markrf
3/8/2017 14:52 EST
Hi guys, I am sure I sound very naïve about all this - that is because I have never done it before. Just trying to book a round trip flight to the phils from Minneapolis airport. Most flights have two stops, my dollar range is 1500-2000 USD. Any tips on what to look for and what to avoid? Thanks for any advice you can give.
Oh, my gf in manila is booking the hotel and a weekend in boracay for us. I'll refund her for the boracay reservations. I'm looking to spend 4/13-4/21 in the phils. Thanks, Mark
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siayan
3/8/2017 15:39 EST
Also on cheapo air. When I first tried to book it said they were full then I received an immediate phone call that it wasn't. I had already booked another flight, under $1000. They do a hard sell for extras, insurance etc.
This flight was out of Chicago.
American Airlines on the way out, blah. Asia Air on the way back, better.
There are some cheaper flights but I don't remember the names.
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racer1961
3/8/2017 17:30 EST
hi Mark,
Exoedia.com and Orbitz.com has a flight for just under $ 1,200 but has 2 stops (1 stop is very rare from where you are and only 1 showed up for $ 2,400) The one for $ 1,200 is with Cathay Pacific which is a good airline. as for tips -
I suggest you book with an airline based in Asia as opposed to one based in the U.S. - better service,
flight attendants are far more pleasant than the ones from the U.S. also, unless you need to get up often to hit the bathroom, pick a window seat but make sure it's one that reclines all the way, the
ones just in front of exit aisles don't recline fully. brings some snacks, a good pair of headphones and wear loose clothing and shoes you can easily kick off and put back on. it gets cold on the airplane so bring a sweatshirt, maybe even a second one you can roll up and use as a pillow - you are in for a lonnnngg flight so you might as well try and get as comfy as possible. I also always bring hand sanitizer and you might as well know - most bathrooms (known as CR) in the Philippines do not have soap so I always bring my own. enjoy your trip Mark !!! have fun in the Philippines !
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tlallen59
3/8/2017 18:56 EST
fly.com OKC to Manila round trip, 2 stops 850.00 or less depending on when you search. Good advice racer.
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Spruik
3/8/2017 19:27 EST
>>>
I also always bring hand sanitizer
<<<
Only with any check-in luggage. Not allowed on board (unless it's enough for only a few handwashes...)
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Spruik
3/8/2017 19:29 EST
>>>
Oh, my gf in manila is booking the hotel and a weekend in boracay for us.
<<<
On my very first visit to China I had a identical arrangement.
You will have a good time.... LOL
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racer1961
3/9/2017 13:29 EST
well, I meant the ones that come in small containers (as long as it's under 3 ounces) - but individually wrapped moist wipes works just as well. Comes in really handy many times over.
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markrf
3/10/2017 21:19 EST
Thanks racer, and everyone else for your advice. i ended up going with cathay pacific, 2 stops in chicago and hong kong. i bit on the insurance too, ha ha, they got me on that one. So how much luggage can you bring on board? I was thinking of just having 2 pieces of luggage, one check in and one on board. Are there any restrictions to what you can bring on the plane? Size, weight, etc...
thanks for any advice on this, mark
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jleo1
3/10/2017 22:10 EST
If you fly Economy Class on Cathay Pacific you're allowed 2 checked bags up to 23kg/50lbs each piece plus you are allowed a carry-on bag with the following weight and measurement limits...
7kg /15lbs
1 piece
Max height ( H ) 23cm / 9”
Max width ( W ) 36cm / 14”
Max length ( L ) 56cm / 22”
You are also allowed to carry on a personal item like a laptop bag or purse, etc..
It's all on their website...
https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/travel-information/baggage.html
Be sure to click the box where it says "See more about check-in baggage"
and then click on the box that says "On most flights (tickets initially issued on or after 15 September 2016)"
and then go down to click on "Flights to, from or via the Americas".
Enjoy your trip!
I'll be leaving 3/17 and arrive in Cebu just before midnight on the 18th. I'll be visiting for my birthday on the 19th and attending my gf's daughter's college graduation. I'll come back to Indiana on April 6th and I'll have no more vacation time until next year. :o(
I'm in Indiana, an hour north of Indy. I like to fly Korean Airlines out of O'hare. I like the airport in Seoul, Korea. They have free showers there and my layovers aren't to bad... only 2 or 3 hours which goes faster than you think.
I flew Eva Airlines once and had a short layover to catch another of their own flights and those sap suckers got us to Taipei late and they wouldn't hold their own plane for us. On that trip I was only going to be in Cebu for only 4 days to start with so to keep from losing one of those days I had them fly me to Manila and then waited there for 4 hours to get a flight on to Cebu. Eva Air's crap ended up causing me a lot of stress and costing me about 7 hours out of my 4 day visit. I'll never do a layover less than 2 - 3 hours again.
I have flown on Cathay a couple of times and I don't remember any problems.
One more thing I'll mention is that several of the airlines have gotten sneaky in their methods of making more money. They have taken the seats in Economy which used to all be the same price and they now charge extra for the exit seats, bulkhead seats and seats where you don't have to ask someone to move so you can get up. Korean doesn't do this mess but they do block out those seats and you have to ask for them if you check in at the counter early enough. The extra legroom is nice on a 14 or 15 hour flight!
This will be my 10th trip in 15 months. Maybe I'm crazy... ya think?
Safe travels!!!
jleo1
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jleo1
3/10/2017 22:38 EST
Oh, hey mark, I did remember something and I hope you have some decent layover time or some slop in your schedule. What I just recalled was that one of the times I flew with Cathay, I went to Manila last June. Here's what it was supposed to look like...
Manila-Chicago Travel Time: 17h 15m
Cathay Pacific Airways
Flight 912
Terminal 3
8:30am Fri. Jun 17 Manila (MNL)
10:45am Fri. Jun 17 Hong Kong (HKG)
Aircraft: A330-300 – Economy
1h 10m layover in Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific Airways
Flight 806
Terminal 1
11:55am Fri. Jun 17 Hong Kong (HKG)
1:55pm Fri. Jun 17 Chicago, IL (ORD)
Aircraft: 777-300ER – Economy
We took off a little late from Manila due to technical difficulty. They got us to Hong Kong to late to catch the next leg to Chicago. They wound up sending a handful of us to San Francisco on another airline and then put us on another Cathay flight from San Fran to Chicago. We got into Chicago 9 hours later than we were supposed to. For me that meant that I had to call into work and burn an extra vacation day.
See what I mean about short layovers?
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charkee
3/10/2017 23:20 EST
I'm from northern California and was delighted that I found a direct flight from San Francisco to Manila. 14 hours. No layovers or airplane switching. Simple and elegant, but I wish I could get comfortable enough to sleep.
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GaryD
3/11/2017 04:48 EST
Just a warning about check-in luggage on US flights. If you need an internal flight once arriving in Manila. The internal flight is the luggage restriction not the US flight.
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dodger501
3/11/2017 10:54 EST
I am taking my 4th trip at the end of April, also flying out of MSP. I booked through Expedia the previous 3 times, it was ok, the price was right, etc. But you get what you pay for - narrow seats in the cattle car section and loooong layovers.
Shorter trips and comfortable seats have value to me so I will pay more. This coming trip is Delta all the way. 1.5 hours layover each in Portland and Tokyo. 19 hours total. $1,900 including taxes, fees.
Looking forward to it!
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jleo1
3/11/2017 21:39 EST
Yes Gary,
You are absolutely correct, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're talking about if you get a flight that only lands you one place in, say, Manila and then you want to go to, say, Cebu from there, the local airlines will screw you for more than 1 smaller bag.
You need to have your final destination all figured in when you buy your ticket.
When I went to CDO one time, I had to switch planes in Manila but I didn't have to pay extra as my initial ticket purchase included all of my luggage.
I also got around that the time that Eva air screwed up getting me from Taipei to Cebu. Because it was their screw up, they had to eat the cost of my luggage from Manila to Cebu.
We had a family reunion last June 2016 in Boracay. People all flew into Manila where the majority of the family lived. When we went to fly over to Boracay, boy, they sure gigged the hell out of some of us who brought big bags... mostly the girls from Texas! There were 11 of us with bags open on the floor trying to meet the required weight limits. It was hot as hell. Finally, the ones from Texas just said screw it and paid a lot of extra pesos!
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markrf
3/11/2017 21:53 EST
Thanks so much for all the detailed information. Really appreciate the time you took to answer my questions. I have luggage that I believe meets the requirements, but i'll double check to make sure.
10 trips in fifteen months. wow, you must not mind flying at all. that's an inspiration for me. i hate flying and i'm tall and big so never feel quite comfortable. well its worth it tho to be with my sweetie.
Thanks again, and safe travels to you too. Mark
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racer1961
3/13/2017 10:27 EST
hi Mark,
One other thing, make sure you arrange for an airport pickup ahead of time though I imagine your GF
has already done so !
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jleo1
3/15/2017 20:43 EST
Good one racer!!!
Also Mark... I assume you already have your parking at MSP figured out, right? I always fly out of Chicago and I always park away from O'hare and shuttle into the the airport. It's much cheaper. I just Google cheap O'hare airport parking and find the best deal.
I'll be leaving for Cebu the day after tomorrow. Yippee!!!!
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markrf
3/15/2017 21:35 EST
I hope you have an awesome time in cebu!
actually i hadn't figured my parking out. i was going to leave my vehicle home and cab there and back. I'm about 20 minutes away from airport
think i should shuttle?
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jleo1
3/16/2017 01:53 EST
I don't know your situation Mark. If you're that close and it's cheap enough to get a taxi then maybe that's best for you depending on the timing of your flights and availability of cabs or uber or whatever.
I personally have a 3 to 4 hour drive to O'hare and it would cost a fortune to leave my car at the airport (I think you can spend up to about $50 a day) plus it would just be a pain for me to park there and haul bags and all that crap. I park a few miles away at a parking lot for only $5.50 to $7.00 a day. They throw my bags in the back of a shuttle bus and I tell them which airline I'm flying on and they drop me right at the terminal door . I give the guy a few bucks tip. When I return, I just call them and they pick me up.
I rented a condo in Cebu this time. It's the first time in ten trips that we will get up in the morning and cook our own breakfast together. It should be interesting. We have always eaten at the hotel or whatever resort we stay at. She loves that fried dried fish but she said she won't cook it in the condo as it will smell the place up terribly she says. I know I couldn't stand the burnt fish scale smell when her nieces fried fish at her mom's house in Manila on my first trip in Dec 2015. That was when I met her. It was nasty!
I just told her that sometime I wanted to be able to wake in the morning and see her and her daughter's normal routines throughout the day... to see how they live. I haven't been allowed to go to her house because we're in the middle of her annulment and we can't take a chance of anyone who knows her husband seeing us together.
Anyway, I'm excited for this trip!
Take care Mark
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Metalpipe
4/8/2017 10:56 EST
I am finding justfly.com to be the best place to find the best price for travel to the Phil.
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Spruik
4/8/2017 22:22 EST
AIRPORT PARKING
I live 80km from Melbourne Airport (said to be one of the most expensive parking in the world) and public transport to/from airport is unrealistic to impossible.
If booking long-term secure airport parking well in advance, it actually works out cheaper than the airport bus plus other buses. Also cheaper than other parking mobs nearby.
Last month I went away for 3 weeks, booked the parking for about one month (in case of return delays, and is same price for 3 weeks anyway).
Came to AUD 100 (USD70). Use your credit card to enter/exit carpark, everything automatic.
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