Zestair Philippines

Zestair Airlines Philippines

I took my first budget flight with Zestair yesterday and was pretty happy with it. Manila to Tacloban Leyte cost me about 1,500 peso which was about half what the other lines were quoting. Some of them have great promo deals if you are booking far enough in advance however – I wanted to leave the following morning and was walking past Swagman Hotel and went to their ticket office upstairs and booked it there.

Zest Air leaves from the old domestic airport in Manila – there is a 200 peso terminal fee.

Zest Air Pilot and happy flight crew – great people! This fight was on an a sparking A320 Airbus. They also have a fleet of turbo props.

Zest Air – I had a reasonably good one flight experience on Zest .

Cebu Pacific – I flew with this airlines a few times to Palawan and to and from Manila and had pretty good experiences with them too but the costs were more than with Zestair.

Cebu Pacific Airlines at the terminal in Tacloban Leyte. They offer some good promo deals if you book well enough in advance.

Domestic flights are a far more comfortable way of getting around the islands in the Philippines than taking a bus.

Airline tickets are usually easy to line up but getting to and from the airport can sometimes be challenging.

I had started the trip from Malate in Manila and caught a common taxi on M H Del Pilar to the old domestic terminal in Manila (paid 120 pesos for the trip). After waiting around the terminal for 3 hours we flew down to Tacloban for the one hour flight.

Colorful Tacloban jeepney mural below.

There is a convenient mini van service that runs the 2 hour trip from Tacloban to Ormoc called Dup Tours. A mini bus leaves from their terminal every 15 minutes or so and charges 120 pesos.

The taxis at the Tacloban airport – 8 kilometers from the Duptours terminal – wanted 250 pesos for the trip to their terminal. It seemed way out of line so I took a local jeepney instead.

The jeepney run cost 50 pesos to transport me and two bags to Duptours.

Duptours shuttle van terminal in Tacloban

The transport costs from Malate – Manila  to Ormoc City Leyte were just over 1800 pesos.

The taxi to the domestic airport in Manila was 120 pesos, the flight with Zest air was 1530 peso, jeepney to Duptour bus terminal in Tacloban was 50 peso and the Duptour mini van to Ormoc City cost 120 pesos.

Total cost around 1820 pesos plus 200 pesos for overpriced junk food at the domestic airport in Manila.(plus 200 peso airport departure tax )

Buses make the trip from Pasay in Manila to Ormoc City for 1100 to 1300 pesos and they take around 26 hours. (at least)

Buying Tickets online- important note

If you buy a ticket with any airline on line with your credit card – be sure to have that card with you when checking in at the counter or you will likely be denied boarding. They are strict about this ! Remember this tip for international flights also.

Tricycle rides cost 6 peso in town in Tacloban.

Yippie!

Tricycle taxis in Tacloban.

Philippines Airlines

Zestair and Cebu Pacific – budget airfares in the Philippines