Trouble in Paradise

I would like to start my series of beach excursion posts with the highest of hurdles: the pains of budget airlines. Before you go all Mariah Carey on me, here's the 411: I'm 23, I'm the eldest of 4 kids and I know travelling is a luxury (especially for a family of 6). My parents are very conservative when it comes to travel options, justifying how much they want to make every family trip memorable by providing us with an impeccable travel experience. And that all starts with airline selection, we always ALWAYS fly PAL. I have to admit though, I sorta envy people scrambling for seat sales, but i can never really convince my parents to fly budget. So it's always a toss between PAL or no travel at all. And no, you still can't call me a snotty bitch, I'm trying to prove a point here.

You always get what you pay for. For a full price commercial plane ticket, you get the perks - impeccable customer service, inflight catered meal, entertainment, and based from experience, you are really valued as a customer. Of the all domestic and international roundtrip travels I have been a part of, only two of those fall under the 'budget airline' category. (Bangkok and Boracay)

Because PAL has spoiled me with great service since I was 8 (and counting the many business travels from when I was working) the extremely maarte person inside me is screaming 'culture shock'. Okay okay, you can call me a bitch now.

For Php 1,700++ I was able to pay for a roundtrip ticket to Kalibo (via Tiger Airways), and so did 4 of my girlfriends! Never mind the inconvenient entry point and flight schedule, it's Php 1,700 for crying out loud! BOOKED. On April 4 my girls and I were beaming with excitement as we lined up in front of the check-in counter inside the ever famous NAIA Terminal 4 (Oh, wait, there IS a Terminal 4? Never heard). What started out as silly jokes actually turned into reality -- our plane took off hours ago. Just imagine the set of airline USA only the antagonists were extra gorj. Chos!

I'd like to spare you from the gory details of our horrific encounter with Tiger Airways/SEA Air so I'm cutting the story here to save space (and to save face). Haha!

Now tell me, can Php 1,700 pay for time wasted, potential memories, tension and frustration? Think again.

I try to avoid subjective, sensitive, slightly controversial issues as much as I can but this deserves a spot on the hall of shame for singlehandedly making my temper reach the heavens (or should I say, hell?) :) uggh. NEVER. AGAIN. iabsolutelyhatebudgetairlines.