Every Juan can fly... Just don't expect quality customer service.

Cebu Pacific claims to be the leading airline in the country today. The latest SMILE magazine even has a nifty looking chart showing how the airline has its competitor beat by about half a million more passengers. I dare say I’m actually one of Cebu Pacific’s more loyal clients. I fly with Cebu Pacific 80% more than I fly with PAL. Yes, I like the savings I get with Cebu Pac. BUT more than the savings I get from the airline, I actually really like the principle behind the cheap flight… “enabling every Juan to fly.”

See, I still remember how the flights to Legazpi used to cost when there was only one airline servicing Manila and Legazpi. The coming of Cebu Pacific was a blessing. And so I supported this new airline because it brought down the cost of travel to Legazpi by a large margin. I was happy not just because it became cheaper for me to go out of town but also because it brought about the opportunity for others to visit my province. I credited the boost in investments and tourism in Albay to the cheap flights introduced by Cebu Pacific. So really, I had high praises for this airline.

Even when their record of delays started to match that of their competitor (whose acronym had been jokingly rebranded as Plane Always Late) I figured, “Hey, we all endured that era of PAL constantly running late”. I was willing to forgive Cebu Pacific for the delays.

Say today for example, when I heard the announcement that flight 5J329 to Legazpi would be delayed due to the late arrival of turnaround aircraft, I simply shrugged and went back to reading my paper. As I said delays are so common now that I pretty much expect it. I just try to work around possible delays by giving myself enough time in between flights and meetings.

Today however, Cebu Pacific got me mad… seething mad... not because of the delay… but because of the insensitivity of their flight crew.

As I mentioned, my flight was delayed. We were supposed to board at 11:45 am, but we didn’t get to board the plane until 1:05 pm. Even after we boarded though, things were still running rather slowly. We had to wait for takeoff for a good 30 minutes. I happened to be sitting next to a Norwegian on the plane. As we were waiting by the runway to take off, he asked me “what’s happening? Why aren’t we moving? Is this normal? ” I looked up from the SMILE magazine I was reading and I said, “As much as I’d like to say no, this is actually pretty normal. I‘m guessing that because our plane was delayed, there are a bunch of other planes in front of us waiting to take off.” He looked at me funny and he said “Why aren’t they saying anything?” I had no answer for him. Luckily, the door to the cockpit opened right at that moment, and the captain stepped out and proceeded straight to the lavatory. So I jokingly replied, “ I guess our pilot needs to use the john.” Sure enough after the door to the cockpit closed, the plane started to taxi towards the runway and at 140 pm the plane finally got to takeoff.

Our takeoff wasn’t very smooth. It was hot outside so we experienced a bit of turbulence. Now let me just say that I take this flight a minimum of two times every month so I’m pretty used to flying this route. But for some reason the feel of the flight was a bit off. It wasn’t just that the ride felt bumpy. The pilot was tilting the plane quite a bit from side to side. I looked at my neighbor, and I said… now this is not normal. I started praying then and had already finished 3 repeats of a prayer in my head when the captain’s voice broke the silence. He said we were turning back and landing at the manila airport because an avionics door had opened.

It was only a ten minute flight back to the airport but it felt a lot longer. What I guess would have felt like normal turbulence on any other flight, now became ten times more troubling. The psychological effect of knowing that there was something wrong with the plane was a bit overwhelming. I wasn’t the only one who felt this. As soon as the plane landed and the seat belt lights went off, people got up and headed straight for the lavatory. I was seated near the front and I counted 16 people. The lavatories in the back had a line of people as well. We sat in that plane waiting for an announcement. All around me, people had busted out their cellphones to let the people in Legazpi know that the plane returned to Manila. The voices on that plane sounded uneasy. A few passengers opted to disembark but most of us sat there to wait for an announcement. But there was no announcement made. Everybody just went around their business as if the unease of the 100+ passengers in that cabin was insignificant.

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE FOR THE CREW… SOMEBODY SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING TO EASE OUR ANXIETY AS WE WAITED AND WATCHED YOUR TECHNICIANS PACING ABOUT UP FRONT. WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO LOSE? YOU ALREADY TOLD US ABOUT THE OPEN DOOR WHEN WE WERE UP IN THE AIR! You put us on edge the minute we found out about that door, the least you could have done was to assure us that this was not something that we needed to worry about anymore since we weren't changing planes.

Mistake number two comes in the form of Barbie, our rather useless flight attendant. There was a lady sitting a couple of seats away from me who asked Barbie for a glass of water. Barbie stood stiffly in front of the woman and said that they had no free water on the plane. The woman pointed out that she saw Barbie hand the people in front of her a glass of water before the plane took off earlier and Smart little Barbie answered… That was for medical reason ma’m. You have to pay fifty pesos for bottled water. I couldn’t help but butt in. SERIOUSLY!? You seriously expect us to pay for water after this whole ordeal? She faces the woman and says something to the effect that the SOP is that they can give complimentary stuff if the flight was delayed for three hours. THE SOP!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! So a door opening while we're up in the air will still qualify under SOP? Returning to Manila with a plane full of nervous passengers qualifies under SOP? Barbie paid no attention to me. She took the fifty pesos from the lady and gave her a bottle of water.

I don’t know what kind of training the flight crew gets but I do know one thing… If this is the kind of service that Cebu Pacific believes every JUAN deserves, then I was mistaken to ever buy into the idea that this airline deserves the support of Filipino people. If Cebu Pacific believes that they can offer low fares by skimping on quality customer service and then get away it, then I hope my fellow Filipinos will prove them wrong. We deserve better.