Philippine Airlines

Osaka to Manila. Philippine Airlines (PR407) Schedule: 10:00; Actual Departure from KIX 10:10, Actual Arrival in NAIA 2 gate: 13:12. Basic services: seat selection (49 or 51H changed to 68H), legroom, meal, generous baggage allowance Pros: Timing (departure from KIX and arrival at MNL) Cons: Hard product in the economy class. The most cringe-worthy flight I ever had. For the seating arrangement, I was partly to blame. During check-in, opened seats were few that 49 or 51H was one of the remaining aisle seats. At the airport, there were many seats opened. The check-in attendant arranged to move me further which I couldn't care less either so I agreed to his offer of 68H aisle seat. The problem was despite of bigger aircraft, legroom was worse than A321 I had from Manila to Nagoya and that 68H's recline is not working! It felt as if seating in LCC and and this was what I got for the money I pay for. Now I also understand why the many low scores here regarding inflight entertainment. I experienced myPAL player myself. The aircraft will only let me use myPAL player few minutes before logging in or punching in my email. When I entered my email it never worked! I was given 15MB of free data but then I paused it only to find out after 30 minutes it already gone while being unused! When the food was served, Japanese passengers were only offered bento box while Filipinos or any other nationalities were fitted to chicken and pork steaks. I am not sure why but it was a culture-shock for me. I knew that PR is culture-sensitive but bento wasn't even offered to Filipinos like me. When it comes to the staff, they have always been helpful. The classic smooth runway landing has always been in PAL's spirit so no problem with that. The problem with this airline is the sad state of Manila airport. I would recommend flying with them if you care about generous baggage allowance. Else, fly with better airline if you have money and connection time to spare.

Manila to Nagoya. Philippie Airlines (PR438) Schedule: 14:05; Actual Departure 15:09, Actual Arrival at Nagoya: 19:27. Basic services: seat selection (50H), good legroom, meal, generous baggage allowance Pros: Better timing (departure from Manila and arrival at the destination) Cons: Hard product in economy class. This was somehow a comfortable flight in spite of the delay. Airline staff were welcoming. Food is pretty basic; had beef steak out of 2 choices inclusive of carbo loads. PR ran out of the other choice. Coffee was not served due to turbulence but after turbulence, only green tea was served. I was also looking for the IFE option but non-existed. They are expecting us to download and use the myPAL player but I never did use it.

✅ Verified Review | Puerto Princesa to Singapore via Manila. Overall comfortable flight with nice food served onboard. However if punctuality is something that matters for you, Philippine Airlines should be avoided. In the last 10 days we had 4 flights through Philippine Airlines and none of them was on time. This is very inconvenient if you have external commitments.

✅ Verified Review | I travelled Philippine Airlines Business Class return Sydney to Manila on an A340. I took a connecting flight to Boracay Island by Cebu Pacific. I thought I got a fairly good deal Business Class ticket for US$1250. Unfortunately, on the day of my return flight, there was a typhoon in Boracay Island. All flight services from Caticlan airport were cancelled for 2 days. There was no boat service to reach Caticlan from Boracay for 24 hours. So I had no option but to miss the night PAL flight to Sydney and try to reschedule it. The misery started when I tried to contact PAL customer service to reschedule my flight. It took me around 8 phone calls and 7 hours of effort to get my flight rescheduled. I kept on trying to convince them that it was not my fault, that I was missing the flight due to the typhoon, but they refused to accept this. I was dumbfounded when the lady on the other line stated the total cost of rebooking is approximately US$5620 as I got a promo offer previously. They kept on hold for over 45 minutes and the line got disconnected. I tried to call then again at least 6-8 times and each time they kept me on hold for at least 45 minutes, repeatedly getting disconnected. They never even attempted to call me back for the first 6 hours. After 7 hours of struggling, I finally settled rescheduling the ticket for a penalty of US$819. The only redeeming feature of this airline is that the service in Business class was above average with reasonable food. This review is a warning other travellers – even if you get good prices on ticket offers it is not worth using PAL due to its appalling customer service.

Manila to Bangkok round trip with Philippine Airlines. Check in fine on both flights, especially quick in MNL. Both flights on or slightly ahead of time. On time reliability was not one of Philippine Airlines strengths but is now much improved. A330 aircraft on both flights with plenty of space. Efficient cabin service with simple and tasty meal service. Probably the worst part of Philippine Airlines is now the poorly appointed departures area in NAIA Terminal 2 - the flights are fine, well priced, reliable and with good scheduling. Online booking works well and the change costs, though expensive are clearly displayed.

Manila to Tokyo Narita. I am a Mabuhay Miles Premier Elite member and would like to forewarn other Mabuhay Miles members that it is not worth the effort to qualify for the Premier Elite level as the benefits over those of Elite level are valueless unless you travel with a companion who is not an Elite member. There is no difference in the Elite and Premier Elite bonus miles (both earn a flat 25% bonus on top of the service class miles), and airport treatment (free baggage allowance, priority check-in and boarding) are identical. There is one difference in that Premier Elites can take a guest into the Mabuhay Lounge whereas Elites can only enter the Lounges alone. The main perceived benefit of achieving Premier Elite is possibly the two free service class upgrade certificates, but in practice upgrading using the certificates is very difficult (you must buy an overpriced Economy Q-class fare that is only 15% less expensive than a guaranteed Business class fare and mot available through Philippine airlines' website) and upgrade availability is very limited. In reality its much less effort, and only marginally more expensive, to buy a Business class ticket in the first place. Philippine Airlines repeatedly states its intention to become a 5-Star airline but I think that given their current policies and attitudes its an unobtainable goal.

✅ Verified Review | Manila to Caticlan. After waiting one hour to check in at Manila, were only 2 counters were opened, somebody called us out the line and let us wait another 15 min without any information about what's happening. Afterwards, we've been informed that our flight got canceled. Another 30 mins later we got information that we can be rebooked to the next one - which was only possible since that one was delayed. Similar story at the flight back. Arriving at 6am at the airport, airline staff told us to queue in the wrong airline's line. After finally arriving the right counter, we've been told that the flight has been canceled again. After a super chaotic back and forth to different counters and 3 security checks, Luckily in order to catch our connection flight, we got booked on another airline. Still we had get our luggage and checkin again in Manila for the connection flight.

I chose Philippine Airlines from Brisbane to London via Manila & Darwin because the business class fare was much better than with other carriers. For this reason I accepted that their Business Class does not deliver what other airlines offer. Flight Attendants were wonderfully friendly and polite, and immaculately dressed, and addressed me by name, but for some reason the pre-takeoff drink does not include alcohol, unlike other carriers. Meals were mostly very good, but are not served with salt or pepper, which must be requested from the flight crew, and even then you are given sachets, not china salt and pepper shakers as with other airlines. Meal service was somewhat hit and miss, and rather disorganised. The breakfast menu included yoghurt and cereal, which we were never offered. Breakfast on one flight did not include tea or coffee, and on the flights when I requested tea with breakfast, my cup was filled with hot, (not boiling) water, and I had to wait for a teabag, which usually arrived when the water was lukewarm. Milk was never offered with tea or coffee, unless you asked for it, so I just gave up and drank my lukewarm tea black, which is not really acceptable for Business Class. The IFE was not real reliable, and movie and music channels were intermittent and jerky. At one stage my IFE refused to function, and I was offered an I-Pad instead. Alcohol service was willingly offered and call bells were answered promptly. The A340 was a much better plane, with heaps of leg room and lie flat seats, but the A320 was uncomfortable. I would certainly fly with PAL again, but only if the price remains consistent with the level of service.

✅ Verified Review | Taipei to Manila. Philippine Airlines only send you an email that your flight is cancelled, no texts or calls and no other information at all as to when your new flight is. On the email, they ask you to call a Philippine Number. This is very stupid, as they fly to numerous international destinations, and I believe that it is necessary for them to have an international hotline so their customers do not rack up on uneccessary roaming fees on the 1 hour long phone call needed to know about the cancelled flight and to rebook refund your ticket! Booking with PAL, I expected so much more, since it is not a budget airline, and they are actually more expensive that other airlines.

I had quite low expectations after booking this fare as the fare was so incredibly low. I flew return with my 11 year old from Cairns, Australia to London Heathrow with a longish layover in Manila (9 hours) on the way over. I have done a lot of international flying over the years and no matter who you fly with, the flight is from Australia to Europe is long and tedious. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised with the level of service that we received with Philippine Airlines, everything from start to finish went smoothly for us from the departure times to the inflight service, we didn't have a single issue. All of the cabin staff that we encountered were lovely, very helpful and extremely courteous, everything was done with a smile and the utmost professionalism. The plane was somewhat dated but clean and functional. The inflight entertainment system was not up to scratch but we didn't mind as I like to read and my daughter watches her own shows on her laptop. The meals were fine, not fabulous but certainly edible and no better or no worse than other airlines that I have flown with. I have a friend who flew to the UK at the same time as us but she flew a different airline out of Brisbane and she paid almost the same just for her ticket as I did for both mine and my daughter's tickets. A lot of people are sceptical when flying an airline that they are not familiar with and I was no different. I wouldn't hesitate to use Philippine Airlines again, I have no desire to spend a vast amount more for my fare just to fly a preferred airline, I'd rather the extra money to spend while on holidays!