Yeah the flight does fly quite empty on the MNL->TPE leg, last time I flew KLM it was a miles trip and probably my final business class flight, the back was not busy and the front was pretty quiet too, but as you say it got a lot busier in Taipei .
I miss the sales, they used to have lots of sales and used to have business class flights for £1200 when normal economy flights only cost £700, it was worth it in those days for the mileage and status accumulation.
Got it back again (edited out the actual dates but easy enough to work out) one pound dearer than last night, what interests me is that I have been messing around with their web app for about an hour, at the start this was portrayed as a £611 outbound and a £137 return now it is the same price but it is back to £748 and £0 and a lot of the other date combinations actually increased in price while I was browsing, the program is definitely adaptive. I'm waiting on a reply from my boss as these dates will leave me with -1 or potentially -2 days of annual leave and I've asked him if I can work extra to make up the lost time before trying again. And now I tried actually booking this and it comes up with this, actual prices change minute by minute in this thing
I was going to just book it last night or rather early this morning because I was at the tail end of a bottle of wine and in the mood of what the hell I have a very well paid senior position but the one thing that is crap about my employer is the annual leave allowance, for most of the last 9 years it was 22 days plus public with 3 to 4 days explicitly reserved for Christmas. I had more than that in 1986 when I worked for the SSEB. It has improved this year in that they finally introduced a service based increase of up to 4 days, 1 extra day for each 5 year period of service, and the informal 1/2 day early close at Christmas was turned into an extra formal day so the basic leave allowance is now 23 days and with my 9 years service at the time that becomes 24 days, I carried over 5 from last year and 4 of them are being carried over to 2019-2020. Even with that and qualifying for an extra day after April I am short of days for the two trips I want this year, and I will have nothing left for some other things I would have liked to have done in the UK either
i find that the best time to buy tickets is about 4-6 weeks before your departure date. Except in peak times like July-August, xmas and chinese new year when its best to book much earlier. I start off looking at websites like www.secretflying.com that have some outrageously cheap fares on selected flights (limited number to Philippines), then check out www.skyscanner.com. If you are flexible with dates, you can save hundreds of pounds !
Since reading this thread I have been "lurking" on the KLM website, watching prices and availability for next Christmas. Today I booked Leeds to Manila, out late November, return mid February, Cost £509 minus £80 on my return date = £429 Added my favourite seats to give a total of just under £500. One big advantage of early booking is that almost every seat on the flight is available for selection. Sorted! Note, this is KLM flights all the way. Many of the lower cost Manila fares I checked on the KLM website seem to be interlining the connecting leg into Manila either from Singapore with Singapore Airlines, or Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, this might seem more interesting than just getting off the KLM flight for 90 minutes in Taipei, however it could possibly complicate online check-in and seat selection. (No Cancellation allowed, change for £120 + fare difference.)
You have the advantage of long timespans, departure dates dramatically affect overall flight price, earlier the better (prior to major holidays) but also returns more than 4 weeks are usually cheaper, my problem is I really only want 3 weeks but would have stretched to 4 to get the price, still too expensive today. November departures are always well priced on KLM.
i am looking at 2 weeks away - from 21st Dec to 3rd January.. cheapest price for me and li'l one is £1500+ with 2 stops and under multiple airlines.. too long! will keep looking
Just had a quick look Air China can do those dates for £825 thats good for the dates you want with Only one changeover, Longish wait on the way out but only around 1 1/2 hour wait coming back, I doubt you will beat those prices.. Iv used Air China previously, i would rate them as average.. https://www.skyscanner.net/transpor...lse&inboundaltsenabled=false&ref=home#results If you are flexible with those dates ie a day or so, you can take another good few quid of those prices.. https://www.airchina.co.uk/CAOnline/dyn/air/booking/availability Be quick not many seats left at those prices.. https://www.airchina.co.uk/GB/GB/promotion/travel-product/?CAMPAIGN_ID=UK_72and144hours_TP
Florge will likely need Manchester as the departure airport, Korean Air is starting to get cheap for those dates, I will need to look into that. That whole not many seats left thing is just them bending the truth, Klm were changing pricing on seats in front of my eyes and when I got to look at the seats they had sold at most one or two on the whole aircraft
Saw Korean Air too.. and Oman Air as one of the cheapest, but on 2 stops.. looking at a fly now pay later scheme as I dont have cash to spare at the mo, unless paying by credit card.. still looking at other options.. will wait a bit more..
Interestingly that low Korean Air price is not available for single travellers like me, for me it is still a few hundred extra. And like you I don't really have the cash just now, I've got the cash for a £600 flight even maybe £700 but not £950 or £1000. For me there is a flight in December where if I return on the 31st the price is less than £600 but I would really rather return on the 2nd or 3rd, I could book this and just accept the additional fees later in the year to change it or I could just wait, the reality is that there should be a £1300 flight available all the way up to Sept, Oct time or maybe later and while I don't want to pay that much I could wait in the hope that there is a better discounted price available around May to July. Decisions, decisions
By the way, the prices i quoted above are for 2 people not just a single fare, so at just over 400 quid at that time of year is brilliant..
Yeah it is brilliant that's why the quote of £839 this morning for just me on those same dates is disappointing, I would actually consider driving down to Heathrow rather than travelling from Manchester in order to get that kind of price as the cost of driving and parking is a deferred cost that I will be able to afford in December. The best price for me for the dates I want (earlier departure) is £624 with Air China so they are a possibility if I am willing to drive to Heathrow but I think I will wait a bit longer before deciding now.