If i will base it on frequency, I have flown with Cebu Pacific the most, usually to Boracay. Booking is either done online using a credit card or direct to their ticketing office, then recently as I was booking a flight for Doug and I together with his friends to Boracay and Palawan, i noticed that they have an ATM or bank payment system already, i thought sweet!

It allowed me to make a temporary booking and issued a confirmation number, it is also sent to my email.
It says in the payment instruction that I should be able to pay before midnight of the day at I placed the reservation at “various payment centers” . I thought this is really cool.

And so I went to Banco De Oro in the mall to catch it before they close, unfortunately, I only had 20 minutes from the time I reserved online to make it to the bank, and with the Christmas rush, driving is a story in itself, and so I decided to proceed to the Cebu Pacific Branch at Robinson’s Galleria instead to pay directly at their ticketing office. While I was getting in the door, getting out is a lady looking really mad and cussing, expressing disappointment about Cebu Pacific for reasons I no longer asked. I got my number and waited, then when I was called, I gave my confirmation code to the girl in the counter. She searched for it and responded, oh “Ma’am you booked online and chose Bank payment, you have to pay only to the bank you chose.”, I responded by saying, “Please realize that its now beyond banking ours that’s why I came all the way here. I am sure you can do something, anyway my deadline is until 12 mignight, its barely 8pm.” She excused herself and made a call, came back to me to say she can’t process the reservation I made, because I really have to pay only to the bank. I am like.. What? It doesn’t make sense to me, this is Cebu Pacific ticketing office and that’s the solution you will tell me?.

She then suggested that she can make a “NEW” reservation for me, i said cool…the thing is the rate has changed, and the fare increased by a few thousand pesos already…Of course, I complained telling her, that how come I can’t pay for the tickets based on my reservation that is supposed to be valid until midnight. To cut the story short…they have no way to do that. A new reservation right there had to be made.

I don’t understand what kind of system that is… Cebu Pacific should be able to accept what is supposed to be paid to the bank if the account reserved is being paid at their very own office already, as long as it’s within the time your reservation is still valid. I am sure there is a way for Cebupacific to take the money, and make a transfer from their Cebupacific account to whatever bank, and credit the payments accordingly. But No! It means, the time I spent booking online, and rushing to the cebu pacific office to get the reservation I made to make it before the deadline they gave to pay plain useless, because they had to make me a new booking anyway and pay a higher fare rate, which was about P3,000 pesos in difference.

I hope they make improvements on this particular payment system soon. By the time I was getting out, I sort of understood why the angry lady was angry lol…

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