G’day folks, and I hope today’s blog finds you well. South East Asia is one of the best connected regions of the world by budget airlines. Last year in November-December I spent just over three weeks in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia and flying was my main mode of transport. I used three of the bigger budget airlines on the market in the region, and I wanted to see how they all stacked up against each other.

Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific was my most used airline, with a total of four flights. Two domestic, two international. The first flight was Sydney to Manila, which was around 8 hours and the longest flight of all that I took. All in all the cost was under $1000AUD and redeemed through a travel fund for my previously cancelled trip in 2020.

The total cost of the Sydney to Manila was around $640AUD ($400USD) but without baggage, priority boarding and seat selection in an exit row all of which came to nearly $200AUD. From memory the cost of the return internal flight was in the region of $100 – $150 AUD ($65 – $100USD) and the flight to Singapore was $166AUD or around $112USD. So I was pretty happy with that all together, although I heard Air Asia Philippines were offering my Manila – Puerto Princessa route for something ridiculous such as under $20USD.

On board Cebu Pacific is basic, but the staff were all bright and welcoming and I flew on A330s and A320s that all looked new and well looked after. They use a blue-green and yellow as their colours, the staff dress simply in yellow polo shirts and denim (blue) and there is a real feel of youth with the airline, the cabin crew all seemed like they were under 30 and eager to please.

They are renowned for packing in as many as possible onto their Airbuses, with the mostly densely packed planes in the sky – although I recently saw a review for a little know airline called US – Bangla which might have given them a run for their money. Nevertheless, it didn’t feel all that bad. I should add the caveat that only the domestic flights were full. In fact, the Sydney to Manila flight was probably less than 30% full so I had the exit row to myself and sat my computer on the bulky thing at the bottom of the door. Cabins are not separated by bulk heads at all, and only 2-3 toilets per plane. These factors and lessening the legroom is how they get so many seats on the plane, and they are light seats and much thinner than the standard economy seat too, they do not recline at all. It’s not a bad thing really. But the legroom is tight as are the seats.

On a packed out flight from Australia to Manila, of seven hours or more, well that would be hard going. They offer basic snacks which are still cheap on board, and you have to pre order a hot meal. At one point on all four flights the cabin crew have a small competition where they ask passengers to answer questions for small prizes such as pencil cases.

All in all, I have seen some horror videos from people flying Cebu Pacific, but all of my flights were good, in fact I was pleasantly surprised. None were bang on time but no flight was delayed by more than 30 minutes – which to me counts as on time whether you’re a budget or full-fare carrier. I was dreading these flights, but now I would take them again.

Air Asia

This trip saw me take the next two flights on Air Asia, from Singapore to Langkawi. Firstly, I like Air Asia. They really do have super cheap air fares and an incredibly extensive network across the region and beyond with flights as far as Turkey and coming November, to Nairobi, Kenya! Air Asia are a Malaysian based airline that generally fly through KLIA2 – basically a secondary airport in Kuala Lumpur that was built chiefly for them.

Air Asia closed down operations over covid and have just recently started to ramp up their operations once again. I’ve always found them to be a very decent budget airline, with super friendly and enthusiastic staff and they are also very good at keeping to schedules. Delays can be super common with budget airlines, and Air Asia are far from perfect but I don’t remember a major delay when I flew with them. They are, however, the only airline to lose my bag which somehow in 2013 ended up in Seoul instead of Tokyo. C’est La Vie – touchwood – the only time my bag has been lost.

The return flight from Singapore to Langkawi worked out at around $290AUD per person and that included checked luggage, seat selection and a hot meal in both directions. That’s about $200USD, so about $100USD one way. It was an international flight but only a short one, but it was direct with no stopping in KL which actually surprised me, which maybe one reason they didn’t charge a bargain basement price.

The equipment for both flights was an A320, and I was a bit surprised at its condition, it was a bit battered inside. The plane I guess was due for a refit but getting the airline back off the ground over the last couple of years probably hasn’t left much capital for refits, so it was a fairly old and worn looking cabin, with black leather seating. The seats though were at least comfortable and reclined, the legroom was tight (not on an exit row this time) but probably not as tight as Cebu Pacific.

Cabin crew were youngish and professional, not quite as enthusiastic as the crew on Cebu Pacific, but still an asset to the airline. Pretty much on time too, and the food was decent, you can’t go past their famous chicken and rice. Meals are again ordered in advance and they actually have a fair bit to choose from. Although we didn’t bother with it, you can pay to use a tablet and watch shows and other entertainment on Air Asia. There was an app I installed on my phone but couldn’t really get it to function – I was that motivated too though it should be said.

All in all, Air Asia still did a great job although the fare perhaps might have been cheaper and the plane needed an interior facelift. No delays of note.

SCOOT

The third airline of a budget nature on last year’s South-East Asian jaunt was the Singapore based ‘SCOOT’ airlines, an airline owned by Singapore Airlines so I guess I have held up the most hope for a really good flight on this. Not my first time flying SCOOT, I actually had been burnt before when travelling to India six years ago with a flight from Melbourne via Singapore to Jaipur in India. A few weeks before the departure date I was notified via email that the flight from Singapore to Jaipur was cancelled as the route was discontinued.

Naturally they had cancelled the whole itinerary but if I wanted to alter it or if I wanted a refund I needed to call them and spend hours online resolving the matter. The calls included a couple where the line just gave out and no call back happened and I had to start from scratch again. I know airlines are big money, but I feel like if you take bookings and then decide the route is not financial (which is the reason I presume they stopped flying the route) you should look after the customer.

In the end I got my flight to Singapore back and then flew to Kuala Lumpur where Air Asia had a flight direct to Jaipur. It was a disappointing customer service experience for me. Nevertheless we gave SCOOT another go, and although they are a budget airline they do have a pseudo Business Class called ‘SCOOT Plus’ and it was $800AUD a ticket ($525USD or so) so I thought as it was the last flight I would treat my wife and I to a more comfy flight. This included seat selection, a meal and an older style comfortable seat, and priority boarding.

Flight was scheduled to get in at Melbourne at 930pm or just before. Sadly, there was a three hour delay at the gate in Singapore when they discovered a battery on board was flat and had to be replaced. Suddenly we were getting in after midnight. An over night flight getting in a few hours later wouldn’t bother me, but this was less than ideal. They did a fair job at Changi giving us muffins and a snack box and kept us informed and so I can’t fault them on how it was handled, in fact I was impressed. But some delays are more inconvenient than others. At least we had no connection to make I guess.

SCOOT Biz at least was the most comfortable experience of the trip, and the extra space afforded was great for me and my laptop, food was nice, the service was on point if lacking some of the enthusiasm of Cebu Pacific and Air Asia. The price was comparable to an Economy fare on a full-fare airline, or perhaps slightly more right now, but this was last year and flights were in general a little more expensive.

In conclusion, all the airlines provided decent on board experiences relative to the type of airline and fares paid. I think I felt most positive about Cebu Pacific in the end, and with four flights I can say I really gave them the opportunity for a bad flight, but they came up trumps!

I will say on the flight BACK to Manila from Puerto Princessa I was located in an aisle seat, exit row with no window at either end of the row, which I find disconcerting. I always choose the window seat, but on this flight they offered me exit row with no extra cost which was hard to turn down. But it was a surreal experience flying at night with most of the plane in front of me looking straight down the ‘tube’ as it moved through the air. With no visual reference of outside, I felt a little discombobulated and lost. With a bulkhead in front of me it would not have been nearly as surreal an experience as it was.

SCOOT again disappointed although there were positives about the flight. Getting in at 1230am and then home by 2am was a really annoying way to end the trip. And I felt like to discover a battery was flat and wasn’t charging (and kudos for them articulating the issue) moments before boarding was something I expect doesn’t happen to full fare airlines because they don’t have as tight a turn around as an airline like SCOOT do, so there is more chance to go over aspects of the aircraft between flights.

Nevertheless, I feel travellers are excellently served in regards to budget airlines in this part of the world – and there are others too of course with various iterations of Jetstar and a couple of budget airlines based in Vietnam, not to mention those based in Indonesia which makes air travel in South East Asia super affordable.

Thanks for popping by today! Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!