Air fares

[Tony Wilding]

as i said i find flying so boring, plus i have a fear of flying, but no choice, last time i flew to Colombo was ten hours, so i had a couple of drinks not long after take off and woke up somewhere over the Arabian Sea, shortened the flight, maybe same plan for this one.

[John Arton]

Tony
can only endorse what everyone else has said about Cathy Pacific. I used to regularly use them flying from the U.K. to Singapore when I was working out there and found them excellent, far better than Singapore Airlines.
Cathy is used heavily by the manning agents flying Philippino sailors out and home and in my experience the boys have always been well treated and arrived on time and with their luggage!
To ease the boredom make sure you take plenty of reading matter, have a few drinkies before and after the meals and you will be suprised how quickly the time passes.
rgds and good luck in your new life in Cebu, which was one of my favourite islands when I used to trot round there loading timber or veg oils. Also always found the locals and sailors from Cebu the nicest and best.
rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)

[Captain Kong]

Tony, if you can try and book your seat in advance so you get a good spot. there is usually a charge for that.
On a 747 Jumbo for the two of us I usually book the last row of two seats on either side, usually row 51 to 54. If you have a window seat in a row of three then you are stuck trying to get to the toilet, cant get past the other two especially if they are asleep, if you cant book your own seat then always have an aisle seat, you can get up anytime you want and walk around without disturbing any one. The centre seats are best for that, you would only have one person next to you to disturb you, on the side seats of three you would have two people disturbing you.
Sometimes it is possible to get a door seat, always an extra charge, so there is no one infront to drop their seat on top of you and you also have plenty of leg room. and no one to disturb you.
That is the best one in Working Class.
Enjoy the trip.
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

HI BRIAN, thanks for that, i was just on the phone to Cathay Pacific, i wondered why my E Ticket had not arrived, in all the excitement of booking i gave wrong EMAIL, OK now and i have printed my ticket, you can choose a seat but have to wait untill 48 hours before it leaves to do that, i will choose an aisle seat, easier for me to go to the loo, ! dont fancy being trapped by the window, cant see much anyway, only on take off and landing, all baggage is transferred to connecting flight at Hong Kong, then another Cathay Pacific plane, first one is a jumbo 747 series 400, then a 777 series 200, never flown in either befor, i presume the numbers denote passenger capacity allways wanted to visit Hong Kong, wont see much this time only there 2 hours, the floating harbour of Junks and Sampans fascinated me, but i expect all gone now, Junks have motors now, but would be nice to do some Red Star Ferry trips, still easy to get to from Cebu, my Lady there has never been off the Island , so a nice trip, about ten weeks to wait, thats the killer. regards , Tony W.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Tony, The seat row configuration on a Jumbo 747 is 3-4-3
on a 777, it is 3-3-3
.
If you are only in Hong Kong for two hours in transit then you will not get `ashore`, you will have to stay in the airport, inside of the Security `Curtain` just hang about. usually your baggage is transferred for you to the next plane
you do not see it. but check on it, it usually goes through to your destination.
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Wilding]

Hi Brian, yes , they confirmed i do not have to claim my baggage untill Cebu, just found a photo of a 747 and 777, sorry to bore everyone, but i am so excited about my trip, another adventure. cathay-747f-777.jpg

[Captain Kong]

Hope you have a good trip.
Cheers
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well Tony, just to confirm what the others have said CATHAY is one of the better airlines, flown them many times when living in the Middle East and working in Far East.

As Brian said on the 747 try and get one of the very back seats which are in pairs, always plenty of room and leg room. Getting a seat by the emergency exits now can be quite expensive on some airlines and sometimes have no chance if your over 60 as they say they want young fit people to open the doors, they don't seem to realise that some of us oldies are far fitter than younger fat forties. (sorry don't know your age so the foregoing observations may not be applicable)

Can fully understand your excitement entering a new life and a new world, the ten weeks will pass quicker than you think possible. We all wish you luck and happiness in your new life

Regards

Ivan

[happy daze john in oz]

Have not used a travel agent in years do all my booking on the net. Here in Oz if you do it thta way you can pre book your seat when you make the booking. With an agent you have to wait until you get to the airport.
Only flew Phillipines oince, Christmas day 1987 out of melbourne. Incoming plane in Manila delayed 24 hours so had to be put up in a local hotel. The airport as Brian said is the pits, staff are not sure what is going on at any time. Lost luggage there as well, but the hotel they put us up in was very good.
Interesting point on air fares. Flight from here to London, which her indoors does regularly, is more expensive than if some one from UK wants to come here.

[Tony Wilding]

Hi John, i did book my ticket on line, but Cathay Pacific told me when i phoned them the next day seat bookings cant be done untill 48 hours befor departure time, i have experienced that befor with other airlines, Manila Airport is classed as the Worlds worst Airport, thankfully i fly to Cebu, Cebu is totally different to Manila, Manila a crazy place, Cebu is in central Philippines , much more protected there from Typhoons and Tsunamis, my house there is in a high position, regards Tony W