Tiger Airways

My birthday wish came true, all thanks to Tiger Airways. Flying to Singapore via Diosdado Macapagal Airport in Clark, the fare is absolutely, almost ridiculously cheap and people always ask,"What's the catch?".
A 2-way ticket to SG cost me SG$154.96 (that's only P5.5K). That's during their August promo rate, and booking is made through the internet. All you have to know is your passport number and a credit card number, and that's it. However, one needs to know some minor logistics.
1. How to get to Clark if you're not driving there: Philtranco has a booth outside Megamall A which is unmanned but has the daily pick-up schedule. I checked my schedule a day before my flight. My plane leaves at 7:35PM and the Philtranco has 3 schedules for a Tuesday flight, the last one leaves Pasay terminal at 3PM and is at Megamall by 3:30 PM. This is just in front of Megamall, along the side of the parking beside Podium. By 3:30 PM a queue has formed. I guess was asking too much when I hoped the bus would be there by 3:30 PM. It arrived 4PM.
2. Reservation of bus tickets: No need. Just be at Megamall, and you can pay inside the bus. There are no helpers inside the bus, you lift your own suitcase and the driver hauls it up. Then you take your seat, which brings me to the next point..
3. Don't bring a lot of baggage if you're travelling alone. The maximum load per person is at 15kg. There's not a lot of lugging around with your suitcase, though. The Clark airport terminal is actually very small, typical of a provincial terminal.
4. Bring at least P2200: 300 for the Philtranco bus ride (one way), P350 for the terminal fee and P1620 for the travel tax.
5. Megamall to Clark: It is just a 1.5 hour ride and you have more than an hour before boarding the plane. That is more than enough time, actually. (I had time to read my 110 unread email messages and respond to some, and text messages were sent).
6. The plane: It's an airbus 320, similar to PAL's domestic plane going to Aklan. 5 seats per row. It's your usual commercial plane except for the following:
a. Seats are smaller
b. No pillow, headset, barf bag, in-flight magazine, newspaper, welcome drink or food, no kumot, no TV or radio
c. Light meals are offerred on board like chicken sandwiches (SG$5-7), instant noodles ($2), wine, orange juice ($5), Coke or 7-Up, Toblerone ($2) etc. They also offer Duty Free items like wine, perfume, liquor, jewelries, the usual stuff.
7. Food: Food is not allowed on the plane. It used to be allowed but Pinoys bring Chickenjoy, well...that was the end of it. There is a small cafeteria inside the Clark terminal and they sell Coke products, mineral water, sandwiches and around 4 SKUs of URC chips.
8. The flight: I don't know if it was the guy beside me, the vegetarian Napster on my left, or the fire-resistant kumot I miss but it wasn't as comfortable as my PAL economy flights. The weather was really awful too so we all felt the turbulence. At one point my left temple was cringing in pain, it was the pressure. However, that was not as bad as the 22-seater, turbo-propelled plane I took on my way to Palawan. But that one wasn't bad either- I counted 39 islands and a rainbow (but again, that's another blog).
So, as for my rating, on a scale of 1-5, I'd like to quote Lester-"8 stars", because a personal greeting is always better for that someone special, even if that someone special was late in picking me up. Thanks Tiger Airways, for making travel junkies like me afford a trip to another foreign land. My goal is only to reach one new place each year, thanks to you, I'll be able to visit Malaysia next time.