PhilFAQS

I was happy to see a write-up in today’s news paper that there is a new US-flag airline serving Manila.  Hawaiian Airlines, based in Honolulu is now making four flights a week between Honolulu and Manila.  Continental and Northwest are the only two other US carriers who actually come to Manila and with the pending merger between Northwest and Delta I wonder if some of Northwest’s flights aren’t in danger.

Anyway, Hawaiian is a welcome change.  They "hub" from Honolulu and serve many other US locations (mainly west coast) as well as Sydney, Australia.  As soon as someone reads this who has been a Hawaiian customer, please leave me a note, either in the "Comments" section below or via my secure, spam-free content page.

One big advantage is they are the only choice to reach actual US soil without a stop … Continental does serve Manila via Guam, which is a US protectorate, but I’m known for being a nitpicker   Northwest’s flights all stop in Japan and all the other airlines serving Manila from the US have stops or plane change sin Taiwan or Tokyo or Hong Kong or Guam.  Nothing wrong with any of those places but sometimes it’s nice just to take your seat and then step off where you want to be, rather than going through yet another get off, go through security, get back on cattle herding drill.

We wish the new guys well.

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I’ve written here before about Jetstar Airways, a discount carrier that flies between manila and Singapore … and from Singapore all over Asia.  I’m signed up for Jetstar’s email offer service and I just got a notice about them expanding service between Melbourne Australasia and Singapore (via Darwin).  Just for fun I ran an availability check for a round trip in May and June 2008 … total fares come up to less the AUD 350 dollars, all-in (except for a few mote dollars Philippine airport fees, I think).

This is the kind of airline who charges for all services … a can of soda or even a checked bag (the price I worked up was a carry-on only fare) … but that’s ok if you are looking for cheap fares.  This is a flight of no small distance .. nearly 4,000 miles, and in terms of what one has to pay in North America, dirt cheap.

So all you Australian readers who have been out there ‘sitting on the fence’ about a trip to the Philippines?  Book now and make yourself happy!

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