Angeles City

X-Man, thanks for your prompt reply.

Granted I have not contributed in The Philippines forum as I have never been there. I have contributed some reports in the Thailand, Malaysian and Indonesian forum, if that is of any help.

As for Vampire (bats), I admire them for what they are...another species in the ever growing / reducing food chain....

If I have started on the wrong footing with you, please accept my apology.

My main purpose here is to gather information so that I may have a more enjoyable vacation visiting the various destination of "interest". My other purpose is to share what I have experienced from such "excursion" (in the forum), and the value of these reports are determined by the readers as it will definitely not suit each and everyone of the members here.

So can we start over......

Hi there, my name is normad and I am a newbie to The Philippines forum. I hope to be able to contribute (once I have had my "adventure" in The Philippines.) In the meantime, I need some help with regards to the following situation:

(1) I planned to stay in Angeles (1 week - mid-May 2010) is there any bus services that can take me to my meeting venue (InterContinental Hotel, Manila) and back (day trip)?

(2) Is there any bus services (like in Pattaya) where they deliver you from door-to-door?

(3) I do not fancy taking the taxi as I rather use the money for mongering ;-)

Thank in advance for your kind guidance.

Cheers
normad2020









[QUOTE=X Man]Hilarious. Thank you for the over extended politeness ... sarcasm noted.

Pseudo experts like me are often criticized by the likes of D'etat or JackoffSheet, maybe they'll answer your questions. Don't hold your breath.

I personally like to help out newbies if I think they are worth it. After about five years at ISG, I have a pretty good feel for those who are worth it and those who aren't.

Normad, my friend, I suspect you are a ISG vampire. You'll suck up any information you can, but give nothing in return. After all, you didn't answer my simple questions which would have made it easier to answer your questions.

What was your question again? No wait, let me quote just in case anyone is chomping at the bit to help you out....

NORMAND:My situation:

I am scheduled to attend a meeting in Manila on 13 May 2010. As I will be flying in from Malaysia (AirAsia), I want to stay at Angeles and commute (day trip) to Manila (InterContinental Hotel) for the meeting.

My question are:

(1) as I planned to stay in Angeles (1 week) is there any bus services that can take me to my meeting venue and back?

(2) is there any bus services (like in Pattaya) where they deliver you from door-to-door?

I do not fancy taking the taxi as I rather use the money for mongering ;-)

normad2020[/QUOTE]

poopbunny, rob w., white whale, fast eddie and any others, first thanks very much for your replies. i thought that i probably had identified all of the flight options into clark, but wanted to make sure since some of the local airlines are pretty small. seems that air asia and zest air both recently canceled service into clark.

quick correction to one of your comments pb, cebu pacific actually does have a transfer desk airside at hk. that is unless they have eliminated that service within the past 6 months. i have flown from hk to manila several times over the past 4 years, usually on cp, most recently on philippine airlines. both cp and pa have transfer desks operated by the same contract agents that do the check in area and gate control. (i think it's menzies aviation). so, you can fly into hk and just transit hk if continuing on to the phils via cp or pa (without clearing hk customs and immigration).

my flight gets into hk at 17:30, so the macau 21:40 flight is my only option. as macau is a pretty small airport, do you think this would work:
- 17:30 flight lands from us
- 19:00 ferry hk skypier to macau (allows 90 minutes for flight delay, 1 luggage to be transferred from plane to ferry, check in, ect)
- 20:00 arrive macau (do i really need to clear immigration at macau, or can i proceed directly to the airport as a transit passenger, not staying in macau)?
- 20:30 depart macau ferry terminal (assume 30 minutes to clear immigration)
- 20:45 arrive macau airport by taxi from ferry terminal
- how long will it take me to get into a cp check in line? i'm thinking macau airport is small and not so busy, is this reasonable?
- if anyone has flown on cp departing from macau to clark, how strict are the contract staff on closing the flight (and not allowing any more check in at exactly 45 minutes before scheduled departure)? since my schedule is a bit tight, this is more important than i'd like.

i was hoping to find a way to make my first visit to ac, but since i only have 2 free nights this trip, if the macau to clark option doesn't work, i'm probably just flying into manila arriving around midnight and staying in manila those 2 nights.

thanks again!!
cs



[quote=poopbunny]unless your flight arrives in hk early in the morning, the hk morning flight will be difficult. you have to collect your luggage, go through customs and immigration and exit to the landside to check into the clark flight as cebu has no transfer desk on the airside of the airport.

this leaves the macau option. it is possible to transfer to the macau ferry from hkia airside. the ferry runs every hour and the journey from hkia to macau is about 1 hour (cost about hk$235 ish). then allow about 30 mins to clear macau immigration. at macau ferry terminal building, you can take a taxi directly to the macau international airport (about 10 mins away) cost about mop 60 (maybe a little more with luggage, hk$ also accepted at the same value as mop). if you have a bit extra time, you can save the mop 60 cab fare by taking a free courtesy shuttle bus to the venetian (you don't need to be staying there to use this free bus). once at venetian, you can take another free bus from venetian to macau airport (or if you have no luggage, the airport is probably only a 15 min walk from the venetian). from memory, there is a bit of walking between the venetian bus from macau ferry terminal building to the airport venetian bus. although they are in the same hotel/casino the drop off pick up between courtesy ferry bus and airport bus are from different entrances and the venetian is huge (5-10mins walk). you have to wheel you luggage through the casino floor which is allowed, as everyone uses the same route to get to their rooms.

prepare yourself for some credit card woes if booking with cebu pacific. you may need to use one of their travel agents and wire money to them. i read somewhere only an estimated 10 - 20% of overseas credit cards work for cebu.

if time is of essence, it is better and cheaper you travel from hkia to macau and then clark if you can't take the hk flight. if you take the late flight into manila, you will arrive in manila too late, miss the cheap swagman bus, and the taxi costs between manila and ac is much more than the ferry costs between hkia and macau. and once in manila, add 2 more hours to get to ac. by the time you check into your hotel, all the hotties would have already been bf by either me, ekspat, hesekiels, rob, xman or etc...

good luck[/quote]

Search for 'Fly the bus/Swagman Hotel' and 'Southern cross hotel'. These are private bus services with set schedules. Into Manila they will take you to Ermita and from there you'll have to take a taxi to your hotel in Makati.

I don't know of any bus service that will drop you off at the hotel in Manila.

Of course you could also take the local buses. Very cheap and they run regularly. I know there is one bus station on EDSA, not to far from Makati.

Traffic jams can be horrendous in Manila.

I don't think this is a good use of your time, but I assume you have a reason for wanting to do this. Sorry for being of little help. X


[QUOTE=Normad2020]

(1) I planned to stay in Angeles (1 week - mid-May 2010) is there any bus services that can take me to my meeting venue (InterContinental Hotel, Manila) and back (day trip)?

(2) Is there any bus services (like in Pattaya) where they deliver you from door-to-door?

(3) I do not fancy taking the taxi as I rather use the money for mongering ;-)

Thank in advance for your kind guidance.

Cheers
normad2020[/QUOTE]

Thanks Mate for the information. Much appreciated.

I will look through the suggested bus services.

Looking forward to my first trip to The Philippines.

Cheers
normad2020



[QUOTE=X Man]Search for 'Fly the bus/Swagman Hotel' and 'Southern cross hotel'. These are private bus services with set schedules. Into Manila they will take you to Ermita and from there you'll have to take a taxi to your hotel in Makati.

I don't know of any bus service that will drop you off at the hotel in Manila.

Of course you could also take the local buses. Very cheap and they run regularly. I know there is one bus station on EDSA, not to far from Makati.

Traffic jams can be horrendous in Manila.

I don't think this is a good use of your time, but I assume you have a reason for wanting to do this. Sorry for being of little help. X[/QUOTE]

i remember taking a clark - macau with tiger airways that is now cancelled. don't know why as i remember that flight being full.

i tried to transfer to cp after arriving hkia really early in the morning. this was more than 6 months ago. i was told i could not. maybe they were not open so early in the morning or the service was not available then.

i'm pretty sure you will need to clear immigration at macau if arriving by ferry to get to the airport.

you have about 6 hours between hkia and macau airport, unless your inbound hkia flight is severely delayed, i believe that is more than ample time.

you will probably find that at 1 hour from check in, the queue will be pretty short by then. its probably cps only flight from macau at that time.


[quote=cebu steve]poopbunny, rob w., white whale, fast eddie and any others, first thanks very much for your replies. i thought that i probably had identified all of the flight options into clark, but wanted to make sure since some of the local airlines are pretty small. seems that air asia and zest air both recently canceled service into clark.

quick correction to one of your comments pb, cebu pacific actually does have a transfer desk airside at hk. that is unless they have eliminated that service within the past 6 months. i have flown from hk to manila several times over the past 4 years, usually on cp, most recently on philippine airlines. both cp and pa have transfer desks operated by the same contract agents that do the check in area and gate control. (i think it's menzies aviation). so, you can fly into hk and just transit hk if continuing on to the phils via cp or pa (without clearing hk customs and immigration).

my flight gets into hk at 17:30, so the macau 21:40 flight is my only option. as macau is a pretty small airport, do you think this would work:
- 17:30 flight lands from us
- 19:00 ferry hk skypier to macau (allows 90 minutes for flight delay, 1 luggage to be transferred from plane to ferry, check in, ect)
- 20:00 arrive macau (do i really need to clear immigration at macau, or can i proceed directly to the airport as a transit passenger, not staying in macau)?
- 20:30 depart macau ferry terminal (assume 30 minutes to clear immigration)
- 20:45 arrive macau airport by taxi from ferry terminal
- how long will it take me to get into a cp check in line? i'm thinking macau airport is small and not so busy, is this reasonable?
- if anyone has flown on cp departing from macau to clark, how strict are the contract staff on closing the flight (and not allowing any more check in at exactly 45 minutes before scheduled departure)? since my schedule is a bit tight, this is more important than i'd like.

i was hoping to find a way to make my first visit to ac, but since i only have 2 free nights this trip, if the macau to clark option doesn't work, i'm probably just flying into manila arriving around midnight and staying in manila those 2 nights.

thanks again!!
cs[/quote]

[quote=poopbunny]i remember taking a clark - macau with tiger airways that is now cancelled. don't know why as i remember that flight being full.[/quote]hong kong - clark on air asia was also usually full -- every pinay maid in hk used it -- but that didn't stop them from cancelling it. basically they have a limited number of aircraft, and naturally try to use them in a way that maximizes profits. due to fixed costs, the longer the flight, the more they make. and hk/macau - clark is just too short a flight.

[QUOTE=Betong] Due to fixed costs, the longer the flight, the more they make. And HK/Macau - Clark is just too short a flight.[/QUOTE]
I dont think so. IMO the shorter the flight the more they make.
Or why do the LCC avoid long haul flights?
Short flights with fast turnarounds lead to more sold tix.

Cheers!

I'm going to disagree with PB and say that no, this doesn't sound like such a viable option.

If you have any check-in luggage, Turbojet will not let you buy a ticket for a ferry less than one hour in advance (because they have to claim and reload your luggage onto the ferry). This means you will need to be at the Turbojet counter before 18:00. So if your flight is delayed 30 minutes, you lose an entire hour. You don't even have to be delayed that much; a 15 minute delay and a slow disembarkment from the plane will put you at the Turbojet counter after 18:00. Turbojet also only takes HKD, so unless you have some HKD ready, you'll need to change some money too. I always paid cash, but they might take credit cards.

You really only have about 3 hours to get from point A to point B (before CP closes check-in). Too much could go wrong here.

I'd ask myself a) How reliable is the airline I'm flying in on? b) How reliable is CP?

I don't know about (a) but I do know that CP is extremely unreliable, as PB noted below. They've even been known to cancel flights. So everything could go perfectly in your plan, and yet you could show up to the Macau airport and not have a flight.

Let me throw another option at you: have you considered just staying in Macau those 2 nights? It's a great place to monger. Beautiful gals from all over the world. It's expensive, but for only 2 nights it's probably not much more expensive than flying to Manila and mongering would be, and without the added hassle.

[QUOTE=Cebu Steve]...My flight gets into HK at 17:30, so the Macau 21:40 flight is my only option. As Macau is a pretty small airport, do you think this would work:
- 17:30 flight lands from US
- 19:00 ferry HK skypier to Macau (allows 90 minutes for flight delay, 1 luggage to be transferred from plane to ferry, check in, ect)
- 20:00 arrive Macau (do I really need to clear immigration at Macau, or can I proceed directly to the airport as a transit passenger, not staying in Macau)?
- 20:30 depart Macau ferry terminal (assume 30 minutes to clear immigration)
- 20:45 arrive Macau airport by taxi from ferry terminal
- How long will it take me to get into a CP check in line? I'm thinking Macau airport is small and not so busy, is this reasonable?
- If anyone has flown on CP departing from Macau to Clark, how strict are the contract staff on closing the flight (and not allowing any more check in at exactly 45 minutes before scheduled departure)? Since my schedule is a bit tight, this is more important than I'd like.

I was hoping to find a way to make my first visit to AC, but since I only have 2 free nights this trip, if the Macau to Clark option doesn't work, I'm probably just flying into Manila arriving around midnight and staying in Manila those 2 nights.

Thanks again!!
CS[/QUOTE]

[quote=poopbunny]i remember taking a clark - macau with tiger airways that is now cancelled. don't know why as i remember that flight being full.

i tried to transfer to cp after arriving hkia really early in the morning. this was more than 6 months ago. i was told i could not. maybe they were not open so early in the morning or the service was not available then.

i'm pretty sure you will need to clear immigration at macau if arriving by ferry to get to the airport.

you have about 6 hours between hkia and macau airport, unless your inbound hkia flight is severely delayed, i believe that is more than ample time.

you will probably find that at 1 hour from check in, the queue will be pretty short by then. its probably cps only flight from macau at that time.[/quote]pop / cebu,

i am in angeles now cheak with travel agents here, zest are not flying the clark-to-macau route until june, so cebu pacific and air macau and they are both charge over 4000 peso one way no discount at all.

fast eddie 48

Turbojet takes all credit cards including American Express charge cards.

I agree with Rob that 2 nights is really a bit short. Is there anyway you can take more days off and leave a day or 2 earlier? Sort of like driving a really long way just to have 1 scoop of your favourite ice cream.

I don't think CP would cancel any Macau - Clark flight. This is one of their cash cow legs and flights are nearly always full. Macau service industry is quite heavily staffed with Pinoys and there is also HK nearby for many who cannot make the morning HK flight like you.

No doubt Macau has plenty of very attractive girls so does Hong Kong, but they are likely to give you that same sterile non GFE service you find back home and like Rob pointed out, expensive. Sort of like a nearby expensive fancy restaurant where the food looks good but not always that tasty.




[QUOTE=Rob Woodrow]I'm going to disagree with PB and say that no, this doesn't sound like such a viable option.

If you have any check-in luggage, Turbojet will not let you buy a ticket for a ferry less than one hour in advance (because they have to claim and reload your luggage onto the ferry). This means you will need to be at the Turbojet counter before 18:00. So if your flight is delayed 30 minutes, you lose an entire hour. You don't even have to be delayed that much; a 15 minute delay and a slow disembarkment from the plane will put you at the Turbojet counter after 18:00. Turbojet also only takes HKD, so unless you have some HKD ready, you'll need to change some money too. I always paid cash, but they might take credit cards.

You really only have about 3 hours to get from point A to point B (before CP closes check-in). Too much could go wrong here.

I'd ask myself a) How reliable is the airline I'm flying in on? b) How reliable is CP?

I don't know about (a) but I do know that CP is extremely unreliable, as PB noted below. They've even been known to cancel flights. So everything could go perfectly in your plan, and yet you could show up to the Macau airport and not have a flight.

Let me throw another option at you: have you considered just staying in Macau those 2 nights? It's a great place to monger. Beautiful gals from all over the world. It's expensive, but for only 2 nights it's probably not much more expensive than flying to Manila and mongering would be, and without the added hassle.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Ekspat]I dont think so. IMO the shorter the flight the more they make.[/QUOTE]Well it's more complex than just flight length -- it has to do with the whole way a flight ties into the overall schedule, fuel prices, airport charges, competing flights etc. But when Air Asia cancelled flights to my town (just an hour flight from KL) the word was that they were reassigning the aircraft capacity to 2-3 hour flights, which may be about the sweet spot for profitability under their business model.

Anyhow the lesson is never take these budget flights for granted, because they come and go without warning!

[quote=poopbunny]...i don't think cp would cancel any macau - clark flight.....[/quote] they have done so in the past and will probably also do so in the future. my macau-clark flight last november was canceled and they rebooked me on the next flight. one of the problem is that their email indicating the change has some fucked up heading and you may think it is a spam and not notice the change. friend of mine had that happen when they canceled his singapore-clark flight and he ended up stranded in singapore and had to shell out 5 times the original amount to get to manila with another airline and then try to negotiate a taxi to ac in the middle of night.

Just curious. How many days notice did you get of the cancellation?

[QUOTE=Henio]
My Macau-Clark flight last November was canceled and they rebooked me on the next flight. One of the problem is that their email indicating the change has some fucked up heading and you may think it is a spam and not notice the change. [/QUOTE]

Found this.


Cebu Pacific
[url]http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating/flightRatingByCarrier.do?airlineCode=5J[/url]

Air Asia
[url]http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating/flightRatingByCarrier.do?airline=%28AK%29&x=43&y=7[/url]

Tiger
[url]http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating/flightRatingByCarrier.do;jsessionid=2037C8BCC17376156AF74F74046EF618.web1:8009?airline=%28TR%29+Tiger+Airways&x=31&y=2[/url]


Philippine Airlines
[url]http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightRating/flightRatingByCarrier.do?airline=%28PR%29+Philippine+Airlines&x=35&y=10[/url]

[quote=poopbunny]no doubt macau has plenty of very attractive girls so does hong kong, but they are likely to give you that same sterile non gfe service you find back home and like rob pointed out, expensive. sort of like a nearby expensive fancy restaurant where the food looks good but not always that tasty.[/quote]
i've heard that about the girls at lisboa, but i've always gotten great fake enthusiasm from the sauna girls at darling (or darling 2, whichever is closest to the ferry terminal) and two other places whose names i can't remember. it helps that i speak a little mandarin. but even the vietnamese girl i took was fun to be with.