Cebu Pacific

Full Review of Cebu Pacific’s GetGo Program
There are two main airlines within the Philippines, the flagship carrier Philippine Airlines and the low cost carrier, Cebu Pacific. For quite a while, Cebu Pacific hasn’t had a real frequent flyer mileage program, but in 2015 Cebu Pacific finally launched their GetGo rewards program.

From my recent flights on Cebu Pacific, it seems like the company has gone all in on marketing GetGo. Which brings up the question, is the program a good value for frequent flyers?

Let’s take a deep look at Cebu Pacific’s GetGo program and whether you should sign up or convert your credit card points to GetGo points.

How do I earn GetGo Points?
There are two ways to earn GetGo Points.

You earn 1 point whenever you spend 5 PHP on any Cebu Pacific purchase. This includes add ons such as luggage fees and meal orders.

Alternatively, you can earn GetGo points from credit card transfer partners from banks such as CitiBank, UnionBank, and BPI.

What is one GetGo point worth?
Cebu Pacific has taken a page out of the American low cost carrier, Southwest Airlines, and essentially ties the amount of miles needed to the price of the ticket.

Unfortunately if you are not a member, there’s no easy way to check how many points a flight will cost. But I searched quite a few sample dates and destinations, and found that the average value of a point will hover around 0.3 centavos.

Occasionally, I found flights that cost slightly less GetGo points, including a few promo flights where the value of one GetGo point was 0.5 centavos, but the vast majority of flights does seem to be fixed at 3.3 GetGo Points for 1 PHP of travel on Cebu Pacific. Here are some of my favorite redemptions you can use with your Citi Card:

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Since you earn 5 CebGo points for every 1 PHP spent, this is essentially a 6% rebate on all Cebu Pacific flights.

How do I Redeem my miles?
All CebuPacific award flights can be redeemed online. Simply log in to your account here https://www.getgo.com.ph/web/getgo/home.

Then scroll to My Points and click Redeem Points.

From there you’ll see search page, enter the flight details you would like to search for you and select Find It!

By having points for cash rebate model, there are no restricted amounts of award space inventory or “blackout dates”. On the flipside, if you’re trying to find an award ticket during peak season, the amount of points may be vastly higher than normal.

Do note that Cebu Pacific does pass on certain airport fees for certain airports. However, the amount of points needed is “discounted”, and as a result you’re still getting a value of 0.3 centavos per point.

I’d prefer Cebu Pacific just show an all in price without adding any fees, but this may be due to legal restrictions.

Should I transfer my credit card miles for CEB Pacific flights?
By offering an airline partner whose miles are worth around 0.3 PHP per point, I feel that users with banks that offer numerous transfer partners such as Citibank and AMEX should transfer their points elsewhere where they can get a much higher value for their credit card miles. For comparison, a British Avios point (CitiBank Airline Transfer Partner) is typically worth around 0.75 PHP, more than double.

Cebu Pacific does occasionally run double transfer promos, in which you’ll receive twice the amount of points per credit card miles transferred. In those cases, the GetGo program becomes much more competitive.

If you prefer not to deal with the hassle of looking for award space, the GetGo program offers a quick and easy way to redeem your miles online.

The convenience factor cannot be understated, as Cebu’s main competitor, PAL, requires you to actually physically go to an office to redeem your miles.

Verdict: Should I sign up for the GetGo Program?

Frequent fliers on Cebu Pacific should definitely sign up for the program, as a 6% rebate on all flights means if you spend more than 2500 PHP annually, you’ll already be breaking even. In addition, all GetGo members receive priority access to its flash sales.

Credit card holders should compare the different programs to figure out which program is the best fit and wait for the double points transfer promos if they do decide to stick with Cebu Pacific’s GetGo program.