Updated Baggage Rates of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and Air Asia

Should you or shouldn’t you buy prepaid baggage? Find out how much the latest baggage rates on the following airlines:

• Philippine Airlines
• Cebu Pacific Air
• Air Asia Philippines

Some of my friends do think that I am a keeper of info, especially concerning travel. They don’t know or realize that I haven’t been travelling as much as I have in the past, hence, travel news and useful info may reach me slower nowadays.

But nonetheless, I still get messages out of the blue in messenger and even sms asking me how much is the rate for 20 kilos on Cebu Pacific, or if they could refund the tickets since they can’t make the booked flights after all. Really. Like I am a purveyor of details ahahha.

I love my friends (most times) so I patiently do research for them and replied back with the needed answer after checking the official airline websites.

Lately, similar airline related questions have been popping more often, so before I get inundated with same concerns and queries especially related to prepaid baggage allowance, I’ve researched the details ad am now finally writing this post.

It’s my shortcut strategy, in case someone ask for baggage fees info, I can just give the link to this post. Copy link and paste in chat/txt, solve, info delivered in a few secs! 😉

Baggage Rates Per Airlines

In the country, we have 3 major airline companies, and they are Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Air Asia Zest. There are companies with smaller flight network like SkyJet, AirJuan, TigerAir, I will not be delving into them, the focus will be just the major 3.

All 3 airline companies offer free hand-carry baggage which is 7 kilos per passenger. Nope, infants flying for free and toddlers with no purchased ticket will not have his or her own free 7 kilos, but the adult carrying the infant may bring in one additional normal-size baby bag.

By the way, Air Asia is strictly implementing the 2-bags-handcarry policy, so please put all your stuff for hand carry in max of two bags with a combined weight of 7 kilos or less! Otherwise, you might be forced to pay to check-in the rest of your stuff.

Shhhh… you know how expensive the rate for excess baggage in the airport is? Nope? It’s at least P250 per kilo !!!

What if your excess baggage is 3 kilos. 3 x 200 pesos = 600 pesos gone in a flash!

Not unless you allow your excess stuff to be confiscated or to be left behind.

To avoid this possible scenario, especially if you know you or the passenger you booked the promo tickets for will be needing to check-in his or her baggage, please, please purchase prepaid baggage. That is one way to save on travel funds.

This is another important one, say you did not buy any prepaid baggage and you are flying with Cebu Pacific Air.

You got to the check-in counter and the airport staff required you to check-in your bag, let’s just say there could be a restricted item in your bag that will only be accepted for carriage if the item is place in check-in.

In short, the item is not allowed for hand-carry. And no way will you left your item behind so you have no choice but to check it in.

Now, here’s the airline rule for this sample scenario – you will be asked to pay what Cebu Pacific calls its “airport baggage fee good for the first 15 kilos”.

Yep, you can’t simply say I will just pay 3 kilos. You will pay the first 15 kilos even if you will not consume the max weight. Cebu Pacific baggage bought at the airport is MINIMUM of 15 kilos at P784.00. The prepaid rate for 15 kilos during booking is only P254!!!

So yes, buy prepaid baggage! Remember that airport rates are always more expensive.

This is the same way with Air Asia, the first 15 kilos of check-in baggage AT THE AIRPORT is charged at 800 pesos! Then if you still exceed the 15 kilograms weight, excess fees per kilo will be charged.

Are you confuse? Shouldn’t you just pay the excess baggage rate of 3 kilos, why will you be forced to pay the fee for the first 15 kilos? Unfortunately, that is part of the rule.

The Excess Baggage Rate will only be charged if and only if you previously bought a prepaid baggage and still ended up with excess kilos.

Now that it is out of the way, here now are the latest and updated check-in baggage rates for Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and Air Asia as listed on these airlines respective websites today in August 2017.

CEBU PACIFIC BAGGAGE RATES DOMESTIC

Cebu Pacific passengers may UPGRADE existing prepaid baggage allowance or if you did not buy during booking, you can ADD BAGGAGE up to 4 hours before your flight schedule.

Prepaid baggage allowance bought DURING BOOKING is cheaper versus prepaid baggage bought via Manage Booking.

You can add or upgrade by logging into the website www.cebupacificair.com and clicking on the Manage Booking tab. Or you can also buy/upgrade baggage via the mobile app. Or if you are tech-averse, you can do the old method and that is by visiting a ticketing branch or office of this airline, or by calling the hotline number (02) 7020 888.

For those who will upgrade, you will pay the price difference only. Meaning if you purchased baggage allowance for 15 kilos during booking and you want to upgrade this to 20 kilos, the required additional payment will only be P380.80 – P257.60 = P123.20.

Before you can compute, you need to know the rate per prepaid baggage package of Cebu Pacific as of 2019, which are as follows, these are for DOMESTIC by the way.

SMALL	15 Kilos	P257.60
STANDARD	20 Kilos	P380.80
LARGE	30 Kilos	P784.00
EXTRA LARGE	40 Kilos	P1,232.00

Prepaid Baggage Rate 15 days or more away from departure schedule

SMALL	15 Kilos	NO LONGER OFFERED!!!
STANDARD	20 Kilos	P449.00
LARGE	30 Kilos	P949.00
EXTRA LARGE	40 Kilos	P1,399.00

Pamahal ng pamahal, you noticed?

Prepaid Baggage Rate 14 days or less from Departure Schedule

SMALL	15 Kilos	NO LONGER OFFERED!!!
STANDARD	20 Kilos	P529.00
LARGE	30 Kilos	P1,099.00
EXTRA LARGE	40 Kilos	P1,599.00

Ang mahal na ng baggage sa Cebu Pacific, grabe!

Worst, may limit na ang number of bags! This is the NEW BAGGAGE POLICY

Standard prepaid baggage at 20 kilos = up to 2 pieces of check-in bags allowed.

Large prepaid baggage at 32 kilos = up to 3 pieces of check-in bags allowed.

Extra-Large prepaid baggage at 40 kilos = up to 4 pieces of check-in bags allowed.

Waaahhhh… my advise? If you will buy prepaid baggage, bring a big bag! or magdala ng sako-bag na may zipper, pagdating sa airport, ilagay lahat ng small bags and plastic bags sa zippered-saki-bag. Merong ganito sa Divisoria. Makabili nga.

Be ready to book Cebu Pacific Piso Fare promo tickets for 2019 / 2020. I am always on the hunt for promo fares from PAL and Cebu Pac.

 

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES BAGGAGE RATES DOMESTIC

The good thing if you book one way or round-trip tickets with Philippine Airlines is that you have check-in baggage on most flights. There is no additional charge, unless you want more than the allocated free check-in baggage allowance.

*PAL promo tickets for domestic sometime does not include baggage allowance especially if the flight is not coming from or going to Manila. Before you pay for your Philippine Airline ticket, make sure to read the fine prints.

How much baggage allowance will you get with your PAL ticket? 

This is dependent on the type of ticket. The Philippine Airlines promo fares which are usually those tagged as “Budget Economy” are usually given 10 kilos free check-in.

Updated 2019: PAL only gives FREE 10 kilos of check-in baggage for flights going to and coming from Manila. Inter-hub flights Cebu, Clark, Davao, etc will not have a free check-in bag allowance.

The next level the “Regular Economy” ticket gives 20 kilos free baggage, however if the airplane that will be utilized for your flight is a Q300 or Q400 (these are ‘narrower’ planes thus less space for cargo), you will only get 10 kilos free checked baggage even if your ticket is categorized under ‘regular economy’.

Now if you bought Philippine Airlines Premium Economy Ticket you will get 30 kilos of baggage allowance.

The last time we went to Hong Kong, it was during a promo of PAL for round trip premium economy and we got 30 kilos check-in baggage each. At times, it is cheaper to fly with Philippine Airlines versus a budget carrier especially if you need big baggage allowance.

A good rule of thumb of savvy travelers, errr more on budget conscious travelers, should be to check for rates in all airlines and compare which company offers the best value for your buck before you finalize the booking.

The last and most expensive ticket type in PAL is the Premium Business Class which gives ticket holders 35 kilos of free baggage.

Now, what if despite already having check-in baggage allowance, you still need more? Wow! Ang dami mong dala! Hahaha.

You can certainly buy additional kilos on top of the free kilos you are getting based on your ticket type. Here are the baggage rates for Philippine Airlines.

5 kilos	P250.00
10 kilos	P500.00
15 kilos	P750
20 kilos	P999
25 kilos	P1,250
30 kilos	P1,500
35 kilos	P1,750
40 kilos	P2,000

If there should be changes to the baggage fees for 2019 to 2020, please let me know. I’ll also try to check from time to time the official website so I can update this post as necessary.

Important info for those after Batanes tickets – You can’t buy additional baggage for PAL’s flight going to Basco, Busuanga, and Surigao.  While passengers on flights going to Naga, Calbayog, and Catarman are only allowed to buy maximum of 10 kilos as additional baggage. This has something to do with the smaller aircraft used for these routes.

(02) 855-8888 is the customer service hotline of Philippine Airlines in case you have more questions or want to add baggage.

Air Asia Baggage Fees DOMESTIC

Air Asia implements a different strategy on fees structure of baggage allowance.

The rates are cheaper if you will buy baggage during the same time you are purchasing Air Asia regular or promo tickets. This is termed as ‘buying during initial booking’.

The baggage rate becomes higher if you will purchase baggage AFTER getting booking confirmation. This is termed as ‘buying after initial booking’.

Heads up! Air Asia no longer offers 15 kilos, the smallest package available is 20 kilos. Waaaah. I found this out the last time we flew AirAsia Manila to Cebu.

I did not buy baggage at first, then one day before departure I wanted to add 15 kilos, then toinks, I can only add 20 and higher kilos. :/ When we checked-in our stuff, we only totaled 13 kilos. Sayang yung di nagamit na 7 kilos.

Number of Kilos	Fee if buy allowance during booking	Fee if buy allowance after flight is confirmed
20 kilos	P349.00	P368.00
25 kilos	P399.00	P459.00
30 kilos	P999.00	P1,035.00
40 kilos	P1,199.00	P1,379.00

Now, if you did not buy prepaid baggage and you show up in the airport bringing bag that is must be for check-in, the lowest price you will pay is P800 for up to 15 kilos!

If the bag turns out to be 16 kilos, you will pay P800 + P360 excess baggage fee for 1 kilo. Yep. Expensive.

Air Asia Philippine domestic flights charges P360 per kilo of excess baggage.

So, yes friends, it’s best to buy prepaid baggage during booking your AirAsia tickets to save money, unless you know with all your heart that the 7 kilos free cabin bag is all you need.

In case you need to talk with a customer rep of Air Asia contact the call center in the Philippines at this number (02) 722 2742.

Additional Baggage Tips

For all 3 airlines, can you pool your baggage allowance? Yes, you can as long you and your companions are under one ticket itinerary or what the airline calls ‘one record locater” and you appear in the check-in counter at the same time.

Maximum weight limit per bag is 32 kilos.

Baggage Protect or insurance is optional. You can purchase this when you add or upgrade your prepaid baggage allowance.

In general, in cases wherein the airlines cancel your flight for whatever reason, the baggage purchased for the confirmed flight will be transferred to your new flight schedule. However, if it is the passenger who will cancel the ticket on his or her own will, no baggage fee refunds will be given.

No show for your flights automatically forfeits your baggage fee. No refunds.

The airlines baggage rate for international flights differs per sector.

Sports equipment also has different rates, more expensive than personal baggage. It is best to contact your chosen airline to ask about baggage fees for destinations abroad or for specific sports gear or equipment.

You have until 4 hours before you are set to fly to add or upgrade baggage. Buy as early as you can.

Share this post to friends and family! Happy travels!