Short notice flight cost.

[CaseyBorne88 21]

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking around this site reading and rereading all about the K-1 Visa for the past 2 months. I finally mailed my packet off on 07/09/2018 and today I received my email confirmation that it has been accepted for processing. 

 

I am really excited that this process has at last gotten started. Time appart is so hard at times so a countdown is a blessing in my eyes. 

 

Anyways I just wanted to introduce myself and ask one question I have not found while searching the forums. This question is directed to anyone who has had a fiancé come from the Philippines. 

 

Regarding flight cost: I have always bought airline tickets months in advance because It is much cheaper. Also since I only know from personal experience I have only ever pirchased round trip tickets. I understand that I will have to wait until we get our approval to buy so I am curious what kind of funds I should expect to pay for a short notice one way flight from Manila to New Orleans? Can anyone share what it cost them or give me a ball park figure. I want to be prepared to buy her ticket as soon as we are green lighted. 

 

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

 

[x_driven_x 1,778]

Just go out to your favorite airline website and see what it would cost to book a ticket 1 week from now...

[GreatDane 366]

No matter when we fly, Denmark to Seattle always runs between $750 (lucky) and $1300 (high season and/or specific days). We've even done tickets two weeks out for about $1,000. You can see what prices are currently 1-2 months out as a benchmark.

[Just Paul 4,591]

Try Google flights to get an idea.   Also consider other flight options.   It was $1400 for my wife to go from Manila to Tijuana a week out.   But it was $150 Manila to Hong Kong and then $ 500 from Hong Kong to Tijuana.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Paul & Mary
typo

[CaseyBorne88 21]

Thanks for the suggestions. Especially looking for alternate routes Individually. That’s something I might consider. I did try the google search a week from now and it was about $1000. Based off the responses I think 1500 would be a good ballpark figure to put away. 

[JE57 239]

There is another consideration besides the cost.  Your future wife will have to clear immigration in the first airport that she lands in the USA at.  As such you'll want to make sure that her connection time from arriving at that airport until her flight to MSY will be longer than normal to allow for a secondary interview at the Port of Entry to the USA.   The only way she'd clear immigration in MSY would be if she took a direct flight on BA from London or the seasonal flight from Frankfort.  Those might be options if she flew Philippine Airlines to London and changed to BA in London direct to MSY.   Alternatively her flight does not have to be booked thru all the way to MSY so you have the option of actually meeting her at an alternate airport in the USA and maybe staying with her a few nights there before flying on to MSY if you wanted to.  Given she'll likely be flying winter time given your current submission timeline it might be a good opportunity to give her a chance to see snow someplace.  Thinking JFK, EWR or maybe SEA or even SFO and drive East.   In answer to your basic question if you budget $1500 you should be fine for the flight but you have lots of options and it's something you can discuss with her now.

Edited July 18, 2018 by JE57
Had said drive west from SFO which isn't really possible corrected to Drive East

[MLR14 37]

Some people found round trip flights were cheaper than one way so bought round trip and didn't use the second flight. Personally I used air miles that I earned on my airline credit card and by doing online surveys through e rewards.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

Also worth noting is that your fiancée has six months from the medical to come to the US. Though of course you'll want to be with her as soon as possible, you can probably get things at approximately normal prices (whatever they are for that route at the time of year your fiancée's visa is approved) starting around 3 weeks out. You can probably get a look at pricing trends on your favorite air travel web site. You also might want to look into the relative costs of refundable/flexible date tickets vs short notice tickets.

 

In my case, the lack of reasonable alternative routes makes things pretty simple. There's one flight from Russia to the western US, and that's from Moscow to LA.

[mbassett 288]

7 hours ago, CaseyBorne88 said:

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking around this site reading and rereading all about the K-1 Visa for the past 2 months. I finally mailed my packet off on 07/09/2018 and today I received my email confirmation that it has been accepted for processing. 

 

I am really excited that this process has at last gotten started. Time appart is so hard at times so a countdown is a blessing in my eyes. 

 

Anyways I just wanted to introduce myself and ask one question I have not found while searching the forums. This question is directed to anyone who has had a fiancé come from the Philippines. 

 

Regarding flight cost: I have always bought airline tickets months in advance because It is much cheaper. Also since I only know from personal experience I have only ever pirchased round trip tickets. I understand that I will have to wait until we get our approval to buy so I am curious what kind of funds I should expect to pay for a short notice one way flight from Manila to New Orleans? Can anyone share what it cost them or give me a ball park figure. I want to be prepared to buy her ticket as soon as we are green lighted. 

 

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

 

I used ASAP air,

got one way tickets for my wife and daughter for around $800 and me a round  trip as I accompanied them for around $900

Did this on 2 weeks notice

tried the airlines direct but had better luck with ASAP air as they really have good deals to the phils

 

 

[crono_clone 213]

Round trip flights from Houston to Manila, starting September to April, can go as low as $550 to $650 (depending on how long the layover is). I've been researching one-way flights for my own fiance (hoping for December or January to get him here) and they're around $450 to $550 at the lowest. For my next visit to my fiance, I chose a shorter round trip flight (only 17 hours total, woohoo!) in Sept that goes thru Taiwan for only $770.

 

Since NOLA is only about a 5-hour drive from Houston, maybe you consider Houston as the POE for your fiance.

 

I've been using www.skyscanner.net to search for these flights (just change the currency settings from UK to US dollar) if you were wanting to do a search yourself.

[kennharv 143]

9 hours ago, CaseyBorne88 said:

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking around this site reading and rereading all about the K-1 Visa for the past 2 months. I finally mailed my packet off on 07/09/2018 and today I received my email confirmation that it has been accepted for processing. 

 

I am really excited that this process has at last gotten started. Time appart is so hard at times so a countdown is a blessing in my eyes. 

 

Anyways I just wanted to introduce myself and ask one question I have not found while searching the forums. This question is directed to anyone who has had a fiancé come from the Philippines. 

 

Regarding flight cost: I have always bought airline tickets months in advance because It is much cheaper. Also since I only know from personal experience I have only ever pirchased round trip tickets. I understand that I will have to wait until we get our approval to buy so I am curious what kind of funds I should expect to pay for a short notice one way flight from Manila to New Orleans? Can anyone share what it cost them or give me a ball park figure. I want to be prepared to buy her ticket as soon as we are green lighted. 

 

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

 

Go to https://www.fareboom.com/   They have great comparisons.   Better prices start 3 weeks out.  I like to fly EVA to Philippines as it is the shortest time from Houston.

[VisaCode 72]

The visa, once approved, will be valid for 6 months after the date of the medical exam. So unless you and your fiance are just super eager for them to hop on the plane as soon as they get their visa, the ticket doesn't have to be short notice. My fiance's visa was recently approved and she's not flying to the US until the end of next month. Right now she's training her replacement at work, closing accounts, tidying up some paperwork, etc...

[CaseyBorne88 21]

Wow. Thank you everyone for the responses. I appreciate all the information. I didn't even consider the POE interview and layover times. Perhaps I will consider driving to Houston and just meeting there. As for all the ticket prices that were quoted, I am surprised because both of my trips were purchased months in advance and both were around $1200. I did shop around as well but I have never seen a round trip ticket from New Orleans/Baton Rouge airport to Manila for under $1000. It most have been the timing? First trip was June 2016. Second was May 2018.

It's also good to know that the Visa is good for 6 months from the date of exam. We are sorta of pining away to be together at this point but we do want to be smart with budgeting the move and following AOS.

[Ben&Zian 4,397]

15 hours ago, CaseyBorne88 said:

Hi everyone. I’ve been lurking around this site reading and rereading all about the K-1 Visa for the past 2 months. I finally mailed my packet off on 07/09/2018 and today I received my email confirmation that it has been accepted for processing. 

 

I am really excited that this process has at last gotten started. Time appart is so hard at times so a countdown is a blessing in my eyes. 

 

Anyways I just wanted to introduce myself and ask one question I have not found while searching the forums. This question is directed to anyone who has had a fiancé come from the Philippines. 

 

Regarding flight cost: I have always bought airline tickets months in advance because It is much cheaper. Also since I only know from personal experience I have only ever pirchased round trip tickets. I understand that I will have to wait until we get our approval to buy so I am curious what kind of funds I should expect to pay for a short notice one way flight from Manila to New Orleans? Can anyone share what it cost them or give me a ball park figure. I want to be prepared to buy her ticket as soon as we are green lighted. 

 

Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

 

 

We paid $930 for Emirates. Manila to Dubai, Dubai to Dallas, Tx. Then you'd need a connecting flight to New Orleans... but we booked ours like 3-4 days in advance.

 

There were couple other options for about $960 with Eva air through Taipei.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Ben&Zian

[Amadia 711]

Expedia?