Philippine Airlines

London to Manila, and Philippine Airlines is the worst airline I have travelled with for accommodating babies. The bassinet seats are sold for extra price for extra leg room so if they are booked, your babies needs are not accommodated. We paid full price without any discounts, hence I don't think it was value for money for the service we got. The check in was horrendous, making the flight on the way there at least two hours delayed and 1.5 hours of that spent sat down waiting to leave. Not great when you have young kids hanging around with no room to move. I'm originally from the Philippines and with the experience we received from them, including customer service over the phone, I would never recommend this airline ever.

Flew from Singapore to Manila. Philippine Airlines is a full service carrier, but some of their products and services can be compared to their rival company (and low cost airline) Cebu Pacific. The seats are tightly compact and didn't reach the standard of many full service airlines. The crews are nice, friendly and hospitable, a Filipino trait that is carried all over the world. The ground crew are sometimes disappointing as they don't always smile at you.

Brisbane to Manila via Darwin with Philippine Airlines PR222. Flight was delayed 4 hours. It wasn't worth the money but the cabin crew were friendly. There was no inflight entertainment in your seat for an 10 hour flight, but instead they have your overhead video screens. When you try to watch something it hurts your neck. The seats are very hard and uncomfortable. The food was in very very small portions and I was very hungry, but cabin crew gave me a spare crew meal.

Puerto Princesa to Manila with Philippine Airlines. Delay of about an hour which is not bad to Philippine standards. We were kept informed by the ground staff. Once onboard, the experience was once again very nice: smiling crew, clean aircraft, enough leg room and even a small snack and something to drink was offered. Definitely more reliable than the low cost alternatives, definitely worth the extra couple of euros.

I flew from Hong Kong to Manila in one of Philippine Airlines new planes with the lie flat seats on business class. Flight attendants on most Philippine Airlines flights are pleasant and always ready to help, so no problems there. The food was okay, but I have low expectations for airline food. It wasn't spectacular, but far from horrible. I think that the new business class seat configuration is a huge step back though. For a business class seat, the seats are cramped, and I can't really call those seats comfy. Softer cushions would have made a world of difference. Also, the decision to give passengers iPad minis in lieu of seat back TV screens is a step backward in my opinion. I would prefer to have my hands free while relaxing on a flight. The inflight entertainment selections were also limited. I didn't think I got my money's worth on these seats, other airlines offer better seats at comparable prices. It's understandable when this airline changed the seat configurations in economy class to compete with budget carriers, but why would they scrimp on passengers who are willing to pay a premium?

First time on PR, LAX-MNL in Business class. Boarded on time and pushed back a few minutes late. The Business class cabin felt a little dated : 2-4-2 seating with an angled lie-flat seat that was more comfortable for sleeping than I expected. Cabin service was very friendly and attentive, but the IFE did not work for my seat and others despite repeated attempts to re-set the system. Unacceptable for a 14-hour flight in C-class. Food was OK, Overall a decent experience, but nowhere near the level of the top Asian carriers like SQ, CX and OZ. Then again, the price was significantly lower as well.

We had a connecting flight from Barcelona but were told to pickup our PAL boarding passes in HKG. We were allowed two bags each on Lufthansa so checked three - one was a 5kg toiletries bag which could be carried on. In HKG, Philippine Airlines told us we could only have two bags so we needed to pay $140 for the extra bag or retrieve it from baggage claim and recheck the other two. We had a five hour layover so chose to get back our bags. After 90 minutes of waiting we were told one of our bags couldn't be found so we needed to wait some more. After two hours we were told the small bag would only cost $20 so we paid but then the price was increased to $50. Finally after three hours and one of our bags still missing we we're left with the choice of paying $50, abandoning the 5kg bag or missing our flight. We paid but will never fly Philippine Airlines again. Hence, for a few dollars they lost a family of five that frequently fly international.

Singapore to Manila with Philippine Airlines. A320 cabin is pleasant but the lack of legroom and aisle space is very evident. As expected, there is no inflight entertainment. PAL crew demonstrate inflight safety procedures manually. Meals was a choice of pepper chicken or pork adobo; smaller tray, smaller portions - main meal, small serving of salad, roll and cake. Asked for butter and attendant sarcastically replied that "it's only available upon request". I couldn't believe my ears so I asked again and she replied again with a smirk, after getting the butter and handing it to me. Since when do you serve dinner rolls without butter? I asked the senior cabin crew if it was the standard for them to serve dinner rolls without butter and she showed me her inventory form. Only 10 pcs of butter was loaded for a full flight of almost 200 passengers. She also asked the male purser to explain the situation.

I'm a frequent traveller of Philippine Airlines and recently flew MNL-BKK return on an A330-300. Check-in on both flights smooth and courteous. A330-300 on both flights, but the 3-3-3 configuration is a give away that PAL has given in to the stiff competition offered by Cebu Pacific by going low-cost. PAL urgently needs to decide what they are - full service or low cost! The lack of inflight entertainment would be felt on medium to long haul flights. Though they offer free "In-Air" entertainment, you have to download their app before the flight to use it and the lack of prior information makes it impossible to access it if, like me, you did not download the app beforehand. The food consisted of a choice of pork or chicken. I was able to get the chicken dish on the outbound flight. The food was tasty but a small portion, with a token salad. The bread served on the return flight was rock hard and no butter. The ice cream dessert was welcome. Friendly service in spite of the poor quality and food presentation, was quite noticeable. Baggage handling improved and were on the carousel as we came out of Immigration. I hope PAL puts its act together and decides pronto what their positioning is in the growing Asian air transportation market, otherwise, it would lose any competitive advantage it has over other neighboring airlines.

Philippine Airlines is improving but they have a long way to go to match some of their Asian competitors. The online booking process is good but you cannot pick a special meal online. This can only be done by special request on the telphone or in person at their office. Since Philippine Airlines never answers the telephone in Thailand and rarely answers it in the Philippines it is not something simple to do. The flight check in is done by airport staff not Philippine Airline staff but this was smooth and trouble free. Boarding was easy and they begin boarding about 40 minutes before departure so if you do not like sitting on a plane that is not moving stay in the lounge until the final call. Service on the flight was very good, staff were excellent and very attentive. I had to ask for a blanket 4 times from 3 different attendants and finally got one but they eventually ran out so other passengers were not able to have one and the plane was very cold. Food was about a 3 out of 10 but they did give ice cream at the end of the meal which was a nice touch. Seats are not very comfortable and the legroom is terrible for a person 5'10" or larger. My knees were up quite high and then the passenger in front reclined his seat and I had to spread my legs just to fit in the seat. There was no in seat tv's which was very disappointing for a 3+ hour flight. I have taken this flight on Thai Airways and they have in seat tv. Arrival in Manila is confusing and terminal 2 is very old and should be replaced. If you are transferring to another flight you pass through immigration then wait for 30 minutes to get your bag, have customs sign your customs form and give it to the transfer desk. No one is there to explain this so you have to figure this out yourself. After passing your bag to the transfer staff you proceed to try and find the domestic terminal which is upstairs and then get to the gate for the flight to Cebu. The internet in the terminal is almost non-existent and very frustrating. There is only 1 washroom in the entire terminal. Seats are metal and very uncomfortable. The domestic flight to Cebu was fine, but the space between seats is very small. If the passenger in front of you reclines their seat its like they are in your lap. Service was good but they did not have pillows or blankets for economy passengers.