$1210 J class round trip on PR MEL/SYD to S.E Asia

[Oxy]

Hi all, was exploring the new VA fares MEL-HKG and came across this from Philippine Airlines. R/T business (Z) flights from MEL/SYD to various asian destinations. Ones I have found include HKG, DPS, BKK, PVG, SIN & SGN.
Looking at the fare rules I found it is a 76th anniversary sale, with travel until 30th November, on sale until 24th March.

I haven't had time to study in detail & I don't know what the product is like, but is the 332 from MEL.

Enjoy!

 

[Metabourke]

The fare also appears to be available to TPE, HND, NRT, NGO, KIX and cough. The connections are not great on most flights to Japan, although there are some good connections to/from HND. Aircraft with the new Philippines business class seats are due on the MEL route from July and on SYD from August. Flight miles can be credited to Etihad Guest.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just to bump this thread - amazing value from PR. It's still seems to be on sale. Miles can credit to Etihad's FF program. Bargains include Tokyo (Haneda) return for $1200. Cheaper on some other OTAs. Selecting HND rather than NRT cuts out a long transit in MNL (bringing it down to about 3 hours). Connections back from various Asian ports can vary on different days, some with short transits, some longer.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Just to bump this thread - amazing value from PR.

True it is good value but I've personally had too many stuff ups and bad experiences to make me want to ever fly PR again.

When things go wrong on PR they really go wrong, and god help you trying to get things resolved over the phone or even in person at a PR office in MNL.

 

[Scarlett]

Was looking at these specials for a trip to TPE in the mid-year (Jul17) school holidays timeframe and had lined up flights SYD-MNL-TPE / TPE-MNL-MEL. Can't even remember how but ended up looking for other options on Google Flights and stumbled across the same promo J fares to GUM. Just booked self, mrs and Master Scarlett SYD-GUM rtn in J for $3600. Almost 5hrs transit in MNL on the outbound and only 2 hrs on the inbound leg so pretty decent timings. If I had confirmed time off later in the year I would have booked a second trip (probably the TPE one I was originally looking at) but no such luck.

Many thanks to the OP, seeing as I was probably going to spend ~$1K pp for whY seats somewhere for the same holiday period. Although I have noted comments about PR on this and other threads and won't be getting my hopes up much, especially with the current J recliners on the A340 used on the SYD-MNL legs. Guess we could hope for a 773 sub...

Anyone have any thoughts on best way to collect the miles for this trip? Current plan is to sign all three of us up for Mabuhay Miles and then 'family transfer' or the like, into a single account to redeem an award in the future. We don't have EY or NH accounts, but could get them if the PR flights would be better value being credited there.

 

[Limewood]

Make for an interesting trip report especially going on PR.

 

[Melburnian1]

Hi all, was exploring the new VA fares MEL-HKG and came across this from Philippine Airlines. R/T business (Z) flights from MEL/SYD to various asian destinations. Ones I have found include HKG, DPS, BKK, PVG, SIN & SGN.
Looking at the fare rules I found it is a 76th anniversary sale, with travel until 30th November, on sale until 24th March.....but is the 332 from MEL

No, it's the A333 from MEL (and occasionally from SYD, although mostly A343s ex SYD - there doesn't seem to be a regular pattern for use of the A333s occasionally to and from SYD.

I have been on PR in J between MEL and MNL: the seats are lie flat, configuration 2-2-2. I slept OK, and the food was very good, as were the attendants.

I haven't used the A343 J with the old recliner seats from SYD.

Hopefully as others note by mid to late year the refurbished A333s will be on both these routes.

The fares are indeed good value. I haven't experienced massive delays on PR: I've had worse on JQ and once on MI (latter was to another Asian destination not Philippines.)

If you missed out on this sale, there are still pretty good Y class fares on offer.

 

[Oxy]

Good to hear you could use this
I would look at sending your miles to Etihad. You would come very close to having enough to fly with VA short haul as per this table. Could always top up with flybuys if needed, though I think it's a minimum 4000 transfer.

http://www.etihadguest.com/Document...0020_Virgin Australia_Redemption Table_V2.pdf

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If you missed out on this sale, there are still pretty good Y class fares on offer.

Yeah The sale seems to have finished now. Fares were still available on Friday 31st.

 

[Oxy]

Yeah The sale seems to have finished now. Fares were still available on Friday 31st.

Just to let you know this one is back! Availability looks like June through to December. Destinations I have found are SGN, SIN, GUM, BKK, HKG, cough, NRT, PVG, PEK, DPS. No open jaws appear to be allowed.

 

[Limewood]

Cant find it, have a link?.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Cant find it, have a link?.

dates and prices available through googleflights.

 

[andy2015]

For travel in say Nov should I expect the A330 to be in use on the SYD-MNL leg or safer to fly via MEL? I'd have to position for either so doesn't really matter to me either way...

 

[kelezzay]

For travel in say Nov should I expect the A330 to be in use on the SYD-MNL leg or safer to fly via MEL? I'd have to position for either so doesn't really matter to me either way...

Yep, by November PR will be operating the refurb'd A330 from both SYD and MEL.

From August to be exact, the refurb'd A330's will operate the SYD to MNL route, retiring the current A343. There's a reference to this on AUSbt, and I'd post the link, but my post count is too low.

Cheers

 

[Melburnian1]

Is this fare available to MNL or to domestic Filipino destinations? I have a friend who is interested, but she only wants to go to Philippines, not another country.

I had a five second look on Google flights but it came up with a return J fare of about US$2500 which most certainly is not this deal.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Is this fare available to MNL or to domestic Filipino destinations? I have a friend who is interested, but she only wants to go to Philippines, not another country.

I had a five second look on Google flights but it came up with a return J fare of about US$2500 which most certainly is not this deal.

I don't believe so. The fare is cheap because of the on-carriage past the Philippines (much the same way that EK is more expensive to fly to Dubai only rather than connecting to Europe).

 

[Melburnian1]

To TPE I found it online at this airline's website as cheap as A$1173 return business class. It doesn't appear to allow a stopover in MNL or anywhere else (other than a compulsory overnight stay because there is no same day connecting flight) while with a quick search for later in the year I could not find it available for BKK or Japanese destinations. As Limewood said above, no open jaws appear to be allowed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

To TPE I found it online at this airline's website as cheap as A$1173 return business class. It doesn't appear to allow a stopover in MNL or anywhere else (other than a compulsory overnight stay because there is no same day connecting flight) while with a quick search for later in the year I could not find it available for BKK or Japanese destinations. As Limewood said above, no open jaws appear to be allowed.

Tokyo Haneda is available some Sundays and most Fridays from MEL from September to end of November.

3, 10, 22 November is available outbound MEL-BKK, with a 15 hour stopover in MNL.

I wouldn't expect the fare to be available for extended stays in MNL. This is for connecting traffic only.

 

[Melburnian1]

...I wouldn't expect the fare to be available for extended stays in MNL. This is for connecting traffic only.

Thanks MEL_Traveller. I looked up the fare rules on ITA Matrix: a $250 additional fare stopover is available in MNL one way from my reading. However I then tried to make a pretend booking and the fare reverted to a much higher one. That's very good value: two Asian countries for A$1450 or so if one can find a travel agent who is able to construct the fare.

Normally PR like a lot of legacy carriers will book one into a free overnight hotel in (its case MNL) if the stopover there is compulsory because there is not any same day connection.

A cheap way to explore Philippines would be to book domestic return tickets from MNL on a separate PNR to go to a pleasant island.

 

[Limewood]

So as I understand it say SYD/HKG with an 11 hour overnight forced layover PR would supply a decent hotel for the night gratis?.