Philippine Airlines

I'm a frequent flyer with PAL so I will create three reviews under one contribution. (1) A321 Flights MNL-SIN- MNL: I usually go for the "Choice Seats" for these flights which cover two or three rows right behind Business Class. This section is lumped together with Business Class so you get extra privacy and are on the "front" of the cabin. This also means you get to share the lavatories in the Business Class section so no crowding whatsoever. No IFE in Regular Economy but if you stay in the Choice Seats section the FAs offer an iPad Mini provided there are spare units (it's standard issue to Business flyers) IFE is up to date and had nice choices of Hollywood films and TV shows; Food is fantastic usually the main reason I like flying PAL. (2) A340 Flights MNL-HNL-MNL: Economy seats are pretty standard these are the Iberia planes under lease so you even notice the markings/labels in Spanish. No AVOD which is a pity for an 11 hour flight; Food again is fantastic and service is quite nice. I flew Business on the HNL-MNL leg and seats were pretty good not a full recline but almost and it had a massage function which was excellent. AVOD was available but they also offered iPads - IFE content on the iPads were far better FA service was excellent the food tasted lovely and was a mix of Japanese/Filipino/Western options. Lounge access in HNL was via Delta SkyLounge - this was so-so. (3) A320 Flights SIN-MNL-SINL: this one's pretty standard; No AVOD but the IFE was tolerable with common monitors/screens IFE content was also fine and they played one full-length movie followed by two 20-minute TV shows; food again is pretty good and usually involves Chicken Fish or Beef; some A320 planes have a similar setup with the A321 for Choice Seats where they are located within the front section of the plane and separated from the rest of the Economy Class service is pretty good as well. Probably the factor where PAL beats its competition? The In-Flight Safety Video.

Flew MNL-CGK-MNL this March 2015. Flight was on a worn-out Airbus 320 with in-flight entertainment. Food was okay but I noticed that PAL has regressed with the quality compared the previous flights. Flights to and from Manila were both slightly delayed. Flight crew were nice courteous and attended to my requests. Price-wise PAL is expensive considering their just satisfactory in-flight service.

March 2015: LHR-MNL-LHR on A340. Despite the poor reviews on this site I experienced a quality level of service from PAL and felt compelled to write a glowing review. Yes the A340 is somewhat on the old side yes it is a bit worn in places but the seat was comfortable there was ample legroom it turned into a flat bed there was power and whilst I have had better inflight entertainment on other airlines there was enough choice and it was AVOD. But where PAL really excelled was in three areas. 1) Value for money 2) Inflight service 3) Meals. All in my opinion were better than you receive in Club World. At LHR you have access to the Etihad lounge we left on time PAL now flies over Russia and China so we arrived in MNL in 12.15 hours rather than the previous 14. On the return leg we left on time and with a journey time of 14 hours. Nothing was too much trouble for the crew. Would I fly with PAL again? Absolutely. Any grumbles? One - headphones were basic and not noise reducing - but that's it. Don't let the other reviews put you off flying with PAL in business on the London route.

I flew MNL-SYD on 6 March and SYD-MNL on 16 March. Economy class in both directions. Paid an extra US$50 for exit row seats which was worth the money. Flights left and arrived close to schedule. No entertainment options of any kind provided in economy class cabin which for an international flight of more than 7 hours appears to be out of step with other airlines. Overall a satisfactory experience although I feel airline should advise at time of booking that it does not provide any entertainment in the economy class cabin.

Flew business class on a 777 from Manila to Bangkok. Very pleasantly surprised. Check-in went smoothly. Seats good. IFE adequate. Service and food very good (three nice cuisine options available - "Western" "Asian" and "Filipino" I selected "Asian" and was impressed with the quality). Departure and arrival on time. Very good experience overall. The only thing lacking is their participation in an alliance.

Flying return to Tagbilaran with a connection in Manila from Hong Kong. All flights were booked in one booking with Philippine airlines. Prior to leaving on our holiday we had our flight rescheduled 3 times. The final two times were not confirmed with us until after we contacted the airline staff several times asking for a confirmation email 1 day before departure. The final flight scheduled meant we left 1 day earlier and had to spend a night in a hotel in Manila not ideal. Our return journey had our flight from Tagbilaran to Manila cancelled after the departure time of 4.40pm (while we were sitting at the gate) because another airline had not yet taken off from the runway so the PAL flight we were meant to get didn't land and returned to Manila. Philippine airlines considers this "Force Meajure" (an act of god) and takes no responsibility informs it's customers the next flight would be at 7.05am the next day and that they would not pay for accommodation until then. We found cheap accommodation nearby for the night returned for our 7.05 am flight the next day which was delayed and departed at 7.30. We arrived in Manila and were expecting to be put on another flight (the original connection was missed because PAL failed to arrange for a flight to pick us up from Tagbilaran in time). Instead we were put on standby for a flight that morning that was overbooked then in the afternoon that was overbooked. All flights were full and no seats were available to myself and my partner. PAL staff continued to claim due to the "act of god" (not their poor quality service) they weren't responsible for paying for us to be transferred to another airline. The next non fully booked flight with PAL was not for 2 days and they also would not pay for accommodation or often compensation. Ultimately we took a taxi to another terminal (a much nicer terminal) and bought new tickets with Cebu-Pacific who were very helpful and got us home on time. Never fly Philippine Airlines. There staff were patronizing and unaccommodating their level of customer service was poor and their flights are constantly cancelled and rescheduled.

DAV-MNL-HKG By far the worst airline I have ever travelled with (and I have had my share). Three domestic flights with PAL on the same week all delayed over 2 hours including my flight out of Davao. Surprisingly my connection to Hong Kong was right on time so I missed it. The FAs tell you "sorry about the delay but we got you here safe!" They sent me to a hotel more than 1 hour far from the airport. Funny thing is I have had delayed flights from PAL for hours until every passenger appears when other airlines would just leave latecommers but they did not wait for me.

Manila-Davao Dec 15. The price is the same as Cebu Pacific but PAL offers better service than the latter you are provided biscuits coffee and water on the flight and they leave on time. Was originally on the 4am flight but that got cancelled and passengers were moved to the next Davao flights luckily my friend and I were placed on the very next one (the 8.30 one). We were compensated with full meal breakfast while waiting for the flight. Our flight left on time and arrived in Davao according to schedule. The take-off and landing were superb and smooth. The flying experience is a great improvement the check-in counter and flight crew were professional. My only suggestion for PAL is to make seats more comfortable and to place personal built-in IFE on every seats at least on international flights if they want to compete with other international carriers. The iPad IFE doesn't look like a good idea especially at long haul ergonomically. Traditional seat-installed IFE is still the best way to go. As long as they don't have IFE on their international flights will still continue to take foreign carriers when I go abroad.

Business Class Melbourne-Manila-LHR. July 2014. The Lounge in MEL is one of the best lounges in Melbourne. The flight to Manila was excellent on all counts. No problem getting out of the airport. We found meter taxis are the best value and convenient. We stayed at the New World in Makati which we can recommend. The flight to England was the same experience and we were saying at that stage that PAL was really good value. Then it all went downhill on our return flights in September. PAL uses Malaysia Airlines Lounge in London and it was just okay. On the flight (late) my seat was broken and would not recline I was moved to another seat but the media unit didn't work so they gave me a Ipad. The seat headrest abutted the toilet and the constant flushing made sleep almost impossible. We were very glad to get to our hotel in Manila and get some sleep. The flight back to Melbourne from Manila was delayed for hours. Guess what! I had exactly the same experience on the flight to Melbourne broken seats and media units. I complained and was given 30000 Pal frequent flyer points as compensation.

This was a codeshare with Vietnam Airlines for the second leg from HCM to MAN was surprised at the level of high quality service previously I have been unimpressed with PAL on their short flights. I didn't expect any entertainment on a 2 hrs flight so wasn't surprised when there wasn't any also didn't expect a meal but was served with a very good and tasty fish dish served with unlimited beer!