and A319, turbo-prop ATR 72-500 aircraft from Avions de Transport Regional, based in Toulouse, France.\

Cebu Pacific’s international destinations include Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), China (Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai), Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)) and Japan (Osaka)

Cebu Pacific international flights use the following airports:

Bangkok, Thailand: Suvarnabhumi Airport
Busan, South Korea: Gimhae International Airport
Clark: Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA)
Manila: Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA Terminal 3)
Guanzhou, China: Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Hanoi, Vietnam: Noi Bai International Airport
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam: Tan Son Nhat International Airport
Hong Kong: Chek Lap Kok Airport(Hong Kong International Airport)
Jakarta, Indonesia: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
Kaohsiung, Taiwan: Kaohsiung International Airport
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)
Osaka, Japan:
Shanghai, China: Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Seoul, South Korea: Incheon International Airport
Singapore: Budget Terminal, Singapore Changi Airport
Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (formerly Chiang Kai Shek International Airport)
Xiamen, China: Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport

Cebu Pacific Flight Schedules can be downloaded from their official website here

Tip on booking flights if your credit card is declined:

Call Cebu pacific hotline and book flights from there

You may call Cebu Pacific hotline numbers for various queries
Manila: +63.2.702.0888,
Cebu: +63.32.230.8888
or visit their website.

Warning: Don't even think of booking at Cebu Pacific's offices to book your flights, queues are so long and take hours before you get called especially during sale season.(Tutubi tried once and ended up waiting for 3 hours)

Sources:

Cebu Pacific Official Website
Just Wandering

Updated: August 31, 2009

Related Posts:
Philippine Airlines Excess Baggage
Cebu Pacific Unaccompanied Minor
Cebu Pacific Flights to Boracay
PAL Express
Hong Kong Express

16 comments:

  1. I think Cebu pacific is now surpassing PAL in revenues. PAL should rethink its marketing strategies.

    Dito sa Singapore, we usually suggest to our clients to take budget carriers like Cebu P.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi tutubi. what hk travel tax are you referring to? whenever i go to hk, the only travel tax i pay is the phil travel tax before leaving manila. i never paid for travel tax prior to departing from hk. is that something new?

    ReplyDelete
  3. febeth, cebu pacific is now the leading carrier at least for domestic travel followed by PAL. PAL won't follow them but may be Air Philippines

    anonymous, maybe you're referring to manila's P550 terminal fee of which HK airport has none. the travel tax of P1620 for philippines and HK$120 is already included in your airline ticket price. try to check it outon your tickets :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. i m from india. i am just planing to travel cebu city phillipines. pls anyone can tell me what will be the budget for staying there for 5 days including my air tickets. thanks pls mail me at meetneeraj2@ymail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Altho I said earlier that Cebu P is surpassing PAL in sales, their hotline call servcie centres is the worse I have encountered. Callin from singapore by long distance I was placed in hold 3 times and they captured my credit card details twice and charged me twice for the same transaction.When I tried cancelling and complaining about the duplicate transaction the call service agent told me I should ask for a refund and the hanged up on me.When I called again the service agent told me I have to pay P1500 for cancellation,What the heck is that!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, I'm a visitor from Japan!!

    I've been roaming around the world through the internet to find something new about Cebu.

    I mean I used to stay in Cebu for a year for studying English.
    As a reslut, I 'm attracted by everything from Cebu when I was there.

    By the way, I have a web-blogs about Cebu, so please visit my site if you like!!

    Don't angry at me what I wrote,,I just wanna know Cebu more!!

    Have Fun!!

    Nobu.
    Travel to Cebu

    ReplyDelete
  7. cebu life, hajimemashite. no problem. every foreigner is welcome here in my country (except the bad apples)

    ReplyDelete
  8. SUGBUTEL BED & BATH (CEBU CITY) EARLY CHRISTMAS PROMO - ONLY P199/person/day!

    When in Cebu, stay at the first and best hostel accomodation in the city for ONLY P199/person/day!! Promo period is September 8 - December 31, 2009!! Hurry, available to limited guests only!

    www.sugbutel.com / (032)232-8888

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cebu Pacific is horrible! You get less than what you pay for in terms of service and personal relations. My family has been a costumer for Cebu Pacific for 5 years and from the second year up to this year we experienced ridiculous treatment from Cebu Pacific. On the second year we purchased Cebu Pacific a crew member (stewardess) shoved our fragile baggage into the compartment when we asked her to gently lift it into the compartment. When we got to our destination, the "CAKE" was damaged extensively at one side. On the second year of our flight with Cebu Pacific my mother was charged extra for purchasing tickets on a date which was booked wrongly by the staff at one of their offices at Makati. So instead of saving money, she spent more than what she could have spent for regular priced flights. On the third year we purchased tickets from Cebu Pacific, we had trouble getting back to Manila from the province because the airplane that Cebu Pacific sent for us was a small one and could not accommodate all passengers. There is absolutely no sense in this! We had to demand that they give us, and many other affected passengers, the flight that we paid for because we had important commitments the next morning but only my companion and I received seats. The rest of the passengers, around twenty or more, were left to suffer the irresponsibility of Cebu Pacific. Finally, just this December 22, 2009 I witnessed corruption amongst members of their "Security", mainly involving the "Lady Security Head". I had witnessed the "lady security head" being paid a roll of P100 bills by an "Asian Nationality" just so he could pass through the check point and take his "unsealed alcoholic beverage" into the airplane. One of them even almost dragged my mother by the arm forcing us to go to the office to report what I saw . Because of such harassment I lost my temper and screamed at the security to let go of my mother telling them "How dare you touch my mother in the arm?" We warned them that we will report this case immediately in our own means and that any harassment will never be tolerated. This is why I have never appreciated Cebu Pacific. It is simply fooling people by promoting cheap fares at the expense of absurdity! Four offenses in a row is too much!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good Afternoon, May I just ask how much is the rate with the excess baggage Per kilo From Bangkok to Philippines? ASAP PLs....Mr. Jun

    ReplyDelete
  11. anonymous, i only of cebu pacific excess baggage charges for domestic flights, for international flights, it varies from destination. just call cebu pacific hotline

    ReplyDelete
  12. hi,. can i ask some help?how to transfer the reserved seat?thank you

    ReplyDelete
  13. charmaigne, i suggest you call cebu pacific hotline for your inquiries or just arrive early for your flight, check in early and request the transfer there

    ReplyDelete
  14. where can we complain about a lost valuable item in our baggage upon arrival at DMIA.please we need some assitance. tnx

    ReplyDelete
  15. pls im asking for an assitance what number to contact cebu pacific in diosdado macapagal airport...this is due to a lost valuable item upon arrival at the said airport....we demmanded to cooperate witht the secitury but they decline instead they promised us to give at least 7 days to investigate the said incident...deal with this seriously....tnx

    ReplyDelete
  16. hi,i want to go to china for a short trip,do you have any idea which international flight used in a day trip,because ive experienced a night trip going to hk last 5yrs ago it seems im not convenient..so could you suggests me,which flight could be more confortable.
    angel of cebu, phil.

    ReplyDelete