Weather in Feb. and March and later?
Hi folks,
I was scheduled to fly to Manila for 16 days beginning next Thursday. However, my father is ill and I most likely will not be able to go. I will decide in the next few days. I want to ask your opinions about other times to go.
Since I bought on the PAL Web site, they won't let me cancel (maybe it was a special fare.... not sure). However, they will let me rebook for $150.
After talking to four different agents and having most of them say something different (man, was this difficult), I think what I heard was this. If I book by Nov. 6 and fly between Jan. 12 and March 15th, I can do it at a similar rate to what I"m getting now. I think there's a $150 rebooking charge.
Anyway, what's the weather like the end of Feb. and through the month of March...as I'm thinking about the timeframe now. Is it a good or acceptable time to go? If not, why not? Also, are there other times later in the year that are good times to go in terms of weather, etc? I think I have to use my ticket by August.
Thanks for the input, folks.
Red
Philippine Airlines - frequent flier miles
Fyi. For those of you who fly PAL. When I returned from my last trip I checked my frequent flyer miles, nothing posted. I emailed Mabuhay and inquired, and was informed that because I had purchased a "discount" ticket from my travel agent, I would not receive any miles for my HNL-MNL-HON trip! Never happened before. Chose PAL over other airlines because of their own airport (thru immigration in 2 min.) and generous frequent flier program. Anyway, have emailed back to them and still in negotiations.
Anybody else notice this?
LOTS of Reasons to Hate PAL
Mileage accrual is just one of MANY. Singapore and Asiana (and cathay) will often give 70% of actual mileage on discounted fares BUT YOU MUST CHECK FIRST! PAL's HUGE advantage is if you are immediately connecting to a domestic flight on PAL because it leaves from the same terminal. But now that Cebu Pacific flights are all going out of Terminal 3, that PAL advantage is no longer so big. There is also a new domestic airline I JUST learned about from Manila Star last week called [url]www.zestair. Ph[/url] Be nice if they were more credit card friendly, like Asian Spirit, but have not yet tried to use their services.
Immigration is NOT always faster at Centennial (PAL) terminal; arrive at 430 am (Sf and LA and YVR flights all arrive around same time) and you may get an unwelcome surprise. It IS always faster at Clark (Angeles) and Cebu which are both MUCH better arrival points than NAIA (Manila).
Christmas in the Philipines
[QUOTE=Ezinho]I will be heading to the Philippines during the Christmas break. I will arrive in Manila at Noon on the 24th and be there until the morning of the 29th. I have some questions, please forgive me if they are stupid:
1. What is Manila like during the 24th and 25th when it comes to mongering? I've read that LA Cafe is open 24 hours a day, but even on December 25th? Also, how is the selection? I'm assuming it's not as good as it usually is.
2. I would like to leave Manila on the 26th and spend the weekend in Angeles. But I've read that is one of the worst times to travel by bus in the PI since everyone is going somewhere. Would there be seats available on the 26th? Or would it be better to go on the 25th? Do buses even run on Xmas day?
3. Do I need to make hotel reservations or can I just show up and find something in Manila? Same in Angeles. I don't need anything fancy, the Executive Plaza looks fine to me.
I guess what I'm asking is; what the hell should I do?? If I were going at any other time I would just follow the great advice on the forum, but going over Xmas, I'm honestly not sure what would be best. Should I line up some girls before I go, through the internet. I have no idea.
Any feedback is appreciated.[/QUOTE]Will give you as much feed back as I can. My experiance is that the days leading up to Christmas are pure hell. Traffic will be the worst of the year and everyone's mind is elsewhere. But sometime on the 24th everyone in Manila leaves for the provinces. On the 25th you could play foodball on EDSA. Ghost town.
The hotels can still be busy with forigners so I would book ahead.