Tigerairways and Seair BoardMeFirst

Just to compare the rates of different low cost airlines, I usually do the dummy booking. And Seair caught my attention because of the service which other airlines don't have ( I assumed..hehe).

Aside from baggage selection, sports equipment, and seat selector, Seair and Tigerairways are also offering the service  BoardMeFirst. 

But I'm wondering.. what if all passengers availed that service, who will be the priority in boarding the plane? the first passenger who availed that service?..lol.

Is that service really essential? hmmm.. for me its not.

Resorts World Manila Free Shuttle Service

 I was invited by my former officemate  to attend their wedding which rites will be held at Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus - a church within Resorts World Manila. Since I don't have car, I was thinking of just riding a taxi cab going to RWM from Mandaluyong. Until morning of that day, I passed by at California Garden Square to buy my favorite milk tea when I saw the tarpaulin and learned that RWM is offering a free shuttle service from CGS to RWM and vice versa. I checked the ETD and ETA.. and perfect! ETD coincide with the wedding rites sched.

I availed the 1:45PM ETD from mandaluyong. Upon riding the shuttle van, the driver ask for my RWM membership card then I told him I don't have a membership card yet. He told me that shuttle van is only for those who are RWM members (nakakahiya! super formal pa naman ang suot ko tapos mapapababa lang sa van. :-(.. ). At the end, he still allow me to ride the shuttle provided that I will be applying for a membership at the RWM..(yehey!.. successful pa rin.)

For other pickup and drop-off points within Metro Manila, please refer to this link
http://www.rwmanila.com/contact-details/getting-here

My AirAsia Experience

As a certified airline promo abanger I got the chance to avail a promo seat offered by Airasia.

  

June 2012,  I excitedly book for an openjaw flight of Clark– Hongkong and Macau-Clark for December which only cost P9,979.96 and that’s already for 3 adults and 1 3yr old kid.

October 2012, since our trip is already approaching we decided then to book for our accommodation. With Adamant Travel and tours we easily accommodation both for Hongkong and Macau.

Aside from booking a hotel, my wife and I already filed for vacation leave – a long negotiation with our boss, and luckily, VL application… approved.

October 22, we received a text message and an email from Airasia and that’s the start of our trouble.

Airasia informed us that they are implementing a flight changes (or re-alignment) and our flight schedule is affected with the flight re-alignment or whatsoever.

Though they are offering options to address the issue but I think with the option they provided, we are still the one who's at a disadvantage.

•     One-time free move of flight to another date before 01 December, 2012

       - if we are taking this option, we have to re-apply for vacation leave, and to change our hotel   bookings with fees, possibly!

•     Cancel guest’s flight and convert the fare into a 90-day Online Credit Shell –  

      - if we are taking this option – we have to cancel our hotel booking and let our deposit to be forfeited, and have to rebook a flight in any destination we choose but no guarantee to having the same rate as we availed. In short, more likely we have to shell out money again for the next booking.

•     Cancel guest’s flight and refund fare –

      - if we are taking this option, we have to cancel our booking and let go our deposit and of course disappointment because this trip supposedly my Christmas gift for my mom – her first flight outside the country if ever.

Imagine, with all options, dehado at argabyado talaga kami. Then I call their hotline and explain everything, including the consequence in our part of the flight changes they implemented. But unfortunately, the agent told me that she has nothing to do.

I explained the case to my wife, and we decided to pursue the trip or else my mom gets disappointed, to end the story short, we take the first option.

 So, what we did...

• re-apply vacation leave and set a trip before December 1
• Rebooked for our hotel accommodation and luckily there are still available rooms for the date we chose.
• Call airasia again and chose a flight, it was a bit pressure to select a flight because once you choose a flight it is still depending on availability. Hay! Dagdag pressure si agent. Finally, we got Nov 28 Clark-Hongkong flight and Nov 30 Macau-Clark.

November 16, we received again a text message from airasia informing that our flight schedule from Macau-Clark has minor adjustment. Flight will be earlier than the schedule.. The consequence?? We have to shorten our planned Macau trip in order to arrive at the airport earlier.

Hindi ba hassle kung sa inyo nangyari yung ganito? Kahit naman siguro promo fare lang yun, still they have to treat us as a valuable client. Tama ba?

And I remember when Jetstar implemented also a flight changes, they offered a 500JPY voucher to use on in flight food, drink, entertainment as a form of apologizing with the inconvenienced they caused.

But with Airasia, we got nothing out of the inconvenience and extra cost we had because of their implemented flight changes.