Domestic Airfares in the Philippines

Air fares in the Philippines are often advertised with very low prices, much the same as many other countries, but today I am just looking at the Philippines.

Flights on Cebu Pacific caught my attention today with these 399 Pesos specials:

• Manila to Dumaguete,
• Manila to Kalibo,
• Manila to Legazpi
• Manila to Naga
• Cebu to Boracay (Caticlan)
• Cebu to Puerto Princesa
• Cebu to Camiguin
• Davao to Kalibo
• Iloilo to Puerto Princesa

Here is an actual booked example of a 1 hour local flight from Manila  to Legazpi. (The PHP 399 special didn’t apply for my travel date!!)

Initial Price for selected date: PHP 1,699

I began the booking process, and the price immediately increased to: PHP 2,438.88 with the addition of 739.88 Taxes and Fees.

Then after accepting that, and putting in the passenger details, the price changed to PHP 3,123.28…..

So, I then delete the Travel Insurance, and that went down by PHP 250
Then I delete the Baggage charge, as I will only have hand luggage and that saves another PHP 300
So we are down to PHP 2,573.28.
This is PHP 134.40 more than the original tax inclusive price I got, made up of:

Web Admin Fee – manual: 120.00
Other Taxes: 14.40

The final TOTAL charge is made up of the following:

Base Fare: 1,699.00
Fuel Surcharge: 300.00
Passenger Service Charge (LI): 165.18
Manila Aviation Security Fee: 15.00
DPSC Value Added Tax: 19.82
P H-VAT: 239.88
Web Admin Fee – manual: 120.00
Other Taxes: 14.40
Total Amount: 2,573.28

This ended up at 51% more than the original advertised price.

It isn’t always around the 50% extra, especially with the special 1 Pesos flights 🙂

I did get an 88 Pesos flight once, and the price ended up at 832 Pesos, about 900% more, but still a VERY good price.

That reminds me, I must check where the current 1 Pesos flights are going ….