Zest-Air... Yea, Right!

I received 2 GCs from Standard Chartered Bank last year. They had a promo where they require you to spend a certain amount on your credit card to qualify for FREE Round Trip Zest-Air Tickets to any domestic destination. So anyway, I qualified for two RT tickets. I realized I still had them when J asked me if she could use them to go home to Bohol.

So this morning, I called Zest-Air to inquire about the tickets I had. But apparently, they aren't free at all. You have to pay tax and fuel surcharge. Ok, I get it. It's like claiming reward mileage tickets... but then, here's the catch: they base the tax and fuel surcharge percentages on the highest available fare. And that means, even if the flights go for as low as P499 all-in, should you choose to use the GCs, you'd have to pay around P3,444+ per ticket!

So I tried giving away the GCs on Facebook. Yea, right. Who'd take them? At that rate, I'm sure I won't have takers. So much for "the promo." What a marketing ploy!

One of my schoolmates once took a pic of the in-flight magazine on Zest-Air where a sticker/violator announced that they were giving away return tickets to Zest-Air passengers... I'm sure it's the same deal. Ho-hum.