Getting the Mother In Law Across to the UK

What are the pitfalls in doing this? My wife's concern is that her mom can't speak any English so would struggle, especially if she has to change aircraft en route ( no direct flights thus far even though there has been talk of PAL starting up).

Let me answer that with my own story...

I don't have much experience in flying and I only got my first passport at the age of 54. I am quite severely disabled and need walking aids and my first flight was to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia at the start of the Russian winter. I travelled to see someone I had never met. I got to meet her whole family and have you ever tried saying no to a burly Russian ex-army officer when he offers you Vodka? Given I never touch alcohol I still could not say no. I then had to go to the sauna with all the men (never had a sauna before either) where I also had to drink beer and, like I said, I do not drink alcohol.

My next visit to Russia was just two months later - this time St. Petersburg, travelling alone again in the heart of the Russian winter. This time I met up with four ladies. The first was the one I had met earlier in Nizhny Novgorod but the other three I had never met before either! I can now tell you that it is not just Russian men who like sauna, Russian ladies do to!

After a second visit to St. Petersburg, I then travelled to Turkey to meet one of the ladies I saw in St. Petersburg. She had a rottweiler and a Jack Russel cross. I got to sleep in one room with the two dogs on the bed with me, whilst she slept in her room with her boyfriend. I went to see her again a few months later. She had another boyfriend by then so I still slept with the two dogs!

Oh, I nearly forgot, I also stayed with four Russian ladies in Brighton Beach, New York in late summer 1997. When they had gone to work (a local strip bar it seems) the landlord of the apartment let himself in and promptly stole my bed, so I spent the rest of the time in a hotel.

So, yes it is possible to travel to a foreign country and not speak, understand or read the language - you just have to be brave, stupid or know the people you are going to meet!

Firstly, apologies to John for my off topic posting. I promise to give some thought and reply to the original question.

But I could not help but laugh so much at the response of Howerd. Especially the above quote.
That was just what happened to me on my first business trip to meet with Russian Railways. The first two days I could not get to the office soley due to the quantities of vodka at breakfast. So many toasts and impossible to decline.
Also, the guy I was to meet was ..... well.... you know...... 'dodgy' and maybe dangerous. He insisted our meeting and discussion be held in a highly guarded sauna, just so he could be sure I had no weapons and was not wired. You have to be naked in that sauna.
Oh, out came the vodka again.
I spoke no Russian and he spoke very little English, but in our case he did speak good French and mine was passable.

I do enjoy alcohol by the way :vhappy:

I can appreciate what you are saying. Let me tell you this:

1] My daughter, when she was 19 flew to Russia, Moscow, on her own and spent a year there. However she was a Russian student studying Russian at Leeds University and this was her year in Russia. She likes Vodka too.

2] My ex wife flew out to visit her, on her own for about a week. I stayed at home looking after our son. Give the ex wife her due as she speaks no Russian whatsoever.

The difference with you and I and my ex wife is that we all speak English which helps us get by a little. I am not certain if my current wife's mother's Tagalog or Visayan is going to be of much use in Dubai or Amsterdam as she passes through. And she is almost 60 and without an ounce of a formal education and has never been out of the Philippines. She can cook great though!

BTW my daughter visited St Petersburg and loved it. I seem to recal she also visited the Caspian Sea and did the Trans Siberian rail trip to Lake Baikal and beyond, though with a companion.

I worked in Libya with an entire crew of Russians on a rig out there for about 4 weeks. None spoke english and I no Russian. They were fantastic chess players! But communication was very difficult.

If only she could get a direct flight.....

There are two issues that I think you need to review.
First. The visa category. Does you wife have her ILR yet? If she does then the family visit visa would be the way to go
If she doesn't then either you would be the main sponsor or your MIL should apply General Visit Visa.

Secondly, to be brutally honest it can turn out to be a very difficult and stressful experience if no English at all is spoken.
I don't mean to sound quite as negative as that appears.

To me there is the approach that relies on the chances that someone will help.
Or there is the route that utilises the specialised services of the airline to provide detailed personal assistance.
Personally I have taken that approach and it worked out wonderfully well.

Look, the chances are extremely high that travelling from Manila to say Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai there will be other passengers who are Filipino. They may not be connecting to UK but those airports I mentioned are very well organised and I'm sure she could find someone to help her get to the correct boarding gate for her UK connection. I would certainly recommend Singapore or Hong Kong.
Don't be tempted to to go for some of the cheaper flights in airports that might be difficult. (eg China)
Avoid those short connection times between arrival and departure.

I'm sure you know all this stuff John, so sorry if it seems I'm trying to offer needless assistance.

The other alternative I suggested is to seek personal assistance from the airline carrier.
Most of the 'good' airlines will provide personal assistance. Often there is a small charge (say $100) but they will identify her either before or during the flight and will escort her through the connecting airport to the boarding gate and the flight to UK.
I've used this with both Cathay Pacific (who charged $100) and I've also used this facility with Singapore Airlines who did it for free (maybe as I am a member of their Krissflyer loyalty scheme)
John call the airlines you fancy to use and find out what they do and how much it costs. They can offer a great service and take out all the stress and concerns.

Good luck. Let us know what you decide.

Thanks.

She doesnt have ILR yet. She has almost a year left.

No I didnt know a lot of that, not from a Filipina mother in law perspective.

Yes. I was discussing this one with my wife today. She would so easily be amongst Filipino OFWs and she is quite a gregarious woman so that could work.

Yes. Makes sense. I would try and go for Amsterdam or something, though I believe it is impossible to travel there in one shot now. If we could get her to Amsterdam in one go then we could meet her there.

This sounds like a good idea.

I fully understand John that it would be difficult for your mother-in-law to fly to the UK by herself. It was actually very difficult for me to go to Russia by myself and I am sure even harder for a lady from East Asia to fly to Europe. I know that others have a lot more experience to be able to answer your question, so I just though I might add a little humour to the discussion.

Micawber understands these Visa matters better than anyone else on British Filipino and everyone here is far better travelled than me. I was going to suggest exactly the same as Micawber and to fly via Hong Kong or Singapore. I am sure your mother-in-law would feel more more at home there with other Asians and there are sure to be Filipinos on the flight that could help her.

It would be good if she could get a direct flight from Philippines to some European destination where you could meet her as she would than have the potential assistance from an English-speaking Filipino until you actually meet her at the airport but I could find none on Skyscanner.

Direct flights from Hong Kong or Singapore to the UK are several hundred pounds more expensive than non-direct flights.to UK. and a direct flight from Singapore is a couple of hundred pounds more expensive than a direct flight from Hong Kong.

I am not sure how well your mother-in-law could use a smartphone but there are smartphone apps that will translate Tagalog into English. Worth a try if she feels comfortable using such a phone.

Yes. Thanks. However, my wife's mom isn't up with modern technology. She Skypes us but finds even that a bit challenging. I would say, thats the older generation for you, but both me and you buck that trend ( I would like to think, anyway).

You may well be right on the flights via Singapore and Hongkong. Though I did find a flight, last night, that was KLM Manila to Amsterdam / Manchester with what appears to be a short stop in Taipei on the same flight for about 1400 dollars. We would meet her in Amsterdam.

As you have discovered, John, KLM is continuing to fly between Manila and Amsterdam but no longer direct. This is solely to exploit a loophole in the iniquitous Philippine "Common Carrier" Tax whereby the Government collects 5.5% of the ticket revenue to the first destination after leaving the Philippines and is only levied on foreign airlines. As a ticket from Manila to Taipei is consider cheaper than one to Amsterdam, KLM saves a bundle but is able to continue with very high load factors. The stop in Tapei is for "full service" as no servicing whatsoever (not even fuel) is done in Manila now. The flight has, however, been re-timetabled and now departs Manila around 7.45pm and arrives in Amsterdam early morning. Depending on how far north it can go - to take advantage of the jet stream - it can arrive in Amsterdam earlier than scheduled.Almost all the passengers on that flight will be Filipino and most will be catching connecting flights to other European destinations so she should be able to get some assistance there. There will also be at least one Tagalog-speaking crew member also.As to meeting her on arrival at Schipol, whilst I agree that'd be a grand idea, it may prove a tad difficult. At Schipol, inbound flights go to the gate for their next departure and whilst the flight to Manila normally leaves from a gate on Piers A or B, it won't necessarily return to either of those Piers and in fact the pilot won't know his arrival gate until shortly before he lands. But as that aircraft would normally continue west, it will probably go to a gate on Pier C (flights to central and south America). If your local airport is served by KLM Cityhopper, then (almost) all the arrivals and departures are at Pier F.I suggest you and your wife prepare a note in English and tell your m-i-l to print it out and show it to one of the KLM ground handling agents on arrival at Amsterdam. It could read something like this:"Good morning, my name is {m-i-l's name} and I have just arrived from Manila on KL0808. I do not understand either Dutch or English and I have never ever flown before. I have to make a connecting flight to {UK airport} on {flight number} can you please help me to find the correct boarding gate. Thank you!"****PAL would love to re-start flights to Europe and now has more suitable aircraft (B777-300 ER) but is unable to do so as it and all other Philippine airlines are banned from entering European airspace due to safety concerns. It is those very same concerns that restrict the carriers to their current routes to and from the US. Cebu Pacific also intends to get its share of the lucrative OFW market and has plans for routes to Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the US. It has placed a sizable order with Airbus for A330s and A340s.

Thanks. Sounds a good idea . We were discussing this a little bit last night.

When my wife flew to the UK she flew KLM to Amsterdam and I met her in Amsterdam airport, just as she was disembarking. On that occasion it was easy and I had full access to the disembarkation gate but no further. I had to wait till quite close to arrival time to be certain what gate she was going to arrive at, although they had a rough idea in the lead up to arrival.

I am wondering if they actually disembark in Taipei or remain seated. But my thinking is, even if they disembark, it will be to a shepherded area in the Taipei terminal and also, as you say, the plane will be loaded up with filipinos.

Passengers are disembarked on arrival in Taipei on both the AMS-MNL and MNL-AMS flights as both stops are for around 90 minutes; they will probably be held in a transit lounge. KLM has withdrawn all ground services from Manila and the planes are now maintained, fueled, serviced, cleaned and crewed in Taipei. That means that the turnaround time in Manila has been drastically cut to about an hour (from around 3 hours). As I understand it, there's a "skeleton" crew who take the plane for the short hop to Manila and back to Taipei where the full crew join for the long flight to Amsterdam.

John..
My Mother in law came to stay with us for 6 months.. She speaks no English.
The family dropped her off at NAIA and helped her get checked in.. Within 5 minutes she met and spoke with 5 Filipino`s in the Queue.. They assured the family that they would guide her safely through the journey.
Everything went as smooth as silk.. One of these Filipino`s stayed with her through arrivals and the waiting area and delivered her to safely to us..
I recommend you encourage your Mother in law to do the same.

Thanks. Am building up a good strategy for her visit, now.

So on to the tricky bit. The visa.....

Presumably this will hold true in the MIL case?

As a very minimum a letter from her employer should contain information about how long she has been employed by that employer, what job(s), confirmation of the granting of leave of absence from her job for a specified period and stating when she is expected back at work.

I'd definitely recommend Cathay Pacific.

I should declare an interest as I once worked for Swires (wish I still did..) but their transfer arrangements at Chek Lap Kok are superb and they will certainly have a capable Filipina staff member available to assist your mother in law - you will be able to meet her at Heathrow.

Since I assume dates are non-critical their pricing should be not too far out of line.

I don't advise PAL/Virgin as the planes leave and arrive at opposite ends of the immense terminal and they don't seem to talk to each other much..

Possibly on account of the fact that they're at opposite ends of the immense terminal ... they may not even know the other exists!