Cebu Pacific flight review: What the direct flights from Australia to Manila, Philippines are really like

You could be holidaying on the #3 beach in the world for less than it costs to fly to Brisbane. There's just one big thing you need to be aware of ... 

Once upon a time, if you were an Aussie wanting a super cheap flight to south east Asia, you relied heavily on Jetstar (which usually meant you were going to Bali or Thailand).

Which is why direct flight routes from AirAsia and Vietjet were such a wonderful addition to our travel landscape - gorgeous, beachy destinations in Malaysia and Vietnam are now stunningly cheap to get to, and offer an alternative to the likes of Phuket and Seminyak.

And there’s another contender that I trialled last month. Recently low-cost Philippines carrier Cebu Pacific announced a flight sale with $189 direct flights from Australia to Manila. Having just seen photos of Hidden Beach, which was named the no.3 beach in the world, my interest was piqued.

Hidden Beach in Palawan, Philippines - you could get there for under $500 ...

So I jumped on board to see what those flights were actually like.

I flew Melbourne > Manila > Coron, and then back home to Sydney.

The plane

Image: Cebu Pacific

The plane is a newish Airbus A330neo, which has a 3–3–3 seating configuration. 

It was very clean as we boarded, and the décor reflects Cebu’s logo colours that befit a beachy holiday – all yellows and pops of aqua.

Flying with Cebu Pacific’s A330neo ✈️
Di talaga ako fan netong non-reclinable na Recaro seats 😅 But the cabin colors is an eye candy pic.twitter.com/wg6O7yepcY

— Marco (@marcomaligaya_) December 27, 2022

It's all economy (which ties in with the airlines adorable egalitarian catchphrase 'let's fly every Juan') - there is no premium economy or business class, so you don’t have anyone to be resentful of as you're boarding, which is kind of refreshing.

Boarding is done in a supremely orderly manner in sections, which is a good thing considering the huge capacity of this flight.

The seats

There are USB chargers under each seat, which is delightful on a low-cost airline. Know what they don’t have though? Seats that recline. That’s right, there’s not even a recline button. I spent five minutes frantically trying to locate it as the realisation dawned that I would be trying to sleep in an upright position on a 9-hour red eye flight. The cabin crew have obviously addressed this countless times, as a flight attendant calmly told everyone over the PA that the seats were “pre-reclined” to a 28-inch pitch.

If you are considering an overnight flight, this is definitely something to keep in mind.

There are no overhead bins for the centre aisle.

Hot tip: if you are flying red-eye, pay a little extra for Standard Plus seat selection ($35), which will allow you to select a seat up the front of the plane. When we flew, the back section was crammed but the front section was relatively empty, which meant we sprung up as soon as the seat belt sign went off, and snagged ourselves a whole row to make sleeping easier.

The plane is also missing individual air conditioning vents and there are no overhead luggage bins for the middle seats.

Entertainment

There is no entertainment available, so load up your laptop or iPad with shows before you fly.

Punctuality

Bit of a mixed bag. We departed 20 minutes late from Melbourne, but then landed 22 minutes ahead of schedule on a domestic flight.

The food

If you want a substantial meal you’ll need to pre order a hot meal online up to 24 hours before you fly (or BYO food). The hot meals work out to be $8.69 each.

You can order hot meals in advance.

I did my partner’s meal selection in advance and ordered him the Spam Nori, because I desperately wanted to see what it was like but didn’t want to actually eat it myself. Aint love grand. Joke was on me though, because it was actually 10 times more delicious than the beef adobo I ordered. As well as hot menu items (pinoy spaghetti, char sui chicken etc) there are cheaper egg sandwiches, chicken wraps and tuna paninis to select from.

The surprisingly delicious Spam Nori.

If you don’t pre book meals you can buy snacks as the cart comes around – the menu is heavy on bakery items (which will set you back a mere $3.26) and pot noodles.

They get bonus points for the serviette with a cute lil face burping on them.

Yep, that's an amusing napkin.

The vibe and service

This is where I was genuinely surprised. This is a low-cost carrier but the crew genuinely seemed to be in a good mood throughout the flight and were attentive and smiley. There’s even a game played on our domestic flight between Manila and Coron, with prizes given out to the trivia winners.

They were playing Taylor Swift bangers at boarding and disembarkation, which was a welcome change from the twee theme songs of other airlines.

Transfers

Be warned – if you are transferring in Manila to a domestic flight leave plenty of time and check your terminals. We were unaware that we would have to take a 30 minute / $50 cab ride between terminals 3 and 4 to make our connecting flight.

Baggage

A 20kg checked bag will set you back $75.

The verdict

As long as you prepare and plan, this presents a stunningly good option for a cheap and cheerful holiday. The islands of the Philippines are spectacular, the people are ace, travel costs are low once you get there, and it’s only an 9-ish hour flight from Australia.

Unless you have powerful horse tranquilizers at your disposal or are one of those people who can sleep standing up on a train, I would just book a day time flight so you're not trying to sleep in seats that don't recline.

Where to stay when you get there

The Funny Lion in Coron.

We stayed at the Funny Lion hotels in Coron, El Nido and Puerto Princesa, which are all in Palawan (where those stunning beaches are) and I cannot recommend them highly enough. The service is amazing, the hotels are super clean and secure and they are cool without being over the top - which is not an easy balance to execute.

Cebu Pacific currently flies directly from Sydney and Melbourne to Manila.

The writer travelled as a guest of Cebu Pacific

Originally published as Cebu Pacific flight review: What the direct flights from Australia to Manila, Philippines are really like