Cebu Pacific

[albatross710]

On 5J flights I always book the front row and hang the expense. On internal flights I think it is $10-$15. Get on last, get off first. On some of the A320/1 jets my long legs can stretch right out. I usually take 1A.

SQ also have good deals into MNL and these deals are often less than the price of flying with SQ just to SIN. SQ operate from NAIA T3 which is the same terminal as internal PR & 5J flights making it an ideal choice.

On 5J I don't ever expect them to be on time but they are usually within about 30 minutes. (That's anecdotal.)

Also regarding 5J, as I am in BNE it is impossible to get any carrier to MNL in one sector, so there is always a landing somewhere. On other trips I have flown SIN then used a 5J flight from there to MNL, CEB or CRK, providing more alternatives.

Alby

 

[Melburnian1]

So I reckon I might as well get onto Cebu Pacific from Sydney to my destination which ranks up the top of the most horrible airports in the world.

I assume that you are referring to MNL, which has four terminals.

T3 (the terminal for most of the Cebu Pacific's group's flights) is actually reasonable to very good. Mostly travellers making negative comments are referring to T1, but it has apparently been renovated since I was last there.

I have been through MNL immigration and customs faster than in MEL or SYD. Does that make the latter 'two of the worst airports in the world?'

In IST, I stood in a queue for 45 minutes while in CMB it took half an hour to be processed by immigration. At times when I have departed from LHR, the queues for security screening have been far worse than anything I've endured - ever - in MNL or CEB. In LAX, the staff were surly and the queues longish.

In SYD, some of the security staff are downright unpleasant. In MEL, a friend perceived that they were treated poorly by a security staff member. Hardly ever the case in Philippines, despite a recent scam that didn't appear to affect foreigners.

So views about the 'worst airport in the world' are subjective and we need to be sure travellers have been to most terminals in an airport before they make an assessment.

 

[albatross710]

Just booked an internal domestic flight with them, all up inc taxes and web booking fees, total of A$16.

Took longer to book the flight than it will for the 30 minute total flying time.

 

[Mattg]

The 5J flights are doing well in terms of posteriors on seats; not sure about the yield. Strangely, because PR now flies daily ex SYD, you may have a much better chance of three seats to yourself on it.

Are you sure that the Cebu Pacific flights are full (or close to it)?

In the last few months for which stats are available, Cebu Pacific has consistently had average loads around 60-70%. By comparison, QF is almost always around 95% full on the SYD-MNL route.

 

[Melburnian1]

Mattg, I travelled southbound a couple of months ago: load factor was just above 80 per cent. A friend travelled MNL - SYD - MNL in November 2015 with the southbound 95 per cent full and the northbound 85 per cent.

In September 2015, the latest available month, Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics suggests that load factors were 65 per cent in each direction as you state Mattg. This equals an average of 283 passengers a one way trip: normally there are more travelling southbound. The capacity of a 5J A333 is 436 with its 'high density' (euphemism) configuration.

In the same month QF was at 90 per cent northbound and 97 per cent southbound, so using an average of say 93.5 per cent that equates to 278 passengers per trip based on the Version 2 seating of an A333 (297 seats capacity.)

Even at 65 per cent ocupancy, 5J is on average carrying more passengers than QF if the latter has seat occupancy of 93.5 per cent.

Admittedly 5J's yield per seat may be much lower than QF's but QF has now been forced to discount much of the time to sell seats on the route. 5J said a little while ago that the route was not yet profitable but I suggest that as time goes on and more are aware that it operates a single route to Oz, seat occupancy and revenue will increase.

5J's cost per available seat kilometre must be somewhat lower than PR's and significantly lower than QF's. PR is now operating daily and 5 J and QF five times a week MNL - SYD - MNL so I assume that both made rational decisions to increase seat capacity. (Then again, airlines are not always accused of being rational.)

September is low season for travel to Philippines so in December and January 5J's load factors would be highly likely to rise, although February and some other months may again have lower load factors outside of Easter and school holidays. Time will tell.