EDITOR’S NOTE: The information in this article may no longer be up-to-date. Please refer to the Cebu Pacific website for the most current baggage policy.
If you’re familiar with our blog, then you’ll know how often we use Cebu Pacific to travel around Asia and the Philippines. They offer some of the best deals on airfare.
Beginning January 15, 2019, Cebu Pacific will be implementing a new baggage policy which limits the number of bags you’re allowed to check in. Here’s the gist of the new checked in baggage policy:
Standard – up to 20 kilos (up to 2 pieces)
Large – up to 32 kilos (up to 3 pieces)
Extra Large – up to 40 kilos (up to 4 pieces)
Illustration borrowed from the Cebu Pacific Facebook page.
To be honest, we were always under the assumption that each prepaid baggage option allowed you to check in just one bag. We didn’t realize you could check in as many bags as you wanted as long as their total combined weight didn’t exceed your allowance.
In the past, you could purchase the 40 kilo baggage option and check in as many bags as you wanted. For example, you could check in 10 bags as long as their combined weight didn’t exceed 40 kilos.
But with this new policy, passengers are now limited to just 4 bags for the 40 kilo option. This makes perfect sense because in my opinion, we absolutely need to impose limits on how many pieces of luggage passengers are allowed to check in.
Too many times I’ve seen little tiny bags or boxes going around that baggage claim carousel, making me wonder why someone would choose to check in something like that. It takes more time, uses up more resources, and creates more clutter, all of it potentially leading to the one thing we passengers hate the most – delays.
I’m not saying that too many checked in bags is the only cause of flight delays. It isn’t. But limiting the number of bags you’re allowed to check in helps streamline the entire process. Having to accept, tag, transport, and load just 4 bags as opposed to 10 makes the process faster and smoother.
Think of it this way. When you’re at the supermarket, how many shopping carts do you use when you check out? Most of the time just one right? Now take all the groceries from that one big shopping cart and divide it between ten. Wouldn’t that make the check out process go a whole lot slower? It doesn’t make sense.
Everyone hates delays and openly bitches about it on social media. In fact, I checked Cebu Pacific’s Facebook page today and found all these Negative Nancies moaning and groaning about this new baggage policy. Ironically, some people even bitched about delays on the same thread.
What they fail to understand is that imposing these limits, which are very reasonable mind you, helps make the process more efficient. Because at the end of the day, isn’t that what we passengers want? A faster and more efficient system so we can all be on our way?
I think Cebu Pacific’s new baggage policy makes perfect sense. Like I said, I’m surprised that wasn’t already the case, especially since it’s a policy many international carriers already follow and impose.
We can all be more mindful and do the little things to make our travels smoother and more pleasant for everyone. This is one of those things.