Striving to return to the top of the heap in the local air travel industry, flag carrier Philippine Airlines has unveiled a new promo that lets customers use their discounted tickets almost as soon as these are bought.
Its “book now, fly now” promo is being launched in the middle of the summer peak season when discounted tickets are rarely sold due to high demand.
“This bucks the industry trend of stipulating travel dates way beyond the promo selling periods—sometimes for as long as six months later,” PAL said in a statement.
“As a result, passengers have to endure a lengthy wait despite paying for their tickets in full, depriving them from enjoying the fruits of the promo straight away,” it added.
All promo fares are available for a limited period—April 8 and 9, 2013, only. But the tickets issued can be used from April 28 up to May 15, 2013.
The promo covers all nine PAL domestic routes and eight of PAL Express’ most popular domestic jet routes.
For PAL flights out of Manila, the promo base fares for one-way, economy-class travel are as follows: P688 to Kalibo; P788 to Cebu or Iloilo; P888 to Bacolod or Laoag; P988 to Tagbilaran; P1,788 to Davao and General Santos, and P1,188 from General Santos to Iloilo.
Those who opt to fly business class on any of these routes will enjoy a flat rate of P2,500 for one-way travel.
For PAL Express flights from Manila, there are only two promo base-fare categories: P698 to the Visayan cities of Dumaguete, Kalibo, Roxas and Tacloban, plus the Bicol hub of Legazpi; and P1,098 to the Mindanao points of Butuan, Cotabato and Dipolog. Both fares are for one-way, economy-class travel.
The new promo tickets, however, come with a caveat. As with most discounted tickets, “these fares do not include fuel surcharge, service charge and terminal fees.” They are also non-refundable.