Out of The Radar Screen

I'm starting to hunt for good airfare prices for our Pinas vacation this Christmas. It may seem early but this is the way to go if you want to get a good bargain. With a couple of bargain airlines joining the fray like Tiger and Jetstar, travellers are spoiled for choices.

So what have I come up with so far?

Singapore Airlines has this 4 to go or 2 to go kind of stuff which requires a minimum number of passengers travelling together. This is our first choice that would set us back by 2,600 Singapore dollars, give or take, for 6 persons. BTW, with the peso getting stronger despite the neverending political bickering, a good exchange rate benchmark would be Php31 for every S$1. This is not a budget flight so it comes will all the usual stuffs. In fact SA is considered amongst the cream of the crop when it comes to air travel. The catch is all of you should travel together a minimum of 2 days and maximum of 14 days.

Jetstar, one of the budget airlines, would be just as great since it will land in Manila, but the price is just comparable to SA promo. We're dropping this one.

Give the guy a Tiger!

Taking Tiger airlines is very tempting. It will just set us back a mere S$1,200! So what's the catch? Since it lands at Clark in Pampanga, it will considerably adds up to our travel time and inconvenience. Baggage allotment is also less at 15kg per person compared to 30kg of SA. But there are ways I can go around these cons so most probably you would be seeing us riding a Tiger on the touchdown.

I'm not sure how much business Philippine Airline is lossing with the advent of budget airlines and tempting promos from SA, but I have a good hunch that it is considerable. Unless they evolve to adapt to the changes, they are bound to nosedive into oblivion.