BLOGGED PHILIPPINES

As mentioned in the previous article , we only have up to three options when flying domestically: Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific, and AirAsia Zest. But do you know who among the three has the lowest baggage rate? Here's the comparative baggage matrix between the three airlines. Weight Cebu Pacific Philippine Airlines  AirAsia Zest 15 kg 200 200 170 20 kg 320 350 280 25 kg - - 580 30 kg 650 675 900 40 kg 1000 - 1700 45 kg - 1250 -

[Updated] Heard of the latest news? Well, my favorite airline Zest Air, now owned by Air Asia Philippines was suspended by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). Their violation? Safety, the primary concern of aviation authorities around the world. [Read: CAAP suspends Zest Air for safety violations ] The news just came late this afternoon. Incidentally, Zest Air's website is down. Zest Air Facebook page explains that the website is undergoing maintenance and advised the customers to go to airaisia.com for booking flights. English: Zest Air logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Comments from passengers with future flights booked at them swarmed their latest Facebook Page post.  In their twitter account, Zest Air offered an apology to all affected passengers. Here's the official statement. Zest Airways flights on August 17-19, 2013 will be cancelled due to a regulatory order. Affected guests holding bookings for flights on these dates will be offered a full refund. We are...

Last month, Singaporean-brand low-cost airline Tigerair made its debut in the Philippines. Although their presence is already felt a few months before that (because local airline company SEAIR is marketing them), their full entry was set last month.

Last Tuesday, in the article entitled  True Story: Warning to Zest Air Passengers and Potential Customers , I wrote about our problem when Zest Air decided to cancel all flights from Cebu to Davao. Now I'm glad to tell everyone that Zest Air finally conceded and gave us a better option than simply refunding our tickets. Here's what happened. Went Back to Zest Air Office in Mactan-Cebu Airport After trying to contact them through various office numbers, my friends decided to go to their Airport office for the last time. If this turns out unsuccessful, we'll just buy a new ticket and pursue a legal solution. It was a tough decision since the prevailing one-way ticket prices at that time was around 2500 Pesos at the minimum.This is far from the 700 pesos Zest Air offered to refund. But our event in Davao is of utmost importance so we have no choice but to proceed. Even if it's late Tuesday night, around 10PM, they proceeded to Zest Air office. I ...

I don't really want write this to my blog but lately, I thought it would be beneficial for many people to know what happened to me and my friends late last month. We Booked  Zest Air Tickets Cebu-Davao We had an event in Davao around the middle of this month. To save money we looked for promo fares from   local airlines such as Cebu Pacific, Airphil, and Zest Air. But because it's just a month before the event, we had trouble finding one, thanks to Zest Air who advertised a 88 Pesos promo Cebu - Davao flight. Here's the promotional poster from their website. We were so glad about it. Five of my friends were able booked a one-way ticket to Davao. Zest Air Cancels the Flight and ONLY Offered Refund  Everything's fine until we received this email from Zest Air last April 23, two weeks before the travel date. Dear __________________, ZESTAIR FLIGHT ADVISORY: Please be advised that effective May __, 2013 onwards flight Z2-_...

Many would have seen this coming. Last March, Zest Air and AirAsia Philippines announced a strategic partnership to further their strength in the increasingly competitive local aviation industry currently led by Cebu Pacific. Part of the deal is the acquisition of 40% ownership of Zest Air by AirAsia. And we are now starting to see the progress of that deal. Starting May 10, 2013 all Zest Air flights will now be booked at airasia.com. Instead of booking in two separate websites, Zest Air and AirAsia customer just have to go to one site. A unified system is of course a more efficient way to operate a business. We can therefore expect that starting May 10 all visitors of flyzest.com will be redirected to airasia.com/ph . Efficient Operation Means Better Customer Service? I'm just hoping that this latest development will dramatically improve Zest Air's customer service. I was referring to services that should be given to the customers when flights were cancelled, del...