Continue reading »]]>

Finally! Thank goodness Philippine Airlines (PAL) has a new flight safety instruction video! Yes, they are finally replacing that decade old, “telenovela-ish” and seemingly obsolete flight safety instruction video that PAL has been using on its flights.

Synchronized PAL's Flight Attendants, hehe!

Produced by Ambient Media (the same people behind the movie “RPG Metanoia”) and directed by Ianco dela Cruz, PAL’s new flight safety instruction video deviates from the usual boring routine that the flight attendants must perform (or inform to the passengers). Adding humor, creativity, the use of CGI special effects has given a lighter tone for a serious ritual before the flight.

In this visually-driven time and age, creativity may mean understanding. The lighter tone and humor has given the passengers the feel that flying should be fun, not to be feared upon. And for the first timers, the language that was used was appropriate enough to be understood by most passengers of today.

In the contrast, the old one was revised from time to time…probably due to PAL’s budget constraints. The old one was…boring and outright corporate – too serious to listen and the music was like that of the computer game, The Sims. In the age of digital music and media, that Nokia 5110 and portable CD player were still on display! Talk about obsolete! Lastly, the most noticeable was that the lips of the flight attendants in the old video doesn’t sync with what they are saying – seemingly echoing the decade of the Mexican telenovelas in Philippine television, finishing the video with “ma-mabuhay!” Di pa sila sabay! (The flight attendants were not in sync…really!)

Finally, its an iPod and a 3G phone!!!

I saw other airlines’ flight instruction videos on Youtube and I was impressed with the creativity of the people behind it – exerting effort in taking the attention of the passengers, like how the boob tube hypnotizes its watchers. I felt embarrassed about our flag carrier whenever I see some of those international carriers’ video.

That big flight safety card!

However, I guess after the gimmick of its rival, Cebu Pacific, that took the boring ritual of flight safety instruction part into a whole new level (the dancing flight attendants), it’s good that PAL had the initiative to change its antiquated flight safety instruction video that makes passengers…sleep or minds wandering around.

Hey, that Flight Instruction Card!

In the end, the new PAL flight safety instruction video has done a good job in creativity, entertainment and at the same time delivering the importance of safety while on flight.

Ma-mabuhay!

Continue reading »]]>

By Stanley Palisada

Cebu Pacific Air Airbus A320-200

In the 2003 Gwyneth Paltrow starrer “View from the Top”, Candice Bergen who played accomplished Flight Attendant Sally Weston said “Gone are the days when people traveled in style”.

In the era of budget airlines, people take a plane as though it was just a bus. Flying today is like riding a pedicab or a PUJ where comfort or service does not matter as long as the airline delivers its promise to “get you there”– and in one piece (literally, as you’re dead broke per additional baggage).

Philippine Airlines Airbus A320-200 at NAIA Terminal 2

In the age of legacy airlines, air travel was a holiday in itself. People looked forward to flying to experience pampering in the sky, courtesy of well-screened flight attendants who exude the warmth and hospitality of the countries or cultures they represent. They made the flyer fall in love at 30,000 feet in those days (and I mean that in the most non-mile-high-club way).

Inside Cebu Pacific Airbus A320

In-flight meals were prepared by top (Frenchy) chefs and the aperitif, selected meticulously to please the most Britishly-discriminating traveler. Linen sheets, hot towels, newspapers of all sorts and in-flight entertainment were all part of the legacy airline experience.

Inside Philippine Airlines's Airbus A320

Today, flights take off as unceremoniously as the printing of the eTicket. People are loaded up in packed cabins as airlines value profits in “seat cost per mile”— more than passengers succumbing to Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) after being held for hours on an indecently cramped seat built for people with no legs. Travel is nowhere near “tranquil” as their safety card suggests.

Blame it on the fuel crisis, terrorism and the airlines’ unrelenting hunger for survival.

Passengers these days can only be thankful that their planes did not slam into iconic buildings or explode mysteriously over the ocean. Thanks to well-maintained planes (there goes your in-flight lunch) and the invasiveness of today’s airport security whose x-ray machines are built to detect man’s biggest (or smallest) secrets. Add to that the frisking and occasional “cupping” which makes me want to sue for acts of lasciviousness or slight physical injuries (for rough searches). As a frequent traveler, I go through all these airport molestations habitually.

Cebu Pacific Air Airbus A320

And gone are the days of full service airlines as everyone’s going for ultra low fare. Again the fuel crisis has severed many of the privileges travelers once enjoyed. Planes need to fly light to save on fuel thus passengers should either be stick-thin or they travel naked.

Baggage allowance has decreased to almost nil. Okay, I know Filipinos are not light travelers but promo fares that only allow 7 kilos of baggage (which weighs just about as light as the nation’s self-esteem) is blatantly un-Filipino.

Talk about traveling light. Looks like everyone is enticed not to bring checked-in baggage these days

Nowadays many are forced to travel light or they “pay per succeeding kilo” upon check-in, which actually stalls the long queues in that yellow airline’s counter. On another airline an Econolite passenger’s seat gets a round sticker to indicate (with utmost humiliation) that his ticket is super cheap. The stickers tell flight attendants not to give newspapers or serve snacks that are exclusively for those who paid more.

But not to worry, the snacks they’re serving would really cost less than 20 pesos from a neighborhood sari sari store (you may buy on the way to the airport) as it’s merely soda crackers and water— or menu befitting yoyo dieters and anorexic super models.

The other airline also does not serve free snacks. One has to buy from their trolley-full of Jack n Jill products (big fan of Chippy here but not at airborne prices) or a very expensive bottle of C2— unaffordable even to their supposed budget-challenged guests. Apparently this low fare, great value airline wants to promote its other products at passengers’ expense. Literally.

Zest Air Airbus A320-200

Meantime the other emerging orange juice airline serves—well—orange juice (in doy pack) to its passengers, free of charge. It’s reminiscent of yellow airline’s free chiz curls and pepsi days when it was just starting up. Orange juice air serves free juice in-flight to attract a following. And it’s been a while since I last saw their juice brand outside a memorial park. It’s finally refreshing to have that brand associated with happier times!

Now back to that legacy airline also dabbling in budgetry… I once took its noontime flight to Cagayan De Oro and a group traveling on Econolite brought meals knowing that they will not be served anything on the plane.

The cabin reeked of Chicken Joy for the entire duration of the flight. The rest of us watched (mouth watering with envy) as the Econoliters devoured their lunch of 2-piece-fried-chicken-with-rice-coke-and-peach-mango-pie— while the rest of us reluctantly finished off our sachet of Happy peanuts, gulping it down with a cup of coffee as bland as sugar crisis.

Typical legroom for Cebu Pacific's Airbus A320's seats...better sit up straight!

Passengers in the age of budget travel can really fight back at some of the airlines’ inequities.

After lunching the Econoliters handed over to the flight attendants their trash, plastics, spoons, forks, straws, empty Jollibee upsized cups, styrofoam packs with piles of chicken bones and dripping gravy.

Afterall Econolite does not mean airline will not take your trash as well. Mabuhay!