TRAVELING, they say it's the best teacher. Who doesn't want to travel and who doesn't want to learn? Ask just about anyone in this planet and they have at least a few entries in their bucket list of places to go and see before they expire from existence.
Lucky. That's what the new generation is today. With so many competing airlines flying the skies, traveling has never been this affordable, cheap, in fact. Now, just every Pinoy can take the plane and head off to their dream destination. Clearly, this was never afforded to the population way back decades ago. Lucky.
You must have read my countless stories about the place I have been to- places I have dreamt of going to, seeing, immersing myself in the culture, yes, enjoying and having the time of life. This is a dream come true. I must admit I am basically new to this kind of thing and I am making the most out of seeing the world.
This nouveau traveler has a lot of catching up to do. I dream and I make it happen. I guess I am one of those lucky souls who get to go to some destination without shelling a single cent.
One of these hosts happen to be my favorite carrier, in fact Asia's first and our flag carrier- Philippine Airlines. So far, they flew me to aloha land- Hawaii and boy oh boy, I had a great time even if I didn't give surfing a shot.
Again, I admit to have been a "new" regular passenger on their growing fleet and increasing number of destinations- 20 in the Philippines and 24 around the globe, add another 2 by the end of the month when they start flying to Riyadh and Brisbane. Cool.
This is just the start of their year-long plan to give back to the Pinoys their due service for making PAL soaring high through the years.
Platinum. That's what they will be turning soon. 70 years of service to every Pinoy. And their other gifts? They told us over dinner with the travel agents and the city’s business bigwigs. And what they excitedly presented to us, I am laying down for you.
Aside from adding a couple more brand new Boeing 777-330ERs to their growing fleet to service the two new routes- and rising- they are giving away 70,000 free seats in the coming year. The flag carrier announced the introduction of a grand seat raffle with fab prizes at stake, a major discounted-fare promo that will make you fly to your favorite local destination as regular as you want, a "Philippines Free" international campaign, and a new loyalty program targeting the youth market- this is what I mean by lucky youngster! And how about this, those celebrating their 70th birthday bet March 15 to April 15th,2010 will enjoy a free ride to any local destination (but you have to travel with a companion) . These are initial salvoes of an aggressive marketing campaign that will run over the next 12 months.
Today, PAL is the country's largest carrier and last year alone, they carried more than 8.96 million passengers, an increase of 17.1% over the previous year- I think I was in several of those flights and let me tell you I am not stopping.
Lucky. Count me in. I am Jinggoy Salvador and I am a travel addict, I love soaring the global skies and I ride PAL.