Philippines Airlines 2016 Domestic Report

[Gratefuled]

I use PAL to and from Philippines to LA and back. Never had a problem.I use Cebu Pacific within the Philippines.

Never a problem either.

[sonjack2847]

1 hour ago, Gratefuled said:

I use PAL to and from Philippines to LA and back. Never had a problem.I use Cebu Pacific within the Philippines.

Never a problem either.

That is my experience with both of them as well.I use CP more than PAL as they are cheaper and as the flights are short I don`t care if I get fed or not.I had a friend who used PAL,they cancelled his flight and told him he could go the next  day.They put him in a hotel and gave him food vouchers.What nobody thought about was the fact that he was now over 6 months here and needed an Exit clearance.That on day delay meant he had to do his report with all his fingerprints and stuff and then his ECC. It meant he was here nearly 2 weeks longer.

[jpbago]

16 hours ago, Bruce said:

What you fail to recognize is that by ignoring the posted departure schedule, people may have missed the flight.

Passengers are required to check in 45 minutes before departure for domestic and 1 hour for international flights. Once all passengers have boarded the plane, it would be rather foolish to sit there for 30 minutes.

16 hours ago, Bruce said:

You want to pay for taxi and hotel? PAL won't.

Have a look at post 12. PAL did pay his expenses due to the cancelled flight. His ECC expenses were because he did not allow for a delayed flight. When you leave things to the last minute with no allowance for error, you take a chance.

16 hours ago, Bruce said:

This is maybe why you took off early and they flew faster, trying to play catch up with no regard to those who booked a flight to depart for a specific time.

It was the first flight of the day. PAL was not playing catch up.

16 hours ago, Bruce said:

Taking off early only benefits the airline. No consideration for the human inconvenience if those who miss that flight.

Taking off early benefited us as we had an early appointment. We could have went the night before but that would have cost us more. Those that miss flights are those that never learn that it is better to be early than late.

Jeez, I try to write a positive post and I get all this negativity. Is it raining out?

[Bruce]

14 minutes ago, jpbago said:

Passengers are required to check in 45 minutes before departure for domestic and 1 hour for international flights. Once all passengers have boarded the plane, it would be rather foolish to sit there for 30 minutes.

Have a look at post 12. PAL did pay his expenses due to the cancelled flight. His ECC expenses were because he did not allow for a delayed flight. When you leave things to the last minute with no allowance for error, you take a chance.

It was the first flight of the day. PAL was not playing catch up.

Taking off early benefited us as we had an early appointment. We could have went the night before but that would have cost us more. Those that miss flights are those that never learn that it is better to be early than late.

Jeez, I try to write a positive post and I get all this negativity. Is it raining out?

It is just part of my charm. While you see a positive post, I see issues for people left behind. Schedules are made for a reason. Not just show up and grab a seat and we fly. As for the 1st flight of the day... PAL was banking the ahead of time schedule in case of a future delay that day. Of course if the next plane leaves on time, all that banked time is gone. But, if all the booked seats were filled early, than an early take off may be OK! (outbound, incoming flights to Manila have a gate shortage issue and there may be a delay on the tarmac)

Again, there are tracking penalties for late flights, but not early flights. If airlines were also tracked and penalized for early departures, then the early departures, unless the flight is full, will stop. People like me, with direct linear thinking, have expectations and 'we' are ON TIME people. If I tell you I will be there at 3, I am there at 3 or I have a reason, not an excuse. I expect the same from others. And I am disappointed daily!  In Florida, we call it 'Latin time' or 'island time' when people take a scheduled time as simply a general reference and not an actual time. And when they get a job and are fired for being late, they claim discrimination....

As a nurse, I have no authority to decide to give meds early or late. Schedules are for a reason. In many areas of life, not just flights. My own flights between Florida and Tacloban (3) take me 40 hours of travel time due to 2 layovers. I could cut it down by 6 hours or so but I would rather be early and wait then to miss a flight for reasons beyond my control. I plan ahead. 

[Jack Peterson]

 I was not going to get into this one But we have to look at things from a Safety issue as well as  a "Didn't he do well" angle, it will be no surprise that during a 27+ year service with the RAF I had much time within the ATC (Air Traffic Control) Syndrome.

Every Aircraft has a Take of Slot and a landing Slot at the other end. What happen in between is as it is but in this instance I can only think that the Aircraft had ALL it's Passengers on Board Early, It would not have been given Clearance to go if Seats were still Empty until it's appointed time.

I am Surprised even more that a Full 1/2 Hour was allowed for an early Off as this will have thrown the Programme out quite a lot.

Being Too early is as Bad as being late up there as you will not be in the Right Order for Landing,

Other Incoming Aircraft will have to stay up and then be shown as late arrivals, not good. 

 We all like to be early and/or On time but it is a safety thing for Aircraft, being where you should be at the Time you should be

Could you imagine the problems encountered at a major Airport if this happened too often but Major or Minor (Domestic)  Airports, the Rules are the Rules for passenger Safety Especially if the Other Aircraft are not aware of the early descent of a Too early Incoming. ACT must stick to the Rules at all times and again I say, I am very surprised at a full 1/2 Hour Early Departure. and maybe a little more surprised that Cebu found the early Bird a Slot to land with out interrupting the Schedules. but.......... I mean it was NOT and Emergency was it ? more of a merit point for the Captain.

 Sorry but this is how I see things, Air travel is either done the right way or the Wrong way, there can be no Grey Areas on commercial Flights.

 

Jack 

[not so old china hand]

My experiences with Philippine Airlines have generally been positive. Or put it another way I can't recall a memorably bad experience (I have had a few of those with certain airlines over the years).

A couple of years ago a mate and I flew from Beijing to Cebu on PAL. We were a couple of hours late leaving Beijing - unfortunately the norm in China - and so missed our connection. By the time we arrived in Manila it was late evening and our connections were long gone (my mate had booked an earlier connecting flight but I missed mine as well). We went to the transfer desk and were greeted with "Ah we have been expecting you. You are just in time for the last flight to Cebu. Here are your boarding passes [they were ready-printed and pinned-up on the back wall of the desk]. Your checked baggage has already been transferred to this flight."

IMHO they had done all that could be expected of them. And they did it curteously, which counts for a lot as far as I am concerned.

 

[not so old china hand]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

Every Aircraft has a Take of Slot and a landing Slot at the other end. What happen in between is as it is but in this instance I can only think that the Aircraft had ALL it's Passengers on Board Early, It would not have been given Clearance to go if Seats were still Empty until it's appointed time.

I agree with everything you say: in principle. However my experience in China (anecdotal I know) is that the majority of delays are caused by the PRC's air traffic control system.  Flights board on time and then wait hours on the tarmac for clearance to takeoff. The two hours I quoted in my earlier post almost qualifies as a timely departure, five or seven-hour delays are not unknown.

To be fair it is not the fault of the controllers but is due to the fact that the vast majority of PRC airspace is restricted to military use. That, coupled with the fact that Beijing Capital International Airport is one of the busiest in world, means that there is no slack in the system.

On the PAL flight I mentioned above not only did we take off two hours late but the flight was routed north for a couple of hundred miles: compounding its late arrival.

So I do wonder in the OP's case if his flight was allocated a landing slot that had been freed-up as the result of flights that were already know to be overdue. Just a thought....

Edited November 25, 2016 by not so old china hand
correcting typos

[Jack Peterson]

4 minutes ago, not so old china hand said:

So I do wonder in the OP's case if his flight was allocated a landing slot that had been freed-up as the result of flights that were already know to be overdue. Just a thought....

 Yes that may well be True but it is the early take of before Time that would be of Concern, no one that was at the boarding gate ahead of the time shown should have missed the Flight because it went early but then maybe this is a Time when PI Time works in Reverse  So I guess the Aircraft was full. Given that they would have been on Different ATC the Captain would not have known there was a slot if he came Early.

 I daresay we will be able to throw this around for some time but to me 11am is 11am not 10.30 as in this case but................... another day on the Fantasy Islands 

[jpbago]

I looked at two PAL flights today to see if this was pattern of departing and arriving early.

Both depart early and arrive early, one from BCD to Cebu and one from Davao to Cebu.

[Julia]

On 11/25/2016 at 9:35 AM, Bruce said:

It is just part of my charm.