Air Travel Within PH

I find a couple of weeks advance booking is enough to keep the flight cost down. Some routes such as Manila - Cebu are more crowded, although there are also a lot of flights on that route. I generally fly PAL on that one (and sometimes also to the US), mostly take Cebu Pacific on the inter-island hops. I find PAL is often running behind schedule but I feel confident they will get you there in one piece - my most important criteria.

Beware of discount airlines - I'm sure you read about the recent Lion Air crash in Indonesia. Deferred maintenance or bad risk assessment (sending a plane up with sensor problems) is prevalent throughout SE Asia and every year it seems there is a major accident.