Our flights were 5J 640 and 5J 931 and the schedule and duration are shown below. It shows that outbound, we only have 2 hours and 45 minutes in NAIA 3.
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| Flight itinerary |
I went to the check in counter to ask. I told them about our connecting flight. An agent told me "It's okay, it's still early."
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| Puerto Princesa Airport (PPS) pre-departure area. |
Then the aircraft of the next Cebu Pacific flight from Manila arrived. So, from our seats in the terminal we can now see two Cebu Pacific airplanes. My mind is asking: "What's happening!"
This time, I approached a Cebu Pacific employee standing near the boarding gate. I told her about our situation, that we have another flight to catch in Manila. There were other passengers near us. Then she softly whispered to me that I should go to the check in counter to have our boarding pass changed for the next flight to Manila!
So it means that 5J 640 was cancelled! There's no PA announcement so far.
I went to the check in counter. There were other passengers there. Aside from the passengers who arrived late for check in who were arguing with the staff, there were a few with connecting flight in the counter.
After several minutes I was given another set of boarding passes. Our four premium seats that we paid for were forfeited. Just like that. That's 1200 pesos FYI! But I can't argue since we we're just squeezed in on that new flight.
We left Puerto Princesa on 5J 646. It was already dark. Time was around 7:20 PM.
We arrived in NAIA 3 just in time for our next flight. But it was a lot of running. We were bused from the airplane to the arrival area. I asked for assistance from a woman in their transfer desk. She accompanied us from there to the hall where the Immigration desks are.
No queue in Immigration so it was fast but we had to walk fast again. The departure area of Cebu Pacific is in the end of the international wing of NAIA 3! It was really exhausting.
When we arrived in the gate, the other passengers were already in the aircraft. But we were not the last to board.
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| View from seat 1A. Better legroom. |
The flight to Bangkok departed on time. I reserved seats near the front door (1A and B, 2A and B) so leg room was not an issue. The cabin was too cold. We were too hungry and tired that we needed to buy food and water. Sleeping during the flight is difficult because they don't dim the light until they're done with their selling.
We arrived on time in Bangkok and were out of Suvarnabhumi after midnight.
Would I book this kind of flight again? I probably would because Cebu Pacific's connection schedule is better than Philippine Airlines. In PAL, it's almost always +1 day from Puerto Princesa.
What happened to the other passengers of 5J 640 that night? They were left in the airport. When we were boarding, they thought it was their flight! They were not informed. Probably not compensated also.