Philippine Airlines (PAL) is running a new “No-Frills” to all PAL domestic flights and selected Asian destinations. Promo ticket prices are only available for purchase through the PAL website. Below are the applicable routes and fares.

International Round Trip Fares (excluding taxes, surcharges and airport terminal fee). Valid for selling, ticketing and traveling until March 29, 2010 only.

* For as low as USD $48 (with PBWEB Fare Basis) / minimum 2 days and maximum 8 days of stay (between Manila to Ho Chi Minh* / Hong Kong / Jakarta, Indonesia / Singapore). * Not available for Ho Chi Minh to Manila.

* For as low as USD $58 (with PBWEB Fare Basis) / minimum 2 days and maximum 8 days of stay (between Manila and Bangkok, Thailand / Macau)

* For as low as USD 68 (with PBWEB Fare Basis) / minimum 2 days and maximum 8 days of stay ( between Manila and Taipei, Taiwan)

* For as low as USD 98 (with PBWEB Fare Basis) / minimum 2 days and maximum of 8 days stay ( between Manila and Shanghai, China)

* For as low as USD 188 (with PBWEB Fare Basis) / minimum 2 days and maximum of 8 days stay (between Manila and Beijing, China)

Note: International fares will be quoted in the currency of the country of departure except for Philippines and Indonesia where fares are quoted in USD$.

* For as low as USD $78 (PWEBSGN) / minimum 2 days and maximum of 8 days stay (from Saigon, China to Manila)

Domestic one-way All-In Fares valid for sale, ticketing and travel until further notice (excluding Aviation Security Fee (ASF) and airport terminal fee ).

* For as low as Php 488, between Manila and Laoag

* For as low as Php988, between Manila and Legazpi, Albay/ Cebu / Iloilo

* For as low as Php1,088, between Manila and Bacolod / Dumaguete / Kalibo, Aklan /
Puerto Princesa, Palawan / Roxas, Capiz / Tacloban, Leyte / Tagbilaran, Bohol

* For as low as Php2,088, between Manila and Butuan / Cagayan de Oro / Cotabato /
Davao / Dipolog / General Santos / Zamboanga

The Civil Aeronautics Board ranked Cebu Pacific Air as the Number 1 domestic airline. To celebrate this honor, Cebu Pacific is offering 50,000 tickets for free. Yes, you read that right — absolutely FREE.

This promo is only available online. Those who signed up for the Seat Sale Alerts get to know about this promo ahead of the rest.

Fly for absolutely free — as in Php 0.00 (all-in) without any check-in bags (Go Lite) . If you do decide to bring check-in bags, you just pay Php200 (all-in).

The seat sale starts today until September 21, 2008 and is valid for travel from October 16 to December 17, 2008.

Haven’t flown for quite a while now. Much of my recent travels involved land trips because I feel that I could get much more out of it. While taking an airplane is definitely more convenient, I get to take a lot of pictures of people and places along the way when on the road.

My vacation in Iloilo and Guimaras last month was a relatively short one so instead of taking the Roro, I opted for the 45-minute airplane ride. For quite some time, I always prefer Cebu Pacific Air because they are cheaper. However, their flight schedules are way off — either too early in the morning or too late in the afternoons. On top of that, their online ticketing service wasn’t working when I tried to book a flight thru their website.

Thus, I went with Philippine Airlines.

I was surprised that their new planes, the Airbus A320, are much better now compared to the old Boeing 737′s that they have. The seats are a bit wider with more spaces in between rows. The airconditioning system has improved and you get the experience of having cool fog flowing thru the aisles during the trip.

PAL’s new carriers are now more comfortable than ever. If only they’d serve better meals/snacks in-flight.

I will be visiting my folks back in Iloilo next week so while scouring the websites of several domestic airlines for a cheap airplane ticket, I got frustrated with the way they handled online booking and went back to the traditional way of ticket reservation.

I ended up taking a PAL flight as they got better departure times than Cebu Pacific or Air Philippines (though Air Phils is already under PAL right?)

Anyway, while waiting in line, I got a brochure for one of their PALakbayan promos. For as low as Php5,350, you can get a round trip from Manila to Iloilo with 2 nights twin accomodation at one fo the standard hotels in the city. The promo includes Manila-Iloilo-Manila route by Philippine Airlines (Fiesta Class airfare), airport-hotel-airport transfers, and daily breakfast. Extra nights are charged Php510 each for twin beds.

The regular round trip ticket that I got cost me Php4,920 so this PALakbayan promo is quite cheap, but I’m off to Guimaras the whole time so I wouldn’t need the hotel accomodations.

Promo ends March 31, 2006.

More stories about Iloilo and Guimaras when I get back from the trip.