Friday 16 March 2012

AirAsia Begins Flights to Kalibo (Gateway to Boracay) in the Philippines, But ...

AirAsia recently announced flights to Kalibo (gateway to Boracay island) and Davao in the Philippines. However, there's a catch ... the flights are from Clark Airport in Manila, NOT from its hub in LCCT, Kuala Lumpur (KL).

So if you're in KL and planning a beach holiday to Boracay, you'd need to fly KL - Manila - Kalibo. From Kalibo you'd need to travel to the jetty and then take the boat to Boracay island.

And here's another sucky thing to consider: currently there's only one flight daily from KL to Manila that leaves early in the morning, and two flights daily from Manila to Kalibo. If you're planning to fly into Manila and then to Kalibo on the same day, the best option is to take the early morning flight into Manila and the afternoon connecting flight to Kalibo. However, if there are no boats from the jetty to Boracay island in the evening, then you would have to spend a night (more expenses) in Kalibo before taking the boat to Boracay the next morning.

To me, this is all just too much hassle, especially just to enjoy an island when Malaysia is already blessed with numerous beaches and islands that can rival that of Boracay, or even better than Boracay.

I think when it comes to island holidays, I'd stick to good old Malaysia or even the islands in Thailand where the journey to tropical paradise is only a flight away.

Groupon has also jumped on the bandwagon and started offering snorkelling packages in Boracay. I think there were hotel packages too.


But I don't think the people who bought these packages know what a hassle it is to get to Boracay from KL by flying AirAsia. Or they may have other means to get to Boracay.

To conclude this blog post, here's some souvenirs brought back by a colleague who was in the Philippines recently for a working trip:





9 comments:

Flights to Blantyre said...

Roam abroad in the world, and take thy fill of its enjoyments before the day shall come when thou must quit it for good. Cheap Flights to Blantyre

melvin said...

i just visited boracay last april and trust me its worth the hassle.i'm pretty sure theres nothing like it in south east asia

Julie Lim said...

Hi Melvin,

I think it depends on how many islands you've visited to be able to make a good comparison. From the photos I've seen of Boracay, it looks pretty much the same to me as many other islands in SEA.

Joseph said...

Asia have great market of air traffic as we know many Asian people are living abroad if airline can offer cheap flights for those passenger i m sure such airline touches the peak of industry.

Unknown said...

The Muslims in Asia are too many and they have to go for umrah travel many times in a air so the airline offering cheap umrah packages must generate more income from this side and they also increase their reliability among the pessengers.

Anonymous said...

I can assure you guys that Boracay is one of the best place to stay for a vacation. Lots of boracay packages offered and any tourists would love to visit this region over and over again!

BoracayStories said...

Hi Julie! Just to inform you that there are boats plying the route between Caticlan and Boracay Island from 6am to 10pm, provided that no typhoon has affected Boracay. Sometimes, boats are still available until 12am depending on international flights in Kalibo. True, it takes too much hassle to get to Boracay. But, sometimes, people just want see perhaps out of curiosity how this other side of Southeast Asia looks like.

Julie Lim said...

BoracayStories,

Thanks for the tips. Maybe I'll plan a trip to Boracay soon :-)

Thanks for dropping by!

Carlos Miguel De Villa said...

I think it is worth the hassle to visit Boracay. It was recently awarded as Asia's best beach and 24th in the world by trip advisor. Why would they award such things if it isn't true?If you'll ever wanted to spend some time in Boracay, I found a great website for booking: boracaygo

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