Random photo of an airplane just so this entry has a photo.

So how do I end up with these cheap fares? Here are some of the things that help me score tickets at rock-bottom prices:

Watch out for seat sales and airline promos
This is fairly easy, since you can sign up for each airline’s mailing list. Once you sign up, you’ll receive an e-mail alerting you about upcoming sales and promos (just make sure they don’t end up in your spam box!). If you’re wary about giving out your e-mail address, Twitter and Facebook are two alternatives, as airlines are now utilizing social media to promote their sales. If you prefer to stay updated via RSS, there are a number of blogs focused solely on posting about airlines promos. People flock to the airline website as soon as the sale start, and for the first few hours, the website will be incredibly slow and sometimes, you can’t access it at all. What you should do is to either stay up late or wake up early: the traffic eases up around 3am, and stays that way until about 6am.

Be mindful of your dates
We usually base our trip dates on our non-working holidays. For those working with a strict schedule, this is probably the only time they can get out of work. However, before you book those dates, check the holidays of your destination! If there’s a public holiday in your destination, airlines would most likely not give out sale fares for these dates. Of course, if you’re flying in for a specific holiday or festival, book your ticket as soon as you get the confirmed dates to get the best deals (book your accommodation as well, since rooms quickly fill up during festivals). If and when possible, travel on a weekday, when there are less people traveling.

Study the airline’s route map
When airlines announce their promos, they usually publish the fares to specific destinations. Unfortunately, flights in and out of Manila are limited. However, a number of budget airlines fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, where there are more flights to various cities within the Southeast Asia and beyond. Don’t be discouraged that XXXXXX Airlines only fly to 2 destinations from Manila — they could be flying to other more exotic destinations from their hub. You just need to find an alternative way of getting there

Round trip isn’t the only way
Round trip tickets are always cheaper than one-way tickets on regular airlines. However, low cost carriers give you more flexibility in this aspect, as the fare for each way are the same, varying only on the taxes imposed on each airport. Your exit point doesn’t necessarily have to be the same as your entry point. For example, if you’re looking to travel around South East Asia from the Philippines, you can start your journey in Ho Chi Minh and end it in Singapore. A note on buying one-way tickets though: if you’re holding a Philippine passport flying out of Manila as a tourist, you need to present your ticket for the flight back to Manila, else they wouldn’t let you check in for your flight out.

Just because it’s not budget, it means it’s expensive
There are several ways of getting from Point A to Point B. Following my example above, you can either fly from Vietnam to Singapore to catch your plane home, or you can be adventurous and travel overland through Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. On the same vein, unless you’re traveling from a remote location, there would usually be more than one airline serving the cities you’re flying to. Do not constrain yourself with the budget airlines. Put your Google-fu to practice and research all the airlines serving the route and check each one for their fares. Yes, even the regular airlines. Last October, when I went to Bangkok, I flew via Philippine Airlines instead of the competing budget airline because the fare I was able to get from PAL is so much cheaper. Don’t limit yourself to the lite fares as well (carry-on only, no check-in baggage): check what’s the price difference between the lite fares to the regular economy tickets. You’ll be surprised that sometimes, there’s only a minimal price difference, or sometimes none at all.

Always read the fine line
Each promo have its own terms and conditions, which is often different from the terms and conditions for regular fares. Promo fares are usually non rebookable, non transferable non reroutable and non refundable. Other restrictions include limited or no baggage allowance or higher than usual re-booking fees. If you’re buying tickets for a trip more than 6 months ahead, consider investing on a ticket that will allow you to rebook without additional fees.

Hold your clicks!
In your haste to get that coveted ultra cheap fare, you might end up clicking “OK” after skimming through the text. Hold your horses and READ! There are pre-selected choices there for services that you might not need. These come in the form of check-in baggage allowance (if you’re backpacking, you wouldn’t really need that 15K baggage allowance now, would you? Unless you went crazy shopping in Bangkok…), in-flight meals, travel insurance, preferred seats, etc. Also, be mindful of the wordings, as they can be quite tricky — sometimes you need to click on Cancel instead of the usual OK.

I hope this tips help you plan for your next adventure. Wait, why are you still here reading? Go book your flight now!

Boarding pass from 2007

I wasn’t always like this. Years ago, I’d ignore these sales and just watch from the sidelines as travelers battle with unstable servers. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to — I did. Except that these sales were almost always held whenever I’m on a trip, just gotten back from a trip or just plain broke. However, lately the sales seem to be happening more often, catching me unaware and scrambling to get my credit card.

When was the first time? I guess it was early this year, when I got antsy about traveling. The sales would pop up at the most opportune moment, and I would take it as a sign that I needed to travel. That’s how I ended up in Hong Kong, on a trip that I never really planned for. That’s how I also ended up in Bangkok last month.

On the surface, these sales are a great money saver for budget travelers. How can you say no to ticket prices that cost less than what you would pay your cab to the airport? It was during these sales that I was able to score tickets to and from Singapore for less than US$100? One leg of that trip was on Singapore Airlines to boot.

However, these sales have a downside. Usually, in people’s haste to get cheap fares, they get a promo fare on the flight out, but can’t get a promo fare going back on the date they wanted. They would either end up buying on regular fare (which is higher than usual) just to get tickets on that specific date. If their dates are flexible, they would end up clicking on the next day or previous day button just to find available sale tickets. Doing this, they either end up with an itinerary that’s shorter than they would have liked, or longer than they can afford to take a leave from work.

Some of those who buy tickets during these sales end up not using the tickets. Since the travel dates for these sales are several months into the future, circumstances change. This happened to me in 2007, when I bought tickets for Cambodia. I bought it around August 2006, for travel in January 2007. Little did I know when I was booking that I would be flying to Australia at the end of the year, and staying until March 2007.

Of the seven tickets that I’m holding now, two won’t be used, and depending on how the coming months progress, I might not even be able to use some of the others as well. The latest seat sale was probably my craziest yet, buying three tickets for next year, and another one booked by a friend. Less than 24 hours from my purchase, I knew I wouldn’t be able to use two of those. I just tell myself that it’s just XXX amount, but at the end of the day, those small figures add up.

So will this serve as a lesson for me? Will I be more cautious about impulsively buying tickets in the future? Probably not. I will probably end up booking a ticket or two on the next sale, and hope that I do get to use them. Hey, you never know.. by that time I might be in dire need for a break

P.S. Tiger Airways is on sale.

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the airline business unit of JG Summit Holdings Inc., offers P888 seats one-way for its Asian routes and P8 seats one-way for all its domestic routes. The promotional seat sale will run from January 11 to 17, 2008 or until the allocated 200,000 seats are sold out.

CEB allocated more than 100,000 seats for its international seat sale that includes services from Manila to: Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore, Xiamen. This is also available for non-stop services from Cebu to: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei and from Davao to Hong Kong and Singapore. This is good for travel from February 1 to May 31, 2008.

CEB also allocated more than 100,000 seats for its domestic destinations. This is good for travel from February 1 to March 12, 2008.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

I’m going to make sure I buy my tickets for Legaspi this time around. How about you, where are you going?

Make way for an exotic adventure when you fly from Manila to Puerto Princesa (or vice-versa) for only P98!

Visit the Philippines’ last frontier, Puerto Princesa and experience an adventure of a lifetime in one of the country’s prime tourist destinations. Experience the Subterranean River National Park, a World Heritage Site or simply relax in one of the numerous white sand beaches dotting the Island!

Hurry, the seat sale is from August 24 to 31 only, for travel from September 26 to December 15, 2007. Fares are exclusive of applicable government taxes and surcharges and are non-refundable.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

I was ready to throw caution in the wind and actually BOOK & BUY a flight in October, but it’s just not meant to be. Even with the low fare (only Php2,200+ for a return ticket, if both are Php98 fares), I don’t have enough available balance in either of my cards. GAAAAAAAAAAAH. *pulls out hair*

Cebu Pacific offers P999 and P1,999 seat sale for international destinations!

Cebu Pacific now offers a seat sale for its international flights! The international seat sale will run from July 27 to 31, 2007 or until seats last, and is good for travel from September 1 to December 15, 2007.

CEB is offering a P999 one-way fare for Manila-Hong Kong, Manila-Bangkok, Manila-Kuala Lumpur, Manila-Jakarta, Manila-Taipei, Manila-Macau, Manila-Xiamen, Manila-Guangzhou, and Cebu-Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the seat sale for Manila-Shanghai, Manila-Singapore, Cebu-Singapore, Davao-Hong Kong and Davao-Singapore routes is at P1,999 one-way.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

I just love how it starts exactly on the date I wanted to have a weekend getaway. Unfortunately, I can’t book & buy yet, as my credit card is maxed out (again). I have to wait until Monday, when I’ve paid my outstanding charges. Oh the agony!

However, when my sister-in-law told me about the special promotion Tiger Airways was having, I immediately changed my opinion. Well, it was actually because it’s for the Thailand leg of the trip.

That was in the middle of January, their SG$9.98 promo. Similar to Cebu Pacific‘s Php 10 and Piso fares, the base rate for a one-way ticket is SG$9.98 (depending on the destination) plus applicable taxes. For my roundtrip ticket to Bangkok originating from Singapore, it came down to SG$103.21 or Php3,320.00.

The catch in these types of promotions is that you have to book months before your departure. Usually, tickets sold during these promos are non-transferable and non-refundable. There are also conditions regarding changes in your itinerary and higher fees for the changes made. But if you’re like me who plows ahead with my plans, their promo is perfect for you.

To maintain lower fares, Tiger Airways has moved to Changi Airport’s new budget terminal. The terminal is only 5 minutes away from Terminal 2, and there’s a shuttle service to and from both terminals.

Like Jetstar Asia, Tiger Airways uses A320 planes with the 3-3 configuration with non-existent legroom. Refreshments are sold on board, as well as duty free merchandise. Unlike Jetstar though, Tiger Airways doesn’t have assigned seats, so it can get pretty crazy.

All in all, I’d still fly Tiger Airways to get around South East Asia. Just maybe not from the Philippines.