US to Philippine airline carriers (ticketing issues)

[spicynujac 43]

Does anyone else consistently have ticketing issues booking international flights to the Philippines?  I've been on Turkish Airlines and China (Taiwan state carrier) Airlines the most.  I've also done EVA Air and Starlux (both Taiwanese), though the latter only flies regionally, or to the US west coast.  I think I've done China Eastern once.  Prices ranged from $1,000 to $1,250 R/T (if you know how to search--ITA Matrix and Skyscanner are your friend).

 

However, recently the major carriers I use won't issue tickets for the quoted price.  Turkish Airlines refuses to show itineraries from ATL to CEB, even though they still advertise that route. 

Flights From Istanbul to Cebu | Turkish Airlines

EVA Air and China Airlines both give errors on checkout that the ticket cannot be booked (recurring over several days).  I tried booking their flights through a third party site like Orbitz and the same thing.  The flights and prices display but when you try to check out, it won't issue a ticket.  (It's before entering credit card info.  You can duplicate the error with bogus names on any computer and see it won't reserve the ticket.  So it's a reservation or ticketing bug on their end.  For example, EVA AIr says Some error occurred during the booking process. System is temporarily unavailable.)

 

I've had this issue before, but usually if you tried again for several days, it would work, but not this time.  I travel frequently internationally, and used to work in the industry, but for some reason these flights to Asia can be difficult to book.  I flew to Tokyo 3 months ago through Canada's Westjet and had similar issues where the priced itinerary wouldn't ticket for several days, and then finally worked one day.  

 

By the way Turkish Airlines was by far my favorite.  They offer a free tour of Istanbul or a free NICE hotel room on stopover, and you get to break up your trip into two 10 hour segments, making it much more manageable.  The food both onboard and in Istanbul is excellent and the carrier experience is good, unless something goes wrong, in which case you'll wish you didn't fly Turkish, but overall it's generally better than using the American carriers.  They have had extremely long check in lines in Cebu though.  Like almost 2 hours standing in line. I don't even know how it's possible to check people in that slowly.

 

I can always pay more and fly westward via Philippine Air, I guess (for more money and their domestic service makes me hesitate) but I'm curious if anyone else is having these issues.  There are few choices of routes which have tolerable layovers, which are basically the Taiwanese carriers, so I'm down to the final option of considering using Spirit or Frontier to connect to the west coast (even if it goes well, you must pay for ALL luggage, and self-transfer through security at the connecting airport!).  Has anyone gone this risky route?

 

Oh, I should add I used to go via Qatar Airlines which also had nice service and a free stopover option in Doha, but for the past couple of years their pricing has not been competitive.

 

Edited February 5 by spicynujac

[RO_AH 1,667]

My last flight I used JAL, I had no issues. If you are having issues you can also try opening an incognito window for your browser to see if that will fix the issue.

[EatBulaga 408]

@spicynujac have you tried calling the airline directly to book a ticket?

[Edward and Jaycel 793]

5 hours ago, RO_AH said:

My last flight I used JAL, I had no issues. If you are having issues you can also try opening an incognito window for your browser to see if that will fix the issue.

JAL has been my favorite by far

[JeanneAdil 6,701]

Travel agent may be able to access the itinerary and their service is free 

[top_secret 2,550]

6 hours ago, EatBulaga said:

@spicynujac have you tried calling the airline directly to book a ticket?

 

 

This.  ^^^   They might charge you an extra $10 or $20 for ticketing over the phone but they can usually book any oddball itinerary you can come up with at whatever the published fare is.  For Turkish Airlines specifically I have also found that the ticket office in Manila can get stuff done and get prices that even the phone reps in Istanbul cannot do. Try e-mailing ticketing@thy.com.ph .  Though that was for outbound from the Philippines so I cannot say if they have the same options for flights originating from the US.

[spicynujac 43]

JAL is very nice but they don't fly to Cebu.  China Airlines will ticket over the phone but it was $100 more...  Had no luck this morning but tonight it worked!  $1266 R/T to Cebu.  Just gotta keep trying for a week or two... maybe the same guy programmed USTravelDocs? :D :D

 

But I've had luck in the past calling the airline directly.  Sometimes even with a nice surprise on the price. 

 

[Talako 790]

8 hours ago, spicynujac said:

JAL is very nice but they don't fly to Cebu.  China Airlines will ticket over the phone but it was $100 more...  Had no luck this morning but tonight it worked!  $1266 R/T to Cebu.  Just gotta keep trying for a week or two... maybe the same guy programmed USTravelDocs?

 

But I've had luck in the past calling the airline directly.  Sometimes even with a nice surprise on the price. 

 

 

As a general rule, I try and stay away from airlines with "China" in the name.

 

Between the hassle in China and the rough nature of the clientele, there are better options.  

[top_secret 2,550]

5 hours ago, Talako said:

As a general rule, I try and stay away from airlines with "China" in the name.

 

Between the hassle in China and the rough nature of the clientele, there are better options.  

 

"China Airlines" is Taiwanese and while not the absolute best airline in Asia they are certainly very good and far better than any US based airline. Taipei is a very easy and efficient hub for a layover and I have always found their Taiwanese clientele to be mostly very polite and well behaved.  The airlines with China in the name and the rough nature of the clientele to which you probably refer would be the mainland CCP airlines, Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern.  All VERY different from the friendly Taiwanese China Airlines.   

[Talako 790]

22 minutes ago, top_secret said:

 

"China Airlines" is Taiwanese and while not the absolute best airline in Asia they are certainly very good and far better than any US based airline. Taipei is a very easy and efficient hub for a layover and I have always found their Taiwanese clientele to be mostly very polite and well behaved.  The airlines with China in the name and the rough nature of the clientele to which you probably refer would be the mainland CCP airlines, Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern.  All VERY different from the friendly Taiwanese China Airlines.   

Haha, I knew there was one exception that I would be called out for.

[DELTAFOXTROT 78]

On 2/6/2025 at 3:57 AM, Talako said:

 

As a general rule, I try and stay away from airlines with "China" in the name.

 

Between the hassle in China and the rough nature of the clientele, there are better options.  

 

I agree 100% I stay away from any airline with China in it's name.  Once you get inside China it isn't a place you want to be or deal with a country that can't speak English

 

Very very hard to understand the staff on the plane to even understand what they are serving for meals.

[Crazy Cat 42,563]

  China Airlines is a Taiwanese airline....nothing to do with People's Republic of China.

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Fun Fact:  The actual name of Taiwan is Republic of China.

Edited February 10 by Crazy Cat