Book flights direct with airline or via broker?

Now that my GF Kris has her 6 month visitor visa I am now about to search for and book flights... Manila to LHR. (And thence to Edinburgh after showing her a little of what The Smoke has to offer!) Any general advice on whether it's preferable to use broker / comparison sites like Skyscanner or look directly at prices on individual airline sites?

I'm happy to plough through 'tinternet looking for best deals (GF looking to travel early November for about 2 weeks) but any tips gratefully received.

Either way I will pay by credit rather than debit card - for the additional protection should something go awry.

Finally, is there any way of finding a list of airlines that operate on the Manila / London route? We are only interested in direct flights.

Thanks in advance.

Gerry

P.S. This request only relates to Manila / London leg - I have air miles for London / Edinburgh. Ta

Hi Gerry
No doubt you will receive lots of opinions on that one.
Personally, I have used CheapoFlights, Expedia etc in the past, and it does sometimes help finding a better deal.
Having said that, nowadays I book directly with the airlines after I had a bit of an issue earlier this year.
I had made a mistake with the family name when booking a flight for my daughter, used her family name rather than her married name. It was booked through an online booking company for an Emirates flight. What an absolute drama trying to correct it. The online booking company made a right mess of it by cancelling the flight only to find there was no more availability after trying to rebook with the correct name...!!! Took umpteen emails and overseas calls, plus a hefty re-booking fee to get it sorted. Emirates were very good they were able to see the online booking but couldn't change the name themselves as it wasn't booked directly with them. From then on I only book directly with the airline.

David

direct flights--only philippine air as far as i know---i used skyscanner back in feb to buy a single to get my fiancee over. philippine air was about 50% more than the cheapest 1 stoppers.

Helpful as ever @bigmac - I see online that there is an option to pay Philippine Travel tax at time of booking. Is this obligatory fir an adult (age 34)?

Thanks.

Gerry

Yes required so may as well pay for it upfront.

Save all the hassle, book direct.

Agreed.

I always book direct with the airline, never through a travel website these days.

Thanks everyone - GF booked direct flight / reserved seat with Philippine Airlines. 15 hours (bit shorter coming back.)

I hope I'm worth it!

G

Good luck and enjoy. hopefully she'll get to see some snow!

Thanks @john jones - it's early November so there will probably be snow in the Cairngorms - I'm planning a couple of days glamping in the Scottish Highlands - poor Kris won't know what's hit her - but we'll get her a warm coat / fleece etc when she arrives!

Corina has used the Philippine Air Lines direct flight (PR 720/721) three times recently; she chose it because she was travelling with the stepsprog. The plane is an Airbus A340 which is now a bit long in the tooth and doesn't have the latest entertainment systems, but the cabin crew will hand out iPads on request. Stepsprog has usually arrived full of beans, as he has always secured enough empty seats to crash out horizontally.

We did have a rather tiresome wait last Saturday night, as recounted on the Duterte thread, due to the Border Force staff on passport control at T4 knocking off leaving an arrivals hall full of people.

I book through Mabuhay Travel; the price has usually been the same as booking direct with the airline, but they are nice people and helpful on pointing out deals when available.

The London service recommenced at a time when PAL has San Miguel as a major investor and there were promises of services to Madrid, Paris and Frankfurt in addition to London and all to be flown by Boeing 777-300s. The London service did have 777s for the first few weeks but they were switched to the US routes and PAL replaced them with a couple of leased - and aged - A340s. That service will probably be suspended after Christmas, it simply isn't profitable.

For my future trips between Davao and London, it will be Singapore Airlines via Singapore. Great airline and Chengi is good airport to transit.

Travel Tax is required for Filipinos. Around 1,600 PhP as I remember.

would it be rude to ask the fare ?

I hope she is!

Thanks for comments folks.

Yes - tax is a stated above.

yes - Airbus A340-300

We opted for reserved seats and the quoted all-inclusive fare (budget economy) was $938 US - which converted to £764.

G

That's not bad, I'd be happy enough with that

Yup pretty good. The Emirates return fare Dubai / London is about the same and only 7 hours flying time.

Does this mean that there won't be entertainment screens on the seat-back in front?