First Time with PhilAir

[not so old china hand]

I have flown with Philippines Airlines several times over the past five years. Flights have ranged from the one-hour hop from Hong Kong to Manila, the four-hour flight from Beijing to Manila and, most recently, the twelve-hour flight from Manila to London. All the flights have been unexceptionable, being neither memorable as a good or a bad experience. No, they are not in the same class as Singapore Airlines (on which I have had memorably good experiences) nor as Qantas and certain airlines from the USA (which have left me with not such good memories).

A few negatives, none of which are show-stoppers for me:

   I have had problems with online check-in and seat allocation at times and have never been able to pre-order a special meal,

   Their inflight meals are pretty basic (but then so they are on most airlines),

    There may be no seat-back screens for inflight entertainment (not a problem for me since I prefer to read a book anyway) however on some flights they do offer a wireless inflight entertainment system which you can access on your own tablet.

As always YMMV but I would say go for it.

Edited August 24, 2017 by not so old china hand

[OnMyWay]

48 minutes ago, not so old china hand said:

Flights have ranged from the one-hour hop from Hong Kong to Manila

What type of aircraft are they flying on that route?  It must be very quick!    It took me over 2 hours last time.

[not so old china hand]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

What type of aircraft are they flying on that route?  It must be very quick!    It took me over 2 hours last time.

True The scheduled time from departure to arrival is usually around 2 hours 15 minutes. However the distance flown is only about 610 nautical miles so the flight itself seems like a quick hop to me.

Isn't much of time on the schedule for a short flight like this taken up with taxiing, waiting for take-of clearance and waiting for a landing slot?

[BrettGC]

10 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Similar for me.  4 hours of so from Manila to Bali was my longest.  It is quite basic and does not compare with Singapore airlines in quality, food or comfort.

Philippine Airlines has some good price specials from time to time and they offer good connections in Manila when coming from or going to Dumaguete.  That's why I use them sometimes.

Got a good price, $741AUD (around 29k PHP) return which is in the ball park with Singapore Airlines, and perhaps a little cheaper depending on when you book, but without the layover so I'm happy with that.   Yep I could've got it a lot cheaper with Cebu Pacific if I could be bothered flying to Sydney first and with Cairns being a major tourist destination here (Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest etc) it's pretty tough to get cheap flights in or out of the place.  

 

10 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Not sure why you had a 7 hour layover if using Singapore air as for me flying from Brisbane it's always 3 hours and on the way back 1.5 hours. Unless of course you were choosing the cheapest flights. 

Tom, last two times I tried to get those connections they were booked out on the days I could fly, at the cheaper rates.  

[bigpearl]

We have flown PAL for the last few years to Manila from Brisbane and back (about 10 hours)  as it is the shortest flight with a refuel stop in Darwin and cheaper, the food is as good as others as is the service though not as good as others, no inflight video/tv. Booking and check in are the same as others, never a problem, saves around 300 bucks and though I don't get JD there is wine or beer available. I prefer Qantas but several years ago they dropped the direct flight from Brisbane to Manila, a 7 and a half hour flight and opted to send passengers to Sydney (exactly the opposite direction 450 miles) and depending on your transfer times and availability has gone to 10 plus hours. I have done that leg twice and it is frustrating and always a rush to transfer domestic to international. Bring back the direct flight and we will gladly pay the extra dollars.

There are sometimes delays with PAL but I've experienced that with plenty of other airlines also. Looking at flights for next march, about 300 bucks different with Qantas and 2 to 3 hours longer.

PAL $705.00 each return under 10 hours flight time.

Qantas. $868.00 each return over 12 hours flight time.

Cathay Pacific. $905.00 each return nearly 13 hours flight time.

Singapore airlines. $895.00 each return average 14 hour flight time.

Combined airline carriers. $850.00 each return 15 plus hour flight time.

For us PAL from Australia saves time and money, not sure about other countries and yes I scour the net looking for deals but for years it always comes back to this company. Just my thoughts based on our experiences over the years.

Cheers, Steve.

Edited August 25, 2017 by bigpearl

[Clermont]

Around $741 seems a good price considering it is a one flight trip, no milk run. I have flown Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and PI airlines, the Pi airlines seating is for PI people so not much leg room for long legged Ozzie's, but the time you are on the plane and being able to walk around, go for it. The food is OK sort off, if they serve a fish dish on the way back, you might have to hang the head out of the window, gee it stinks. As for service, their a friendly airline, never had a problem with any of them, six to one, half a dozen which airline you fly. Enjoy your self and as big Pearl said, it is cheaper, faster and more direct than other airlines.  

[Gary D]

I used to fly PAL regularly back in the ninties London to Manila. Food was always good and staff friendly. They then stopped flying for several years until 4-5 years ago. Prices now are high on a par witht the expensive airlines like Emerates, Singapore Airlines etc. Got a very good deal for this coming March with Cathey Pacific, London-Hong Kong- Manila with 1 1/2 hour change over in HK. Leave UK mid morning and arrive Manila Lunchtime, ideal $430. Coming back leaving Manila early evening arriving early morning next day. Gives us plenty of time to get to and from the airports without 4am starts, result.

[Huggybearman]

I used to use PAL often for internal flights and between Thailand and MNL. They have a reasonable frequent flyer scheme which you can use to endorse flights to another person. However my last three flights suffered long delays, the last one eventually being cancelled, all leading to missed connections.

Their customer service was non existant, they refused to endorse our tickets to CebPac who had flights available which would have enabled the connection (on PAL) to BKK. Consequently we had to overnight in MNL to catch their flight the following day. They refused to let us have our bags which were checked through to BKK so we had to buy toiletries etc in a local drugstore. The hotel provided, which was little more than a motel, was about a 90 minute drive away, after spending nearly 2 hours at the airport whilst they sorted out our accomodation. In the hotel PAL had a 'special menu' for PAL transit passengers which was basic in the extreme. If you preferred to eat something actually edible then you had to pay extra, or preferably eat offsite.

To cap it off they lost one of our checked in bags and eventually, after many months, the compensation paid was hardly enough to buy a decent suitcase, let alone replace the contents.

We will never fly PAL again unless there is no alternative.

Good luck if you choose to fly with them

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 8/24/2017 at 6:15 PM, Dave Hounddriver said:

Pays to do lots of homework when figuring out the cost of baggage.

30 kg is for international  , 20 domestic 

[BrettGC]

Well it seems this will be my one and only trip.  As of December, PhilAir is cancelling their Cairns leg and flying directly to Auckland instead. 

 

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/cairns-airport-to-lose-asian-airline-from-december/news-story/87bd9c996030edfb5fc4ad3d969f6162

*Edit:  Trip with them that is. 

Edited August 26, 2017 by BrettGC