Cutty

If you fly Philippine Airlines most of the time, you must have earned some mileage from your flights.  I have been flying PAL ever since I can remember, but I haven't redeemed any miles from those flights.  There was always some reason not to.  I never had enough for my desired destination or I found out too late that 7000 miles have expired. Now, it seems that PAL is making it easier for us to avail of these "rewards."  Just recently, the came out with Great Miles Getaway where you can redeem flights for less mileage requirements. Case in point:  Domestic flights may be redeemed for 3200 miles or less.  Regional flights (Asia) may be availed for 10,000 Mabuhay Miles, down from the usual 20,000 miles for a round-trip ticket. Here is screen capture of their email blast Don't expect to get everything for free.  The passenger still has to cover taxes and other fees which are still quite substantial.  Expect to wait long when making reservat...

... to NOT fly Philippine Airlines. (Tama ba, Grammar Police?) Over the past few years, I’ve gotten better deals through Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines.   Even if the ticket price is more affordable, I didn’t feel that I was short-changed with the quality of service they’ve provided me. The aircraft I’ve ridden were always new.   Each seat was equipped with individual entertainment consoles.   I was frequently offered drinks and snacks.   The cabin crew was very pleasant whenever I had a request.   They always came when I needed one.   Unlike my experience here . I sincerely hope that Asia's First Airline will catch up soon.   It is such a pity that they offer pathetic service at such a high price.   Maybe someday, PAL will be sincere when they say “It was our pleasure serving you.”

Last Thursday, I finalized our plans to go to the US. I already bought our tickets. It was all so sudden because the travel deal expired the next day. I needed to make a decision fast because the promo seats are limited. My mother's travel agent was very accommodating, considering that I changed my itinerary several times. It was ever-changing because I had to consider my husband's schedule also. We're booked on the 29 th then moved to 31st then back to the 29 th . We had several points-of-entry in mind because we're going to SFO , Vegas and LA, all accessible by PAL. Finally, I had my mind set on the 29 th because Vic said he can go on leave two days earlier. I told the agent to finalize the booking. When everything is all booked, I realized that we can NOT leave on the 29 th . I will be coming from Taipei on the 29 th . We're scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. If I leave via PAL in the evening, I will not see my kids. That is nearly three straig...

So, Vic and I stayed up till the wee hours of Monday just to avail of PAL's promo for the coming months. It seemed like everyone had the same strategy as ours. I started my online search right before midnight. I figured, by the time it would finish searching, I would see the promo right before my eyes. Thirty minutes had passed, still no search results. Another twenty minutes resulted to nothing. We decided to sleep on it. I just knew the online reservation thingy of PAL just couldn't handle the load. Diba sila nag-stress test man lang? The site hangs on any ordinary day, why should I expect anything else on a major traffic day? I woke up for Javi's 4am feeding. I tried searching once again. Sayang din naman kasi. The MNL-LAS quote is 16XX per person. Okay, lost cause na ito. When I woke up once again at around 830am, I got a 300+ fare for the MNL-LAS route. I hurriedly got my card so I can proceed to the payment part. However, I realized, I should check if I ...

I just heard about PAL's Real Deals yesterday. A Round-trip flight to the US is just $418 starting this September. Since this round-trip fare doesn't cover our trip in August, we'd just have to settle for the one-way promo fares. One way to the US/Canada is $303. All fares don't include taxes and surcharges. Even so, the promo would still allow us to save around $200 per person. There's a catch, though. We'd have to purchase the tickets online from April 27 to 28. I hope PAL's site can keep up with the volume. Lagi pa naman nagha -hang yun site. I also hope they don't run out of seats. ------------------- My mother called me up this morning to say that they got a promo from PAL. A pair of travellers to HK will cost only $142 per person. For three people, each person would only have to shell out $112. I am tempted to join them since they "need" a third person. I want to go to the places I failed to visit when I was there last...