This VTL things is specific to Singapore airlines and transiting through Changi airport I presume. You need to know in advance that any route that you book with a travel agent or an airline direct is checked all the way through to the final destination, i.e. you never have to recover your bags on any leg and go through check-in again, that way you are airside at every airport you pass through which is the proper definition of transiting I think. When you book with an airline direct on their website you will normally have your baggage cleared through to your destination and you just need to know the transit rules for each airport you need to transit through, 2 leg flights are best in this regard and at the moment the best I can find is Cathay Pacific but that airline is currently experiencing big problems in Hong Kong so a little bit nervous of booking with them just now, with a two leg flight you just need to find out the rules for one specific airport.
Thank you for the help. I'm still thinking about getting a flight with philippines Airlines direct to manila then to general santos, as this would save me having to get a domestic flight to general santos and all I would need to worry about is having my covid documents in order. Although the price makes my eyes water and it takes a serious dent into my budget, at the moment I think this is the only route I will feel comfortable about taking.
By all reports Philippine Airline flights from London to Manila are pretty awful, when the route first opened some years ago now they had decent aircraft like the Boeing 777 now according to some reports they service the route with ancient aircraft with no back seat entertainment system but instead a 1970s/80s style communal movie screen. I could not even find any flights on their site for any dates. Qatar via Doha seems straightforward COVID-19 Impact FAQs | Hamad International Airport (dohahamadairport.com) Emirates via Dubai is also straightforward but their flights prices are insane just now Tourists travelling to, from and through Dubai | Travel requirements for Dubai | Emirates KLM and any transit via the Schiphol in the Netherlands is basically a no-no KLM FAQ - Travelling by aircraft in the time of coronavirus - KLM and Checklist for transit or short stay in the Netherlands | Coronavirus COVID-19 | Government.nl Cathay Pacific no transit for the next few weeks Important information for passengers in transit at Hong Kong International Airport (cathaypacific.com) A lot of the sites above are out of date at this point in time but I would expect them to update within the next week or so the KLM TravelDoc site seems particularly out of date. Basically just do a google search for "(airline name) covid transit rules (transit airport name)" replacing the terms in the brackets with the appropriate info.
I think I'm gonna have a break down ......... this is apparently updated information. It seems to suggest if I enter philippines without a visa my movement will be restricted? This article was last updated Jan 28th. So for example if I enter with no visa I won't just be able to travel to my family house, I would have to go to an actual tourist spot ? ...... hope I'm wrong about this?
Can't remember when I last traveled with PAL but think would have been about 2015/2016 when sure that they used something like airbus 340 aircraft. Didn't have seatback entertainment but they did hand out iPads with entertainment options preloaded which was ok. Been long time since then. Google seems to indicate now airbus a350 now.
These are not official sites, all of the airline travel guides are currently out of date and not updated yet, I would not expect the guidance anywhere to be correct before the 10th of February and probably a week or so after that before they update, even the Philippine Embassy site in London is still applying August 2021 rules. Guide to the Philippines | Online Trip Booking & Local Tr... is effectively just a travel agent. Don't worry but don't go booking anything until after the 10th of Feb, I won't book anything for myself until after the 10th of Feb.
I've only ever travelled on Philippine airlines once and that was a last minute return flight from Cebu to Manila early Jan 2006 all I could get was business class which for the two of us came in at a total of 4700 peso at that time about 40 quid, the flight and business class service was very nice
I do remember someone mentioning that on here before might have been you but got a vague feeling one of the girls mentioned this long time ago.
The only thing I'm concerned about with waiting until the 10th is another possible price hike. I've found a flight that seems straight forward. Can u tell me if u see any potential problems with this route please ? Thank u
That's Doha so I don't see a problem the link I posted earlier seems to state that transiting through Doha is fairly straightforward. Seventeen hours total flight time is quite short, I've never been in Hamad airport so I can't tell you if 1 hour 40 minutes is tight connection but usually anything over an hour and a half is a pretty reasonable amount of time to get from arriving and getting off the plane to the next departure gate for the next flight. Should be fine. I would not worry about more price hikes I don't see Qatar dramatically raising prices they must have enough traffic to justify the price being that low just now, the pressure for really high prices is coming from airlines that can't fill the seats because of the restrictions that exist just now most airlines make nothing on the economy passengers and almost all their profit on the business and first class section and in recent years a little bit from premium economy and economy comfort sections. So the opening up is likely to encourage them to reduce prices to fill up economy so that the business class end becomes economically worth it again as an empty economy class means you are not covering the bulk of the base costs of the fuel and ground operations for each flight.
I only ever fly with Qatar airways. That's a good flight as long as you know your return there is to Gatwick The airport is very easy to navigate. 1 hour and 40 minutes is plenty of time for a connection flight. I've done it with 55 minutes connection time.
Both myself and another friend have used Doha and Qatar airlines and even through the connection time can be tight have made connecting flights most times. That said my friend had delay taking off from London and connecting flight had gone before he arrived in Doha. Got put up by the airline in nice hotel in Doha for the night and put on flight the next day. Also got to claim compensation for delays which paid for a fair chunk of the flight. Airline responsibility to get you there if bought as single flight and they should manage the connecting times when selling ticket.
Yeah that's why personally I would always book direct with the airline as even if they use partner airlines for connections they are responsible for your entire trip and for getting you on another flight if you miss a connection through no fault of your own, of course it's not their fault if you miss a flight because you get blind drunk in the transfer lounge I enjoyed watching the Dubai airport documentaries this last few years they have to deal with some horror story passengers
Me....again lol . I've been looking more into the VTL flights and it states that even though some flights might follow the same route, its not a VTL flight unless stated. So I was searching flights on Singapore Airways. And everytime I get the outbound flight is a VTL but the return flight never has the icon by the flight number ? Doesn't make me confident that the return flights are VTL as the first flight clearly has an VTL icon next to the flight number.
It's the leg that is VTL, you would be quarantine free if you were landing at Changi and entering Singapore but you are not doing that, although saying that the Singapore->Davao leg is by Scoot so I don't know if that means you need to enter Singapore and go through arrivals after collecting your bags before going to departures but I don't think you would be doing that. This whole VTL thing is something Singapore has cooked up it's all about travelling from various parts of the world to Singapore itself and right now they don't support flying from the Philippines and entering Singapore so that can't be VTL but that is not the same as transiting where you stay airside inside the terminals, you need to be looking at the transit rules not rules regarding entry to into Singapore, the reason the return flights are not marked as VTL is that you can't enter Singapore i.e. exit the airport groundside if you arrive from Davao. This is the transit info page for Changi I have not read all this but it looks comprehensive Transit Information | COVID-19 Advisory | Singapore Changi Airport There are rules akin to what I mentioned before about all the flights being on a single booking in order for transit to be allowed from a quick skim of the above link.
I see , so as long as I don't have to collect my bags and re-check in I'm OK to transit? There is no indication of that , and since Scoot is a partner of Singapore Airways this seems to be a possible route to take? Surely I wouldn't need to re check in as I'm booking with Singapore airline and Scoot is an official partner ?
Just read the terms and conditions of the booking in great detail, were those screenshots from the Singapore Airlines app or website or was that a travel agent site? Transit is where you remain airside and do not collect your bags or check-in again, they will tell you at the check-in desk in the UK that your bags are booked all the way to your destination they make a point of that and I have never had a booking where that was not the case.
