I feel blessed that I was one of the bloggers invited to experience AirPhil Express Davao Extreme Package. It was actually my 1st time to ride in an AirPhil Express plane. I was curious. The last time I had a domestic travel, I travelled via PAL Express. I was surprised to find out that AirPhil Express was actually PAL Express before! hahaha!
It all started February 13, 1995 when Air Philippines was incorporated. Flight operations started February 1, 1996 with flights going to Subic, Iloilo & Pampanga. Two years after, operations of the Air Philippines brand were transferred to Philippines Airlines via the PAL Express brand. Fast forward to 2009, operations of PAL Express were transferred to Air Philippines. Finally, Air Philippines was relaunched as AirPhil Express last March 28, 2010 as a low-cost carrier.
AirPhil Express is a sister company of Philippine Airlines under the Lucio Tan Group, but it is operating independently from PAL.
Whew! What a history. In short, there is no more PAL Express and we now have AirPhil Express. I’m just glad all AirPhil Express flights are in NAIA 3. The airport is the newest among all in Manila. I appreciate the efficiency of the check-in counters too.
While we await for our flight, we can take pictures for remembrance.
As of this writing, AirPhil Express current fleet includes:
- Five Q400 76-seater (30 flights daily + 20 on selective days)
- Three Q300 56-seater (24 flights daily + 2 on selective days)
- Six A320 (68 flights daily)
- two 171-seater
- four 180-seater
Similar to other low-cost carriers, AirPhil Express doesn’t have food and drinks included in their airfare. I was very hungry during our flight that I couldn’t resist the noodles being offered by flight attendants. I bought this Korean noodles for Php 100 (I know, very expensive)! Drinks are being sold too at Php 50 per can. There were sandwiches and other pastries available for sale too.
While I had a pleasant flight, I think there are some improvements that AirPhil Express can do. One thing I remembered during the flight was the facial expression of one of the attendants. I think she was having a bad day but I do hope she didn’t show it to us as she was customer-facing. I also had to ask for ice 3 times before it was given to me. I know such complaints can be sent through AirPhil Express Facebook Page.
I was very impressed when I checked out the page, AirPhil Express do respond to each and every post written by customers. They are really serious with providing better service.
I can attest to the good customer service as I encountered an accident during our water rafting activity. My toe nail fell off. AirPhil Express staff went beyond their duties and took me to the hospital even though I wasn’t experiencing much pain and can function completely.
Back to my flight experience, I enjoyed looking out the window with such good view of our skies. The window seat will always be my choice whenever I fly out 🙂
Overall, I enjoyed my flight with AirPhil Express. There were no delays that time. However, there might be some instances where flights are delayed. Like for example, bad weather. We don’t wanna push it, do we?
Here’s more information about AirPhil Express that might interest you:
- flies to 25 destinations with a total of 144 flights.
- Travel services include:
- Seat selector – A special service offered by Airphil Express that allows you to pre-reserve your seat for a minimum cost. Standard Seats are sold at Php 100 per way. Premium Seats such as exit rows and the first two rows are sold at Php 200 per way.
- Prepaid Baggage – You can pre-pay your excess baggage during your online ticket purchase or by requesting Pre-paid Baggage when purchasing your tickets through Airphil Express Reservations or at any Airphil Express Ticket Office.
- additional 5 kilograms at Php 400.
- additional 10 kilograms at Php 800.
- additional 15 kilograms at Php 1,200.
- Web Checkin – A more convenient and simple way to check-in to any Airphil Express flight and saves you time by avoiding the long queue at the airport.
- Travel Insurance – Airphil Express Travel Insurance in underwritten by
Chartis Philippines Insurance, Inc.
- all flights are inclusive of baggage allowance.
- 1st and only budget airline with dedicated online customer service in the Philippines.
- Upcoming flights:
- starting July 1, 2011, Manila-Tacloban.
- starting October 20, 2011, Manila-Cotabato, Manila-Gen. Santos.
- Last, but definitely not the least, AirPhil Express’ Extreme Adventure Packages which I personally experienced and enjoyed two weeks ago 😀
Flight operations started February 1, 1996 with flights going to Subic, Iloilo & “PAMPANGA”.
I never knew AirPhil flew to Pampanga. As far as I can remember, the maiden flights were between Manila and Subic, Iloilo and ZAMBOANGA.
i will never fly via airphil again, what a bunch of unprofessionals .. once i got a seat with a vomit , then delayed flights again and again! and what more , their supervisors are arrogants and uneducated ! they dont know on how to deal with the customers who have more money that their minimum wage , what a bs these people are. their airplane flies earlier than the time indicated on the ticket . never would i wanna deal with this assholes again, esp. with the supervisor in davao who is a pig named ryan ! what an un educated pig he is !
i will never fly via airphil again…nung una pinaglagpas ko,paumpuin ka sa maduming upuan,nasukahan ng unang sumakay.when i ask for fligght attendant an assistance she simply told me lumipat ka na lang sir sa ibang upan.so i move to another seats and when the real person who was assigned to seat came in umalis ako,eh pinasasara na pinto as we have to take off ako na lang humanap ng uupuan ko kasi wala ng lumalapit na attendant…isa pa ang papangit ng mga flight attendant nila,mapababae o lalaki,babae malalaki tyan,lalaki maka-asta masahol pa sa babae baklang ang papangit.kulang sa customer servce kulang sa training…..
at ito pinaka bago,10-08-11.my original flight was PAL and it was cancelled and i
was endorse to airphil kahit ayoko wala ako magagwa kasi i need to go
home to spend mg dad’s bday.i have a big box na dala.mga P2300++ ang
cost ng laman at pinababayaran sa akin ng P6400++ as cargo fee,isa pa yung babaesa counter na nagsukat hindi alam ang hieght wigth at lenght,how did she get and come out with the said amount,i told her na mas mahal pa sa laman,yun po talaga sir,i told
them the cost and i told them sa PAL excess kilos lang binabayaran ko.hindi pede ito sabi ko,whatever PAL previlegs na binayaran ko ibigay nyo sa akin,they’re staring to make faces,bulungan then thats the time we ask for manager sa ticketing counter meron nag approch sa amin na babae mataba ewan kung ano position nya she ask my friend sa isang manager kami dadalihin,she wanted us to get out of the counter as i started shouting na kasi,wala kasi gusto makipagusap ,then we wer introduce sa isang arrogant supervisor na lakai,meron
kami complaints,while my friend is explaining to our complaints he keep
texting,sinabihan ko sya saan ibang manager sabi nya “ako manager ha ikaw
eh mukha kang kargador ihanap mo kami ng ibang makakausap na meron pinag aralan dahil hindi
ka tao makipagusap at tinalikuran kami.naisulat ko name ng stupid na
yun.tatlo o apat na manager nakausap namin,i’ll make it short na,yung pang apat she’s trying to ignore pa,eh abogado kasama ko,stated sa likod ng ticket ng PAL DIMENSION is N/A no pa sya ng no.sinabihan na sya ng mga batas regarding the consumer act , kinuha ticket at pinakita sa loob and finally she advise us na bumalik sa counter at ituro sa PAL desk.pagbalik namin isan babae ulit sa counter nakausap nung friend ko hindi ko nagustuhan tono nya,nag mamataray,i told her sinuswelduhan kita wala kang karapatan mambastos galing sa pamasahe ko pinapasweldo sayo,galangin mo kami.tumigil sya at isang supervisor lumapit at yun bungad nga dimesion daw ,hindi ko na pinatapos sasabihin nya i told him to get my ticket and speak w/ PAL manager desk nagsasalita pa ulit ,sinigawan ko na ,bingi ata ayon narinig ako at umalis at kinausap PAL.finally we ended paying excess 2kilos for P300.
my advise,practice your rights.wag kayong papayag sa mga gusto nila.meron tayo consumer act.wer filing formal complaints dun sa mga taong nambastos sa amin.
read the agreement sa likod ng tickets.bayad tayo ng buo buo dapat serbisyo nila.hindi AirPhil o Pal o kung anong airlines nagpapasweldo sa kanila,tayo mga pasahero nagpapatakbo ng mga negosyo ng mga airlines na yan.ung una kong experience pinalagpas ko pero this time dapat malaman ng kinauuukulan yan.
Kami iniwan ng flight namin. Sobra naman kasing ETD sa ticket 10AM tapos aalis ang plane 50 minutes before that. Syempre naiwan kami. Buti sana kung walang pre-operation check-up ang mama ko nung hapon na yon. Pikit mata na lang kaming nagbayad ng rebooking at agency fees para makasakay din ng araw na yon papuntang Manila kasi ooperahan ang mama ko kinabukasan. Sobrang bastos lang ng piloto na mag decide na umalis ng almost 1 hour before ETD. Abusado. Tapos di man lang ni refund ang re-booking fee namin. Napakabastos pa ng personnel nila sa ticketing agent. Ang sama talaga. Ever since nito, hindi na ako sumakay ng AirPhil at hindi ko din siya ire recommend sa mga kakilala ko.
An error occurred while booking online. I was not prompted that the transaction was successful, so I booked again, only to find out that my first transaction was indeed successful and I need to pay twice. I sent an email to airphil but they won’t refund my other ticket. I’ll never recommend AirPhil to my friends, relatives, students, etc.
Air Phil express is the worst airline… ever… I stopped flying it over a year ago… unfortunately Philippine airlines took it over… actually judging from the service we are experiencing it feels like air phil express took over Philippine airlines… took over an hour to check in and that was just barely… they had to do a manual baggage tag because the new system didn’t work… the check counter girl didn’t even let us check our bag through to destination… even though the supervisor was saying it was ok – they argued! I laughed Then cried…
They ruined Philippine airlines