Cheap Plane ride to San Francisco

[Tarmac]

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These planes will get you to Sanfo Nonstop from your hub departure point. Ex HK or Singapore. The A340-400 (or 450) can get you from Singapore to NewYork NONStop!

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I'm not sure but PAL used to stopover at either Hawaii or Guam...

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Have you tried Thai airways? check the website...

You must mean the A340-500 ultra long-haul aircraft. The Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Express. As a concession, Singapore Airlines' -500s have fewer seats onboard and more legroom. Carrying fewer passengers also means they can upload enough fuel for the 16-hour flight.

At certain times of the year, depending on winds aloft, PAL needed to make technical stops in Honolulu or Guam (it's now the latter). Then in the wake of the fuel crisis, when oil prices hit $150 a barrel, airlines suddenly tightened up on luggage allowance. Pinoys used to traveling with balikbayan boxes full of pasalubong found they had to pay for excess weight. Customers began traveling light and PAL suddenly found their planes were taking off much lighter. As much as 8,000 kilos lighter. That meant they could either take in more fuel or climb to higher, more fuel-efficient altitudes faster and consume less fuel. Now, even with headwinds, technical stops at Guam or Honolulu are no longer necessary.

Has Thai Airways improved much since 2003? I flew from Copenhagen to Bangkok on a Thai 747-400. That's about 12 hours. A block of around 30 seats had no electrical power. That meant no reading lights, no fasten seat belt/no smoking signs, no stewardess call button, no inflight entertainment. I even wonder whether that was legal... would the oxygen masks have deployed during a cabin depressurization event? Good thing we never found out.

[romantic_guy08]

Those two P&W-4090s on the Boeing 777 are pure power...love to their sound when they start rolling...

The A340 family though are for me the most beautiful aircraft in the world esp. the A345...but aircraft enthusiasts call those CFM engines hair dryers...hehehe...even those PR flights that depart an hour ahead of the 747s arrive only minutes of each other....



For PR, the mainly use their 8 A333 for medium haul flights (CEB-NRT, MNL-NRT (replacement for 747), MNL-KIX, MNL-SYD-MLB, MNL-SIN, MNL-HNL, MNL-HKG), High Capacity Domestic (MNL-CEB, MNL-DVO, MNL-GSN, MNL-PPS)

A330 is now one of the preferred equipment for medium haul flights especially the new generation...SQ recieved their A333s recently.



Btw, PR will recieve the first of their B777s by November or December of this year, the second one will be January next year...crew training for the B777 will start June...

[Tarmac]

Btw, PR will recieve the first of their B777s by November or December of this year, the second one will be January next year...crew training for the B777 will start June...

And nowhere to deploy the aircraft. Unless by some miracle the Philippines graduates from its Category 2 classification with the FAA, no Philippine airline will be able to introduce new routes or aircraft types to the United States. PAL will have to make do with their 744s and A343s.

The Philippines will not graduate from Category 2. Sure the ATO has been reorganized into the CAAP, but many say it's just a different collar. Otherwise it's the same dog, same fleas.

The 777s will have to be used on regional routes in the meantime, not really what they were designed for, or what PAL signed up for.

And to think the PAL 744s are overstaffed right now in anticipation of the 777s. Pilots are barely flying 40-50 hours a month nowadays, a far cry from the usual 80-90 before.

There's talk of Cebu Pacific getting A330-300s for Australian and Middle Eastern routes. Let's see how it pans out.

The problem with the A340, at least the first generation (200/300), is that the engines it was originally designed for were never produced. The CFM56s came in as a last resort. GE/SNECMA uprated them but the thrust levels were not quite what Airbus envisioned. Now the A340 is saddled with a reputation for being underpowered.

Some A340 jokes:

1) The A340 is the only aircraft certified for birdstrike protection... from the rear.

2) The A340 only climbs because of the curvature of the earth.

3) Q: Why does the A340 have four engines? A: Because the wings aren't long enough for six.

4) The A340 doesn't have an airspeed indicator, just a calendar.

[romantic_guy08]

^^

According to some PR insiders, if those T7s will not fly to the US, PR is looking at either the Middle East or Europe to expand its route network...there are also talks about expanding their Australian network to include Brisbane.

If 5J orders those A330s now, I don't think they will be getting them anytime soon...as I have heard, the A330 is now the preferred equipment for medium haul flights and orders have been piling up...

[Tarmac]

^^

According to some PR insiders, if those T7s will not fly to the US, PR is looking at either the Middle East or Europe to expand its route network...there are also talks about expanding their Australian network to include Brisbane.

If 5J orders those A330s now, I don't think they will be getting them anytime soon...as I have heard, the A330 is now the preferred equipment for medium haul flights and orders have been piling up...

Leasing companies have been seeing some A330 orders deferred or canceled outright because of the economic crisis. If Airbus makes Bupak a deal LG can't refuse...

Of course, talk of the A330 may have just been floated to nudge Boeing into giving the airline a better deal on the 777s, which is the aircraft the airline really wants in the long run.

But really, if Cebu Pac wants to venture into the Australian and Middle Eastern markets, they'll need to go wide body. A320s presently on the fleet are going to be marginal for those routes.

[romantic_guy08]

Leasing companies have been seeing some A330 orders deferred or canceled outright because of the economic crisis. If Airbus makes Bupak a deal LG can't refuse...

Of course, talk of the A330 may have just been floated to nudge Boeing into giving the airline a better deal on the 777s, which is the aircraft the airline really wants in the long run.

But really, if Cebu Pac wants to venture into the Australian and Middle Eastern markets, they'll need to go wide body. A320s presently on the fleet are going to be marginal for those routes.

Hmmm...actually Bupak is looking at those B772s that SQ is off loading...SQ will be selling those B777-200 daw once they recieve the A330s...

Btw, RP-C7773, the first T7 of PR will arrive by December this year, while RP-C7777 will arrive in January...

[Tarmac]

Hmmm...actually Bupak is looking at those B772s that SQ is off loading...SQ will be selling those B777-200 daw once they recieve the A330s...

No, that's no longer pushing through. That isn't the aircraft they need. A few years ago they also put down partial payments on SQ 744s and didn't take them up either.

Here's the report on the A330 deal. It's unverified though, and my sources inside say they're just as surprised as anyone. But this guy seems to have a source, probably within Airbus itself.

http://philippineairspace.blogspot.c...-of-brand.html

[kumanderBunhok]

Dude, 1 way ticket is equivalent & or a bit expensive than a RT tix's...what do you mean that their service is slow?


For me i prefer PAL above the rest been flying with them for years SFO-MNL vice versa and never a single instance that my flight has been delayed/cancelled and others...


Try china airlines maybe you can get cheap tix's...i wont compromise safety for cheap tix's..just my opinnion no pun intended...

goodluck!

my budget is of course 600-800$ and i wonder if any one knows a good travel agency or airlines here in cebu

PAL SUCKS because their service is slow and expensive, dont recommend me PAL

[blair]

nindota nila ah, ako kay mag pumboat ra ko padung san francisco ,camotes.

[romantic_guy08]

No, that's no longer pushing through. That isn't the aircraft they need. A few years ago they also put down partial payments on SQ 744s and didn't take them up either.

Here's the report on the A330 deal. It's unverified though, and my sources inside say they're just as surprised as anyone. But this guy seems to have a source, probably within Airbus itself.

The Exciting World of Philippine Aviation: 5J drops B777 deal in favor of brand new A330

Yah, I read that blog a few weeks ago...I believe that's arianespace's blog...he posts at skyscrapercity.com...

If Bupak really intends to fly to Australia within the year as their press release says, and if they intend to use those A320s, they would have to make a stop at Darwin before proceeding to either Melbourne or Sydney if these are the areas they intend to fly too...If its Darwin, am not really sure if there is passenger demand on that route... those A330s by the way are the perfect aircraft for medium haul flights...

Bupak when they decided to become and LCC several years ago was torn between getting A320s or the B717s...but, Airbus made them an offer they can't refuse for 5J to get those A320s instead...

Additional info by the way, PAL during the early 90s was the first airline in the world to operate the full line of next generation Airbus planes, from the A320, A330 and the A340...that's a long history of partnership between PR and Airbus...and Airbus is really keen on getting PR to order an A380 giving the flag carrier sweet offers to think about....

By they, rumos has it on PEX that PAL will have another set of promo coming really soon...