Philippine Airlines

Philippines Airlines Business Class - there is space which you'd expect but the cabin was horrible and in my return Manila-Honolulu flight I changed seats 4 times to find a seat that worked correctly or a TV screen that would hold itself up. The plane was very old and to be honest a bit scary. I hope they maintain the engines better than they do the cabin. I fly business class on flights over 7 hours and this was the worst experience I have ever had. This airline is brutal with excess luggage - even 1Kg is charged (on this sector) US$150 -this is what they tried to charge me for my surfboard coming back from Honolulu. The confusing part for me is they didn't charge me to go over with it so I was shocked when they tried to charge me at Honolulu. I talked my way out of it and I could see the person had heard it all before as she tired of saying the same thing.

LAX-MNL/MNL-LAX. Philippine Airlines new Business Class product which I was quite pleased with. The cabin was clean modern and fully staffed. They have the new angled lie flat seats which are quite nice. Entertainment system pretty good. The dinner service was excellent. The only glitch is the wine list - only two choices. The service in general was warm friendly and sincere. The over all in flight product is good and a great value for your money. However reservations and check in can be touched up a bit.

YVR-SIN-YVR in Business Class. Older A340's non stop Vancouver- Manila and new A320's on the Manila - Singapore. A340 is showing its age and business class seating is old style (their 747's have been refurbished to the new biz style but not the A340) the service on board was attentive and professional. The food was very good and well presented. A few drink runs would have been appreciated without having to press the call button. Very good lounges (shared) were provided in both Vancouver and Singapore while the Philippine Airlines Mabuhay Lounge in Manila was available during the transit stop. The Manila lounge does let the product down as it is nowhere as nice as the others. Service and food on the regional flight between Manila and Singapore was as good as long haul. Luggage both ways was handled in priority manner. Overall a very satisfactory product especially for the price PAL charge for their business when compared to some alternatives.

KTM-BKK Flight in March 2009 as it was only half the price of Thai. Booking Check-in and Boarding went surprisingly without problem or delay. B757 is pretty old but clean inside. The staff provided a good service with a hot meal and passengers are provided with the Thai immigration papers. The inflight entertainment is outside the window as you see lots of the Himalayas for the first 40 mins after departure.

BKK-KTM economy. B-757 pleasant and clean. This was the cheapest option BKK-KTM and our expectations were low. We were surprised! Very friendly and serviceminded cabin staff in traditional local dresses. Good language skills and plenty of information from the captain and FA. Good local food. Arrival on time despite delay from BKK. No baggage problems and high level of service in KTM intl airport. An overall positive experience in spite of lack of IFE. I would definitely choose Royal Nepal Airlines again and have recommended others to fly them.

HKG-KTM. On the whole not bad left on time Cabin crew friendly. Plane a bit dated magazine was fairly informative. The best thing was the food hot fresh and tasty.

I am a Nepalese and well used to the awful standards of Nepal Airlines formerly Royal Nepal Airlines. If you are thinking of flying by Nepal Airlines don't ! Pay the extra and find another carrier. They have been operating their international services with two ancient Boeing 757s and both were grounded in early May resulting in the cancellation of all their international flights. These long delays and cancellations have happened to me several times in the past and I now pay the extra money and fly by Thai Airways on the same route. If you are lucky enough to take off the meals and wines are good and the crews are efficient enough and do speak English regardless of any previous comments on this site. I want to be proud of my national carrier but at the moment it is a complete shambles and I advise everybody not to fly on this airline.

I had the misfortune of making a booking on Royal Nepal Airlines from Kathmandu to Delhi. Little did I know that this was the worst airline I had ever encountered. I had a connecting flight at Delhi. On the morning of my departure I arrived at the airport only to discover that the flight had been cancelled. I was told to return to Kathmandu as the offices opened at 10am. Only after we myself and a few other passengers refused to go away did the ground staff make a plan to get us on an alternative flight with Sahara Airlines. On arriving at Delhi there was absolutely no Royal Nepal Airlines staff to meet us to try and arrange alternative flights or even provide support in any way. It cost me about $700 to make alternative arrangements as I had missed my connecting flight. Never use Royal Nepal Airlines they are absolutely useless.

KTM-HKG Business Class. Arriving at the airport we were faced with huge lines to get in as all baagage had to be x-rayed prior to check in. No agent present at the business class check in counter so my wife and I proceeded to the economy check in. Only one person in front. The agent was friendly and soon gave us our boarding passes with the Economy Class name crossed out and Business Class written by hand - nice. Flight was delayed due to late arrival of aircraft - not an unusual occurrence with Royal Nepal - most people are just thankful the flight's not cancelled. Flight departed an hour and a half late though we arrived just 20 minutes past our scheduled arrival time. On board there were 2 FA for the 9 people sitting up front (including 2 relief pilots). Meals were fine and service was friendly. No inflight entertainment - only international news magazines and newspapers were available. FAs came around frequently to check if everything was ok. Overall an ok experience - the staff usually try their best but are let down by shoddy management ageing planes and poor infrastructure at the airport.

Granted this airlines has lot of problems I disagree with the comment that airline crew speak little to no English. Their English is quite good actually. In fact better than lot of airlines in South East Asia.