THERE are some good weekend packages to Manila which run until March 31, although there are surcharges around Christmas and the Lunar New Year.
At the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Makati, the cost for three nights is $2,290 per person sharing (so $4,580 per couple, $3,390 single), including economy class air fare, daily breakfast, tax and service charge. The same package flying in business class is $2,790 ($5,580, $3,890).
Departures from Hong Kong are on Fridays leaving at midday, with the return on Monday, arriving back at 9 pm. There is a non-refundable booking deposit of $1,000 per traveller, and full payment must be made 21 days before travel. Contact Swire Travel on 579-6833, or fax 590-0099. THE ANA Hotel in Sydney is running two special rates. One, to expire on September 30, is about HK$875 per room. The other is about $1,000 per room and includes daily breakfast and a bottle of wine, although a minimum of two nights is needed for this offer which expires on December 31. Contact ANA Hotels reservations on 845-4280. FROM November, Cathay Pacific drops all flights to London Gatwick and increases its flights to Heathrow to 10 per week, all non-stop. Flights to Manchester will also increase to daily, with one stop from Hong Kong.
Contact Cathay Pacific reservations on 747-1888. NOTE that there will be timing changes for flights into and out of Europe at the end of this month, as summer time ends.
For some airlines, usually Asian ones, the change is in arrival and departure times in Europe, and for other airlines, usually European, the change will be for arrival and departure times in Hong Kong. THE Passages frequent flyer programme (of Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines) has signed agreements with American Express, Citibank Visa and Citibank Mastercard. This means that you earn airline credits when you make any purchase with these cards.
American Express has announced partial details of its programme, called Membership Miles, which is already available in North America, Europe and Australia.
Membership Miles pays one point for each $8 spent - no matter whether on chocolates, a restaurant or an air ticket. That one point converts to one kilometre in the Passages programme.
