Choosing the lowest airfare Manila-Bacolod (MNL-BCD) for September

Some important things just came up, and our scheduled flight later in the evening needs to be postponed. That meant giving up on our Airphil Express Manila-Bacolod (MNL-BCD) tickets that would take us home. The option of coming back to Manila came up but after weighing all the pros and cons, we decided it is more practical and economical to finish all pending tasks and transactions now than plan another trip and come back later this year.

Anyway, for a MNL-BCD flight scheduled for September, Airphil Express seems like a good option, with a base fare of Php989 plus taxes and other fees, the total airfare would amount to almost Php1800. However they only offer 10kgs free baggage allowance, and I’ve estimated our baggage to be more. If we upgrade to 15kgs, we will have to add Php400 for the additional 5 kgs, that would result to a total airfare cost of about Php2200. For Cebu Pacific Air, they have a base fare of Php979, plus Php150 for 15kgs baggage, taxes and other fees, which would amount to almost Php1900. Checking out the Philippine Airlines site, their online booking tool already shows the all-in fare at Php2035 which includes taxes and other fees with 15kgs baggage allowance.

Cebu Pacific aircraft at the Mactan International Airport - photo by bortescristian (flickr.com/photos/bortescristian/)

Choosing the lowest airfare requires a bit of computation and comparison; it also depends on the trip requirements, whether one is booking for flights to San Francisco or just within the country. In our case, we need the lowest priced e-ticket for a Manila-Bacolod flight with 15 kgs free baggage allowance. Now you know which airline we chose. 😉

While checking out the online booking sites of the four local airlines, I found out that Zest Air is no longer offering flights from Manila to Bacolod and vice versa. I wonder if this is just a temporary thing and they will reopen their Manila-Bacolod routes again. Early this year, I bought some ZestAir tickets scheduled for August, only to be informed later that they cancelled our flights, though I was given a refund. I’ve also noticed that Airphil Express has upgraded its online booking facility with a new, more streamlined look.

So, do you search for the lowest airfare when booking your tickets or do you go straight to your favorite airline’s website, not minding the cost?