Cheap Airfare to the Philippines

Jetsetter daw kami sabi nung isang kapitbahay namin nang makita kami last Holy Week. Sabagay, ten months ago lang nang huli kaming nandito ni TanTan sa Pilipinas. Tapos last March, nakita niya rin siguro sa Facebook na nagpunta kami sa Caifornia for a few days.

Pero syempre kapag sinabing "jetsetter," may connotation yan na sosyal. At ang layo namin sa pagiging sosyal noh! Haler, super mura lang kaya ng plane tickets na binibili namin palagi!

Here's how much we paid for our roundtrip Vancouver-Manila plane tickets this year:

That's just around Php53,000-56,000 for two pax, depende sa conversion.

Hindi na masama kasi naalala ko dati, sobrang mahal ng pamasahe sa America. Ang dami kong kamag-anak na taga-doon at talagang bihira silang makauwi ng Pinas noon dahil mabigat nga ang pamasahe. Ngayon dahil sa competition at proliferation ng budget airlines, affordable na ang airfare kahit paano.

This is actually our (Nathan and I) fourth time to go home in Pinas. Noong una (2015), Nathan was only 7 months old so we flew via Philippine Airlines (PAL) para direct flight na from Vancouver to Manila. We were still living in Edmonton then kaya we needed to fly pa to Vancouver. We paid a total of $2068.81 (around Php83,0000) for those flights. Take note, wala pang bayad si Nathan noon kasi baby pa siya. $319.50 lang ang charge sa kanya for taxes and other fees.

In short, ang mahal ng PAL! Kaya I told myself na di na ako uulit sa PAL kahit na mahirapan ako. Sayang kasi ang perang matitipid, panggastos na rin yun sa Pinas.

We were already living in Metro Vancouver sa pangalawang pagbabakasyon namin sa Pilipinas (2016). While looking for cheap flights, my husband learned na mas mura pala kung magdi-direct booking sa airline company mismo. Nasa Vancouver na kami kaya posible yun, hindi na kailangan ng "agency" na katulad ng CheapOAir. So yun, he booked us a flight on China Airlines for $1379.74 for two pax na.

For our third vacation (2018), sa EVA Air naman siya nakatagpo ng cheap flight. He paid $1445.40 para samin ni Nathan.

So yun, ang two cheapest airlines so far na nakita niya ay China Airlines at EVA Air. Both have layovers at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Halos pareho rin ang time ng flights nila.

For our latest flight, hubby asked me kung ano ang preferred airline ko sa dalawa. Sabi ko kahit ano, parehas lang naman kako, basta kung ano yung mas mura na lang.

China Airlines won this time. Cheapest na talaga sa ilang araw na pagbabantay ni Ford ng rates online. Nagfa-fluctuate ang  fare prices so medyo kailangan ng tiyaga sa pagbabantay at pagko-compare. Contrary to popular belief na kailangang matagal pa dapat ang flight sa pagbu-book para makamura, hindi naman talaga. Chambahan lang din kasi talaga ang pagbu-book. In our case, Ford bought our tickets less than two months lang before our trip.

That's our plane!

Ang drawback lang talaga ng cheap airlines ay ang layover. Pero two hours lang naman usually going to Manila (4 hours going to Vancouver) kaya hindi naman masyadong matagal ang ipag-aantay. So may additional 4 to 6 hours ka lang sa buong trip mo. Not bad given na sobrang laki ng matitipid mo.

Nathan in Taiwan

Recently, may promo daw ang PAL na $800+ lang for Vancouver-Manila roundtrip flights. We checked it out kung totoo. Olats, parang joke lang. the cheapest we found was $1200+ (we tried all the dates). At yan din ang complaint ng ibang Pinoys who were trying to book, nanloloko lang daw. Hay naku, never na nga akong aasa sa PAL tutal may China Airlines at EVA Air naman.

Overall, I was satisfied naman with our recent flight. The plane was new (Airbus A350-900) and the food was good. Naprioritize kami sa pagpasok sa loob (Vancouver to Taipei) dahil sa bata (but not in Taipei to Manila kasi less than 2 years old lang daw ang may priority). Hindi rin naman sila ganun kahigpit sa carry on bags (or else yari kasi andami naming dala at mabibigat pa). I was happy, too, kasi malapit na yung gate for our connecting flight, unlike dati na kailangan pang mag-train at maglakad ng malayo kasi nasa dulong-dulo ang gate.

Heavy Travelers!

We've had a very smooth flight and I have to give credit din to my well-behaved son. Imagine, 25 hours ang total trip namin (from our home in BC to our home in Marilao) pero hindi siya tinopak man lamang. Such a trooper, my boy! =)

Guarding our bags dutifully. He was such a great help to Mommy!

It's hard to travel with a small kid pero "pro" na nga yata kami in flying. Kaya I don't mind kahit hindi kami direct flight. =)