Find cheap Philippines AirAsia flights

Flying Philippines AirAsia is much the same as the other airlines within the massive AirAsia group. Fares are cheap, the crew is cheerful and the food is tasty, but the seats are packed in. Still, it’s a safe and reliable way to travel around this island nation and further afield. Here’s what you’ll find with the Philippines AirAsia experience.

The Philippines AirAsia model

Philippines AirAsia is a low-cost carrier. As part of the wider AirAsia group, it offers a lot of extra options, with a strong focus on using the AirAsia MOVE app, available for all major mobile platforms.

Like the rest of the AirAsia group of airlines, Philippines AirAsia flights can be booked through the main AirAsia website or app. If you’re flying on a route where other group airlines fly, you’ll find a small note of which AirAsia airline you’ll be on during the booking process.

Philippines AirAsia is mainly a point-to-point low-cost carrier rather than a connecting hub airline. As a result, if you make two flight bookings to create a connection, this is generally considered a self-connection. You’ll need to collect any checked bags at your connecting point, and if your first flight is delayed or canceled it’s up to you, not the airline, to get you to your onward destination, and at your own cost.

For some connecting flights, however, Philippines AirAsia offers Fly-Thru, providing a single booking number and, in some cases, checked-through baggage. Note that transiting international to domestic in Manila does not offer checked-through baggage, so you need to collect and re-check your bags at the Fly-Thru bag drop.

Fare types and upgrades

Philippines AirAsia is an all-economy airline and exclusively flies Airbus A320 planes. Fares include the reservation only and you can choose to add options like checked bags, meals, ticket flexibility and airport priority. For pretty much every one of these, adding them last-minute at the airport can be substantially more expensive, so I recommend buying early.

Philippines AirAsia offers bundle options to save on some of these add-ons. When buying your ticket, you can choose to add the Value Pack and Premium Flex ticket bundles.

Value Pack gets you a checked bag up to 20 kilograms (44 pounds), the choice of a standard seat, a meal and limited bag delay protection. Premium Flex gets all the Value Pack bonuses and you can also choose from Hot Seats, which are at the front of the plane and emergency exit rows.

Philippines AirAsia is a true low-cost airline and can be very strict about baggage rules at the airport, both in terms of weight and size. US and Canadian flyers in particular should note that the size of allowed carry-ons aboard Philippines AirAsia — and many international airlines — is a lot smaller than what is normal in North America.

Make sure you know the airline’s baggage rules and consider the Xtra Carry-On or Fast Pass upgrades if your bag is overweight. Xtra Carry-on allows you to carry up to 14 kilograms (30.9 pounds) of carry-on baggage, while Fast Pass also adds priority check-in and boarding, so you’re more likely to be able to find space for it in the overhead compartments.

Seats on Philippines AirAsia

The black leather-effect seats on Philippines AirAsia are pitched at just 28 inches. That’s pretty tight, but it compares with other low-cost airlines like Cebu Pacific locally or Spirit in the US. If you don’t pay to choose a seat, the airline will assign one automatically when you check in.

Naturally, Philippines AirAsia is very happy to sell you both reserved regular seats and extra-legroom seats, which it calls Hot Seats. Hot Seats on Philippines AirAsia come in three locations: the front row, the emergency exit rows and rows 2 through 5.

The front row seats are bulkhead seats, which I’d certainly recommend if you happen to be claustrophobic or just don’t like feeling hemmed in. The downside is that they’re a bit narrower than the regular seats since your tray table is in the armrest, and your hand luggage must go up into the overhead bin for takeoff and landing.

The emergency exit seats feature several inches of extra legroom compared with other seats and have regular tray tables. The downside is that you may not be able to recline and your hand baggage still needs to be in the overhead bin for takeoff and landing.

The Hot Seats in rows 2 through 5 are just regular seats with a little bit of extra legroom. You get off the plane faster, but Philippines AirAsia’s Airbus A320s are pretty small so this isn’t a major benefit. The real reason I choose these seats is because fewer other passengers pay up for them, so there’s a greater likelihood of an empty middle seat.

My favorite little-known hack, especially when flying with a partner, is to book an extra seat next to me so I can spread out, use the middle seat tray table, and use the extra under-seat space for my bag to keep the space in front of me clear for foot room.

Check-in and airport experience

The Philippines AirAsia experience is pretty similar to other low-cost airlines. The airline encourages you to check in online, whether on its app or via its website. At the airport, you’ll find check-in kiosks, which are free to use.

There’s a small fee on some flights if you want to use the check-in desks at the airport instead, but this is waived for a variety of passengers, including those over 60, Full Flex ticket holders and anyone who purchased the Fast Pass upgrade, or if there are no kiosks available at the airport.

Boarding is via zone groups, mainly based on row number. If you sprung for Fast Pass, you’ll also be in the first boarding group. This is quite the benefit of Philippines AirAsia, where overhead space fills up quickly. Boarding, which can be a bit chaotic, is sometimes via airstairs so contact the airline in advance if you’ll need assistance.

In-flight food and drinks on Philippines AirAsia

Philippines AirAsia offers a wide range of food to buy onboard, including both favorites from other AirAsia countries and local specialties. I find it a great and really inexpensive experience for casual dining in general, let alone airline dining.

My go-to on any AirAsia flight is Pak Nasser’s Nasi Lemak, with delicious chicken rendang and tasty toppings over coconut rice. Although, on Philippines AirAsia, the Chicken Inasal is also an excellent choice. At breakfast time, consider the beef tapa with scrambled eggs and rice – a local favorite.

Pre-order your meal to save a bit of time, make sure your choice is loaded onboard, and to be served before anyone orders on the plane.

Philippines AirAsia inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi

Some flights on Philippines AirAsia offer inflight Wi-Fi networks with some light entertainment to stream to your device, along with the option to order meals and drinks from your phone.

You may be able to get online to chat and use social media for an additional fee, but it’s not a guarantee and speeds can vary depending on what kind of satellite system is on your particular plane. Unfortunately, you can’t tell in advance. Generally, flights are so short that I don’t feel the need to be online, and will just pre-download a movie or TV show to my phone or tablet.

Not all seats have power ports available (USB only, when they do), so I always make sure my phone is charged up at the airport and I carry a rechargeable power bank with me.

AirAsia Rewards and Freedom Flyer loyalty program

Previously known as AirAsia BIG, AirAsia Rewards and the group’s Freedom Flyer frequent flyer club include Philippines AirAsia. Unless you’re visiting a lot — more than fourteen flights in a year — the frequent flyer side of the program is unlikely to be of much use to you. However, once you’ve earned more than 100 points, you should be able to use them to pay for a portion of your next flight.