Eatkonomics: Palawan Trip Part 1

This post covers my trip to Puerto Princess, Palawan last April 2014.

This cover a very long introduction due to significant events.

September 2013.

My friend and I are dying to have a quick beach getaway somewhere in the country as we haven't been to a beach for a long time. As I browse tripadvisor, Dos Palmas comes into the top list which has good reviews and we decided to book for a 3 day stay via online reservation.

Fast forward to February 2014. I was talking to my mom about my plan to travel to palawan and I mentioned where will we stay. I didn't know that the events (Where the actor Rico Yan died, and The terrorist group Abu Sayaf forcibly kidnapped civilians) took place in Dos Palmas. It made me paranoid and I decided to cancel the reservation and look for another beach side hotel. Luckily, Microtel Palawan popped out and based on the reviews and pictures in Trip Advisor, we decided to transfer.

We waited for the airlines to offer good deals and as we are getting hopeless, Philippine Airlines (PAL) suddenly offer a domestic promo at exactly 12 midnight and we booked a flight right away. I booked the 12:30 pm flight and print my itinerary and were good to go.

Days before our trip, I received an email informing me that we are bumped to a 5 pm flight. I immediately called their customer service and here's the conversation:

Agent: Good Afternoon, thank you for calling PAL how may i help you?...

Me: Yes, I received an email from you guys informing me that I am moved to a later flight? how is that possible? as far as I know, I booked the 12:30 flight. (Gave her my name, flight details, etc.)

Agent: (seems unprepared and I sense she's new) Yes Sir John, the trip has been cancelled etc. etc.

Me: Since there is no point arguing about the cancelled flight, I can not accept that I am being bumped to a later flight, May I know the earliest flight you have?

Agent: Sir we have a 7 am flight.

Me: (I was expecting her to offer me the earlier flight but to no avail). Okay, now can you move me to that time?

Agent: Sir, if you want the earlier flight you must pay po for rebooking fee.

My head started to spin and can't help to feel annoyed but still contained myself and talk to the agent with courtesy.

Me: Wait, why do I have to pay? at the first place I didn't rebooked myself for the later flight. secondly, you guys technically owe me because I booked for the earlier flight and not the last flight out of manila to puerto princessa.

Agent: Sige po sir, check ko po sa supervisor ko.

(Deep inside I was praying so hard and I even called all the Saints and Angels that i can call)

After few minutes...

Agent: Hi Sir John, we re-booked you to the earlier flight since ang airlines naman po ang at fault. kindly wait for the email for the revised itinerary.

(Dancing a little in my desk)

Me: Okay Thank You very much for your assistance ____ (I forgot her name)

After a few hours, I received my revised itinerary and called my friend immediately informing him what happened. Luckily, both of us know how to navigate this kind of situation and thus we are accommodated to the earliest flight.

PAL is known also as "Plane always late" but i think that is because of the congestion in NAIA. Anyhoo, we are so ecstatic about the trip and couldn't sleep the night before.

We agreed to meet at NAIA Terminal 3 (since it is operated by PAL Express) around 5 am. We were surprised that there are no queue for check in counters as Early flight tend to be really full.

We were greeted by a young very nice check in agent (sorry forgot her name). We gave her our printed ticket and made a few chika to her. So when we were at the middle of our chika, we mentioned that we would like to seat at the 1st row since it's very spacious (you need to pay for additional fee for the 1st 3 rows)

Agent: tap tap tap to the computer (smiling and making chika). She printed our boarding pass aaaannd TADAAAAA... 1A and 1B.

We were literally smiling like this

dreams do come true...

Okay. So, Where are we? oh yes. After we pay for the P200 terminal fee, we immediately went to the gate for boarding.

tik tok tik tok...

6:30 am Thank you for waiting flight PR/2P (i forgot the flight number) is ready for boarding...

Okay this is it! Finally Palawan!! The Last Frontier!!

As we are standing in line, A PAL Express gate supervisor is asking the people if they would like to be moved to a later flight due to overbooking.

Supervisor: Sir would you like to be moved to a later flight, There will be free meal (lunch) and compensation of P3,000...

Me and Friend: looking at each other and hesitating (since it will be around 3:30pm)

even before we make a decision, the supervisor butted in.

Supervisor: Sir it will be P5,000 since we really need to load the passengers.

Me and Friend: with saying anymore we move our asses and step aside.

Again

So why? We paid for the ticket at original price of P2,000 and got a profit of P3,000. So who am i to say now? After few hours, got our money and we were laughing so hard as we earned more than we actually paid for. =)

Our meal vouchers

The revised boarding pass after we are moved to a later flight.

The free lunch which is Tocino and Rice which is not bad at all. The tocino is okay nothing memorable but certainly edible. Dry but a little tasty and soft.

We slept in this spacious area with no disturbance. We waited for hours and watched the people who come by and go. Sometimes we couldn't help mimicking the PAs out of boredom.

We counted all the PAL and Cebu Pacific aircraft that took off and landed. in a span of 7 hours, we have around 200 planes.

Baa baa white planes have you any gas? yes sir yes sir, full tanks please!

Our Plane! it's Alive!! =)

Again, expecting the worst. Our boarding is delayed by 30 mins and another 30 mins before the plane took off. But we can't complain due to the arrangement we chose. hihihi