10 Effective Secrets to Scoring Insanely Cheap Flights During Seat Sale Promos

By vivomigsgee in Features Travel October 18, 2019

“Batanes for Php 4,600 round trip (RT) airfare, that’s cheap! Where to find it?”
“Piso Fare to Japan, Bangkok or South Korea, that’s insane! Tip please!”
“How on earth you book RT flights to Australia for just Php 8,700?”
“Camiguin for less than Php 1,000 RT, that’s a great deal! HOW???”
“I was up all morning looking for cheap flights to Dubai and sadly I failed, while you got yours just now for Php 2,900 RT? What’s your secret?“

I’ve been bombarded with a lot of questions lately regarding how I scored cheap flights to both local and international destinations. The answer is simple – seat sale! Regardless of whether you’re a seat sale hoarder or someone who’s just about to enter the world of travel, one of the best budget travel tips is to watch out for seat sale promos. As flight costs comprise a significant percentage of the total travel expenses, it’s best to pre-purchase them before the actual travel date to score cheaper airfares.

Before we jump into the details, let’s focus on one low-cost airline that leads it all – Cebu Pacific Air. Offering routes with higher flight frequency, Cebu Pacific is the largest carrier in the Philippine air transportation industry. Committed to making first moments happen for every “Juan” thru budget travel, it’s undoubtedly becoming the best airline that launches promo fares, seat sales and piso fares that are popular among budget travelers.

Moreover, passengers must understand what constitute the costs of Seat Sale promos by Cebu Pacific Air. During a seat sale, quoted domestic or international fare is valid for one way travel only, inclusive of base fares; exclusive of taxes and fees, Web Admin Fee, and fuel surcharge. Let’s say for example, the base fare of Cebu to Japan (Narita) is Php 1.00, it doesn’t mean that you will only pay Php 1.00 for the whole ticket. You will also have to consider taxes and other charges, but nonetheless the total flight costs would still be insanely lower during a seat sale versus the regular prices of a non-seat sale or normal period.

READ: Surviving 7 Days in 10 Japan Prefectures for P10,000 Pocket Money

This is not a drill! I may not be an expert on this matter but if there’s such thing as formula to getting low fares to awesome destinations in the Philippines and abroad, knowing these effective hacks will likely increase the chances of snagging that coveted budget plane tickets. So, without further ado, here are ten (10) secrets of scoring cheap flights during Cebu Pacific Seat Sale promos.

1. Plan Your Destinations Ahead

Jetsetters and avid travelers all recommend planning for trips in advance to get the best deals and make the most of those precious vacation days. Each sale period has specific destinations on sale, so it would be challenging if you just book a flight without a specific destination in mind. This will sometimes lead to a disaster because the allotted booking time is limited especially when it’s as grand as Super Seat Fest or Piso Sale.

Planning out your holiday in a specific destination saves you time, money and effort. Head to Cebu Pacific website and check whether your dream destination is on sale ‘coz why bother looking for flights that are not on sale? You’re trying to score cheap flights, right? Likewise, your chosen destination doesn’t have to be fixed, it’s best if you have Plan B. You may list down all other destinations as alternative or back-up just in case your main destination is not on sale or fare is still pegged at regular price.

For example, you want to visit South Korea in April for their main Spring attraction – Cherry Blossoms, but it turns out Incheon fares from Cebu is not on sale. It would be wise to change your destination from Incheon to other destinations with cherry blossoms on same period such as Narita, Japan or Shanghai, China. It’s equally beautiful, I tell you. See our Shanghai Cherry Blossom Festival experience here: SPRING IN SHANGHAI

2. Follow Cebu Pacific’s Social Media Accounts

Although Cebu Pacific generally offers year-round low fares, having a seat sale brings the coveted destinations within your reach for as low as Php 1.00 (PISO). Whether or not there’s going to have a seat sale in the near future, asking yourself “MaySeatSaleBa? is a good start. More often than not, Cebu Pacific would most likely have a seat sale on the following “pre-determined” dates: March (Month-long Anniversary), June 12 (Independence Day), December (Christmas/New Year holidays) and all other periods with similar month and date like August 8 (8.8 Sale), September 9 (9.9 Sale), October 10 (10.10 Sale) among other dates. Flash Sales (normally for 1 day only) will just pop up on social media any day without a warning so watch out for these promos as well.

To be the first to know the latest seat sale promos, it’s best to follow Cebu Pacific on their social media like Facebook, Instragram or Twitter. You may even subscribe to Cebu Pacific’s newsletter or install mobile applications like Cebu Pacific, CebuPac Promo or even GetGo to get seat sale alerts straight to your inbox!

3. Unleash the Keyboard Warrior in You

This may surprise you but being a keyboard warrior helps. When an upcoming seat sale is announced, get ready for an epic online battle ahead ‘coz given the heightened traffic and volume of seat sale “abangers“, it’s going to get crazy. Usually, the sale will start at twelve midnight so staying up late will give you an advantage over other guests who are also searching for cheap flights on same date.

Once you’re already in the home webpage of Cebu Pacific, expect some queuing. You are given 20 minutes to book your flights from selection to confirmation of payment. You have to be fast like a ninja to snag that coveted booking!

If you missed on booking the first try, check the remaining number of seats on sale the succeeding days as sale period runs from 24 hours to more than one week.

4. Adjust Your Travel Dates

We all have our preferred dates of travel, may it be our birthday, anniversary, long weekend, school break or any other special event or occasion. And when there’s a seat sale promo, we initially refer to those dates as our future travel period. More often than not, you won’t find low fares on such dates at first search but fret not, keep looking by adjusting the travel dates (e.g., check one to three days before or after your intended travel period) until you find the sweet spot.

Knowing when to travel is as critical as knowing where to travel. Even if there’s a piso fare to Incheon, South Korea for next week, it wouldn’t be wise if you book it right away if you don’t have a Korean Tourist Visa yet. Given the situation right now that Korean embassy processes longer time due to high volume of applications, you could end up missing your flight. Set a lead time before your target date in order for you to secure necessary travel requirements. Be inspired to travel in South Korea and make your oppah dreams happen with our Winter in Korea Experience.

5. Ensure Having A Strong Internet Connection

Booking via incognito to effectively score cheap flights is a hoax. There’s no truth or any connection about booking via incognito window and getting cheap flights. But what I do know is that having a strong internet connection is key to getting that low airfare. I can totally attest to such tip myself since I always rely on fast and seamless WiFi connection at home and office. So even if my FB friends and I started searching for flights on same time, say 12 midnight, I ended up victorious for successfully booking a cheap flight over others who’d rant few minutes later about not scoring one.

Clearing your device’s cache would also help. The cache is usually fairly large and can take up gigabytes of data. Considering that some phones and computers have very limited storage, caches of all types should be cleared as needed, including browser caches and app caches to speed up the user experience, especially in booking a flight thru the web.

6. Save All Flight Information

Log in with your GetGo account for faster and easier booking transaction! Having a profile can help you manage your flight details, including passenger details (e.g., Name, Birthdate, GetGo Membership ID, if any).

If you’re traveling alone and booking only for yourself, then you probably don’t have a problem with filling out the details. However, a problem may arise when you book for a group – family, barkada or officemates. To save time, make sure that all the pertinent details required for flight bookings are already secured or saved in the system so that you can just select guest from the list and it will automatically fill up the necessary details.

7. Book By Pair, Fly Together As A Group

In connection with the above tip, it is also recommended to book one to two persons only. It happened to me a lot of times, so it may happen to you as well.

Depending on a particular seat sale promo, I noticed that if I book by batch or a group at once, the discounted airfare won’t show up. You may be lead to believe that’s a system error but it’s not really a glitch. I cannot fully explain it using the term ‘algorithm’ but to put it simply, it could be Cebu Pacific’s way of providing opportunity to everyone to score cheap flights. And I totally understand. Simple solution, book by pair or add one more person at a time until all passengers in your group are successfully reserved. Select Flight. Input Two Guests’ Details. Pay. Repeat.

I applied this effective formula during our Coron plans where I need to book three separate bookings for a total 6 passengers (2 passengers per booking) traveling on same date. And it worked! Read our Coron Trip with my family here: Captivating Coron: DIY Travel Guide to the World’s Best Island

8. Unsure of Future Trips, Pre-purchase CEB Flexi

Have you ever tried booking a flight in advance and later realized the trip won’t push through due to reasons out of your control? Fret not, Cebu Pacific Air has just a solution to such dilemma – CEB Flexi.

Please note that promo fares have limited availability and are non-refundable but rebookable subject to the following rebooking fees: Php 1,500 for domestic destinations, Php 2,300 for short-haul international destinations and Php 2,800 for long-haul international destinations plus fare difference. But if you purchased CEB Flexi at the initial booking (starting October 22, 2019), you have all the freedom to rebook your flights up to two times and up to two hours before departure. Just include CEB Flexi in your add-on and worry no more for any unsure trip in the future.

9. Ready Your Credit, Debit or e-Wallet

Don’t have a credit card? Call a friend and ask him or her to use a credit. But if you don’t have a friend who trust you to give his/her credit card details to you, then look for another friend. LOL. Kidding aside, there are other modes of payment to choose from – Debit Cards, PayPal, Payment Centers, Alipay, or even PayMaya.

You don’t need to pay for your flights at the onset of booking as you have the option to reserve your flight transaction via legit Payment Centers. Pay within 24 hours from the time of booking to preferred payment centers including, but not limited to the following, 7/11, Bayad Center, Cebuana Lhuiller, LBC, ECPay, Robinsons or SM Department Store or pay before 11:59 PM thru major banks and payment centers like Bancnet, BDO, BPI, Megalink, Robinsons Bank, Metrobank. Kindly check your preferred payment center’s cut-off schedule and keep all your transaction receipts as proof of payment.

If you have a Travel Fund form your previous flight bookings, you may use it to book your new flights. HERE’S HOW: TRAVEL FUND USAGE

10. Fly Now, Pay Later

When all options fail, Cashalo will definitely save the day. FLY NOW to your dream local destinations and PAY LATER with Cashalo!

Here’s HOW:

Book your flight via www.cebupacificair.com
Choose ‘Payment Centers’, then choose ‘Pay with Cashalo’ upon checkout.
Save your Booking Reference number.
Open your Cashalo app and choose ‘Fly Now & Pay Later’.
Complete your application and upon approval, enter your Booking Reference number.

There you go! You’ve probably reached the last stage of booking your flight. Congratulations on your confirmed flight tickets. Now, if you find the above tips helpful, please share these 10 effective secrets to scoring insanely cheap flights to your friends and families who are also fans of seat sale promos. The more, the merrier!

#MaySeatSaleBa? Hurry, check out Cebu Pacific’s seat sale promos and score irresistibly super low airfares while seats last! Share your seat sale experience below!