Angeles City

[Horntoad]

Guys it depends on the ISSUING BANK of the Credit Card as to which is refused or not when booking a flight with say Cebu Pacific for example.

IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE AIRLINE.

One VISA card will be refused where another VISA will not. Same for Mastercard.

I use a platinum VISA Issued by Citibank & covered by insurance. It is never refused. Other VISA & MASTERCARDS that I have, issued by Australian Banks, are often refused.

It depends on the ISSUING BANK of the Credit Card as to which is refused or not.

AV

Normally you're correct but it is Cebu Pacific's website that is the issue. It will take some credit cards from different countries but not others. It will take a credit card from China but not the United States, Canada, Australia etc. due too too much fraud from these countries. My friends have tried the Visa Verified and Mastercard Secure but it still doesn't go through. When they call Cebu Pacific, the representatives are not very helpful.

[Cowboy Mike]

Online attempts at booking on the Cebu Pacific web site have failed.

Try dumbing your browser cache and rebooting. Sometimes the old transaction cookie will sit there until it is wiped off.

[Amavida]

Huh? I thought you lived there six months out of the year?

Hello X, you're not keeping up mate! As of January I live here in PP (Pussy Paradise) full time. p.s. here's another pic of me for you to deface... could you use a green crayon this time?
AV

[Mr Jetsetter]

I used a Barclays Bank Mastercard to purchase an incredibly cheap ($192) roundtrip ticket between Manilla and Bangkok on Cebu Pacific's web site and had no problems whatsoever. My flights are in November, however, and I guess there is still plenty of time for something to go wrong!

[Amavida]

Guys it depends on the ISSUING BANK of the Credit Card as to which is refused or not when booking a flight with say Cebu Pacific for example.

IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE AIRLINE.

One VISA card will be refused where another VISA will not. Same for Mastercard.

I use a platinum VISA Issued by Citibank & covered by insurance. It is never refused. Other VISA & MASTERCARDS that I have, issued by Australian Banks, are often refused.

It depends on the ISSUING BANK of the Credit Card as to which is refused or not.

AV

[Member #4214]

My suggestion .. is to find a travel agent IN THE PI (few/any foreign travel agents will sell CP tickets). They will charge about $10 service fee, and if you want a refund or want to change it you must go through the travel agent.

Nice. In theory. Beeline Travel told me the airlines don't let them buy tickets that don't originate in Phils.

[HornyGeorge]

Even tickets bought on PAL.com often trigger fraud blocks by cc issues, but you can get around that by calling your cc issuer. However, before you can fly you must go IN PERSON to a PAL office to show the cc used. My friend left the cc at home and had to buy a whole new ticket (full fare of course) and is still awaiting the refund of the original ticket.

By calling OR going to ticket office, I never had a problem using my credit card for Cebu Pacific. Trouble is LOTS of waiting.

If you have a friend in PI you trust, have them buy it (they do eticketing BUT not good about emailing and to enter airport you need a printout).

My suggestion to the guy having such difficulty is to find a travel agent IN THE PI (few/any foreign travel agents will sell CP tickets). They will charge about $10 service fee, and if you want a refund or want to change it you must go through the travel agent.

[Chuckster007]

Hi guys,

I am planning a trip to Angeles City and need some advice. I was thinking of flying from Hong Kong directly to Clark using Cebu Air. I have been told that this could be a bad idea as Cebu Air is notoriously late and unreliable.

I don't want to miss my connection in Hong Kong so this concerns me. Does anyone have any info on Cebu Air, or travel from AC to HK? I greatly appreciate any advice provided.

Devo

If you want to fly to AC from HK, the cheapest and best way is to take the boat to Macau, then take Tiger Airways directly to Clark. The return ticket is less than 1K HK dollars. I have booked mine already for next week and it was 862 Hk$ incl tax. Very cheap.

[BigSmile]

Cebu won't take cards from UK either. Or is it the other way round!

[Sick boy 3]

I had the same problem last December with them also. You were lucky to get a company rep to help you. I tried many times but to no avail. Since I had a friend from Bangkok, I had her get me some tickets at an agent in Bangkok. I had to Western Union money to her, and then the trouble of her taking the time to get them. You could try and get a travel rep I guess from Bangkok or Manila to get the tickets for you. It seems they should have straightened things out by now. It worked fine 2 years ago. I had sent them numerous e-mails complaining, and you think enough Americans would also complain over time. Then again, the Philippine way of during things. Fucked up as normal. After I made a trip to their ticket office in Manila, things were so screwed up there. I was able to use an American credit card at their office with no problem, so it has to do with the internet payment process.

Purchasing on the internet is really hassle free, but I said. F--it. And ended up going Philippine Air from Bangkok to Manila. They had better times to depart and arrive, and it was about $50 more. Cebu Pacific has some great prices, but the international times to fly really suck. All pretty much red eye flights except ones going to Hong Kong.

[X Man]

Huh? I thought you lived there six months out of the year?

Robbery I take in my stride but killing expats (gruesomely) is a big worry for me. Don't think I wanna ever make a home in Pampanga..
AV

[Ekspat]

Nobody flies from HKG to CRK at this time. From HKG you must fly to MNL then take a bus or taxi for the 2 hour (or so) ride to Angeles.

Clarke schedule I've found here.
http://www.visitclark.com/flights/showsched.asp
But be aware it's Oct 2007, so 9 months old.

OasisHongKong used to fly the route, and may still, but getting tickets or info online has proved impossible.

Huh? Oasis Hongkong is long time bankrupt.
They don't take off anymore.

[Member #4214]

Online attempts at booking on the Cebu Pacific web site have failed. I've made over ten attempts ...

I live in Taiwan and went through this recently also. Apparently, for some reason or another, the Cebu Pacific site cannot process charges on US-issued cards. Not sure why, but it is widely recognized among expats here and has been an issue for a couple years. My suspicion is that US cards have had to deal with too much fraud out of Phils, and just don't want to deal with small internet charges from a Phil origin. Or they are charging Phil orgins with extra fees to cover fraud protection, and CP just refuses? (I was using Citibank Visa, and when I called Citibank's call center in Phils, they swore up and down that they would accept the charge and shouldn't be an issue. Still, the CP website couldn't process ...)

I went to my local Cebu Pacific office and paid cash for my ticket - but had to pay an additional, significant charge for the privilege!

I was also told that a best option is to get a card issued in Taiwan, and then book my tickets online with that. Haven't gone that route yet, but you get the point.

[Nuevo]

Online attempts at booking on the Cebu Pacific web site have failed. I've made over ten attempts (I've lost count), all were declined. My bank (Wells Fargo) says it isn't them. They have recieved no requests from the Cebu Pacific Web Site attempts. I called Cebu Pacific and the rep made an attempt and that was declined. I've called Wells Fargo more times than I care to admit. I did get them to tell me that attempts to charge my card had hit the incredibly awful "Verified by Visa (VBV)" system twice but that those attempted purchases which were approved by VBV never came into the Wells Fargo system. My bank also told me that the requests that hit Verified by Visa were for $3700 vs 3700 Baht ($112). (Even at $3700, my bank says the purchase would not have been declined.

The air tickets I want to purchase on Cebu Pacific's site are at a great price compared to everything else I've scene on the web. For example, the one I have been trying to make from BKK to Manila is only the $112 noted above. Nothing else I have found is even close. I did find another site that offered tickets for Cebu Pacific, the same flight was $50 US more; but still a good deal. They got declined also and the hit on VBV was approved for $4200 US.

Needless to say I'm a bit upset that I can't make this and the other purchases from Cebu Pacific that I require.

After two weeks of attempts at dealing with Cebu Pacific and my bank, I've been left no alternative but to -- drink

I have heard that online purchases from Phillipine vendors are on some sort of hot list. I've made other purchases from other international airlines for this upcoming trip that have not had this problem (e.g., Royal Jordanian Airlines).

I'm looking for a work around. I tried finding a US travel agency that deals with Cebu Pacific reservations. I think that this could be a solution to my problem, but I can't find one.

Help Please!

N1

PS. I am posting this request for help on another site. Sorry, I'm getting...

[Blink157]

Hi,
yes acfreddy they not much keen :D

Some examples of encounters I had recently.

in a hotel in subic

Me: Do you have also rooms with bayview where I can see the beach?
rumboy: Sir, if you want to see the beach you go there and you can see it

Me: Do you have wifi access in the lobby?
frontdesk: No, sorry we dont have
Me: whats that? (pointing at the blue wifi box)
frontdesk: Thats internet sir


I swear to god that really happend in a newly built hotel in Subic..Hint...they run also 2 hotels in AC :D

If you spend ur dollars on building the thing you have to safe up some money , just dont safe it on the staff LOL

With Subic nearby I will just take the gurls to SUbic from Ac and have a good time there. I dont wana deal on my precious weekends with "stupid authorities" Im there to relax and have fun and if that wont work any more I will just go somewhere else..As I have mentioned before, I dont need AC to get laid :D..but AC needs ME and MORE TOURISTS or it will just get LAID OFF..
which means you guys can switch back to plant rice fields, sell your cars and buy more calabao and chicken cause Why the fxxck a foreigner should go to AC if there aint no playground any more..is there any beach???...no...anything worth seeing and visiting?...no

Anyway, looking forward to go there tomrow, get drunk, get laid and then go to subic with whatever gurl suites me :D

Happy days

Blink