Philippine Airlines

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Tokyo Narita. The level of service is significantly poor especially when the flight gets crowded. The cabin staff are not sufficient to serve a large number of passenger. The service is acceptable to me only when it is around 60% of occupancy. The meal service is too slow; the food carts are not evenly spread in each section to serve, so some get it early enough but others are left without being served too long; drinks that are available in the less crowded flights are out of stock in the crowded flights. The meal tray is roughly put in the table; forget the drink order and no any word for apology, etc. It is not one time thing that I experience things above, but it happens whenever I take the flight that are crowded. I have taken PAL flight more than 10 times in past, but it never satisfies me even in certain level. One thing that I noticed it was improved is that now the small dessert spoon is available for sure (before that, I had to eat it by chopstick). The airline celebrates 76th anniversary this year, according to their magazine "Mabuhay". Unfortunately, the level of service is too poor unlike their proud history of being the oldest airline company of all in Asia.

✅ Verified Review | Flew Philippine Airlines from Manila to San Francisco, CA. The seats were small and cramped. The aisles were very narrow. They had placed 3 seats on next to window and 4 seats in the middle. There was a disorganized delay of loading the plane due to the number of elderly people requiring wheelchairs. In addition the ground crew insisted on loading passengers from just one side of their podium (even though they had enough employees to allow loading from both sides). Once on board there was a lack of overhead bins to accomodate everyone's carry on luggage. The food was awful. The breakfast that was served appeared to have powdered eggs and were very watery. The Longanisa was not cooked. Both dinner and breakfast were so awful that I only ate the bread and jam and also the dried Mangos from Cebu. The bathrooms always seemed to have a line of waiting passengers. The bathroom closest to our seats had a sink that would not drain. There was no razors, combs, or toothbrush and toothpaste as we had received on previous flights. The take-off was delayed as they had to offload 2 passengers who apparently felt ill after having boarded the plane and needed to be deplaned. The entertainment system had a very limited selection. In fact many of the same movies from the flight over (4 weeks prior) had the same selections. The music that was available was very limited (it seemed that they were encouraging you to use your own cellphone and headphones for the music portion. Upon arrival, the customs procedure went very smoothly but we were very disappointed when it took more than 1 hour to collect our luggage from the carousel.

✅ Verified Review | I have flown Philippine Airlines since the mid 80's till the mid 90,s and had weathered the Marcos era and the eruption of Mt Pinatubo, when the airline had stopped flying to Australia. Back then the Philippines was known as the smile of Asia, so your holiday should start when you get on the plane not when you get off. This was my first time to fly this airline in twenty years. The nightmare began at the check-in at Sydney, the max luggage for economy was 30kg and 7kg carry on, it was obvious that 95% of the passengers were Filipinos or expat Filipinos and part of their culture is to bring back as much as goods as they can to their loved ones back in their homeland. I was shocked to see amount of excess luggage that was being loaded both at the check in and online check in queues. So much that they needed a large cage that resembled something from a zoo, I would estimate somewhere between twenty to thirty kilos for at least half of the passengers, not to mention the excess carry on baggage. Twenty years ago the airline would serve you a snack and 2 hot meals an abundance of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, two movies, toothpaste & brush and padded eye shield for sleep on an eight hour flight. Today all you will get is a very small almost inedible hot meal, very little to drink, a cheese and ham toasted sandwich for a snack, no inflight entertainment. They do have free WiFi but that takes away the experience you should look forward to when travelling. So if you don't have your own tablet or smartphone, tough. The aircraft advertised was an A340 but I later found out it may have been a A330, standard 70 rows, somehow they managed to get 78 rows, Virtually no leg room, seats were small and cramped, the aisle way was very narrow, toilets very small, could not contact stewardesses as seat controls didn't seem to work. This aircraft should only be used for short flights only one to three hours max and not for an eight hour flight. When I disembarked I felt tired, exhausted, dehydrated with muscular soreness. I will never fly this airline internationally again. An embarrassment for a national carrier.

✅ Verified Review | Flight PR720 from Manila to London on 11th March 2017 was cancelled. An announcement was made an hour before our scheduled boarding at 1130. No explanation given with regard to the cancellation. I waited in a queue for three hours before I eventually got my bags. The wonderful staff are as confused as the passengers! There were 85 of us who were provided accommodation at Century Park Hotel. Majority said they would never fly with PAL again; that includes myself. The flight back on 12th March was also delayed!

✅ Verified Review | Business Class in the A330 that Philippine Airlines flies to/from Manila and Tokyo Narita is not a competitive service. Food choices are limited and often many passengers have no choice other than the Japanese set because PAL never seems to have sufficient Western sets on-board to meet demand. There is no seatback IFE, although the flight-attendants offer an iPad that connects to PAL's WiFi IFE. The problem with trying to hold an iPad for a 120 minute movie are obvious, especially during the meal service. The seats provide the opposite (literally, as they are arranged 2-2-2 in a reverse herringbone configuration) of the privacy expected in modern Business Class, with the adjacent passenger having a wonderful across your laptop screen. Worse, PAL has developed a habit, maybe because Filipinos are not accustomed to true airline quality and thus don't complain, of selling tickets and then changing the schedule or aircraft type weeks before the flight. Accordingly, I was just informed that my Business Class return to Tokyo on March 15 is now downgraded to Economy because PAL decided to replace the 2-class A330 with a single-class version! Worse, PAL has no intention of making any reparation to me because Philippines law apparently doesn't require them to!

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Singapore return, and flights on time. Not so fancy cabin like other Asian Airlines but the hospitality and kindness of the crew suffices it. Not much to expect with the food is enough for a 3.5 hour flight. Cabin is clean and toilet is clean. PAL is offering myPAL so make sure to download it before you board and don't your earphone. They are generous with news papers in case you forgot to download myPAL before boarding.

✅ Verified Review | Ho Chi Minh City to Vancouver via Manila. When I got to the security checkin I realized my 2500 dollar camera was left in the taxi. I basically kissed it goodbye, and tried borrowing a phone from the customer service woman who called the hotel just in case I had left it there. I made peace with it and figured I'd call the taxi company when I got home. At the gate the same woman who lent me her phone asked me about it again. The station manager overheard and asked to help. In the end, he called the taxi company, found the camera, and is now arranging to send it to their office in Vancouver. I'm blown away as this was not his problem, he just saw an opportunity to help. Very grateful for the goodness of him as well as the taxi company. Philippine Airlines is a very high quality airline.

✅ Verified Review | New York city to Manila via Vancouver. Philippine Airlines is an airline I would recommend because it has a great service and the cabin is clean. The Lavatory is well sanitized and the WiFi is better than other airlines. The cabin crew is accommodating and very helpful. The food and beverages were great. All in all, a great airline.

✅ Verified Review | Manila to New York JFK via Vancouver with Philippine Airlines. The seat is great, it has enough legroom and the entertainment was great. The food is delicious and generous. Cabin crew was kind and very hospitable. The Boeing 777-300ER is huge and cabin is clean. So all in all it's a great airline indeed.

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Bangkok return. The travel experience on Philippines Airlines is generally pleasant. Check-in at airport was fast and efficient. However, airport facilities need to be upgraded as the terminal seemed to be in it's full capacity leaving very little sitting room for transit time and few eating and shopping choices at the departure area. Flight is generally good. Staff seems to be better trained and more efficient now without sacrificing their warmth in service. Biggest improvement is the food they served; taste and portioning has vastly improved compared to the last time I took a short-haul PR economy flight last year. Seat comfort is average mainly due to quite a tight legroom compared to other airlines. I had no issues with the seat itself considering it being just a short flight. Flight was on-time in both cases and baggage claim was prompt and efficient. The extra 30-50USD you pay compared to local budget airline competitors and the 30-50USD you save compared to other regional Asian carriers is worth it. Philippine Airlines is a good choice for short to medium haul flights and I would not hesitate booking with this airline again.