Airfare ouch!

During the past years there have been plenty problems for passengers. It all started with the pandemic.

When people say that it's better to book direct with the airline, they probably mean that you remove a layer between the airline and yourself.  This is of immense value if there is a problem.

About a month ago I booked two premium economy class tickets from LAX to Cebu. Total price was approximately $4500. Of course that’s from Los Angeles to Cebu, you were coming from Southwest Florida to I assume Manila. I almost always book through EVA air. Maybe if you book, your trips from Florida to Los Angeles separately you can find better deals. Plus also keep in mind the time of year you choose to travel may be considered a high time, therefore more expensive. Best of luck in your travels.

    Want to take the wife 6 weeks to visit family Apr-Jun.    Airfares ouch!  Looking at paying for one person almost what we paid for 2 people five years ago.   I have tried every site on the net,  I did notice Matrix air seems to be gone. Looking at paying in the $3800 range for 2.  Not only are these high fares but they are loooooong flights from SW FL.  40 hours transit time caused by long layover's, use to be under 30 hours, to get under 30 need to spend over $5K for 2.
Have driven to Tampa, or Fort lauderdale in the past to save hundreds of dollars but not this time, a bit cheaper but not cheap enough to rent a car and  drive from FT Myers.   Also noticing online a lot of people are saying not to book with usual sites like Kayak and such, but directly with the airline.  I have not found the airline sites to be cheaper or quicker.   

So have the online ticket sites become an issue while I was not paying attention??   

-@Prince James My kids and us always use Google Flights for booking and you may find the results MUCH to your liking.  For example , keeping your trip in mind I did a Google flights search on FLL-NAIA RT lv April 20 Return June 5 (6 weeks). Sorry for the format from copy-paste but you see you can take EVA air/Alaska 25 hours for $1326 round trip! Stay away from those other places, just use Google Flights. Check it out for sure, somebody is quoting you way too high!

5:45 AM –

6:50 PM

EVA Air, Alaska

25 hr 5 min

MNL–FLL

2 stops

TPE, LAX

1,200 kg CO2

+6% emissions

$1,356

round trip

6:45 PM –

6:50 PM+1

EVA Air, Alaska

36 hr 5 min

MNL–FLL

2 stops

TPE, LAX

1,172 kg CO2

Avg emissions

$1,356

round trip

6:45 PM –

6:03 AM+1

EVA Air, Alaska

23 hr 18 min

MNL–FLL

2 stops

TPE, SEA

933 kg CO2

-18% emissions

$1,561

round trip

5:45 AM –

4:48 PM

EVA Air, United

23 hr 3 min

MNL–FLL

2 stops

TPE, SFO

1,221 kg CO2

+8% emissions

$2,781

round trip

         We found the cheapest way to get back to New York from Singapore was Saudi Arabian Airlines, includes an 8 hour layover in SA, about 20 hours flight time, cost is $559 each, landing at JFK the day before Easter.  We are taking a cruise which ends in Singapore, was cheaper to stay the night in Singapore and fly out the next day.  The nonstop 18 hour flight from Singapore to Newark on Singapore Airlines was about $1,100 each.

Perhaps you should point out Mugteck that Saudi Airlines is great if you are a teetotaller or a member of AA

           I don't really like the idea of spending my money on anything Saudi, doing it because it is cheap and convenient.  Their human rights record, especially for females is terrible.  Your expat id photo would be banned.

Lol. That's Dika my Indonesian GF. Ex Garuda air stewardess. Made her an in-flight offer she couldn't refuse.

The good news is there is a new start up airline planned for the Kingdom - Riyadh Air with its base in the capital. They have ordered 72 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners with options for more. Initially planned as a regional carrier but no doubt will be tempted by the East - West long haul market. Tony Douglas ex CEO of Etihad has taken the top job and will be a force to be reckoned with. More competition should dampen those fair increases we have been seeing.

No doubt there will be an alcohol exemption given the way Saudi's opening up is going.

Sadly Jamal Khashoggi will not be around to see it.

Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated. I see I overlooked saying  I am flying directly into Cebu and will pay a premium to stay away from Manila.  Every time I am in Manila I end up in arguments and disagreement's.  I am too old for that now. 

@Prince James

It's not about the online sites tickets, but it has everything to do with if you have any issues at all (delays, cancelations) it is a nightmare to get customer service.  I ran into this about 4 years ago with Expedia.  I ONLY book direct through airlines now... Not worth the possible headaches.

One airline has a short duration flight out of Tampa or Fort Lauderdale but I cannot buy tickets online from Ft Myers.   So am trying to get hold of online sales to see if they will give me something out of Ft Myers.   They fly Jet Blue from to JFK.   Will let you know how I make out.  I do not care which airline I use I will be miserable after hours of travel. 

@Prince James Of course that price is outrageous. I have always used Google flights. I don't book with Google flights. I always fly Delta. The flight is 22 to 24 hours. After finding prices around 12 to $1,300 round trip, I call Delta and tell them I'd like a better deal than that. They will search until they can find nearby dates and flights that are within their normal accommodation of 22 to 24 hours. I have never flown longer than that or had long layovers. And two people round trip should be $2,600 or less.

    Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated. I see I overlooked saying  I am flying directly into Cebu and will pay a premium to stay away from Manila.  Every time I am in Manila I end up in arguments and disagreement's.  I am too old for that now.          -@Prince James

That will definitely drive the price up, and yes, airfare is considerably higher than prepandemic.

I just deal with Manila for a couple hours and fly PAL. Last time (early Dec)  the switch from T1 to T2 wasn't bad and they put me on an earlier flight. To do that I pulled my bag off in MNL instead of doing the horrible transfer routine, and re-checked it to Cebu at the check-in counter. No charge, nice service.

You might be able to book an inexpensive flight to LAX (or SFO), then separately take the long flight (14 hours) to Cebu on one of the Asian airlines (through TPE, HKG or ICN). Make sure you allow a decent window between flights (best is an overnight) because if there is a problem on the first carrier they owe you nothing for the 2nd flight if it is on a different airline.

DO NOT do this through a booking service.. do it yourself after researching flights on Google Flights, as others said. The booking sites (intermediaries) become a nightmare once there is a problem or delays, which are very common now. If you need a refund or miss a flight due to delay,  they will fight you. Always book direct with the airline.

Because I do not like those long 14 hour flights from the West Coast to Cebu, I fly to Honolulu on Delta (FF miles) or Hawaiian AL, spend an enjoyable night or two, then take the 11AM PAL flight to MNL, then on to Cebu a couple hours later (single booking).

@pnwcyclist

Valid points and observations. When I was going through NAIA recently I noticed that for some bizarre reason Philippine Airlines is now using the old (albeit partially refurbished) T1 terminal for its long haul flights.

The newer ( but now showing its age) T2 had its short haul and long haul buildings linked together. You could walk between the two.

Why PA have split the terminals I guess is down to Filipino operational logic -  another reason to ditch Philippine Airline international flights into NAIA that involve a domestic connection?

Most of the original T1 international airlines have been moved to T3 with two of the biggest domestic and international players, Air Asia and Cebu Pacific under the same roof.

Tip: best kept secret for overnighting passengers using T3 is ’Runway Manila’ which connects T3 with the Belmont hotel across the highway. No security queues. No waiting for taxi cabs😉

@Prince James Skyscanner is the best comparison site I've found. I did a random search based on what you said and it comes out at $2,550 returns for both of you. That's Miami to Manila in April/May with Philippines Airlines and Jet Blue. Flights average out at 22 hours 46 mins.

Have a look mate!

@tammas2000

Agreed. just to add a rider to the above. Skyscanner do not take commissions. Its by far the ’google’ of online flight search engines.

I would never book with a travel agency. If there is a problem with the flight you are much better off if you booked directly with the airline. I do use discount booking sites to find the cheapest flights then I go to the airline and book it directly.

I flew from Manila to Charleston, WV this past December 5 and the one way ticket was $811. I used Cheapoair to find the lowest priced ticket with the shortest layovers and found a United flight that was right for me so I booked it directly with United for the same price.

I had a 2 hour layover in San Francisco which is enough to clear immigration, collect my bags and drop them off again. There was a 3 hour layover in Chicago then direct to Charleston. Had any of the flights been delayed causing me to miss my connecting flight United would say to contact the travel agency I booked with.

@Moon Dog

Skyscanner is not strictly an ’aggregator’’ like booking.com. It’s an online portal which gives you comprehensive data on just about every flight permutation possible from A to B.

It will offer the book with the airline direct option as well as the booking sites. Non partisan and transparent.

    @Moon Dog
Skyscanner is not strictly an ’aggregator’’ like booking.com. It’s an online portal which gives you comprehensive data on just about every flight permutation possible from A to B.
It will offer the book with the airline direct option as well as the booking sites. Non partisan and transparent.
   

    -@Lotus Eater

Try Google Flights. They are neutral and find great deals. Probably similar to scyscanner or whatever but it is probably unlikely to go bankrupt. They have no reason to scam you because they must (say they) live by corporate policies with ethics. Check them out.

My work was all travel. I cashed it over a million miles when I retired. Got a lot of good stuff, like this laptop I'm typing on. If you book through a travel agency and there is a problem like a delayed flight causing you to miss your connecting flight you are better off if you booked the airline directly.

    My work was all travel. I cashed it over a million miles when I retired. Got a lot of good stuff, like this laptop I'm typing on. If you book through a travel agency and there is a problem like a delayed flight causing you to miss your connecting flight you are better off if you booked the airline directly.
   

    -@Moon Dog

Agreed, I worked for IBM and then Lenovo China after Lenovo purchased IBMs PC unit. Yes, many travel miles. In both companies there was an association with travel agents where we did our initial booking. Very convenient.If something went wrong, we would book directly with the airlines on location using our company issued AMEX and the company would absorb any travel agent fees but usually none if we were not at fault.

I have going to Asia occasionally for 20 years.  I have used a travel agent once after finding a flight on Matrix air. I have only booked with a airline one time that I remember.   Things surly have changed Matrix is gone and most are saying book directly with the airline!

I was looking at booking with Delta  FT Myers to LAX and spending the night or two but Delta website will not tell me how much baggage is for economy.    I am a bit older now  75 and takes me days to recover from the travel.   

Thanks for all the input greatly appreciated. 

James I have been in the Philippines for two years now. Still pretty new but travel is the hardest part. I was divorced in Charlotte County Florida in January of 2001. It took me until February of 2002 to arrive here. I'm 75 in February and have been back to the U.S. one time for health reasons. I keep my Medicare but am also looking into local insurance.

Flights. I have been ripped off several times by using the internet to book. I still think it's the best/cheapest way but not particularly safe. If you find a booking agent that is close to your internet cost I would use it. I've had to travel from my brother's house in Idaho and that often meant going through LA. I despise that airport. However you probably won't have that problem. You will end up on the west coast for the second leg of your journey, try to avoid LA. There will be a long flight from there to Asia. I found Korea most friendly and heard that Japan and Taiwan are also good. Hong Kong was a bit too Chinese for me. Don't hesitate to take a hotel of you can get a few hours between flights. The trip is gruesome.

You'll fly into Manila and there are nice hotels near the airport for under $50.00.  Most are okay. Taxies are ok but if you can download Grab it's a better service for getting around.

Where will you go?

Good luck, stay in touch if you like.

    James I have been in the Philippines for two years now. Still pretty new but travel is the hardest part. I was divorced in Charlotte County Florida in January of 2001. It took me until February of 2002 to arrive here. I'm 75 in February and have been back to the U.S. one time for health reasons. I keep my Medicare but am also looking into local insurance.
Flights. I have been ripped off several times by using the internet to book. I still think it's the best/cheapest way but not particularly safe. If you find a booking agent that is close to your internet cost I would use it. I've had to travel from my brother's house in Idaho and that often meant going through LA. I despise that airport. However you probably won't have that problem. You will end up on the west coast for the second leg of your journey, try to avoid LA. There will be a long flight from there to Asia. I found Korea most friendly and heard that Japan and Taiwan are also good. Hong Kong was a bit too Chinese for me. Don't hesitate to take a hotel of you can get a few hours between flights. The trip is gruesome.
You'll fly into Manila and there are nice hotels near the airport for under $50.00.  Most are okay. Taxies are ok but if you can download Grab it's a better service for getting around.
Where will you go?
Good luck, stay in touch if you like.
   

    -@ktjl5855

Hong Kong is a beautiful, modern airport. "Too Chinese" may be a forgivable trait given that it is located within and is a part of China.

Howdy,

I am originally from upstate NY, traveled in Asia since 1980. I found after all the business trips, having to self-book, etc, using a travel agent is the best for me. To have someone cover my back is ok with me. and for them to book you a hotel or "rest" place along the way is a good idea if you need or want that.

I live in HK with my filipina wife and we go to the Philippines a few times per year - we have a house in the Cauayan district.

For the HK airport, it's probably the best in the world as far as technically how it works. But I understand what you say about the Chinese feeling. A few years ago, before Covid HK was receiving up to 65million plus Chinese tourists per year. It really sucked. Numbers aren't that high now, but is still pretty much crowding the streets.

You will end up on the west coast for the second leg of your journey, try to avoid LA. There will be a long flight from there to Asia. I found Korea most friendly and heard that Japan and Taiwan are also good.    -@ktjl5855

That's why I go from AZ through Honolulu. Only 6 hours to HNL, spend a night.  The flight from there to Manila is only 9-10 hrs, vs 14 flying from LA to one of the Asian cities, then another 4 to Cebu. I can't do 14 hours unless it's Bus Class and I can't do $5K so that's out..

Plus you can get some rest with an overnight in HNL and the PAL flight bound for Manila doesn't leave until 11AM. It gets in around 4-5pm in Manila and I am usually on the 6:30pm flight to Cebu, getting in around 8PM. I agree - the travel is grueling, and this route is the most comfortable way for me to get here.

     

Hong Kong is a beautiful, modern airport. "Too Chinese" may be a forgivable trait given that it is located within and is a part of China.
   

    -@danfinn

              Always found Hong Kong very crowded and very efficient.  Flew Cathay Pacific from Newark to Hong Kong, hung out for a couple hours early morning, and then a 100 minute flight into Manila.

             Once we were disembarking from a cruise and another cruise ship was also ending there.   There were hundreds of people in line waiting for taxis, but in 30 minutes we had a ride, all very organized and swift. Not as many people speak English, can be frustrating sometimes trying to find an internet cafe.

@mugteck can be frustrating sometimes trying to find an internet cafe.

Difficult here finding internet cafe's as well. The only ones we have are near the University's. There are now so many good data promos, 4G and even 5G is available everywhere and most smart phones are easily made into personal hotspots so maybe less Internet cafe access is not so bad anymore; not sure.

         The one in Vigan we used shut down during the pandemic.   I like to print out my hotel reservations, plane tickets  etc.  This year I had everything scheduled through March and printed it all out at the Bethlehem public library back in October at $.20 a page.  Going forward I will have to explore other sources.  It used to be mostly kids playing games.

         In Hong Kong I did ever widening circles from the hotel until I found an internet cafe.  It was late Sunday morning, and no surprise at all that four of the six computers were being used by Filipinas calling home on their day off.  Took the business cards from the cafe back to the hotel and explained to the desk what it was and what I was looking for.  They thanked me with blank looks on their faces.

@mugteck  Ask your hotel nicely and they will print your boarding pass no problem.

     You will end up on the west coast for the second leg of your journey, try to avoid LA. There will be a long flight from there to Asia. I found Korea most friendly and heard that Japan and Taiwan are also good.    -@ktjl5855That's why I go from AZ through Honolulu. Only 6 hours to HNL, spend a night.  The flight from there to Manila is only 9-10 hrs, vs 14 flying from LA to one of the Asian cities, then another 4 to Cebu. I can't do 14 hours unless it's Bus Class and I can't do $5K so that's out.. Plus you can get some rest with an overnight in HNL and the PAL flight bound for Manila doesn't leave until 11AM. It gets in around 4-5pm in Manila and I am usually on the 6:30pm flight to Cebu, getting in around 8PM. I agree - the travel is grueling, and this route is the most comfortable way for me to get here.        -@pnwcyclist

I’m surprised more Americans based on or near the west coast don’t take this option. Excellent timings on the outward leg. The layover in HNL allows you to stretch out in the prone position overnight and also mitigates the effects of jetlag. Civilised departure time of 11am means you can have breakfast at the airport hotel before checking in for the flight. Daylight arrival time in Manila but (as mentioned in previous post) shame about the terminal transfer arrangement.

My neighbours are flying into NAIA in July to visit their house in Dauin, Dumaguete, (I might go with them but on a different airline.) Flying Saudi with a 2 hour changeover in NAIA before the Cebu Pacific flight (T3) into Dumaguete. I pointed out to Julian that Saudi is the one Arabian Gulf airline that does not fly into T3 (itsT1) - ouch thats gonna be tight and because its a different airline the connection is not ‘protected’.

Unfortunately the only US airline that makes the latest 2023 Skytrax (London based) world airline top 20 league table is Delta at number 20. Is this the airline you use from LAX PNW? Philippine Airlines comes in at 80 ( Note for those of you travelling to Indonesia - Garuda the national airline comes top in the ‘Best Cabin Crew’ category. I can vouch for that

Flew Philippine Airlines from CDO to Cebu City in November. Stuck in the check-in queue for an hour as the CRS had gone down. It was a De Havilland Dash 8 prop but even though it was a relatively short flight they did serve a free snack

Can’t wait for in-flight wifi that enables full streaming services from your phone. Perhaps the new ‘starlink’ satellite system once completed by our friend Mr Musk will make this a viable option for the airlines. This will certainly alleviate the long haul experience by being able to choose a decent movie and your favourite internet radio station.

On that HNL layover, it used to be they kept you in a room and could not get into the general airport area because you had already exited immigration on the mainland. PAL had that layover and we hated it, being all cooped up in that room. Maybe they have changed that policy? We stopped using PAL for many reasons; I wouldn't say the HNL layover was a major cause but it doesn't help.

@danfinn

I used the term layover when perhaps I should have used the term stopover. In airline parlance the term 'layover' relates to either a refuelling stop or changeover of aircraft without exiting airport immigration. My guess is that PNW was alluding to a stopover meaning you leave the airport .i.e exit immigration and check in to a local hotel - please excuse the pedantry.

Of course some airports have airside hotels but are somwhat limited in their facilities. Never been to Honolulu but perhaps PNW can elaborate.

Still working on this, one of the cheaper fares is Asap tickets. Nothing but complaints,  I know many are bound to complain but theirs are really excessive.  Looked at a Delta flight to the West coast and no where is the baggage fare listed for economy.

Remember no way no how do I go to MNL. 

Taking a flight to Taipei from Ft Myers and spending the night and I see no hotels that offer airport shuttle?

    Still working on this, one of the cheaper fares is Asap tickets. Nothing but complaints,  I know many are bound to complain but theirs are really excessive.  Looked at a Delta flight to the West coast and no where is the baggage fare listed for economy.
Remember no way no how do I go to MNL. 

Taking a flight to Taipei from Ft Myers and spending the night and I see no hotels that offer airport shuttle?
   

    -@Prince James

Check on booking.com and select the airport shuttle in the options. Plenty on the site for Taipei airport but I am not sure if you meant the shuttle from Ft Myers or Taipei. Then when you find a hotel that offers a shuttle service you can check on the hotels website or other booking websites to see if you can get a cheaper price.

Thanks,  so they do have airport shuttle I tried on 2 different sites to select air port shuttle and did not show. I'll figure it out! 

I'm not from the east coast. I have always flown out of San Francisco or LA. But I haven't always lived real close to them.

SOMETIMES, it's best to check the flights out of those two airports. Find the one you like. Then check for cheapo tickets to get to said airport. It's a good little trick that can save tons of money over booking the entire trip through one carrier and their affiliate airlines.

I looked today at SFO-MNL in mid-late April. ANA has seats for $900 round trip. Interestingly, I couldn't figure out why, but PREMIUM Economy was $6000.00 plus! While Business class was $4500 or so. WTH?

EVA had economy for $11xx.00 And I don't recall what Premium Economy was. Maybe $2300? I can't recall.

flight prices are also based on the day of travel. So that is why there may be a price diff between premium econ and business. That has happened to me several times. But for the past several years I've been in Coach as the price difference is too great.

We have a house in Cauayan and go a few times per year, but we live full time in HK. So most of our traveling is out of HK.

I used to travel all on Delta as they had the best prices and travel times between Hong Kong and upstate NY. But they stopped flying to Hong Kong cause of cost to them. I use a travel agent now and end up flying United mostly. Gave up delta. To do the same route, HK to Syracuse i have to fly local to Shanghai or to Seoul and the overall travel time is increased a lot. My normal HK to Syr trip is within 20 to 24hours. The longest leg is approx. 12 hours, between HK and USA.

Some of you like to book your own flights..............that's great if you can do that as I'm sure you can save dollars. But for me I am more concerned on getting a cancelled flight along the way so i use a travel agent. I want someone watching my back that can quickly reroute me or whatever. When we go from HK to Cauayan my wife books with Cebu as it's an easy trip. plus the fact that no travel agent can do a great job booking that flight. The only other air-carrier she has tried was Philippine Air and they have been notorious for being late......never on time going or coming.

Well to all, good luck on your flights. I wish it would get better, easier and cheaper, but doesn't look that way.

@Larry Fisher On our flight coming back to the Phils from USA and then Beijing, we handled our own last leg from Beijing with PAL. We arrived in Beijing late and the PAL flight to Manila had already departed, meaning we would have to reschedule. Because there was no agent linking the China Air flight with PAL, that made us a no-show at PAL check-in, where we forfeit the old tickets and are forced to buy new PAL tickets, costing us hundreds of dollars. Live and learn. Nice additional revenue stream for PAL.

@danfinn

Did you not have travel insurance? As long as you make reasonable arrangements to get to the airport and the missed flight is out of your control the insurance company will have to pony up.