Manila Flights help required

[ernesto]

As the bastards in the Vienna travel office try to cheat me I need some help.
I want to book Austrian Airlines Business class flight Vienna Bangkok and a connecting flight with Thai to Manila and back.
The ticket for Austrian-Airlines Vienna-Bangkok-Vienna costs Euro 2.700,so far so good - (this price has been confirmed to me by Austrian Airlines)
but my traveloffice tried to charge my for the whole round trip 3.500 Euro!
whereby the flight Bangkok- Manila - Bangkok should be just Economy, what means that this fare would be 800 Euro !
I cannot believe that this is correct !
Unfortunately I cannot receive any ticket price from Thai Air here in Vienna
as they have no ticket office here and refer to travel offices so I need a little help from BMs.
Can one of the fellow members give me a ticket price (TG only) for Bangkok-Manila-Bangkok as well as business class as economy ?
With this information in hands I can kick these bastards in their fat asses.
Thanks for every help

Ernesto

[tim1212]

just an idea? booking through cebu pacific in vienna, you can get connecting flights to cebu if you fancied?


http://www.cebupacificair.com/

[Guest]

yes but from bangkok they have a habit of cancelling their flights at very short notice

[Ozzie]

I went to Philippines twice recently from Bangkok.

First time I went to Manila flying Thai which cost me about $450 AUD

Second time I went direct to Angeles City flying Cebu Pacific which cost about $350 AUD. No problem with Cebu Pacific flights except excess baggage charges so make sure you travel light or leave a bag at your Thailand hotel like I did.

[ernesto]

Ozzie ! Thanks for reply, just two questions:
450 AuD was for return ticket ?
Business or economy class ?
Cheers
Ernesto

[katoeylover]

Thai air is 10k bt round trip from Bkk-Manilla-Bkk


http://www.thaiairways.co.uk/

[Chinaman]

Hi Ernesto,

I recently came across this website - www.checkfelix.com (Meine Reisesuchmaschine). I have not made any bookings through them but did a few test searches and they always seemed to be able to come up with good deals.

I just ran BKK-MNL-Bkk but as I didn't know yr dates, I left their default setting which was Nov. 20-22. Their cheapest rates were 183.27 Euros and quite a few flights in the 200 Euro range.

Might be useful for future price verifications as 800 Euros really sound like a rip-off.

Perhaps worth giving it a try.
Cheers
CM

[Ozzie]

(ernesto @ Nov. 13 2009,02:02) Ozzie ! Thanks for reply, just two questions:
450 AuD was for return ticket ?
Business or economy class ?
Cheers
Ernesto

Both were return tickets and both economy class. I know you can get better deals with Cebu Pacific from time to time but I booked at the last moment.

[ernesto]

For me the problem is a little different.
First: I have a major credit at my travel office which of course I want to make use of - knowing that they try to cheat me and reduce my credit as much as they can.
Second: I need some bonus miles with Star Alliance which I can use on expensive routes in Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraina).
Tha´s why I am not so interested in Cebu Air, Asian Air a.o.
But showing them what the real fares of Thai Airways are I force them to reduce their ticket price.
Anyway thanks Í know now economy far can not be much more than 250 Euro, so let business class be 500 max .Tha´s ok for me !

Ernesto

[Dieter]

www.thaiairways.com


Bkk -MNL -Bkk with TG business class = 22500 Bath

[EyeMahk]

(Tims Boy @ Nov. 12 2009,20:59) yes but from bangkok they have a habit of cancelling their flights at very short notice

Cebu Pacific is actually OK for on-time performance.

http://www.cebupacificair.com/aboutu.../09302009.html

In Oct, 1 out of 31 BKK-MNL flights were canceled. If it is canceled, you need to wait an entire day, as they only have one flight.

The bigger problem is that the timing of the flight is shit, it leaves at 0030 and arrives MNL at 0430. And the seat pitch is the smallest I have ever seen, so if you are tall, this is a problem. That said, it is rarely full so you can have a row to yourself.

Personally, if Cebu Pacific to MNL is a great fare, I'd take it. Otherwise, the best deal might be to use a 20K mile Star Alliance award (like UA) and take Thai.

If you are going to Angeles City, there is no question. Take Cebu Pacific to Clark, and save 2-4 hours travel time in an expensive taxi. Avoid that shithole Manila by flying directly to that shithole AC.

[ernesto]

Thanks !

Ernesto

[rusty]

Try PAL Philippines airlines or Kuwait or Cebu but there's a promo pn with PAL and its much more reliable then Cebu Pacific.

[thick81]

Cebu Pacific has great fares, but is decidedly not reliable

Reason - they fly everything they have, and maintain no spare aircraft to respond to delays or cancellations elsewhere in the system

I have visited the office in CEB where the daily aircraft schedule is maintained on two 'white boards' on the wall (how about 'low-tech'?)

Lacking any 'spare' aircraft or schedule-recovery software - both common elsewhere in the airline industry - a CP aircraft that incurs an operational or maintenance delay will continue to run late until it stops for the night - or is replaced by an aircraft shifted from another, more lightly-booked flight that may be canceled with impunity

Moreover, their lightly-staffed reservations center is traditionally unable to warn customers - even with an sms message - of the impending delay or cancellation

Thus the bitch of a surprise when you turn up at the airport only to learn that your MNL-CEB flight is delayed by 3 hours - or that your BKK-MNL flight has been canceled, and you are given the option of BKK-CRK that night or BKK-MNL the next evening

No problem if you are on vacation and / or have not booked a hotel (with cancellation fee) at your destination - otherwise very difficult

In my experience, PAL is much more reliable, and my preference if I have to be someplace on time

If low-cost is required, however, Air Asia (through KL) or Tiger (through SIN) are better bets if you can find a connection that works for you