Nearly always KLM, the wife just returned from Manila a couple of weeks back and she paid £540 Manchester to Manila via Amsterdam return.
i was checking online. as im from edinburgh i was checking from edinburgh. Edinburgh to amsterdam to china to manila but i must say it was showing under £500
You should find some good deals although you have to watch out for transit times, some of which are hours, something I don't like. earlier you book better the deal you should get. My wife booked her ticket just two days in advance with KLM as she was waiting for her new passport from the Philippine Embassy in London, came just in the nick of time so she could attend her daughters graduation. Personally I have never used KLM to fly to Manila, I've always used Emirates or Etihad. I use KLM now quite a bit for business and know they are one of the cheaper carriers or the company I contract for wouldn't use them. Most of the folks here will tell you that KLM are the cheapest but remember there are deals to be had with better carriers, just a case of catching them at the right time.
I can see that KLM is cheapest ATM but the transit times are not my cup of tea also i see that their using some china air. whats that all about?
Several Chinese airlines are tied to KLM. As you say, the transit times are a problem, its a balancing act with departure/arrival, transit times and cost, sometimes you get lucky and are able to match all three but not often.
Ya thats what i can see. I have travel by KLM/Air france many times and its good i must say but how about the chinese airlines?
KLM 807/808 between Amsterdam and Manila stops in Tapei on both outward and return legs for fuel and downline servicing. That stop is normally just about one hour but there's an allowance for up to 3 hours should it be necessary. It is the cheapest and fastest flight between Europe and Manila.
I usually spend just a little more and travel on Emirates or Cathay Pacific. Note that the dates of your travel have a HUGE effect on the price (avoid school holidays!)
As you say Andrew, avoid holidays, problem is I always visited the loved one at Easter and Christmas, ALL the airlines just take the Michael regarding the pricing at these times, "dynamic pricing" is the term they use I believe, bigger the demand bigger the price. Worth spending a little more money like you say, balancing cost, comfort and timings.
When looking for a flight I usually start off by checking Matrix to see what the best options are, this allows quite a few advanced options such as a calendar of lowest fares over a month, or /- 1 or 2 days, and setting the sales currency. Matrix does not allow direct purchase of tickets.
If you are live in Edinburgh, there is no point heading down to London for a cheap flight. China Southern have a non refundable / non changeable economy superdeal available from their website on the dates that you want for £462 return. The EDI-AMS leg being with KLM due to codeshare, The AMS-Guangzhou and Guangzhou to MNL are with China Southern. Outward is 19 hours, return is 22 hours. Same fare is available if you return from MNL on Sat 23rd, to arrive in EDI on the 24th. No idea what China Southern in-flight service is like, but they are a Skyteam member.
Just thinking, wouldn't it be awful if you had non-stop inflight Karaoke all the way from Amsterdam to Guangzhou.
