Tips on booking affordable plane tickets to Ph

[Jujusmom 49]

Hello it’s me again (I hope I’m not annoying you guys). I’ve been looking at plane tickets and they are still pretty expensive. I am not an experience international traveler so Idk where to properly look at. I just wanna ask if you know any tips or suggestions on how we can score affordable tickets. I’m flying with my husband and our toddler and hopefully fly this Feb. I’ve checked Kayak and other websites but I just want extra tips from you all. Right now tickets range around 6k for all of us. And sadly that’s way out of our budget. Thank you! 

[midwinterrose 275]

I've found flights on Kiwi.com cheaper than on other sites.  They will mix and match airlines, so different legs of your flight might be with different airlines; sometimes you can save some decent money that way.

 

Flights in general are really pricey right now, and the prices only go up the longer you wait.

[Jamie and Richard 26]

I suggest checking out skyscanner and checking out tickets on Tuesday’s in an incognito window on your browser. I always find flights at a cheaper rate with this hack.

[Jujusmom 49]

21 minutes ago, midwinterrose said:

I've found flights on Kiwi.com cheaper than on other sites.  They will mix and match airlines, so different legs of your flight might be with different airlines; sometimes you can save some decent money that way.

 

Flights in general are really pricey right now, and the prices only go up the longer you wait.

Thank you! Will surely try Kiwi.com and I agree that the longer we wait it just keeps getting high. Last week we found a $3400 round trip ticket and my husband and I wanna punch our faces for not booking that right away. But back then we were waiting for the approval of his vacation so 🤷🏻‍♀️. Appreciate your tip! Have a great day!

[Jujusmom 49]

4 minutes ago, Jamie and Richard said:

I suggest checking out skyscanner and checking out tickets on Tuesday’s in an incognito window on your browser. I always find flights at a cheaper rate with this hack.

Hello! I will check skycanner again and will do your booking hack. Appreciate it so much. We really wanna go home so this helps a lot. Have a great day!

[Timona 4,207]

Use Google flights. Pulls information from all sites 

[Jujusmom 49]

21 minutes ago, Timona said:

Use Google flights. Pulls information from all sites 

Hello! I have google flights tracker notification so when there’s changes I see it. Thank you for confirming this is a good idea. Have a great day!

[Bob in Boston 701]

Too late for this tip now but book 7 or 8 months out. always cheaper like that. They make  up the difference by charging higher fares for the late bookings as you now know.

[jskibo 588]

Just looked at a flight I had been tracking on Google, Went from $1537, to $1917 to $2500 in the last three weeks.  

 

We ended up burning miles (75k each) for the four of us Thanksgiving through mid January

[Mick Jones 14]

On 11/19/2022 at 8:41 AM, Jujusmom said:

Hello it’s me again (I hope I’m not annoying you guys). I’ve been looking at plane tickets and they are still pretty expensive. I am not an experience international traveler so Idk where to properly look at. I just wanna ask if you know any tips or suggestions on how we can score affordable tickets. I’m flying with my husband and our toddler and hopefully fly this Feb. I’ve checked Kayak and other websites but I just want extra tips from you all. Right now tickets range around 6k for all of us. And sadly that’s way out of our budget. Thank you! 

I do a couple trips per year to Philippine,  I always book in October and March time frame tickets are pretty cheap then.

 

I never book thru a third party site like kayak, etc. I alway book direct with the airlines in case my flight gets delayed or postponed it easy to reschedule, plus I don't see any savings going thru a 3rd party site.

 

Good Luck.....

[AlaMike 231]

Not sure where you will be flying from in the US. 

I am in Alabama, round trip from BHM to MNL was about 1800 to 2000 for a flight that was around 24-26 hrs. There were some that were cheaper but I am not wanting a 43 hour flight with 12-14 hour layovers.

I found it cheaper to take a flight from BHM to SFO, then a 2 stop flight from SFO to MNL. In fact it was still about the same to take a non stop from SFO to MNL on Philippine Air.

Anyway check all search engines as well, Google filters out some available flights, I have found more accurate info on Edge.

[Jujusmom 49]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:16 PM, Bob in Boston said:

Too late for this tip now but book 7 or 8 months out. always cheaper like that. They make  up the difference by charging higher fares for the late bookings as you now know.

Hello! That's a good tip. Will do that next time we plan to go home and have plenty of time. Thank you!

 

On 11/19/2022 at 7:36 PM, jskibo said:

Just looked at a flight I had been tracking on Google, Went from $1537, to $1917 to $2500 in the last three weeks.  

 

We ended up burning miles (75k each) for the four of us Thanksgiving through mid January

Hi! I keep tracking flights on GF too and they just keep going up. That's a lot of miles but glad it worked for you. We need to start earning miles lol

 

On 11/21/2022 at 6:35 AM, Mick Jones said:

I do a couple trips per year to Philippine,  I always book in October and March time frame tickets are pretty cheap then.

 

I never book thru a third party site like kayak, etc. I alway book direct with the airlines in case my flight gets delayed or postponed it easy to reschedule, plus I don't see any savings going thru a 3rd party site.

 

Good Luck.....

Hello! I see a good deal for March but it's through Skyscanner. Will wait until Friday to see if we can score a good deal for the month of Feb. Absolutely with you on booking directly with the airline to avoid problems. We used to do that pre-covid but they are more expensive these days. Thank you!

 

19 hours ago, AlaMike said:

Not sure where you will be flying from in the US. 

I am in Alabama, round trip from BHM to MNL was about 1800 to 2000 for a flight that was around 24-26 hrs. There were some that were cheaper but I am not wanting a 43 hour flight with 12-14 hour layovers.

I found it cheaper to take a flight from BHM to SFO, then a 2 stop flight from SFO to MNL. In fact it was still about the same to take a non stop from SFO to MNL on Philippine Air.

Anyway check all search engines as well, Google filters out some available flights, I have found more accurate info on Edge.

Will be flying from DTW and also don't want over 30 hours of travel time per leg of the flight because we have a toddler. I will keep checking all the websites mentioned here and will also try Edge. Thank you so much!

Thank you everyone for helping me out. Appreciate your suggestions! 

[RO_AH 1,659]

One thing that I should mention search using incognito/private window mode with your browser. Also if you have remote access to a computer located in the PH search from there. These apply more for booking direct from the airlines.

[top_secret 2,417]

For me in San Diego, it is usually hundreds of dollars cheaper to fly from LAX rather than from SAN.  If it's a family x 3 it's a big deal.  I can drive 2 hours and park near LAX for $12 a day,  or I can rent a car one-way from my neighborhood Avis and drop off at LAX for ~$60.  So, always check from any nearby major hub cities vs your own city.

 

Also more recently, Singapore Airlines was hundreds of dollars cheaper than their competitors for Philippines to LAX.  I haven't actually carefully explained the geographic downsides of that to my wife or stepdaughter, but they were quite pleased with the quality of Singapore Airlines service.

[IWander 589]

4 hours ago, Jujusmom said:

Hello! That's a good tip. Will do that next time we plan to go home and have plenty of time. Thank you!

 

Hi! I keep tracking flights on GF too and they just keep going up. That's a lot of miles but glad it worked for you. We need to start earning miles lol

 

Hello! I see a good deal for March but it's through Skyscanner. Will wait until Friday to see if we can score a good deal for the month of Feb. Absolutely with you on booking directly with the airline to avoid problems. We used to do that pre-covid but they are more expensive these days. Thank you!

 

Will be flying from DTW and also don't want over 30 hours of travel time per leg of the flight because we have a toddler. I will keep checking all the websites mentioned here and will also try Edge. Thank you so much!

Thank you everyone for helping me out. Appreciate your suggestions! 

We flew MSP-DTW-INC-CEB on Korean Air.  Total trip time was less than 24 hrs including layovers.