who to Book a flight to Philippines with?

mondeo

Anyone been to the Philippines give me abit of advice on who to book a flight with? Looking to head over end of November or early December for a 2 week holiday. Never been to Asia generally and need a reliable source to book a return flight.



Thanks

adrian522

Just do a search on skyscanner, KLM fly that route anyway.

willabur

I have been to the Philippines, picked up a cheap flight from KL with CebuPacific. You will probably want something that will connect you the whole way through if so then follow the advice of the previous poster and go with SkyScanners. Just beware that they might require you to switch airports - something they are not great at making clear sometimes

mondeo

willabur wrote: »

I have been to the Philippines, picked up a cheap flight from KL with CebuPacific. You will probably want something that will connect you the whole way through if so then follow the advice of the previous poster and go with SkyScanners. Just beware that they might require you to switch airports - something they are not great at making clear sometimes

Did you have to switch airports yourself during your trip? That would be such a pain if I had to go around looking for another airport in the middle of hong Kong with no clue where the next airport is. I'll check out sky scanners and see.

I want to try avoid as much bull as possible on this trip.

willabur

not on that specific trip - but I know for a fact that sky scanners have a flight from montreal to dublin which connects in new york. They give you 2.5 hours to get from LaGuardia to JFK which are 8 miles apart - you have to transfer your own luggage also.

Just double check the details before you book it. Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur all have connections to Manilla afaik

mondeo

willabur wrote: »

not on that specific trip - but I know for a fact that sky scanners have a flight from montreal to dublin which connects in new york. They give you 2.5 hours to get from LaGuardia to JFK which are 8 miles apart - you have to transfer your own luggage also.

Just double check the details before you book it. Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur all have connections to Manilla afaik

Dublin to cebu is the route I'd prefer instead of Dublin to manila. I'll check it out. Thanks for the info.

Stinicker

I myself was in the Philippines in July and I flew across from Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi with Cebu Pacific.

I booked a Multi-city ticket with Etihad Dublin-Bangkok and Manila-Dublin on the homeward leg. The Etihad flights cost €712 in the post Christmas sale.

My flight from Bangkok to Clark cost €70.00 one-way with Cebu Pacific whom have now stopped flying the route.

The Philippines is an interesting place and I gave 2 weeks there myself this summer but it is very third world compared with Thailand.

The Philippines is 17 hours flying so it is a long trek and generally involves one to two stop-overs to get there. Etihad or Emirates via Dublin or you can get very good deals with Malaysian airlines who do an interline with Aer Lingus from Cork and Dublin to Kuala Lumpur via Heathrow and onwards to Manila from KL then. It is probably the best way to do the trip as you spend around 13hours flying Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur by Airbus A380 after the hop over from Ireland and then a shorter 3.5hr flight to Manila.

jamo2oo9

Have you thought of flying with Virgin Atlantic? They fly direct to Manila from Heathrow and you could take a cheap flight down to Cebu.

Keithchap

I'll echo an above reply, just go to sky scanner or orbitz etc, they'll give you a list and you can select based on flight, duration and price, whatever suits your situation.

I flew KLM via Schiphol, made the second leg nice and long, short hop to Schipol then 14 hours to Manila, preferred not to have to switch terminals etc half way there.

Keithchap

As an aside, why go to the Philippines? Nice weather and some beautiful islands but the food is horrible and the transport infrastructure is a disaster, it can take days to get from one island to another, not much in the way of culture either, not many temples, attractions(few on main island), I went for a month and didn't really like it that much, have traveled a fair bit around Asia, 2 weeks is also not long enough to fly that far, takes a few days to recover from the flight, 3 weeks minimum I think. If I was you I would go to Thailand, amazing country, fantastic food, extremely easy to move around, lots to do, much closer and cheaper than the Philippines too. 10 days in Thailand and stop off in Hong Kong on the way home though maybe that's too much travel for 2 weeks. Only thing the Philippines has over Thailand is better diving, but that can be found in Thailand if you're willing to do a liveaboard.

Stinicker

Also bear in mind that when you depart the Philippines there is a 550 peso (€10) terminal fee which is not included in your airfare and this must be paid at the airport otherwise you can't fly, I paid it by Credit Card at Manilla.

Similarly there is a terminal fee also on internal domestic flights and I paid 150peso (€3) when I flew from Clark to Cebu and 200peso (€4) when I flew from Cebu to Manila. They don't tell you this when you book your flights and I was quite annoyed having to payout these additional amounts each time before I flew there, as I never knew this until they demanded it at the airport. Cebu Pacific now integrate the terminal fee into flights originating in Cebu however I had booked before this started and had to pay this year.
http://www.cebupacificair.com/pages/pressreleases.aspx?pid=855

This has a good list of terminal fees in the verious airports here
http://www.thelostboylloyd.com/2013/08/terminal-fees-philippines-airports-2013.html

Another option which I forgot to mention in my previous post was that Philippine Airlines will also fly non-stop from Heathrow to Manila starting next month and this would be another good routing option offering lower flying time compared to the Etihad, Emirates or Malaysian airlines options.

Manila Airport is an absolute kip and it like being stuck in a time warp from the early seventies. I got stuck there when my Etihad flight was delayed for 7 hours this year and it was a nightmare, I ended up sitting on the floor for several hours due to to the lack of seating as I gave my seat to an elderly lady who was clearly struggling.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056993256

Also bear in mind that Manila Airport is consistently ranked as the worlds worst for the last number of years and Terminal 1 is a big a dump-hole as you'd find anywhere.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/88117/naia-1-still-the-worlds-worst-terminal-according-to-website
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/10/16/13/naia-1-again-worlds-worst-airport

I must stress that the country is severely impoverished and it is a 3rd world country, expect corruption also. Most people live on less than €4 a day and it dirty, smelly, polluted, completely over-crowded and over-populated and crime is never far away if you don't be streetwise or take precautions. The ordinary filipino people despite their desperate situation are very warm and friendly and for me it was a definite eye-opener in terms of global inequality and the sort of problems facing the third world.

Keithchap

Stinicker wrote: »

I must stress that the country is severely impoverished and it is a 3rd world country, expect corruption also. Most people live on less than €4 a day and it dirty, smelly, polluted, completely over-crowded and over-populated and crime is never far away if you don't be streetwise or take precautions. The ordinary filipino people despite their desperate situation are very warm and friendly and for me it was a definite eye-opener in terms of global inequality and the sort of problems facing the third world.

+1 on all of the above

I had witnessed poverty like that before but my wife hadn't, she was pretty shocked, makes you realise how lucky we are, most Irish people have no idea what poverty is. That's why you see so many Migrant Filipinos, nurses/Nannies etc, over here and all around Asia, they are all out to try and make money so they can send it home, they have extended families at home depending on them, they are encouraged to go for that reason.

Stinicker

Keithchap wrote: »

As an aside, why go to the Philippines? Nice weather and some beautiful islands but the food is horrible .......

I couldn't agree more, it is the worst sort of garbage you could ask for, basically I resorted to KFC, Jollibee and McDonalds slap junk and by the end of the trip I even had a break-out of acne from the sort of oily, fried sugar junk that passes as food in their country.

For such a poor country they are surprisingly fat and chubby and this is down to the diet which is appalling. Their entire country is still reeling from the effects of American colonization and filipino culture represents the worst sort of americanisms going, the american influence is omnipresent and it represents the worst of these excesses. Fanatical Religious Fundamentalism, massive inequality, corruption at all levels, extremely westernised and it is just the worst sort of a crony capitalist society, coupled with mass exploitation and over-population it has multiple problems.

Prostitution and sexual exploitation is another huge problem there also and while there is red-light areas similar to what you'd find in the more notorious parts of Thailand you can see a large problem of exploitation and people trafficking; by comparison to Thailand where there is an almost happy financial symposis between elderly sexpat and prostitute wheras in the Philippines there is a definte problem of sex trafficking and women being forced into prostitution. It seems more of an almost accepted career in Thailand for women where it is sympathized with under Thai Buddhist values; however in the Philippines you can see that this is not the case and the old adage of the happy hooker does not apply to Filipinos sucked into this seedy and misfortunate position.

It is also a very Catholic country and to sum up the Philippines I compared it quite similarly with DeValera's 1930's Ireland, ridiculously corrupt, huge family sizes, bad infrastructure, a power vacuum and a people desperate to escape their country. For a country which is highly westernized in terms of culture and speaks English quite comprehensively I was surprised to find the situation it is in compared to Thailand, Taiwan or Mainland China.

mondeo

The reason I'm going to the Philippines is to see a friend of mine who use to work in ireland, she is a filipina and want to spend abit of time with her there.

Does anyone know how much it would cost me to rent a small apartment for the two weeks I'm going for? Unfortunately she lives with two other girls who she despises so I can't stay at her place which is a pitty as it would have been a nice cost cutter.

Stinicker

mondeo wrote: »

The reason I'm going to the Philippines is to see a friend of mine who use to work in ireland, she is a filipina and want to spend abit of time with her there.

Does anyone know how much it would cost me to rent a small apartment for the two weeks I'm going for? Unfortunately she lives with two other girls who she despises so I can't stay at her place which is a pitty as it would have been a nice cost cutter.

What city are you going to? Hotels in the Phils rather surprisingly can be expensive compared to the likes of Thailand.

mondeo

Stinicker wrote: »

What city are you going to? Hotels in the Phils rather surprisingly can be expensive compared to the likes of Thailand.

cebu city, I have no clue about accommodation costs at all.

Keithchap

I only passed through Cebu so cannot help you there I'm afraid. But seen as you are going to Cebu it would be crazy not to pop over to Malapascua island. The most stunning white sand beaches you will see anywhere in the world, the sand is so white and the water so clear you can see to the bottom in moonlight.

Good snorkeling right of the beach also.

Stinicker

mondeo wrote: »

cebu city, I have no clue about accommodation costs at all.

I stayed in the Castle Peak Hotel in Cebu for 5 nights this summer. I paid €28/night through agoda.com and it is a really nicely acquainted hotel with all western amenities and has a gym, spa and plunge pool on the roof on the 9th floor. The €28/night was room only and did not include breakfasts or meals. I stayed in the older wing of the hotel and the only difference is the furniture was older compared to the new wing and there was a CRT Tv instead of plasma.

It was a really good hotel and we situated, taxis outside the hotel were dirt cheap and getting to and from cebu airport was only a 20mins drive and cost something like €4 - €5.

You can spend more or less money but this figure was perfectly adequate for me.

cooker3

Stinicker wrote: »

What city are you going to? Hotels in the Phils rather surprisingly can be expensive compared to the likes of Thailand.

I found Philippines accom really cheap.

In general I thought it was an amazing country. I did my full 59 days there and happily could have doubled that at least. I didn't even go to the nicest island, by all accounts, Palawan.
I spent nearly 2 years in Asia as well and along with Cambodia and maybe Nepal I thought it was cheapest country I visited, definitiely cheaper than Thailand.