Free Seats Up for Grabs! Thank You Air Asia!

This is an annual event for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based Air Asia. Enjoy free seats to all Air Asia destinations in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia and of course the Philippines. This seat sale starts NOW!

To enjoy this promo all you have to pay is the Administration Fee. As far as the routes Clark-Kuala Lumpur-Clark and Clark-Kota Kinabalu-Clark are concerned they will just amount to 1,000+ pesos. Meanwhile, destinations originating from Kuala Lumpur to Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia or Vietnam will range from 1,000 pesos to 4,000 pesos roundtrip. If you have an Australian visa then this is the cheapest airline in the world going to Perth, Brisbane or Melbourne from the Philippines.

This is an impulse buying thing because it is too good to resist that you don't have the luxury to think if you will fall prey to this seat sale but the beauty behind this seat sale is that you will have all the time in the world to plan for your chosen trip as you have at least 6 months to spend for planning your itinerary and budgeting for your chosen trip.

Just book! Plan later!

Thank You Air Asia! No More Reason Not to Go on a Holiday

Air Asia claims to be the first airline in the world to do away with fuel surcharge. And to make everything more special to the riding public they are offering 500,000 FREE seats in the sense that you will just need to pay for an "Adminstrative Charge" and "Airport Taxes."

This is a very sweet deal as a roundtrip ticket to Kuala Lumpur from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga will only set you back 1,100 pesos ($25) all-in. It is good to know that Air Asia offers a wide variety of destinations so if you love the beach you can go to Phuket or Bali. If you love old cities you can go to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat or Yogyakarta, Indonesia to see the Borubodur temple. If you love nature I highly recommend going to Vietnam to see Halong Bay or the breathtaking rock formations in Guilin, China.

You can go to any destinations in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Brunei, Laos etc. via Kuala Lumpur starting June 2009 for a total of less than 5,000 pesos all-in. That's a steal in itself! Less than 5,000 bucks for 4 plane rides to your destination beyond Kuala Lumpur. Me and my friends purchased tickets to Kuala Lumpur and Phuket for less than 4,000 pesos all-in. Book ASAP as the seat sale will run up to November 16 only.

1 Million Free Seats vs. 35,000 Free Seats

It's good to know that Kuala Lumpur-based Air Asia is now again offering 1Million FREE Seats to all its destinations starting this day up to August 31. As what the name of the promotion suggests, you just need to pay for the administrative taxes and fuel surcharge. I am just not ecstatic with the travel dates being offered as you need to wait at least another 8 months before you can travel starting April 1, 2009. But for those who want to plan their vacation this early it would be acceptable. Kuala Lumpur can be a great stopover city when you plan to go to Phuket, Bali, Cambodia or Hanoi (all connecting through Air Asia of course) as there are no direct flights going there from Manila. I availed of this same kind of sale with Air Asia for my Clark-KL-Clark trip a little over two years ago when a roundtrip ticket then just set me back 2,239 pesos all-in (that's the cheapest airfare I got and to think that it is a 3.5-hour flight... during that time my roundtrip fare to Iloilo or Cebu would be more than 3,000 pesos). The roundtrip fare this time if you would like to travel from April 1 to July 31, 2009 is just 3,665 pesos which consists of just taxes and fuel surcharges.

So now, to give justice to my blog post title above... I just want to compare how our very own low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific measly but proudly advertise their ZERO fare sale even if they are just allocating 35,000 seats as compared with 1Million seats with Air Asia. I would be happier if they offer 100,000 seats instead of 35,000 like what they are doing before. I have friends going to Bangkok and Shanghai this November and they are having difficulty in finding ZERO fare seats. How can you expect to find a flight with that scracely 35,000 seats for travel from Sept. 16 to Dec. 17, 2008.

According to wikipedia, Air Asia operates a total of 50 aircraft as compared with Cebu Pacific with only 20 (As of today). So my point is, ideally Cebu Pacific can never really have a 1Million Free Seat Sale with their 20 aircraft just to keep up with its Malaysian counterpart. A ZERO Fare international seat sale of 200,000 or even just 100,000 would be very acceptable but not just 35,000. Cebu Pacific... I know you can do better.

Budget Airlines... A Fun & Cheeeeap Way to Travel

The budget airline industry (a.k.a. low cost carriers, no-frills airlines and discount airlines) here in the Philippines is still in its infancy stage with Cebu Pacific (CEB) (www.cebupaficair.com) setting the pace for all other airlines. The business model of most budget airlines including CEB is patterned after its U.S. counterparts like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines.

If your only concern is to get to point B from point A in a prompt manner in just a fraction of a cost compared with their full-service counterparts then budget airlines are for you.

Most budget airlines offer seat sales regularly. For CEB, bargain hunters should always log-on at its web site every Monday as it is the day seat sales usually starts. I once took advantage of the FREE seat sale of Air Asia (www.airasia.com) with flights leaving from Clark Field to Kuala Lumpur for only 3,300 pesos for a roundtrip ticket last year. Air Asia advertised it as a FREE seat sale so the 3,000 bucks I paid all went to the Malaysian and Philippine governments as taxes. One drawback of booking during a seat sale is that your travel date would have to be at least in a month's time.

They are called budget airlines because their operating cost structure is lower than their full-service competitors. In layman's term they are airlines with low ticket prices and limited services regardless of their operating costs. CEB and its counterparts enjoy a lower operating costs because of many factors which include a single passenger class, a single type of aircraft which may reduce its servicing costs, use of electronic ticket and the elimination of in-flight services like complimentary food and drinks. Most budget airlines offers a food and beverage option which passengers will have to pay.

One disadvantage of flying CEB on international flights like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok is that all of those flights are considered red-eye flights as you would leave late in the evening and arrive in your destination before sunrise. Budget airlines take advantage of red-eye flights as during these times landing fees and aircraft parking fees are lower. But the timings of CEB's flights to and from Hong Kong are great. One can leave Manila early morning to take advantage of the day activities and leave HK late at night.

For me, I don't mind traveling with budget airlines when I'm on a vacation because I value more the $avings that I get from them rather than having those bland and sometimes unpalatable airline food in a full-service airline. I can save more than 50% of the ticket price by taking a budget airline which can buy lots of souvenirs with the money I save... But when I'm on an official trip or someone would buy me a ticket, I don't mind traveling with a full-service airline. hehehe :)

happy travels to all!