I just booked my parents-in-law to visit us here in Sydney thru Cebu Pacific from October 11, 2014 to October 4, 2015. Yes. That is a week less of being 365 days or 52 weeks or 12 months or 1 year.
If you will call an airline or try an airline online booking system now, and try to book or reserve a flight for a duration of 12 months or 1 year, you will most probably not be able to do it immediately.
How I did the booking?
From the time their tourist visa was granted last July 2014, one of the challenges is to find a flight booking that is cheap and can be booked for 1 year or close to that. A direct flight from Manila to Sydney will be a plus only but not required.
With the advent of Cebu Pacific flights offering Manila-Sydney, all other airlines seem to have been eliminated from our options. Cebu Pacific became our priority and number 1 option. However, booking a desired flight is not that easy back then.
Using the airline's online booking system, I tried for several time to booked my parents-in-law for 1 year but to no avail; their online system often time crashes with no enough error messages why the booking was not accepted. I also tried to call their Australian contact number for them to try and do the booking for me but the agents usual advice was that their system is not allowing them at that moment. I was expecting for more information or guidelines so I can call back for some other time to confirm the booking but that did not happen either.
Cebu Pacific Manila-Sydney A330 - The world's most densely configured airplane
I was fortunate enough to have encountered an agent that was accommodating and honest; she honestly admitted to me that using the dates I am providing, their online booking system really crashes. That's the time I asked a specific question about the limitation of their booking system. She mentioned to me about the 395-day between the booking date and the flight date. (Sometimes you have to ask the correct question to get the correct answer)
Inviting Visitors, Relatives and Parents to Australia
Using the 395-day limitation/information, I tried the online booking system again and was successful; the system did not crash.
Example:
Booking date = July 25, 2014
Departure Date = September 9, 2014 (1st day of Cebu Pacific flight to Sydney)
Return Flight date = August 25, 2015 (maximum / last date you can book using the 395-day limitation)
After finding about this limitation, I also tried booking for 1-way Manila-to-Sydney and Sydney-to-Manila and found out that the flight cost seems to be the same or close to the price of a return flight made in one booking or reservation.
With these information, in order to avail of the cheap flights this October 2014 and at the same time choose a seat for them, I immediately booked for a 1-way travel, Manila-to-Sydney for my parents-in-law. I then just booked for their return flight when the 395-day limitation has been met (that is any day after September 4, 2014 since our target return flight for them is October 4, 2015)
Please like and share so your friends and relatives may know about this.
If you will call an airline or try an airline online booking system now, and try to book or reserve a flight for a duration of 12 months or 1 year, you will most probably not be able to do it immediately.
How I did the booking?
From the time their tourist visa was granted last July 2014, one of the challenges is to find a flight booking that is cheap and can be booked for 1 year or close to that. A direct flight from Manila to Sydney will be a plus only but not required.With the advent of Cebu Pacific flights offering Manila-Sydney, all other airlines seem to have been eliminated from our options. Cebu Pacific became our priority and number 1 option. However, booking a desired flight is not that easy back then.
Using the airline's online booking system, I tried for several time to booked my parents-in-law for 1 year but to no avail; their online system often time crashes with no enough error messages why the booking was not accepted. I also tried to call their Australian contact number for them to try and do the booking for me but the agents usual advice was that their system is not allowing them at that moment. I was expecting for more information or guidelines so I can call back for some other time to confirm the booking but that did not happen either.
Cebu Pacific Manila-Sydney A330 - The world's most densely configured airplane
I was fortunate enough to have encountered an agent that was accommodating and honest; she honestly admitted to me that using the dates I am providing, their online booking system really crashes. That's the time I asked a specific question about the limitation of their booking system. She mentioned to me about the 395-day between the booking date and the flight date. (Sometimes you have to ask the correct question to get the correct answer)
Inviting Visitors, Relatives and Parents to Australia
Using the 395-day limitation/information, I tried the online booking system again and was successful; the system did not crash.
Example:
Booking date = July 25, 2014
Departure Date = September 9, 2014 (1st day of Cebu Pacific flight to Sydney)
Return Flight date = August 25, 2015 (maximum / last date you can book using the 395-day limitation)
After finding about this limitation, I also tried booking for 1-way Manila-to-Sydney and Sydney-to-Manila and found out that the flight cost seems to be the same or close to the price of a return flight made in one booking or reservation.
With these information, in order to avail of the cheap flights this October 2014 and at the same time choose a seat for them, I immediately booked for a 1-way travel, Manila-to-Sydney for my parents-in-law. I then just booked for their return flight when the 395-day limitation has been met (that is any day after September 4, 2014 since our target return flight for them is October 4, 2015)
Please like and share so your friends and relatives may know about this.
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