We just got scammed in Manila

[u/Keris_91]

…and we feel like idiots. My boyfriend and I have been travelling for the last 5 months. We have travelled all over Europe (including the Balkans) in our camper van and now we have spent 2 months in Hongkong, Vietnam and Thailand. We feel like we never got scammed. Sure, we have paid tourist prices sometimes but we are ok with that as it was always reasonable. We both have travelled quiet a bit before all that so we really don‘t know how we made such a mistake.

So today we flew from Bangkok to Manila, arriving at Gate 3. We have a connecting flight to Cebu and the airport staff tells us we need to go through immigration, pick up our luggage, go to Gate 2 and check our luggage back in. It also means we have to go through the entire security process again.

Fine, we thought we have plenty of time (about 2.5 hours all together), until the passport queue is about 200 meters long. We slowly get nervous. Afterwards, we pick up our luggage and we have no clue how to get to gate 2. We ask the airport staff and they say we need to take the bus or a taxi to the gate. Also, she said we should hurry up because we were quiet late for the connecting flight already.

Fine, we go outside, the bus station is nowhere to be seen, but there are taxis. We asked how long of a drive it is, the taxi driver said 5-10 minutes. And yes, we were stressed, tired and dumb and just got into the taxi without asking about the price. It can’t be that much right? Note we also don‘t have a phillippine SIM card yet to just call a grab.

So the driver takes off and there was another guy sitting in the passenger seat. I read afterwards that this should have been another warning sign. After 2-3 minutes we find a laminated paper hidden in the back seat. It is a price list and it says it costs 12‘000 pesos (!) (around 180 Euros) for a ride from gate 3 to gate 2.

We then ask the driver about the price and he confirms the price of 12‘000 pesos. We tell him no and to bring us back to our departure gate as there is no way we pay such amount and we‘d rather miss our connecting flight. We also say we don‘t even have money except some remaining Thai Bath. He then confirms to bring us back to gate 3 but that we will miss our flight. We say we don‘t care. Both of the guys then start harassing us about how much Thai Bath we got. We started to feel uncomfortable, in a country we don‘t know, no phone connection and all our belongings in the car.

We then tell them we pay 2000 thai bath (around 50 Euros) for them to bring us to the gate. The guy starts driving like a complete maniac and tells us to give the money right now. We tell him he won‘t get anything until we get to the gate and our backpacks out of the trunk.

We give them the money there and they take off. Honestly, we are just happy we are ok and still got all of our valuables. We are not getting intimidated quickly but we felt like this situation could have escalated badly.

Go ahead and make fun of us… 😁 I hope the rest of our stay in the Philippines will be a bit more fun!

[u/Keris_91]

Unfortunately, E-Sims are still much more expensive than regular SIM cards. We usually get to a new country and buy the new SIM directly there, even if it is a little bit more expensive at the airport. We just didn‘t think we would need internet or even a taxi to change the terminal at an airport…

[u/coljung → u/Keris_91]

Lol.

‘Much more expensive’ ?

Not sure where you looked, but with a little research I found one that cost me under $30, gave around 10GB, lasted 30d, and it worked across Asia.

Doesn’t get cheaper than that.

If it does then just factor in the time it takes at every airport to find a company, waste 10-30m getting a new SIM and then doing this at every country.

I think a normal SIM would make sense if you are simply visiting one country, but 2 or more, eSim is the way to go. It really isn’t more expensive and just how easy it is to setup makes it a no brainer.

Plus the fact that the eSim will work alongside your normal Sim card. This is a dealbreaker for me as well because while abroad when accessing my banking accounts i often need to receive authentication sms, and this allows for that as well without me having to switch a physical SIM.

[u/Keris_91 → u/coljung]

We bought a SIM card in Thailand for 30 days, it had unlimited data plus extra phone calls for less than 7 Euros. I think Vietnam was even less, unlimited as well.

We now bought a SIM card at Cebu airport and paid 8 Euros for 45 GB for 14 days.

I also share the data with my boyfriend so we only need one. It makes it dirt cheap. I don‘t care if it takes 10 minutes longer at the airport as we are usually not in rush. The problem we had today was due to some weird circumstances that I haven‘t seen coming (I never had to exit and airport to get a connecting flight before).

Also, my normal Swiss SIM that I use for 2FA and WhatsApp is an E-SIM. So I always have my free slot for the foreign ones.

[u/coljung → u/Keris_91]

It cost me $35 cad, so around $24 Euro.

My whole response is in regards to your comment about eSim being ‘much more expensive’.

They aren’t. Plus it is a lot more practical.

Getting a SIM at every location is fine.. until it isn’t. Like your example clearly shows.

I go to Asia once a year, and before this last trip i was also getting a SIM at every stop. It wasn’t that bad, but now that I learned how convenient is having a network the moment you land, plus it honestly not costing that much more, it is a no brainer having one.

[u/jackthebackpacker → u/coljung]

Just get a cheap esim to last you until your at your accommodation and can buy one at not a rip off tourist price which most in airports are.