Advice on flights from UK

[lilbasuk]

I have travelled from the UK to Manila twice using KLM and both times I paid roughly the same amount round about £900. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about how to get a cheaper flight but possibly still flying with KLM.

Does it work out cheaper if u book a flight closer to your flying date rather than booking it up to months in advance? I want to fly around the 14th of July and travel back around the 8th of August. Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[stevie c]

I just booked two tickets to Clark a/c flying with Cathay price £655pp departing Heathrow April 26th

[andy222]

So you come from the 'Black Country'. So i presume you fly from Birmingham? I always go on the skyscanner website courtesy of forum members on here. KLM are a bit expensive. The cheaper version is China Southern. I think they are part of the Skyteam network just like KLM.

[lilbasuk]

Sorry, I'm not very clued up lol :doh what is Clark a/c? I just searched tiicket prices with Cathay and they are around the £900 price mark as well

[lilbasuk]

Skyscanner? Cheers mate, I will check it out! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[stevie c]

sorry im not very clued up lol :doh what is clark a/c? i just searched tiicket prices with cathay and they are around the 900 price mark aswell

Don't book direct with Cathay. I booked with Crystal Travel & got these prices yesterday. Their number is 0800 3680300

[stevie c]

Clark Airport, Angeles City, Pampanga :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[lilbasuk]

Don't book direct with Cathay. I booked with Crystal Travel & got these prices yesterday. Their number is 0800 3680300

Ok mate, so it works out cheaper if u don't book direct? I'll give it a go :airline:

[hawk]

I went direct to Cathay - £644 Manchester/Heathrow/Hong Kong/Clark - cheaper than going with travel agent. I went for 2 and a half months

[stevie c]

Hawk, I phoned Cathay direct & was quoted £900. I then phoned Crystal the next day & was quoted £655

[Terpe]

I have travelled from the UK to Manila twice using KLM and both times I paid roughly the same amount round about £900. I was wondering if anyone had any advice about how to get a cheaper flight but possibly still flying with KLM.

Does it work out cheaper if u book a flight closer to your flying date rather than booking it up months in advance? I want to fly around the 14th of July and travel back around the 8th of August. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers :xxgrinning--00xx3:

There's a huge amount of really good info here about how to find the best flights for you.
Sometimes cheap is not cheap and not best, it depends on what you want.
Make a search, look at the options and decide what's best for you.
The flight prices and airline choices vary almost daily. You must take some time to realise you goal.
Direct or agent doesn't matter.

[lilbasuk]

Thanks for your help lads, I suppose the best thing for me to do is just shop around for a while and try and get the best deal

[Terpe]

Thanks for your help lads, I suppose the best thing for me to do is just shop around for a while and try and get the best deal

Yes, it depends on what you consider to be the best deal.

Price is not an indicator of best deal.

[imagine]

thanks for yr help lads, i supose the best thing for me to do is just shop around for a while and try and get the best deal

Stick to known sites, there has recently been known scam site.

[jake]

Since 2012 KLM stopped direct flights from Europe to Manila due to the tax.

Find it surprising there are no direct flights as the filipino population in Europe is growing in numbers. Am guessing it has something to do with business class travellers.

If one of the major airlines buys the new airbus 380 'all cattle class' planes direct flights from Europe may start again.

[stevewool]

Lots of great advice, but start at Skyscanner, then you have a price to work on. Remember, some cheap flights have such a long time waiting for the connection flight. Also move your days, you will be amazed at what you can save plus check other airports too - that could be another few hundred pounds in savings. It all helps

[andy222]

I have noticed cathay is cropping up a lot lads but I guess the op is flying from birmingham and cathay does not operate from this airport. No offense intended but I suppose it would help if the ops would say where they want to travel from.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

£900 is far too much to be paying for an Economy class ticket to the Phils.

Aim for the £600 mark. :smile:

[andy222]

£600? Depends on where you fly from and what time of the year you intend to go.

[lovejoy]

Try dial a flight we always used them everytime we travel... Hope it helps.

[Michael Parnham]

Hi Lilbasuk, try STA Birmingham tel, 08717029804, very reliable been around many years, also competitive, this is the High St branch, they are also in Birmingham Uni. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[grahamw48]

£600? Depends on where you fly from and what time of the year you intend to go.

That's why I said 'aim for'.

[joebloggs]

ok mate, so it works out cheaper if u dont book direct, il give it a go :airline:

It can be cheaper to book direct with the airline, it all depends on when you're going (don't go in the school hols its the most expensive time then), the airline might have special offer on and you can search for the cheapest dates

I booked 4 tickets this time last year with Singapore Airlines for around £530 each.

[joebloggs]

Just a quick check on Singapore Airlines:

You can travel on Sunday 26th of May from Manchester to Manila and return on Tuesday 11th June for £662.40!

[lilbasuk]

Thank u everyone for the input. :xxgrinning--00xx3: I have lots to consider and lots of useful info to look into. Ideally, I would like a cheaper flight but on the other hand I wouldn't like to compromise on the flight time too much. I feel about 20 hours is long enough to be sitting on planes and in airports lol! Obviously my ideal departure airport would be Birmingham, but I would consider other airports if it still proved cost effective. I'm going to be travelling around the 14th of July and coming back around 8th of August. Thanks again everyone for your input :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Pete/London]

We went last year with Cathay from London and booked direct, if you go on their site you can play around with departure dates and times to give a better price. It was just a few quid more then travel agents but felt more confident with booking direct.

By the way I think Cathay must have one of the fastest routes to P.I. , although last year I had a few problems with both the outward and homeward journeys, very unusual for Cathay who are our 1st preference followed by Singapore.

[stevewool]

Last time, we too used Cathay from London to Hong Kong, then onwards to Manila, but what was good for us is we had a week stop over in Hong Kong for the same price, £555 each and we flew out Dec and came back Jan, a brilliant price and holiday too :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[andy222]

I looked at flights from London and Manchester, but being as my 1st choice is Birmingham, the cost of travelling to these airports was just not worth it in the end.

[bigtilly]

I came across this site a couple of weeks ago. Don't know if it is any good or not but must be worth a look. It has a "calendar of lowest fairs" option which I like very much. http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Good hunting.

Bill

[irishman12]

£900 is far too much to be paying for an Economy class ticket to the Phils.

Aim for the £600 mark. :smile:

I dont believe it :woohoo:

[junior02]

£900 is way too much! I booked 4 seats for October me wife and 2 kids £1740. It is on Kuwait but when you've got kids it's an expensive game.

So I will go on any airline, Cathay are ok, but for service I like Malaysian and Asiana, even if their connecting flights are a bit longer than Cathay..

[SimonH]

Try searching on Kayak as well as Skyscanner, just be careful though, the more you look the higher the price becomes. So do all your searching on one computer, then book from another and you should get nearer your original best price. I'm off on Wednesday with Emirates and when I first looked my flight was about 3K but when I came to book it went up 50% :yikes: booked from my office computer and it was back to the original price :Erm:

[Pete/London]

Try searching on Kayak as well as Skyscanner, just be careful though, the more you look the higher the price becomes. So do all your searching on one computer, then book from another and you should get nearer your original best price. I'm off on Wednesday with Emirates and when I first looked my flight was about 3K but when I came to book it went up 50% :yikes: booked from my office computer and it was back to the original price :Erm:
That`s a good tip, the same thing happens when looking for car insurance. Another way around is to get rid of the cookies on your computer.

[stevewool]

All great advice, if you are happy with the price book it, yes it may be cheaper a few days later but it could be a lot more too,never pay more then £650 and thats for the best dates and times to suit yourself, no hours spent on transfers but a very quick way to your place and dont forget its coming back to england that is a pain so make sure thats a quick flight too

[Crystal Travel]

Advertising removed until further notice

[imagine]

Any extra discounts for this forum? :biggrin:

[raynaputi]

Advertising removed until further notice

If you want to advertise your travel deals, read this thread Advertising on FilipinoUK (http://filipinaroses.com/showthread.php/37174-Advertising-on-FilipinoUK?p=361284#post361284) for the advertisement options in the forum.

ADVERTISING YOUR BUSINESS IN FILIPINOUK IS NOT ALLOWED UNLESS YOU WOULD PAY THE CORRESPONDING FEES.

[tiger31]

The reason your tickets are expensive is because you,re flying smack in the middle of holiday season where demand is higher and they can sell the seats at a higher price no problem. Try to fly out of season and you can get tickets for around £500 quite easily

[tiger31]

For trips to Cebu, you cannot beat Cathay for the shortest layover hour and a half. That,s the way I,m going from now on. Even if the price is slightly higher, there is nothing worse than hanging around an airport waiting for your next flight.

[Iani]

I know I'm stating the absolute bleeping obvious, but in the rush (:Erm: ) to book a ticket, someone MIGHT overlook this.............

When you look on such as skyscanner, you can filter for cheapest, but the very cheapest often have ridiculous layovers. Always look for the total travel time, aim for about 19/20 hours as a guide, this means just a few hours wait for the transfer.

Unless of course you like having a 40 hour wait at Abu Dhabi to save £25 :xxgrinning--00xx3: Mind you for that I'd book a hotel in the city and have a mini break (Have never done, camels don't appeal to me, but you know)

[ishtam]

Hi there ... I'm traveling out in December - unfortunately the most expensive time! If anyone knows of somewhere I can get a cheap ticket, I would be very grateful ...


:smile:

[Steve.r]

Southall Travel always good prices for me

[sars_notd_virus]

We recently used Budget Air :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[SimonH]

http://www.kayak.co.uk/


http://www.skyscanner.net/


http://www.bravofly.com/vg1/flights.do



Then check you seat plan on http://www.seatguru.com/

[SimonH]

Oh, one more thing...............


ALWAYS, ALWAYS pay at least the deposit on a credit card...........NEVER by bank transfer


Also do a search on the agent you book through, a £10 saving could be your biggest ever nightmare if anything were to go wrong.

[aprilmaejon]

For trips to Cebu, you cannot beat Cathay for the shortest layover hour and a half. That,s the way I,m going from now on. Even if the price is slightly higher, there is nothing worse than hanging around an airport waiting for your next flight.

:xxgrinning--00xx3: I agree with you tiger! We used Cathay Pacific on our recent holiday to Philippines last April, 2 hours of stop over but never had the time to wait for our next flight in the airport as we were transferred directly to the connecting flight when we arrived to Hongkong. Boarding just after arriving! 12 hours from Heathrow-Hongkong, then 2 and half hours form Hongkong-Cebu. £645 each of us considering it was an Easter season. We booked the flight 6 months before though.

I remembered flying with Qatar airlines going to England, it was ever so long journey...almost 24 hours I think plus not to mention the 8-hour stopover at the airport.