Good J prices: EY MNL-Europe rtn

[Ric]

okay, my time to pose a question if I may. I booked EY when they were on special ex Germany, routing FRA-AUH-KUL and back for less than 1,800 Euro at the time. Outbound in late May, arriving KUL at 8.05, inbound mid-September, departing KUL at 9.45. This makes for two trips to Europe and to get back to and out of SYD, I picked up PR Business for $1,300 return.

PR has now cancelled the last flight of the day in September and instead of arriving at KUL at 11.45pm the day before the EY flights to FRA, they rebooked me to arrive in KUL half an hour after that flight departs. Obviously separate tickets and looking back, maybe I should have left more than ten hours but this is too late now.

I got in touch with PR to ask whether they will cover my hotel for the night, as the schedule change resulted in an overnight stay in MNL. One question would be if I would have to pay that travel/ departure tax if I enter the country and stay close to the airport, rather than just transiting?

The other option is to change my EY flights - they change flight times by ten minutes every few weeks so I can rebook to the evening flight ex KUL without penalty. But again this would require an overnight stay in MNL and I am unsure about the tax.

The other option is to cancel the second flight (SYD-MNL-KUL) and rebook on the cheap Air Asia/ MH direct flight, to give me an overnight stay in KUL before the EY departure at 9.45am. I hope this makes sense, apologies for the long message.

AFAIK, The Travel tax applies to Filipinos only.

 

[CMA222]

AFAIK, The Travel tax applies to Filipinos only.

Correct.

 

[clifford]

I think the 777’s have a tired cabin and I personally try to avoid them but some people don’t mind them

I don't mind them. They're 1-2-1 and not uncomfortable and beat the 787 layout where you have forward/rearward facing seats, and everyone is looking at everyone else. Also better than most 2-2-2 layouts.

But YMMV...

 

[SeanExile]

Thanks for the heads up on the EY offers from MNL. Booked them to Europe and managed to plans for a stopover on the return. Fantastic value for money and I look forward to the lounge in Abu Dhabi.

Now to an interesting question - what to do with the mileage accrual from this ticket?
I'm a oneworld lad, main account is with QR. I have never bothered with EY before nor do I have anything with Virgin Australia. Any good suggestions?

EY offers free usage of chat programs to those who are members of their FF programs, hence I enrolled, but that doesn't mean I need to credit my miles there.

 

[SYD]

Thanks for the heads up on the EY offers from MNL. Booked them to Europe and managed to plans for a stopover on the return. Fantastic value for money and I look forward to the lounge in Abu Dhabi.

Now to an interesting question - what to do with the mileage accrual from this ticket?
I'm a oneworld lad, main account is with QR. I have never bothered with EY before nor do I have anything with Virgin Australia. Any good suggestions?

EY offers free usage of chat programs to those who are members of their FF programs, hence I enrolled, but that doesn't mean I need to credit my miles there.

VA is possibly the best bet - points and SCs?

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If you make a habit of it, VA WP gets EY F lounge access in AUH.

 

[andye]

Thanks for the heads up on the EY offers from MNL. Booked them to Europe and managed to plans for a stopover on the return. Fantastic value for money and I look forward to the lounge in Abu Dhabi.

Now to an interesting question - what to do with the mileage accrual from this ticket?
I'm a oneworld lad, main account is with QR. I have never bothered with EY before nor do I have anything with Virgin Australia. Any good suggestions?

EY offers free usage of chat programs to those who are members of their FF programs, hence I enrolled, but that doesn't mean I need to credit my miles there.

I'd go with VA myself but if you have to go for a OW option AA. I can't find any good reason to credit to EY

I wad surprised to see LY as a partner

 

[Peter78]

On seperate tickets I’d be very surprised if PR would want to have anything to do with your scenario and it sounds harsh but I seriously doubt they will care about your situation as to them you simply have a return fare booked and that’s all. I’d suselect you will need to provide your own hotel and also pay any relevant taxes as you will need to enter the Philippines.
What are the fare rules on your PR tickets?
Will they allow you you to rebook, reschedule or even cancel without penalty?
Personally I’d be happy with a night in Manila and would wear the costs but everyone has different priorities, budgets or time schedules

I can now answer my own question, as I just got back earlier this week. As this is mostly around PR, there are two parts to this:

1. sectors just flown, KUL-MNL-SYD. PR cancelled their own KUL-MNL flight about a month ago and wanted to rebook me to KUL-MNL-BNE-SYD, with the last sector on JQ. I pushed back and they accepted a 1hr 5mins connection at MNL, using MH804 and PR211. Having never transited through MNL, I realise now this was a bit naive but a PR staff member was waiting for me at the gate and assisted me. My bag didn't make it and will be delivered today, no charges for this change and everything done via WhatsApp chat.
2. sectors to be flown in September, SYD-MNL-KUL. Etihad allowed me to change flights free of charge due to a schedule change so I now arrive at KUL about ten hours before EY departs to AUH and then FRA. This means an overnight at MNL between arriving from SYD and leaving for KUL but so be it, I remember seeing a list of recommended hotels close to MNL somewhere on the forum previously. And I will use the time in Kuala Lumpur to meet up with a friend so no problem.

A few words on my one and only PR experience, flight 211 on Tuesday night: extremely friendly service, great food and, best of all, the speed of service was amazing. Admittedly, I ate quickly to maximise my rest but my tray was collected 52 minutes after take off, and I had starter and main! I woke up 55 minutes prior to landing and was still offered full breakfast. Comfortable seat/ bed, too, overall compares very favourably to QF87 earlier this month, in all aspects. The flight arrived an hour early as well, the only non-premium aspect is arriving at a bus gate but this is likely not PR's fault. And at $1,300 for Business, KUL-SYD-KUL, a bargain. Now let's see how Wamos Air compares, PR has wet leased them for the Sydney rotations, including for September.