If I decide to stay more then 21 days I always take a side trip to Thailand for few days then back to Phils for more time there. Instead of going thru the trouble of stopping at Immigration on entry and paying fee then.
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If I decide to stay more then 21 days I always take a side trip to Thailand for few days then back to Phils for more time there. Instead of going thru the trouble of stopping at Immigration on entry and paying fee then.
Sorry for the silly question but are you saying that the visa upon entering the Phils is for 21 days only.
[QUOTE=Mackin]Sorry for the silly question but are you saying that the visa upon entering the Phils is for 21 days only.[/QUOTE]
Mackin, the VOA (Visa On Arrival) is good for 21 days only. If your itinerary shows you staying longer, you will need to get an extension (to 59 days) once you are in-country. Also, prior to your departure, you can apply for a longer visa thru the Filipine Embassy in your country.
[QUOTE=Mattrick]Yes you are correct. You can extend upon landing. Before you pass through immigration, go to the office on the left.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the info, I thought I had to go to an office in Manila. So this office is before I walk up to the officer who checks my passport?
[QUOTE=Bionicman]On principle airlines do not allow more than 30 kg (regasrdless of the individual allowance one has) for the simple reason it is a safety precaution for labour, ie not to lift too heavy bags.
Then each one has its own rules in terms of max allowance linked to unit weight of the bag.
I know of a case of couple flying on Ryan Air (allowance is 15kg each passenger), having 1 bag (only) of 19kg (so below the 15+15 allowance for the two of them.
Well the airline charged the 4 kg extra to the passenger with his 19kg bag... (and of course the comopanion did have zero kg checked in!).[/QUOTE]
Yes of course, but Ryan are Nazis when it comes to baggage etc as soon they may charge you for using the toilet on board.....cheap and OK as long as you play by their rules
32 kgs is the max but in USA it is 23 kgs..CPac seems to have odd rules at times but still I enjoy the airline
[QUOTE=GregLondon]Flew BKK to Clark last night with Cebu Pacific. They are VERY STRICT re return /onward tickets and excess baggage.
The guy in the queue before me had a big bag weighing 27 kg and no return/onward ticket. They made him pay 12*350 Bhat = 4900 Bhat excess luggage - he also said they said only a mx of 20kg in the bad so he had to find a box for the other 7 kg- never heard that before. He also had to go away and pay 6000P for a return flight. ie a total of about 13,000P extra (I presume he wanted to keep his options open e the return.
Pretty scandalous. I didn't have a return ticket either but having been through it before knew that the minimum evidence they needed was a Valid Flight Number. I almost got caught out though as I had noted a Philipines Airlines flight no on my laptop. Sadly the battery was flat so they wre about to cal Phil Airlines and check my fictitious booking. I dashed away and eventually found an electric power point and got hold of the flight no which was sufficient to let me on. I put as much heavy stuff in my carry on backpack (which i wore to not give them a chance to weigh (supposed to be max 7 kg) and my laptop bag, so i got under 16kg (they insist on charging even if yiu are 1kg over.
SO IF YOU ARE FLYING IN WITHOUT AN ONWARD TICKET, look up and write down a valid Airline flight no and date/time and have it ready to confidently hand over to them. I suggest an airline not operating from the airport you are departing from to reduce the chance that they will phone around to verify. Don't choose the same airline as you are outbound asd they wil obviously just check their systems.[/QUOTE]
Nice tip GL.
Another tip for the frequent travelers that may have excess baggage: Most domestic airlines have lower limits than international carriers but the domestic airlines do switch over to international carrier regulations if you are connecting with an international carrier in the next 24 hours or just came off of an international carrier within 24 hrs. I go one step further than GL. I just have a fake itinerary emailed to myself (downloaded into my phone) that shows the connection. Make sure it is not too close of a connection on the outbound flight, otherwise the domestic carrier may want to check your bags through to the international destination. :-)
I was searching for info on Beaches and I thank all of you that advised me. I also found a link to this site that has nice overview and the authors idea of top beaches. I found it useful...
[url]http://www.bugbog.com/beaches/philippines_beaches.html[/url]
[QUOTE=Vitrea]I was searching for info on Beaches and I thank all of you that advised me. I also found a link to this site that has nice overview and the authors idea of top beaches. I found it useful...
[url]http://www.bugbog.com/beaches/philippines_beaches.html[/url][/QUOTE]I'm glad they did not identify my favorite spot.
Slippery f/k/a Puerto La Cruz
It seems the Bo I is serious about trying to stop the scams that go in with Immigration deals
Check this out
[url]http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20101205/tph-bi-employees-told-to-stay-off-nearby-d6cd5cf.html[/url]
[QUOTE=GregLondon]Flew BKK to Clark last night with Cebu Pacific. They are VERY STRICT re return /onward tickets and excess baggage.[/QUOTE]If you are a regular traveller, you will know LCCs make money on ancilliary services - which includes on board food sales, excess luggage and all.. not fair blaming them for being stingy - and strict - after all, Low cost - and unless they keep a tight control, their costs will spiral.
Ever remember MOL (RyanAir)'s famous comments when somebody asked for the refund policy ? "Which part of the no fucking refund you don't get it ??? " or something to that extent .. and he went on to rant that if you want full service, then pay much much more and fly full-service carriers ..
And for the hand luggage- that is in a way cheating - well, no comments, but when I was handling ground, I have seen passengers who lamely check in 15 Kg (that was the baggage allowance for the class of ticket we allowed) and the hand luggage was 25 kg and we had to engage security to get the hand luggage ripped off and weighed .. firstly, it eats the 'lcc costs' as undeclared weight spirals to excess fuel burn - no sir, I know it is not much but when 100 passengers sneak in 10 kilo extra plus plus it is just over 1 metric tonne in undeclared weight - and secondly, as I said before - it also affects the staff pay as the pay is a variance of the revenue generated ..
Plus, for US flights, the weight limits are higher, but then again, airlines in US are bleeding whenever a ground handler claims his back was hurt by large bags ..
Cheers- fly safe, play safe - and if you are in the ramp side and if you see how people handle heavy luggage - you will have an eye opening experience.
[QUOTE=Wicked Roger]Yes of course, but Ryan are Nazis when it comes to baggage etc as soon they may charge you for using the toilet on board.....cheap and OK as long as you play by their rules
32 kgs is the max but in USA it is 23 kgs..CPac seems to have odd rules at times but still I enjoy the airline[/QUOTE]Some carriers, including PAL, have lowered the baggage allowance for lower cost fair - like 15 KG and skip the meals and you pay much much lesser.
It is a competitive market, and likewise Jetstar / Tiger out of Singapore to Phil, have a fair with 'no checked in luggage.
[QUOTE=GregLondon]Flew BKK to Clark last night with Cebu Pacific. They are VERY STRICT re return /onward tickets
SO IF YOU ARE FLYING IN WITHOUT AN ONWARD TICKET, look up and write down a valid Airline flight no and date/time and have it ready to confidently hand over to them. Don't choose the same airline as you are outbound asd they wil obviously just check their systems.[/QUOTE]
Philippine is the only country around SE Asia in which the airline employee at the host country will ask for an itinerary on your return ticket. They said that immigration will demand a return ticket. This is probably false. I have never seen immigration ask anyone for a return ticket. But then I hardly ever see any Africans in the Phillipines.
You can used an old itinerary and modify it.
I never knew you can just jot down the flight number and times and show it to them. Hmm, it works? Never tried it.
[QUOTE=GreenBud]Philippine is the only country around SE Asia in which the airline employee at the host country will ask for an itinerary on your return ticket. They said that immigration will demand a return ticket. This is probably false. I have never seen immigration ask anyone for a return ticket. But then I hardly ever see any Africans in the Phillipines.
You can used an old itinerary and modify it.
I never knew you can just jot down the flight number and times and show it to them. Hmm, it works? Never tried it.[/QUOTE]
Yes it works, I've done it twice. But 1 Look up a real flight number, 2 use an airline not represented at the airport you are travelling from (or whose flights will have left by the time you check in). 3 Be confident, they will ask fro a print out, say you didnt have a print out but you noted the Flight number and time. All they need is the sinfgle fligt out of the Phils, though if you come up with a whole itinery Airline x manila to YY Airline y YY to hiome etc that just adds to your plausibility.
At the main ingoing airports they never ask about your return flights, however i once flew Guangzhou to Laoag where I was the only non Chinese on the flight and everyone else was ona two day jaunt to the Casino. Im migration interrogated me for an hour trying to intimidate me into buying a ticket or paying a bribe. My story was that my RTW ticket scheduled BKK to Lon was flexible and i could change it to manila- London. Eventually they said OK but by that stage all the taxis had left so the immigation guy put his gun away and drove me to town himself - refused any payment. The secret is always to maintain an affable cool.
[QUOTE=GreenBud]Philippine is the only country around SE Asia in which the airline employee at the host country will ask for an itinerary on your return ticket. They said that immigration will demand a return ticket. This is probably false. I have never seen immigration ask anyone for a return ticket. But then I hardly ever see any Africans in the Phillipines.[/QUOTE]You got to get your facts right. Even to US/UK, or anywhere, any passenger arriving MUST PRODUCE PROOF OF RETURN, unless he or she is on a long term residency.
Maybe you haven't seen the world. In some countries, specific nationalities are the flavor of the day. Example: Malaysians pick on south asians and africans generally, Filipinos pick on pretty much everybody, Singapore picks on girls from ASEAN countries, Thais tend to pick on anybody African looking. Indonesia- pretty much anybody who seem to have a wad of money, and on and on.
Oh, most of the time the common response is 'such nationalities are known to not honoring the visa and tend to overstay. '
And do you know what happens when the immigration refuses entry to the passenger who is returned at the arriving airport? The carrier that brought the guy into the country has to fly the guy back FOC. If he doesn't have a return ticket. If he or she has a return, it is less of a headache for them.
That is international law mate.
Don't blame Philippines. It is the international law, and if a country is being extra careful just because of past experience. Unless you are God' Gift to Mankind or have been having your way all the time.
Cheers. No offence by the way.
[QUOTE=Econo Tech]Some carriers, including PAL, have lowered the baggage allowance for lower cost fair - like 15 KG and skip the meals and you pay much much lesser.
It is a competitive market, and likewise Jetstar / Tiger out of Singapore to Phil, have a fair with 'no checked in luggage.[/QUOTE]
When travelling on holiday I never ever have check in luggage, so I use Jetstar's 'Lite' option if I am travelling with them. The warning is that they almost always check the weight of the carry on luggage at check in to ensure it is 7kg or less.