Wheels up

[top_secret 2,456]

Well, they made it out.  In the air bound for Singapore en route to Los Angeles.  Which may seem a counterintuitive route until you consider that from parts of Luzon it is faster and more convenient to reach Singapore from Clark than it is to reach NAIA by car.  A few hundred bucks cheaper too but mainly just more convenient.  As she was boarding the Scoot Air flight from Clark to Singapore it turned out that there are two pilots, four flight attendants, plus all the check in, immigration, security and the entire Clark Airport staff, baggage handlers, and crews to service an A320, which was the only flight at the time.... All in order to transport my wife, her daughter, and the one other passenger.  Bringing it to a total of three apparent passengers for the entirety of Clark Airport at the time.  It doesn't seem very busy.  But, they are on the way.  They made it out.

[flicks1998 1,044]

Congratulations.  Looks like everything has gone smooth.

 

I used to fly Scoot most weekends over a 3 year period between Manila and Singapore.  Nothing like flying from one of the worlds worst airports to one of the best.  The airline is good as well, its owned by Singapore Airlines.  Glad to see they are flying again.

[Adventine 3,201]

Congratulations!

[John & Rose 7,239]

Awesome.  Congratulations!

[Commish10 427]

10 hours ago, top_secret said:

Well, they made it out.  In the air bound for Singapore en route to Los Angeles.  Which may seem a counterintuitive route until you consider that from parts of Luzon it is faster and more convenient to reach Singapore from Clark than it is to reach NAIA by car.  A few hundred bucks cheaper too but mainly just more convenient.  As she was boarding the Scoot Air flight from Clark to Singapore it turned out that there are two pilots, four flight attendants, plus all the check in, immigration, security and the entire Clark Airport staff, baggage handlers, and crews to service an A320, which was the only flight at the time.... All in order to transport my wife, her daughter, and the one other passenger.  Bringing it to a total of three apparent passengers for the entirety of Clark Airport at the time.  It doesn't seem very busy.  But, they are on the way.  They made it out.

Congratulations. If we get the CFO cetrificate tomorrow, we will be right behind you

[top_secret 2,456]

36 minutes ago, Commish10 said:

Congratulations. If we get the CFO cetrificate tomorrow, we will be right behind you

Best of luck.  This seems to be the season for everyone getting the heck out of Dodge.

 

When we got the unique payment link e-mailed by the counselor, we ignored the notation there that very clearly says "credit card payment is not working" and tried the credit card payment anyways.  Quite astonishingly to me, the credit card payment did actually work and the temp certificates were e-mailed instantly.  The key is getting "the link:" from the counselor.

[Commish10 427]

28 minutes ago, top_secret said:

Best of luck.  This seems to be the season for everyone getting the heck out of Dodge.

 

When we got the unique payment link e-mailed by the counselor, we ignored the notation there that very clearly says "credit card payment is not working" and tried the credit card payment anyways.  Quite astonishingly to me, the credit card payment did actually work and the temp certificates were e-mailed instantly.  The key is getting "the link:" from the counselor.

Thanks. I tell her to tell the counslor to send her the link when they are done. Temporary Certificate? How do you get a pemanent one?

[Commish10 427]

44 minutes ago, top_secret said:

Best of luck.  This seems to be the season for everyone getting the heck out of Dodge.

 

When we got the unique payment link e-mailed by the counselor, we ignored the notation there that very clearly says "credit card payment is not working" and tried the credit card payment anyways.  Quite astonishingly to me, the credit card payment did actually work and the temp certificates were e-mailed instantly.  The key is getting "the link:" from the counselor.

How do I register her daughter? Do I have to use a different email? I tried last night and it said I could not use the same email. Also, wont it go to a different counselor?

[top_secret 2,456]

8 minutes ago, Commish10 said:

Thanks. I tell her to tell the counslor to send her the link when they are done. Temporary Certificate? How do you get a pemanent one?

Theoretically they send the sticker by courier and in fact they charge you P117 for the courier fee.  However, as far as I know they don't actually send the sticker.  Or if they do send the sticker, it is so belatedly that anyone would be long gone already.  So they e-mail a temp certificate pdf with a QR code that you print for immigration.

 

1 minute ago, Commish10 said:

How do I register her daughter? Do I have to use a different email? I tried last night and it said I could not use the same email. Also, wont it go to a different counselor?

You sign up your daughter with the "Pink" PDOS link.  I was not able to figure out a way to do it without a unique e-mail address for the child.  Use yours or create a Gmail or something.   Yes, it gets a completely different counselor but you just e-mail the requested docs  (passports, visas, PSA Birth Certificates, whatever they ask for).  We exchanged a couple of e-mails in real time with the counselor providing the documents and she sent us "the link" to pay.  It only took about 30 minutes from start, to paying and having the temp certificate for the daughter.

[Commish10 427]

3 minutes ago, top_secret said:

Theoretically they send the sticker by courier and in fact they charge you P117 for the courier fee.  However, as far as I know they don't actually send the sticker.  Or if they do send the sticker, it is so belatedly that anyone would be long gone already.  So they e-mail a temp certificate pdf with a QR code that you print for immigration.

 

You sign up your daughter with the "Pink" PDOS link.  I was not able to figure out a way to do it without a unique e-mail address for the child.  Use yours or create a Gmail or something.   Yes, it gets a completely different counselor but you just e-mail the requested docs  (passports, visas, PSA Birth Certificates, whatever they ask for).  We exchanged a couple of e-mails in real time with the counselor providing the documents and she sent us "the link" to pay.  It only took about 30 minutes from start, to paying and having the temp certificate for the daughter.

I thought no payment required for child? What did you enter?

[top_secret 2,456]

1 minute ago, Commish10 said:

I thought no payment required for child? What did you enter?

No such thing as a free CFO. It's P400 for each of them plus the P117 courier fee which you can combine so that is only paid on the first one.

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 hour ago, Commish10 said:

Thanks. I tell her to tell the counslor to send her the link when they are done. Temporary Certificate? How do you get a pemanent one?

Yeah, dont wait for the permanent one.  Its been almost 9 months and that one still hasnt shown up at the address we designated.  

[RO_AH 1,659]

5 hours ago, Commish10 said:

I thought no payment required for child? What did you enter?

Same as @top_secret for me. We never received permanent.

[top_secret 2,456]

Well, I'm heading to LAX in a few minutes.  The greatest challenge may still lie ahead.  That would be her coming up the ramp from baggage claim and Customs to the greeting area.  If you are familiar with LAX Tom Bradley Terminal, it's a one-story moderate incline switch back ramp coming out of the basement.  Where the challenge comes is that the wife is maybe 90 lbs.  But they each checked two 50-pound bags, 4 total, plus I'm quite certain they each managed 25 pounds of carryon and personal items.  Plus, repurposed Duty-Free bags (she discovered Duty Free bags are exempted from carryon weight calculations you know).   All meaning that we will have a 90 lb. woman pushing at least 250 pounds of luggage on a baggage cart up the ramp from Customs, where I could certainly see her and observe and offer encouragement but I cannot cross the greeting barriers and go down the ramp to help her out.  I think she has to make that one on her own.🤣😂

[seekingthetruth 1,248]

7 hours ago, top_secret said:

Well, I'm heading to LAX in a few minutes.  The greatest challenge may still lie ahead.  That would be her coming up the ramp from baggage claim and Customs to the greeting area.  If you are familiar with LAX Tom Bradley Terminal, it's a one-story moderate incline switch back ramp coming out of the basement.  Where the challenge comes is that the wife is maybe 90 lbs.  But they each checked two 50-pound bags, 4 total, plus I'm quite certain they each managed 25 pounds of carryon and personal items.  Plus, repurposed Duty-Free bags (she discovered Duty Free bags are exempted from carryon weight calculations you know).   All meaning that we will have a 90 lb. woman pushing at least 250 pounds of luggage on a baggage cart up the ramp from Customs, where I could certainly see her and observe and offer encouragement but I cannot cross the greeting barriers and go down the ramp to help her out.  I think she has to make that one on her own.🤣😂

There should be porters around who can help, for a tip.

 

Hopefully you are back in San Diego when you read this, and the long journey is over!

 

I'm curious about the flight.  How many PAX, etc., if you have time.  I saw that PAL is trying to sell extra seats so that people can book an entire row, etc.  48 hours before flight, $35 and up but I couldn't find actual prices by segment.  I figure that they have a lot of empties and are trying to generate some revenue from them.  I always look at the seat maps before a flight to see how full it is.  No need to pay if the flight is empty and if the flight is almost full, you probably can't get the seats anyway.

 

P.S., is that still the old terminal at Clark?  I assume so.  I think the new one is ready but they keep postponing because of what you said; no passengers.

Edited October 27, 2021 by seekingthetruth