Sunday, May 11, 2008 Lim: Flying low By Melanie T. Lim Wide Awake
LAST Sunday, I lent space to a friend who had a terrifyingly traumatic experience with CEBU PACIFIC.
Upon boarding the plane, she and her husband were sarcastically applauded and verbally abused by irked and irate passengers duped into thinking THEY were the cause of the flight delay. Unknown to the passengers of that Manila-Cebu flight last April 26, my friend and her husband were in fact EARLY for their scheduled flight which was why they were MOVED UP by Cebu Pacific to THAT flight which was ALREADY DELAYED.
My friend and her husband were NOT the cause of the delay.
Yet, they were needlessly maligned by the unprofessional conduct of Cebu Pacific. It was clear that the airline intended to mislead the public. Onboard passengers were informed that the flight delay was due to passengers who had not yet boarded—oh yes, but what Cebu Pacific did NOT tell their onboard passengers was that they were STILL LOOKING for passengers to fill up EMPTY SEATS.
Do the low GO fares that Cebu Pacific offer come with a guarantee that they will fly LOW as well?
Has Cebu Pacific reduced itself to becoming a “Van for Hire” that runs only when it’s full? At least the Van for Hire is upfront about it. There is no intent to defraud the riding public.
I would have imagined that when Cebu Pacific President & CEO Lance Gokongwei envisioned his company to become the low fare leader in the country, he did not envision its service to be this “LOW.”
In the past week, I have been inundated with horror stories from Cebu Pacific passengers who like my friend and her husband, have NOT experienced those “fun flights” the airline prides itself with.
Instead, many of them have had to contend with overbooking, cancelled flights, gates closed earlier than scheduled, unceremonious bump-offs, luggage that doesn’t arrive with the passenger and customer service hotlines that do not really pick up until 48 hours later. And this, on top of those silly games onboard they have to bear with that only serve to disturb rather than delight exhausted passengers.
“On-time performance, schedule reliability, and a smooth, comfortable flight are just some of the things that the air-traveling public has come to expect from Cebu Pacific.”
“People have called our brand of service the Cebu Pacific Spirit. Many agree that it's what has made the airline a success. Since our maiden flight on March 8, 1996, our team of employees has not stopped strengthening its work ethic to happily serve the people who fly with us. The Cebu Pacific Spirit is now encapsulated into a catchy phrase that we all live by: WE A.R.E. F.I.T.”
Read your website, Lance. And wake up—you are NOT F.I.T.
