By Taga Mindanao, on August 3, 2009
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Consumer, Flights, Internet, Leisure, Mindanaoan Update, Musings, Personal, Society, Tourism, Travel, northern mindanao
Tags: abs cbn cagayan de oro, abs cbn cdo, airfare, budget flights, budget travel, cagayan de oro airport, cagayan de oro register and vote, cagayan de oro to cebu flights, cagayan de oro to cebu pal express, cdo to cebu pal express, cheap flights, cheap flights cdo to cebu, free internet, free wi-fi, mactan cebu international airport, mag tv, mag tv na ato ni, maxine monasterio, Mindanao, mindanao bloggers, mindanao news, mindanao travel, mindanaoan, northern mindanao, pal express, pal express flight, pal express flights, philippine airlines, rock the vote 2009, rock the vote cagayan de oro, rock the vote cagayan de oro leg, senator kiko pangilinan, team oro, titus monterde, titus tj monterde, tj monterde
A few hours after the Rock the Vote 2009 Cagayan de Oro leg and after sharing a hearty meal with the members of Team Oro Photo and Video (who generously extended their time and support to the Register and Vote Campaign…thank you, thank you!) as well as the event’s hosts, Maxine Monasterio (Miss Teen Philippines 2007 and a CDO native) and Titus “TJ” Monterde (he’s the son of Tito Monterde, the station manager of Wild FM CDO) — (Max and TJ also host the ABS CBN Northern Mindanao Sunday show, Mag TV Na, Ato Ni!), I caught a CDO – Cebu PAL Express flight.
PAL Express is owned by Philippine Airlines and is geared towards shorter flights.
It was my first time to catch a PAL Express flight. After years of traveling from CDO to Cebu via boats (I’ve tried Trans Asia Shipping Lines, Superferry and – gulp – Sulpicio), I decided that a PAL Express flight was already in order. I simply had no time and energy to endure roughly 11 hours of travel time at sea.
I caught the 9:50 AM Cagayan de Oro – Cebu City PAL Express flight PR 286. I was already at the airport an hour and a half early but I didn’t mind since I brought along my trusty Hewlett Packard 2133 netbook (if you want to check out my jazzed up HP baby, click this) Unfortunately, CDO airport still does not offer free wireless internet so to while away the time, I decided to sift through photos I recently took. The PAL Express staff members were very courteous and even the security guard helped me with my one big Nike gym bag (which hardly contained anything except for a few clothing pieces and my DSLR camera) Thumbs up for helpful staff!
Something embarrassing happened that morning, by the way. My name was called via the PA system because apparently I dropped my boarding pass…and get this…I didn’t even notice! Ayayay…I was probably so zoned out after the many days of preparing for the RV Campaign that I just sipped my coffee, checked my computer files, watched TV…and didn’t even realize that I no longer have my boarding pass and baggage number with me. Good thing someone found it and promptly returned it to the PAL Express counter. Thanks to the PAL Express staff, too!
We boarded the plane on time (9:30 AM) – which, I must admit, is a bit surprising knowing that PAL’s notoriously known for being “late” (hence, the joke “PAL-aging late.” Thank goodness the flight that day was on time.
Here are some photos I took before I boarded my plane:
Pre-departure area of the Cagayan de Oro airport
Here’s a photo of the PAL Express plane (along with a shot of the plane’s tail where a cool and golden “Cagayan de Oro” logo complete with pineapple can be found! Nice no?)
The entire flight was pretty short — very short! A total of thirty eight minutes! Can you imagine? Compared to traveling for 11 hours, you’ll be at your destination within 38 minutes!
And you can’t beat the airfare, too. I only paid P980.00 for a one-way ticket. Add P30.00 for the airport fee so that’s P1100.00 all in all — still not very heavy on your pocket especially if you need to be in Cebu right away.
One “highlight” during my Cagayan de Oro to Cebu plane ride, by the way, was when the captain took to the microphone and greeted us passengers. It turned out that Captain Patrick Roa had quite the baritone voice LOL So the passengers who were already in deep slumber couldn’t help but wake up when they heard the captain speak LOL The captain was fluent in English and sounded friendly so even if he told us that we were cruising at 16,000 feet or something like that…I, for one, felt safe and secure. Too bad I didn’t get to see the man behind the baritone voice! Hehehe 
Anyways, my trip was safe and fast. I highly recommend that you ride a plane the next time you’re planning a CDO to Cebu or Cebu to CDO trip. Less hassle, fees and rates are reasonable and budget-friendly and you can enjoy the sights and sounds of Cebu or CDO in no time!
By the way, you can book your PAL Express flights using your ATM card. Enjoy traveling!
You may want to read these related articles as well:
20 Comments to “Aboard PAL Express flight Cagayan de Oro to Cebu City”
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[...] my PAL Express flight from the Cebu International Airport, Mactan to Cagayan de Oro Domestic Airport, I took some aerial [...]
Hello,
A friend of mine came across this website and texted me, I thought perhaps it might have been a mistake or maybe I screwed up something on flight and made some poor soul discover religion or explore alternative means of transportation. Thank you for the kudos on the flight, we strive hard to be on time or better still-ahead of schedule. The Bombardier Q400 that you rode is the fastest in the 70 seat category turboprops as we cruise at the grey area of near jet-speeds (believe it or not, we do overtake the jets on a regular basis), we normally cruise at 350knots(or 648Kph)it packs over 5,000hp per engine and has another 35% “boost” on reserve when needed for windshear or tight situations, so lose an engine and we still climb out like a bat outta hell. How’s that for safety?:)
The aircraft in the photo has registry RP-C3031 “City of Cagayan de Oro”. I consider this particular aircraft as “my” plane since I am a true blooded Cagayanon, yep i’m born and raised in the City of Golden Friendship never mind the heavily armed combat aircraft parked next to us at Lumbia airport-they are part of a government assurance that the Golden Friendship tag stays as advertised. The average flight time between Cagayan de Oro and Cebu is only about 29 minutes. As flightcrew we like the Q400 and we take great pride in pleasing our passenger with the aircraft’s strong points like the speed, comfort, and efficiency.
It has been a pleasure having you on board our flight, and the next time you ride with us and i’m up front please don’t hesitate to come over to the flight deck and introduce yourself. I would gladly give a fellow techie a tour of our little office
Best regards,
Capt. Patrick M. Roa
Captain Dash 8 Q400
Air Philippines / PAL Express
hi capt patrick m. roa-thank u for landing us safelty (and smoothly-two thumbs up!) at bacolod-silay airport last dec. 4, 2009. i just love looking at the view down below and although we experienced a few bumps it didnt deter me to admire the wonderful creation of our heavenly maker.we were quite surprised too to hear your nice voice (like a dj!) and see your friendly face when we disembark.we hope that you will continue to bring your passengers to their destination safe and sound.
good morning from talisay, neg. occ!!!ciao mon ami!!!
Hi shellah! Thank you for your comment on my humble blog
Looks like Capt. Roa has a lot of fans! 
Taga Mindanao´s last blog ..Mindanaoans who will run for national positions come May 2010
hi ms. mindanaoan blogger-of course im thankful that you shared with us your wonderful experience in travelling by air going to cebu.its been wonderful to go from one place to another and meet people and see the sites and of course most esp to taste the food!:)love to visit cebu next time esp marks and spencer in ayala mall:):)
OMG. I’m still in shock that you left a comment on my humble blog *blush*
Let’s see if I can come up with a better reaction in a few days LOL
In the meantime, I’d like to thank you for the safe flight and of course, for letting me know that you’ve read my post LOL
Many more happy travels!
Taga Mindanao´s last blog ..Mindanaoans who will run for national positions come May 2010
of course-we were happy to land in silay safely coz we encountered quite big turbulence along the way. my friend was experiencing some anxities sa cebu airport pa lang so twas frighful for her to feel the plane shaking up on the skies!!so sobra tlaga ang appreciation namin that we had capt. roa to deliver us safe and sound back to the bosom of our families. sana siya ulit pilot ng plane namin when we visit cebu again(wish lang!):)
@shellah – Hehehehe sana! Ako, if ever I get to ride another flight tapos siya ang captain, I’ll introduce myself gyud and then interview him dayon for Mindanaoan.com
Taga Mindanao´s last blog ..Tabo Sa Umahan 2010 – 80th Founding Anniversary of Misamis Oriental
hi miss mindanao-thanks for replying to my short missive!pls tell capt. patrick if ever u see him for the job well done-he deserves a promotion!:)
Patrick, is that the only plane you fly or do you shuttle between different aircraft? I haven’t caught you yet on the Cebu-CDO route even though I’ve taken it quite a few times na. Break a leg!
yes sir pls tell capt.patrick to have a break-if he wants he can come and enjoy masskara festival in bacolod on october-im sure hes going to enjoy the colorful masks and dances !!!see u all!!!:)
hi ms. mindanaon pls extend my greetings too to capt. patrick for the job well done and if ever you find time do come during masskara festival on oct i will be glad to meet you and treat kita dito sa bacolod ok?and as for mr. mike said its time for patrick to break a leg-go for it patrick!!!:)
Hi shellah, Capt. Patrick heard your request. He now has a new response hehee
To all fans of Capt Roa….he sure is a well trained Pilot, conversive in any dialect, very wonderful man,intelligent,loving and many more traits a woman would want in a man….lets just say im an long time avid fan of his…lol. Oh yeah, talk about his baritone voice…kakakilig! :0)
hi piper-hi girl!seems your name fits in aviation industry(its a specie of a bird isnt it? or am just wrong?lol)anyway, seems u know capt. patrick up close and personal when you describe certain traits of him .too bad we only hear his voice and not know the man behind the voice:(.oh well,next time make the initiative to get to know him if hes still available lol!thats the girl power!!!!keep me updated ok?lol ciao
Hi Piper! Nakakakilig ba? Hehehe. Uy ha =P It seems you really are a long time avid fan. Do you know him personally?
Hi Guys! it seems like there has been quite an exchange so far. Anyway, A friend of mine told me about several threads that have gone down since and it got me wondering already what’s going on, so I decided to check things out and see whats up;
Hi Shellah, i am honored to know that you enjoyed the flight and I passed the kudos to my crew as well because we operate as a team to make each flight safe and efficient, a few bumps do happen especially during descent in the Canlaon area where we get turbulence from the mountains, but it is nothing to worry about. Just think of turbulence as like riding through bad roads, it’s just not comfy but perfectly safe. We take measures to avoid the nasty stuff but it’s the Clear Air Turbulence that we cannot detect with radar technology-yet. I’ve been to the Masskara festival only once some years ago and it was one BIG party. Bacolod has changed a lot since and we get to see the development from the air each time we approach to land in Silay. The old airport near Sugarland is still there and it does bring fond memories of pilots/friends here and gone. I once picked up a single engined airplane from Ormoc and landed in Bacolod with a burning engine, we just barely made it and after we parked a big field rat jumped out and scampered away. He ate up some wires, caused a short and the fire, a few more minutes and we would have fireballed in midair (damn rat!). So we stayed in Bacolod a week for repairs and p-a-r-t-i-e-d (thanks rat!) .
To Mike Banos-Hi Mike, I’ve flown over 36 different types of aircraft and helicopters over the past couple of years (and counting..). I hold a Philippine/ICAO well as a US FAA Airline Transport License. Right now i’m typed on my license to fly the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 model, we are allowed up to 2 types on our ICAO licenses. We shuttle between our bases in Manila and Cebu and are rotated to fly all the routes in our system. It keeps us from getting bored. Seriously, we keep proficient this way since each destination is unique and no day is really routine when weather is involved. We train 2x/year in the simulators abroad (Graded), attend 2-3 review classes and safety seminars/year (with exams), get checked several times more in the plane (graded), and have at least 2-3 thorough medical check-ups annually, and random alcohol and drug tests at dawn when we report for work. So whenever you buy a ticket, you now know what the crew goes through just to qualify to fly you from point A to B. It is tough on us, and that’s what it takes to make it smooth, safe, and pleasant for our passengers.
Have a great day y’all
Hi Capt. Patrick! Thank you very much for leaving a new response. I bet your fans are all excited to read your update =D Do you still fly between Cebu and CDO? I’ve been on a couple of PAL Express flights since but haven’t had the luck of chancing upon one of your flights again. I’m looking forward to visiting the captain’s booth pa naman hehehe =D
hi miss mindanao-thank you for facilitating the updates between us and capt. patrick. i really appreciate your efforts altho you are super duper busy u make time to visit the site again and leave comments. mabuhay ka girl!god bless !!!love from the visayas!
hi capt. roa-thank u too for making time to enlighten us common folks
about the complexity of your work. we know u and the rest of the gang trained very hard to ensure a safe trip for us for our own very lives (precious as it is!) are at risk here when flying or commuting to any mode of transportation. we salute your sacrifices and hardships and im sure you are all happy and satisfied when your passengers give positive comments to all your hard efforts. despite the international aviation gave us a negative rating last month im sure u are trying hard to ensure that you will have a safe trip everyday.we look forward to fly with you again guys!! and dont forget to visit us here in the city of smile-yes, masskara has evolved into much bigger and better festivity. every masskara week, the lacson mainroad as a main tourist are is closed for the baile de luces and live bands for the people to enjoy so we hope that u can come again with your family and enjoy the ocassion. madamu gid nga salamat!