Zest Air Sucks, Really Sucks

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Agilas took the Zest Air early morning flight from Davao to Manila last May 8 en route to the National Motorcycle Clubs convention in Baguio.

The flight to Manila was pleasant and uneventful. The stewardesses were dressed more formally (and more attractively) than those of Cebu Pacific and I deplaned thinking that we were lucky - I had a good deal (we had availed of the promo prices) and that Zest Air was a decent airline.

Man, was I wrong.

The flight back to Davao was scheduled at 4 o’clock Tuesday morning. Most Agilas decided to drink and talk the night away; I had a much abbreviated night’s sleep. We left Ma’am Mercy’s house in Quezon City around 2 o’clock and, on two taxis, headed towards the old Domestic Terminal.

The security and check in queues were quite long, but I didn’t mind. Everybody was thinking of getting an hour and a half of sleep during the flight, having a tummy-filling breakfast in Davao then snoring the day away.

Around 3:45 AM, with no advice to board the aircraft given, I guessed that there was something wrong. Then word got around that the flight had been postponed to 5:00 o’clock. Ok, flights get delayed. No big deal.

After an hour, we were advised the flight was postponed to 6:00 o’clock. We should have been in Davao having breakfast during that time.

By 6:00 o’clock, we were told that the flight was to be postponed to 7:00 o’clock. Tempers were now starting to get frayed; there was no supervisor from Zest Air to officially tell us what the real score was, only an announcement from the public address system that the flight was delayed and they were still waiting for clearance from “maintenance”. By this time, those who haven’t slept tried sleeping on the chairs. I borrowed Sir Ping’s sleeping bag and slept in one corner of the waiting area.

By 7:00 o’clock, you guessed it, we were told that the flight would be postponed to 8:00 o’clock. I think around this time, we were asked to queue for mush they claimed was breakfast. I ate it simply because I was hungry. Still no ranking employee from Zest Air to explain the real reason why the flight was delayed and what they were doing about our plight.

Eight o’clock and were told (no surprise) that the flight would be delayed to 9:00 AM. We now learned the darned airline just had two large aircraft; the flight-worthy one had started ferrying passengers around 5:00 AM. We (and all the other flights that were to use this aircraft) had to wait. And for four hours we had waited for the plane to get fixed.

Remember during all time, it was a poor, harassed low-level employee in the Zest Air counter who had to face the ire of visibly disgruntled passengers. No higher-level officer showed up to explain the situation and to calm down the passengers.

Nine o’clock and word passed around that we would be flying on another airline. Five hours to decide that their plane was busted.

They jam-packed us to buses which headed towards Terminal 2. Well at least, we were moving. Bad jokes about going back to Davao on a bus. During the hot, 20 minute ride, somebody wondered aloud about our baggage.

When we reached Terminal 2, we knew. Our baggage was strewn all over the sidewalk! You had to search, look, and grab your baggage. There was nobody from Zest Air to assist the elderly who might have trouble getting the baggage. And nobody to stand over and watch over the baggage (the previous bus loads already had retrieved their baggage and were now near the entrance of Terminal 2 Building). And nobody and no system to check if the baggage you got was really yours.

Now we waited in the area just in front of the main entrance to the Terminal 2 Building. In around 20 minutes, two employees from Zest Air started shouting out names and handing tickets to passengers who were to take the Philippine Airlines flight to Davao. It now seems that not all passengers could be accommodated on this PAL flight. And, you guessed it, we lucky streak held.

So we dragged our baggage and boarded another bus bound for Terminal 3. Good thing, there were guys who helped us load our baggage to the bus because there were people now approaching the breaking point of their patience.

We were handed tickets and did not go through the normal boarding procedure of Cebu Pacific. We were told that somebody would carry and take care of our luggage. We were too tired to think and took their word of it. By this time, it was 12 noon, and we were hungry. We stopped by one of the stalls to buy some food but a Cebu Pacific employee told us to hurry, so we walked quickly to the boarding area and finally seated ourselves in the Cebu Pacific flight to Davao.

I think I slept for most part of the flight. We arrived in Davao at 2 o’clock in the afternoon tired, hungry and eight hours late.