Comments on: A Dirty Little Airline Ticketing Secret…

By: Marisa

Marisa — Sat, 30 May 2015 03:48:23 +0000

OMG! Thanks for the tip MM..

By: cats

cats — Wed, 13 May 2015 10:18:37 +0000

My mom and her sister traveled once on separately bought tickets and during check-in, even though they were together, the lady at the counter said that they cannot combine the baggage allowance and will have to weigh them separately according to ticket since they were not purchased together! It doesn’t make sense! Maybe this is why they charge higher for tickets bought at the same time?

By: Nadia

Nadia — Fri, 01 May 2015 09:20:52 +0000

I also found out that, in some instances, it is cheaper to get 2 domestic one-way flights than 1 roundtrip flight for the same destination, date and details…by as much as a few hundred pesos. Go figure!!!

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 07:55:15 +0000

I got this in my email the other day before reading this post, lol, they were on to you MM:
FW: Travel to Manila together and get as much as 30% OFF!
Fr: Philippine Airlines Promos

By: Mart

Mart — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 17:36:44 +0000

For those in the US that haven’t heard the news, there is a website that found a quirk in booking flights; for some cases, if you book one leg more than your original flight, the total cost is cheaper. So you book your flight with one leg more then just skip the last leg of your trip. Totally legal. But the guy who found out is being sued by United Airlines:
Here is his crowdfunding page to find some funds to fight the lawsuit:
https://www.gofundme.com/skiplagged

Apparently, some of the travel agencies already know this trick and it has been exploitable for a decade or more. But of course, the skiplagged website effectively makes this exploit easier to do (i.e. don’t need an agent who knows about it) and makes the exploit more well known to public awareness.

By: Pam

Pam — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 10:09:00 +0000

Eeeps! Now this explains so many things! Thank you for the tip, MM!

By: Rachiel

Rachiel — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 07:43:29 +0000

My oh my! This is good information that cannot be ignored. Thanks for the tip MM!

By: Mylene E.

Mylene E. — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 04:56:41 +0000

We are a family of 5 and if I search for tickets using that number (either PAL or Ceb Pac), almost always there are no promo fares available anymore. I usually split the group in 2 – 1 booking of 3 and another booking of 2. That’s when I get friendlier fares – I did not know that it gets even lower if you book one at a time hmmm I should try this the next time.

By: Chiechay

Chiechay — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 18:07:41 +0000

I spend a lot of time trying different combinations to get the cheapest fare. In PAL’s website, I have noticed that if you book for 2 pax, if only 1 slot is available for a cheaper fare, you’re automatically quoted the next higher fare for both passengers. This applies for larger groups as well. So like you MM, I’ve had to separately book 1 or more passengers just to get the cheaper fare.
Another thing we noticed while buying our US tickets online was that the quoted fare was $400 cheaper per pax when compared to the fare quoted by PAL ticketing office! What we did was book and reserve online, then we paid in USD at a PAL ticketing office.

By: denise

denise — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 06:29:26 +0000

MM, you are most definitely a good candidate for the exit row seats since you are tall and will be profiled as someone who can open the exit door in case of emergencies.

For the pricing differences, it’s just frustrating because most people have no choice or are uneducated with these workarounds. They lure us with seat sales or discounts and it ends up being more expensive. It’s like those “sales” in the malls, where they hike the price a week before the sale and so when they give you the “discount” it’s the actual price 2 weeks before the sale!

Although there are still some airlines who have good deals online, example is how Emirates kills us during their sales because we can’t match their price offline, and we are their sister company!