Cebu Pacific Labor Day Sale: Php 382

Price: 382 pesos

Destinations: All domestic destinations of Cebu Pacific Air

Selling period: now up to May 2, 2010

Travel period: September 1 to 30, 2010

Note: Quoted fares are one-way and are exclusive of government fees and taxes. Visit Cebu Pacific's website for more details about this seat sale.

Air Philippines Express Sale

The banner says it all . . .

PAL Midnight Special

A package of new low fares and other surprising promos will be unveiled over the weekend by Philippine Airlines (PAL) as part of its year-long "Soaring to 70s" anniversary celebration.

Dubbed as Midnight Special, the PAL promo is kept under wraps until the stroke of midnight of Saturday, April 24, at which time the new promos will be announced and made available exclusively at PAL's web site.

Late-night/early-morning Internet surfers can take advantage of the promos which will end at 6am of April 25, 2010

Payday Zale from Zest Air

The banner above says it all. Zest Air is offering a 3-day seat sale starting today for as low as Php888 inclusive of taxes. It's good to know that the travel period for this sale will start tomorrow and ends until the last day of this year.

Many of my friends are still hesitant to book tickets with this airline because of the two incidents in Caticlan, Aklan last year. Personally I won't use this airline going to Boracay because up to now Zest Air does not fly to Caticlan, instead they fly to Kalibo (1.5 hours from Caticlan by bus or van). For a review of Zest Air you can click THIS.

Cebu Pacific's 999 Domestic Seat Sale

The Philippines’s low-fare airline pioneer, Cebu Pacific (CEB) announces a Php999 "Go Lite" seat sale for all domestic destinations from April 7-8, 2010, for travel from June 1 to August 31, 2010.

The airline’s 33 domestic destinations include Boracay (Caticlan), Coron (Busuanga), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Iloilo, Bacolod, Laoag, Tacloban, Cebu, Davao, Pagadian and Cagayan de Oro.

Those with check-in luggage will just add P100 to ‘Go Lite’ fares upon booking.

European No Fly Zone for Philippines-based Airlines

I can't believe what I read in the newspapers that the European Union (EU) blocked all airlines based in the Philippines to fly in its member countries because of "serious safety deficiencies" as assessed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). I think that this is a more political issue rather than whether airplanes being operated by our local airlines are really on their brink of health. We might all agree that the problem is not with the airlines operating in this country but with the regulating body and the government.

Although there no Philippines-based airlines currently flying in any European destinations, given the current state of the industry, flag carrier Philippine Airlines is the only local airline which could anytime launch a flight in Europe if it so desire as its closest competitor does not have the type of aircraft that could make European flights viable and practical. In the defense of Philippine Airlines, its aircraft (comprising of more than 30 Airbus Industrie-made aircraft and a couple more Boeing types) are very well maintained by Lufthansa Technik Philippines. What do you know... Airbus and Lufthansa sounds European right? I am also very sure that Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and even Zest Air to that extent are all using newer aircraft compared with a number of airlines in the U.S. and Europe.

Philippine Airlines cited two events led to the inclusion of Philippine carriers in the European Union ban. The first one is the decision of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to downgrade the safety rating given to the Philippines and the other one is the safety alert issued by the ICAO against the local aviation safety regulators.

I hope this issue will be solved the soonest possible time because this is such a negative publicity for the local airline industry.

Christ the Lord Has Risen Today!

"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." --Psalm 118:24

To all my loyal readers: Happy Easter! This is the most important day for Christians so let us all celebrate.

Cebu Pacific Seat Sale: 70% off on ALL Destinations

It is very obvious that Cebu Pacific Air is teasing Philippine Airlines (PAL) with this domestic and international seat sale in line with PAL's celebration of its 70th anniversary in the business as Asia's first airline.

I am not jumping up and down with this promotion as you could notice that the travel period for this supposed 70% off seat sale is not until the first quarter of 2011. For example, a Manila-Cebu-Manila flight will set you back more or less Php900 while a Manila-Hong Kong-Manila flight will only cost less than Php 3,000... Oh come on CebuPac, you can do better than this!

HoliDeal Promo Fares -- Air Philippines

For last minute travels in time for the long Holy Week vacation you might want to check Air Philippines for tickets as low as Php 688++. I believe that air tickets for the Holy Week season are now cheaper than 10 years ago despite of the high fuel prices, well, that's the beauty of competition, it is such a good equalizer. I hope there will be more new airlines to come in the future for us to enjoy cheap fares.

Wherever your travels might bring you I hope that we all have a meaningful observance of lent. Happy travels!

Air Philippines: A New-Old Airline?

When you visit the web site of Air Philippines you will notice a front page banner similar to the image above. It seems that Air Philippines will follow the footsteps of Asian Spirit Airlines which became Zest Air without changing ownership. As you will notice the logo is now different and the web address will become airphilexpress.com.

Is this the same banana? I am not a fan of Air Philippines even a bit because I had a horrible experience with them last October 26, 2008 on my way to Iloilo to attend my cousin's wedding. Former Department of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales shared my nightmare together with a 100+ more passengers as we endure a 5-hour delay because they said that our aircraft is still undergoing some maintenance works. I am not surprised at all because the Boeing 737-200 aircraft being used by this airline is way much older than me. It's a good decision to finally replace those Jurassic-era aircraft with modern Airbus A320 planes.

I can't help to notice that the new logo is somewhat the same with another local airline. Is that an eagle's head? And the aircraft livery... I know I've seen this before. I can't wait to buy a ticket with Air Philippines to give them another chance now that they are rebranding their product.

SEAIR's 15th Anniversary Promo

Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR), the Philippines' premiere leisure airline, offers special anniversary promos in celebration of its 15th anniversary on March 25, 2010.

Travelers can avail of the special morning rates of as low as PhP 1,999.20 per way all-in for flights to and from Boracay before 7 a.m. The selling and travel period is from February 1, 2010 and onwards. SEAIR is also offering exclusive discounts for online bookings. Vacationers can get PhP 1,500.00 discount per way for all seats, flights and routes when they book via www.FlySeair.com. To avail of the promo, online users can type iloveseair15 in the promo code field when booking on March 14-25 for travel on June 15-Oct. 15.

This is SEAIR’s way of thanking travelers for their continued support. The airline has been serving key tourist destinations since 1995, most notably Boracay, and has the longest history of uninterrupted service to Boracay direct via Caticlan.

SEAIR now offers up to 27 flights per day to Boracay (Caticlan) and is now flying daily to the island paradise of Batanes. It also flies to El Nido, Palawan every Wednesday and Sunday, as well as Marinduque every Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

SEAIR is the nation's second-oldest airline and has flown almost 3 million passengers to local destinations including Tablas (Romblon), Cebu, Clark, Zamboanga, Jolo, and Tawi-tawi. SEAIR also offers the most routes from Caticlan with flights from Caticlan to Manila v.v., Caticlan to Clark v.v and Caticlan to Cebu v.v.

To avail of the SEAIR 15th anniversary promos call SEAIR Reservations at (632)8490100 or book online.

How to Pack a Balikbayan Box

I saw a very ingenious product called Balikbayan Box Cover being offered by Balikbayan Gear for those who have a ton of things to pack as pasalubong, personal effects or when just moving out to a new house. Because my grandfather will celebrate his 88th birthday on Valentines Day many of our relatives in the U.S. went home to attend the celebration. I always help them unpack when they arrive to get my pasalubongs and help them again to pack when they go back to the U.S. so I consider myself a semi-professional "packer."

For me, packing is an art as there are more than a 100 ways to pack your things and not have the skill to do it efficiently. I am not a packing guru so I want to share these tips to have a stress-free as featured in the website of Balikbayan Gear.

1. Pack the heavy items on the bottom first. This includes your canned goods, books or other flat paper products that can serve as a strong base for the rest of your cargo.

2. Wrap the breakables with your clothes or any other soft material that can take the impact off those perfume bottles or souvenir plates from Europe.

3. Stuff all empty containers with other items. If you are taking a bowl home, make sure you put something inside it to save precious space.

4. Save room for those last-minute requests from relatives. Of course, there's always space for friends' requests.

5. Save room for those impulse purchases you will going to make at the airport -- that extra box of chocolate or another bottle of Johnnie Walker.

6. Use Zip Lock plastic bags for bottles of liquid products like shampoo, lotion and cologne. High altitude pressure tends to make them explode.

7. Use double-walled boxes. They cost more, but they provide better protection from the steel-toed boots of baggage handlers.

8. Bring an extra friend at the airport. In case your box is overweight, you can unpack the non-essentials and give them to this person to take home.

9. Get someone to help you weigh your box. You probably cannot read a scale while carrying a big box.

10. With the Balikbayan Box Cover, there is no need to worry about your box being overweight at the check-in counter. If the weight reading at the airport is a few pounds over, all you have to do is unzip your cover and hand-carry those extra cans of corned beef.

Spend Over $30,000.00 for Valentine's Day

Are you willing to spend 1.4 million pesos (US$30,400) for Valentine's Day? If your answer is yes, then you might want to give a try the "Suite Valentine Affair" package being offered by Manila Hotel which will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2012. Here are the inclusions:

Overnight stay at the MacArthur Suite, Room décor with flowers and pralines, Limousine service within Metro Manila, Express check-in/out, 24 hours butler services, Special Treatment Package (Detoxification Package) for 2 (two) persons, “A night under the stars” special romantic dinner at the roof deck of the Manila Hotel, Jewelmer's one matinee-length strand necklace composed of multi-colored baroque Palawan South Sea pearls for the lady in the room, flowing champagne, Special room service breakfast, internet access & Free mini-bar.

If you are not a CEO of a multi-billion peso company here in the Philippines or a hacienda heiress then you might want to try the other packages that are more economical.

PACKAGE 1: “LOVE LETTER”

RATE: PHP 7,995.00 NET

AVAILABILITY: February 12-14, 2010

PACKAGE 2: “LOVE SONG”

RATE: PHP 8,995 .00 NET

AVAILABILITY: February 12-14, 2010

PACKAGE 3: “LOVE POEM”

RATE: PHP 9,995.00 NET

AVAILABILITY: February 12-14, 2010

PACKAGE 4: “LOVE STORY”

RATE: PHP 19,995.00 NET

AVAILABILITY: February 13-14, 2010

NOTE: photos taken from the hotel's official web site

Cebu Pacific: This is Not a Review

my first Cebu Pacific paper ticket

Many of my friends and readers who stumbled upon this blog already asked me different questions about the country's largest budget airline Cebu Pacific. So here are my thoughts about this airline which I first had the chance to ride going to Iloilo with my family when it is barely a household name in the summer of 1996. Cebu Pacific has its good points and bad points so I am not in any way endorsing or discouraging you to become one of its loyal passenger.

look at the date of this ticket... April 3, 1996

• I am very happy that they retired those Jurassic era DC-9 aircraft and replaced them with brand new Airbus and ATR so the safety concerns of most air travelers are not an issue to me. They are claiming to have the youngest fleet here in the Philippines so you can just relax and enjoy the flight when you ride Cebu Pacific.

• Ticket price WITHOUT a seat sale: If the ticket price is the deciding factor for your airline choice in travelling to a local destination then I strongly encourage everyone who are planning to book a Cebu Pacific flight thru its web site to check first the web sites of Philippine Airlines or Zest Air. In my experience, sometimes Cebu Pacific is even pricier than two airlines. Although I used Cebu Pacific countless of times already I would always prefer Philippine Airlines over it specially if the price difference is insignificant.

• Ticket price WITH a seat sale: Cebu Pacific is famous for their ubiquitous PISO fare and other seat sale which comes in catchy name. PISO fare seat sale is always a day to expect as the price of its domestic and international flights are most often cheaper than riding a taxi from Quezon City to my home in Las Pinas. Some seat sale are not worth it. If it would cost me more than 1,000 pesos for a one-way local trip then I would not make a fuss out of it.

• As for the service, some flights I did enjoy and some were very forgettable. I had my share of 1, 2, 3 and even 8 hour-delayed flights not because of force majeur so I once avoided this airline for that reason alone. For the past months Cebu Pacific did improve their on-time performance as published in its web site so I congratulate them for that achievement. As for Philippine Airlines (PAL), they are advertising in their web site that they have a more than 90% on-time record for their domestic and international flights. I 100% believe that as for the past several flights I had with PAL I didn't experienced even a 1 minute delay. And also, don't expect any complimentary refreshments because it is a budget airline although during the late 1990s they are serving canned soda and junk food made by Universal Robina Corp.

• I just wish that airline would revise the schedule of some of its international flights (Bangkok, Jakarta, Saigon etc.) because most people don't enjoy taking a red-eye flight. Arriving in your destination past midnight can be stressful as you are tired with the things you did for the whole day then you will endure a flight when you supposed to be sound asleep in your comfortable bed.

Ready, Jet Set, Go!

Travel expos are here again. Next in line is the 2010 edition of the Travel Tour Expo of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association.

According to PTAA's web site, the event features two new segments – lifestyle (which will cover travel accessories, health and wellness products and services, culinary schools, car rentals and the like) and food sellers with lounge areas.

Date:

19 to 21 February 2010

Venue:

SMX Convention Center Halls 2, 3 & 4,

Seashell Drive, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City

Opening Hours:

19 February - Friday

11 AM - 9 PM

20 February - Saturday

10 AM - 9 PM

21 February - Sunday

10 AM - 6 PM

Ticket booths close 30 minutes before end of show hours

For more information about this event visit http://tte.ptaa.org.ph/

My First Published Article

front cover of the 3rd issue of Manila Skies magazine

Spirit of Manila Airlines is a new budget airline currently operating at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport that serves the following destinations as of January 2010 according to wikipedia: Bahrain, Kuwait, Macau and Taiwan.

Its official inflight magazine is called Manila Skies. An associate editor of Manila Skies contacted me if I want to contribute an article for the 3rd issue of their magazine. It would be my first time writing an article for a publication so accepted the offer in a jiffy. You may click THIS to read the full article I wrote about the Damnoen Saduak floating market near Bangkok, Thailand.

None of my friends knew about this airline and I can't blame them because I never saw even a newspaper advertisement. I just hope that Spirit of Manila Airlines would prosper just like the leading national budget carrier Cebu Pacific.

MD-83 aircraft with Spirit of Manila livery

photograph taken from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_Of_Manila_Airlines_MD-83.jpg

Philippine Airlines 777 Seat Sale

Boeing 777-300ER

Last 2 days for the 777 seat sale of Philippine Airlines in line with the delivery of its second Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

If you are planning to go on a holiday from February 1 to March 15, 2010 then you just need Php777 for a single journey trip to any destination in Luzon or Visayas (from Manila) and Php1,777 for destinations in Mindanao. These fares include taxes but exclusive of Aviation Security Fee.

The seat sale ends tomorrow January 25. For more information about this seat sale please click HERE.

There are still available seats as of 11:44PM of January 23, I just bought a roundtrip ticket to Iloilo next month to attend my grandfather's 88th birthday celebration.

photograph taken from http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/q2/070605f_pr.html

I'm Alive!

It's been months since my last post, no I am not dead, I just took a time off from blogging. Now I realized that I am ready to blog again. I'll try my best to inform you all again about travel promos, news and pretty much anything that has something to do about travel.

I decided to disable my "chat box" in my Blogger panel and I encourage anyone who would like to tell me anything to please leave your thoughts in the comment section of every blog post. It seems that many stumbled upon this blog when searching about airlines like Cebu Pacific, Zest Air and Philippine Airlines. I am really sorry if I can't answer your queries about the ticket prices in a particular destination on a particular date as I am also depending on the online booking facility of airlines for my trips. Ticket prices may change anytime so I have no way to guarantee you a particular amount on a particular date for different destinations. The best way for you to find out is to go to the official web site of the airline of your choice or call a travel agent whose telephone numbers you can find in the Yellow Pages. If there are promos/seat sale from airlines which I may find worth informing you as my reader then I will definitely blog it.

For my regular visitors I will try my best to visit your blogs and leave a comment so you will know that I am still alive, hehehe :)

My Lakbayan Grade

My Lakbayan grade is A-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Those which are shaded in light and dark blue on the map above are the places where I have been to for the past 20+ years of my existence. It seems a lot but I still need to cover many grounds of our 70+ provinces. I have visited all of the provinces in Visayas region as it is the smallest region of our country and it helped a lot that my father is from Region 6. My Northern Luzon trips were courtesy by our visit to my mom's hometown in Cagayan Valley and we also have relatives in the Ilocos Region.

Despite of my blood ties in Luzon and Visayas it is odd to reveal that my favorite region here in the Philippines is Mindanao... Yes, I am a Mindanao lover!... I learned to love it because I discovered that the perception of a war haven Mindanao is not true at all. There is a presence of terrorism activities in some parts of the region but it is unfair to brand the whole of Mindanao as a haven of lawlessness and terrorists. I would love to explore more of that very beautiful region and meet more friendly people in my upcoming trips.

P.S. I have a secret... Don't tell my mother I have been to Basilan :)

Looking for a Hotel/Resort?

Aside from saving big bucks for booking that airline seat because of a seat sale you can also save substantial amount when you book your hotel to your intended destination. Whenever I plan to go out of town or even out of the country I always make it a point to visit Asiatravel.com to find good bargains on hotels or resorts. I also visit other hotel booking sites to compare prices but I always end up booking with Asiatravel.

I already used their services to book a hotel for my trips for more or less 20 instances already so I must say that Asiatravel is my favorite hotel booking website. I haven't solicited nor received any monetary favors from Asiatravel so I am not being biased with the other hotel providers. I chose Asiatravel more often because after comparing the price of my preferred hotel/resort from different providers I found it that they offer the lowest price. On one instance I needed to change a booking because of an unforeseen event they even waived without hesitation the cancellation fee when I told them that I am a frequent client.

The choices of hotels and resorts in a given destination are varied which can satisfy any budget that you may require. Compared to other similar websites the choices are also extensive so you can be sure that your favorite hotel will be on offer. It also doesn't take a genius to navigate and book a hotel using the website's interface. The pricing format is also straightforward so the price that you see as being advertised is what you get.

P499 Seat Sale From Cebu Pacific

Many of my frequent readers visit this blog because they want to know if there is a seat sale/promotion from airlines to their favorite destinations here in the Philippines or even abroad. I will not disappoint you so here is another of my freshest catch:

Cebu Pacific, Asia’s third largest low-cost carrier, is offering seats for as low as PHP499 from Manila to established adventure destinations Naga (Cam Sur) and Kalibo (Boracay), as well as from Davao to Cagayan de Oro.

The PHP499 "Go Lite" fare also extends to flights from Manila to Tuguegarao, Catarman and Calbayog, and Cebu to Iloilo.

Passengers can avail of the one-way PHP499 Go Lite fare to all three adventure destinations. The seat sale is from July 17-19, 2009 and is valid for travel from August 16-September 30, 2009. Passengers with check-in baggage up to 15 kilos will just add P200.

P.S. Thank you very much for those who left their greetings in this blog's comment section in line with the 2nd anniversary of this Ar-wee-der-yet blog last June 18. I never thought that I would last this long because somtethings I am lazy updating this blog. Anyway, I will try my best to keep you all updated with travel news and issues.

I Have an Award

It's been nearly a month now since my last post in this blog. I am just busy with something so I haven't updated my blog lately nor visited by favorite blogs. I promise to all who left a comment in my blog to visit your site soon.

I also didn't realize that this blog turned 2 years old last June 18. Wow! It's been 2 years since I discovered the joys of blogging. Anyway, it is too late to even greet my blog a happy birthday. I am sorry that I am too bad with dates :)

I wrote this post to thank the people behind Tripbase.com for including my blog as one of the Top 20 finalist of the Travel Blog Awards 2009. I don't know the criteria or whoever nominated my blog so I just want to thank my visitors who found my blog informative and those who gave encouraging comments for my more than 200 posts.

I want to quote the award description which can be found at Tripbase.com: "The award for the best Philippines blog is an indication that the blogger is adept at being able to maintain their readership through a wide variety of skills including being able to convey their ideas and travel stories in a way that contains a great attention to detail and has the ability to be both informative and interesting to others, thus making it a vital source of information for those with a keen interest in the Philippines as well as those just passing by. The bloggers have been found to demonstrate that they can craft a fine blog in terms of content, both written and visual and can combine them in such a way so as to produce the award-winning blogs that you see before you here. These bloggers have ably captured the essence of the Philippines and have distilled it into their blogs in a way which makes them deserving of the best Philippines blog award."