Hi, Aviation763. Thank you for taking the time to share your recent experience with us. We value your feedback as it helps us enhance our services to better meet our passengers' expectations. First and foremost, we would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you experienced during the transfers and in verifying your baggage. Your feedback has been duly noted, and we assure you that we are working to address these issues to improve the overall travel experience for our passengers. We also appreciate your comments on the flight experience. While we regret to hear that the overall experience was not up to your expectations, we are pleased to learn that you found our service commendable. Your positive acknowledgment of our service encourages us to continually strive for excellence. If you have any further details or if there's anything specific you would like us to address, please feel free to share more information. We value your insights, and your satisfaction remains our priority. Thank you for choosing Philippine Airlines, and we look forward to the opportunity to serve you better on your future flights. Safe travels and warm regards.
Hello! You’re welcome, I am happy to hear PAL has listened to my feedback and will try to improve, as that is one of the main goals of my videos. I very much appreciate the apology. It’s nice to see that PAL listens and acknowledges constructive criticism instead of dismissing or ignoring it. I’ll keep that in mind if anything comes up. I genuinely hope that PAL can improve, and I look forward to flying PAL again to see that. Thanks again for your apology and watching my review. I wish PAL all the best!
Never seen an airline reply to an average Joe blogger (sans someone like Sam or Josh lol). I feel Philippines airline can be improved, could Philippines domestic move out from terminal 2 and international from 1, and all relocate to terminal 3. And cebu moves to terminal 1/2 or whatnot.
While I understand the sentiment, you also have to consider the market. Pal uses these mostly on high density domestic routes where Cebu Pacific would eat them alive if PAL were to use normal 2-4-2 layout. The philippines is not Europe, or the US where legacy airlines can aim for wealthier travelers who are willing to pay more for non-ULLC treatment
Great video mate. I fly PAL 3 times a year to Cebu from Melbourne, and I’m glad you created this video as a wake up call. You nailed it to the head. Although, I have experienced the same inconvenience, I still choose to fly this flying sardinecan because of the flight time and short layover time to Cebu. Hope they indeed do something about that seat config and baggage handling. Now that you mentioned what was not obvious, it made me contemplate if the premium economy class as ever worth it.😅. All the best- thanks for creating the vid pal😉
No offence to Filipinos, but after watching your flight vlog, i must say Philippine Airlines is not a great airline. And the Manila airport terminal 1 looks sad. Manila International Airport both Terminals 1 and 2 are the worst in Asia and the world. Very sad. They better make the new Bulacan International Airport that they're raving about in the Philippines a better one. Filipinos deserves a best airport and an amazing airline.
little disappointing that in 2024 these flights dont have entertainment screens. Is this the norm on PAL? I am flying Melbourne to Manila in a months time.
Yeah it is a little disappointing. As I said in the video, a lot of the time PAL used refurbished A330s with IFEs on this route, but there was still a fair amount of these higher density aircraft operating. If you're flying from MEL-MNL with PAL in a month, PAL is currently leasing an A330 from Wamos Air which operates this route, I believe those aircraft feature IFEs, but it's possible they won't work since I think its probably a wet-lease, but I;m not too sure. Hope that helps and that you have a good flight!
Hi there i just subscribed to your channel as i found your review very informative. I make the flight from syd/mnl on a regular basis and they have ife on most flights. Last Christmas i did the flight from manila to jfk in the a350 in business. I couldn't fault the service and the plane. Keep up the good work on your reviews.
Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that. Yeah, as mentioned in the video the A330 operates the MEL route roughly 30% of the time atm. I do believe their A350 is pretty good! It’s just a shame they only have 2 of them.
Philippine Airlines is used to compromising the satisfaction of their passengers as they are more focus on savings to the point that their expenses is to the minimum. Yes they provide amenity kits for economy but only on the selected route. As for the airport, that's Philppine standard.
@@Aviation763 PAL is also used to saying "sorry" and "promising" that they will improve but they haven't done anything. They also used to cancel some of their flights on short notice (they will wait for there passengers to arrive at the airport and then boom, announce that the flight will be delayed) And all of the NAIA Terminals are terrible. Hot, uncomfortable, crowded and noisy.
PAL has an identity crisis and seems to be trying to match low cost carrier Cebu Pacific. Horrible in all aspects because no one wants to pay more for a budget product, and why would customers gamble on them when their equipment isn't consistently premium.
The aircraft you flown on is usually used for Middle East flights to cater to the large number of Overseas workers/travellers flying, Usually for Australia they use the A330's with the refurbished cabin, although sometimes, unforeseen events happen with your original aircraft and equipment swap may be necessary to not cancel the flight :)
As mentioned in the video, it’s true that they are usually used for Middle East flights however they are used roughly 30% of flights to MEL, so while it’s a bit more common to get the refurbished cabin IMO that’s too high of a percentage.
When you say "high density", it means cramped with seats like the business practice of low cost airlines?......Thank you for your review. This is helpful.
Hey mate, I'm Filo and I'm sorry you had to experience our horrible airport. I used to fly with PAL whenever I go home to the Philippines from Australia (they were really good before), but I really hate going through the Manila airport because of how chaotic it is! I didn't like my last experience with PAL way back 2022. We rode like a domestic-ish flight from Sydney (I think it was an airbus a320neo) it was a 3-3 seat configuration, crowded flight, tight legroom, that's for like 8 hours. I had trouble getting sleep. Idk if they're cutting budget due the effect of the pandemic, but it's like they downgraded to a budget airline. Shame since it's the flag carrier. Now seeing your recent experience, it made me think twice about booking with them again. I went home last Feb 2024 but with SQ and I had an amazing experience! If you ever go back to the Philippines, go to the Clark or Cebu airport. Way better than the Manila one. Cheers. Amazing reviews btw
Hello! Thanks for sharing! It was probably an A321neo you flew on. Yeah it really is a shame, I really hope PAL picks up their game and becomes one of the best. Yeah SQ is great based on my experiences. I'd certainly like to go back to the Philippines, and give PAL another chance as well. Thank you so much!
I guess Philippine Airlines should be more consistent with their onboard cabin product. Since some of their A330s are retrofitted with IFE, they should at least use the denser A330s on shorter routes or retrofit all their A330s with IFEs. Same goes with their A321 fleet.
Thanks for the review. What a ridiculous transit and security experience🤥. Thanks also for taking one for the team 😁I ain't going near Manila airport anytime soon! 8:29 The design of that cupholder....I thought you'd jumped to a loo review. No IFE....crap. 11:15 Their international gateway, but first, or last, impressions are important it seems...a broken sign/light isn't worth fixing, as a priority.
I’ve only flown Business Class with PAL and after seeing your video and others about the economy class I’m glad I do. PAL’s business class product is very good if you can get it at the right price by moving your dates around. The reason why I first flew Business Class was I noticed looking at their flights from Brisbane to Bangkok via Manila that they only fly narrow body A321 on that route and thought I am not sitting in a single aisle plane for 9 hours in economy so I booked Business. I’ve since flew multiple times. Manila airport is the worst airport and transit experience in all my travels all over the world. They have their own security rules that are not inline with the rest of the world. This one reason is why I’m thinking of moving to another airline for my 5 times a year trips to Thailand. My last trip I bought a small 50ml aerosol deodorant airside in Brisbane and Manila transit confiscated it even though it’s under 100ml and I just flew in with it on PAL. They also took a cigarette lighter which is also allowed. These 2 items I’ve flown all over the world with and only in the Philippines they don’t allow it. Although ridiculously you can fly in from Thailand or Australia or probably anywhere with these 2 items but can’t fly out of the Philippines with them. Having to be screened to transit then screened again at the gate is beyond a joke and redundant. The having to identify your checked in luggage and have it screened again is also abysmal! I love PAL business class but the turn off is Manila airport, so it might be back to Singapore Airlines for me until Thai Airways gets its act together and comes back to Brisbane.
Thats the old a330 configuration the standard updated a330 of Philippine Airlines has a 2-4-2 configuration with seats similar to the newer a350 aircraft with better pitch and personal tv screens
I am aware of that, and I did mention that this was the high density configuration as well as the fact there's around a 30% chance of getting this older high density config.
It's interesting to see two of the retrofitted PAL A330s were sold and then leased to AirAsia X while PAL itself is still using A330s with older configuration.
Yeah, that's what I mean by it doesn't seem like they're aiming to retrofit more A330s with a full service cabin, they seem to be doing the opposite. Hopefully that changes.
Great report as always! Although I never knew that PAL deployed their High Density A330s to Australia, as from what I know, they're typically deployed to the Middle East. I would have to admit that NAIA does have a lot of issues
Great review Hugo, seemed quite unusual the whole transit checked luggage process you had to go through. Only time i recall happening to go through a checked bag check in transit between two countries in a third country was when i flew Perth to New York JFK via Abu Dhabi but that made perfect sense as US immigration and customs pre-clearance was actually been done in UAE (just like they do in Canada and a few other countries) to facilitate a largely domestic style entry into the USA. At the time we cleared US immigration the usual way and then were funnelled into a special waiting area whilst our luggage was given customs clearance (presumably you were called over if further examination was required)
They’re actually building a brand new airport to decongest NAIA. New Manila International Airport located in Bulacan. It’s not finished yet, they’re still building it.
Hindi deserve ng PAL ang 4 star rating ng Skytrax, dapat 3 star pa rin kasi daming need ng improvement.. Yung A330 nila na feature sa video na ito ay pangit ang upuan, maliit pa tapos walang embedded IFE. Saka di masarap ang food nila walang lasa..Talagang nakakahiya..Low budget carrier ang dating ng cabin.
I'm sorry but 8 hours like this, in a full service carrier (no entertainment screens, basic ass seats, and the like) is literally my worst nightmare. No hate towards PAL but I hope they deploy some modern and awesome aircraft to aus compared to something that lcc carriers use, but other than that, nice video bro!
Purely based on memory this bag check thing happens just be for you can board your fight and because I had a 2 hour connection or so so it was close to boarding time I think
@@Aviation763 thx mate, i going to layover in Manila for 10 hours, planning to enter immigration and try Filipino food, then back to NAIA, need to time my situation if we have to open our checked luggage every bit of info will very helpful for planning :)
You don’t need to identify your bag when traveling from Manila to USA, I’m sure America has the same security protocols as Australia…. Maybe this was a random check?
Good review mate, Philippine Airlines is an ok airline in my opinion, it has amazing flight crew but the service needs improvement especially with planes without IFE and it’s service at it’s main hub at Manila Airport. Manila Airport is really congested especially at Naia terminal 1 where in my opinion looks more like a Domestic terminal than an international terminal. Not one flight i’ve been on from Manila had departed on time. However what i can say is that flying from terminal 3 is a better experience compared to terminal 1. Qantas is one of the few international airlines that operates from terminal 3 and the terminal is abit more better than terminal 1 and it looks more like an international terminal compared to terminal 1, however there is improvement required especially with it’s airline lounges. Again you have done an amazing job with your channel, keep it up mate😊
Omg that looks terrible 3-3-3 on a full cost carrier with no IFE on a flight to Australia, what the hell. Would much rather fly their a321neo then that
Nice video as always. One question how do you know its a high density ? thks . I have flown PAL Melbourne to Manila and return never had a problem, Gee no ife for 8 hours thats bad
Thanks! The seat map should show the 3-3-3 configuration, but from my experience the plane could change less than 24 hours before the flight. PAL changes planes often. Lucky! Yeah…
I think the reason for the higher density reconfigurations has to do with them wanting to get more people in economy because let's be real, the average Filipino will buy the cheapest ticket available, and Cebu Pacific has been kicking their ass in that department ever since. If we're going to be paying twice to THRICE the price for "full service" I think they should compensate with a good hard product, at least refurbish the cabins of their mainline fleet that they use for International flights so they'll have IFEs, chargers, and new seats, those things I mentioned will give the consumers more reason to buy their tickets compared to the cheaper Cebu Pacific. (might as well create a case study or thesis about them for uni lol, because even the people I know avoids them just because of their shitty hard product especially their 777s)
They have an identity crisis lol. No one I know flies PAL. We'd rather connect in Singapore or Dubai if flying west, Japan if flying east, and Hong Kong for south to Australia. Almost always choose the competing carrier of the destination country precisely because PAL is inconsistent & could give you a Cebu Pacific level of service for more than what Cebu Pacific charges. AND CEBU PACIFIC FLIES FROM THE BETTER TERMINAL 3! PAL has literally no upsides for middle class Filipinos 😂😂
OMG. now I see what they mean by 'cattle class". What really puts this old man off of flying is the kind of transfer experience that you had in Manilla. It seemed so massively inefficient and uncaring. The gains from all that reconciling of passengers with bags does not seem worth it all. An excellent trip report marked by your usual fairness and generosity
Next month, I am flying Philippine airlines, Airbus A330-300 for the 1st time to Dubai and I am looking forward or not looking forward to my flight because I am worried that I might fly the older Airbus A330 in in economy class in a 3-3-3 configuration, which is narrow and tight and even the refurbished Airbus A330 don't have air vent, making the cabin warm. Wish me luck next month, I might be lucky to fly the refurbished Airbus Airbus A330-300 to Dubai with in flight entertainment TV and 2-4-2 configuration in economy class. At the end of July, I am flying Cebu Pacific, Airbus A330-900neo for the 1st time to Sydney and I am looking forward to my flight and trip to Australia, but I heard it's very cramp, even though it's cheap, but I will give it a try becase I haven't flew the Airbus A330-900neo and the high density configuration.
Thanks. Will have to wait and see and I will update you after my Philippine airlines flight to the middle east next month for vacation. Jayden Wong flew PAL, Airbus A330-300 in the newer cabin with 2-4-2 configuration in economy class from Manila to Sydney in the summer of 2022 and his flight is good.
Greetings. Last Tuesday, I flew Philippine airlines, Airbus A330-300 in economy class for the 1st time from Manila to Dubai, flight is almost full and flight is good and okay, 8 and a half hours. Before my flight, I was looking forward to fly Philippine airlines, Airbus A330-300 in the newer cabin with in flight entertainment and 2-4-2 configuration in economy class. But unfortunately, once I enter the plane, I realize were flying the high density configuration (RP-C8782) in a very tight 3-3-3 economy class with no in flight entertainment TV and I was disappointed for a 8 and a half hour to Dubai. My experience, good, pillow, blanket, amenity kit, hot towel and 2nd full hot meal is appreciated, 1st meal, choice of chicken with rice or beef, I went with the chicken with rice, it taste good and okay, not the best. Pro, pillows and blankets are waiting in my seat, which is good and appreciated on a long haul flight, cup holder is appreciated if I don't want to hold the cup of water for too long, they have universal power outlet underneath every 3 seat, which is good to charge my tablet and laptop, after takeoff, the crew give out amenity kit (include toothbrush, toothpaste, eye shade or eye mask and socks, which is highly appreciated on a long haul flight) in economy class, which is super rare there days. I recline my seat and it's good, in the lavatory, they have paper cup, but too small, which is good to rinse my mouth and brush teeth, 2 hours before landing, for the 1st time, the crew hand out hot towel in economy class, which is super rare these days, good to freshen up and appreciated, and a 2nd full hot meal on a 8 and a half hour long haul flight, wow, choice of chicken with rice or beef, I went with the chicken with rice, it taste good and delicious, better than the 1st meal. Con, no in flight entertainment TV for a 8 and a half hour flight to Dubai, seat width is not good than 17 inches, almost not enough shoulder room to share with my seatmate, legroom is not good, 30 inches (I am 5'7) when I recline, it's almost worse, no air vent (except row 66 to 68) on a 8 and a half hour flight to Dubai, making the cabin a little warm, I went to some lavatory, water for washing hands is not working (until I ask the crew to fix the broken water (it's not leaking water) for washing hands in the lavatory and it's fix) (Thanks), and instead of silverware, it's wooden spoon, fork and breadknife, which I don't like because it can break easily. Things that wow me and made my day, after takeoff, the crew give out amenity kit (include toothbrush, toothpaste, eye shade or eye mask and socks, which is highly appreciated on a long haul flight) to everyone in economy class, which is super rare there days, a hot towel, 2nd full hot meal (2 hours before landing) on a 8 and a half hour and the chicken with rice taste good and delicious, better than the 1st meal. Improvement, refurbished 3-3-3 configuration in economy class to 2-4-2, refurbished older plane that has the high density configuration, install in flight entertainment TV and air vent for everyone, make the seat width 18 inches, which is normal and little wide, legroom of 32 to 34 inches and provide silverware spoon, fork and bread knife, instead of wooden, which I don't like because it can break easily. My rating, 3 to 3.5/5 star (Reason is on all information description).
Yeah… while it is more common to see a refurbished A330 on this route it’s not that much more since about 30% of the time the high density plane is used.
@@Aviation763 I will certainly avoid transiting at NAIA based on your experience. What kind of airport makes you go down to a room to “verify” your bag?
Thank you for your video, it really helps for me. Im planning to go to Melbourne next week, may i know how long is your transit in Philippines? Cause im also gonna be in terminal 1
I'm 6'3" so I'd imagine my knees would be touching the seat in front. Thankyou for suffering this abysmal journey so the rest of us don't have to. Wouldn't touch them with a 100ft cattle prod :)
Thank you so much! I’m glad you think so. I hope to be a bit different though, in that I don’t want to properly review flights rather than just showcasing the experience.
Yes, I agree 100% about the security and amount of times they need to ch3ck your bags. I did the transit through NAIA last year and swore never to do that again. This year, litterally exactly a week ago, I travelled from Manila to Sydney in Business... spending a couple of weeks in PH. The annoying thing was Terminal 1 is so old. having your international guests see what a Terminal looked like in 1980's is not a good look. The Bus Class lounge of PAL was actually pretty good. However the other annoying thing.... as you get to your gate, they do another open bag check of your carry on. Would love to know why cos We just went through security after immigration. Anyways, my Airbus A330 BC was 1-2-1 config lie flat seat... Flight PR211. I only paid just under $1000AUD 4 months prior for a business class trip. Denpasar - Manila - Sydney, with the Manila to Sydney flight being almost 2 weeks apart. I probably will skip Philippines altogether on my next trip into asia, I didn't enjoy it that much compared to Thailand.
the same configuration that i traveled from riyadh to manila but i was continuing to tokyo. The riyadh-manila sector was disaster configuration. And it was absolutely overbooked.
This is actually quite shocking for a full service carrier! PR are competing against the likes of SQ, MH, TG, VN, GA, BI in SE Asia out of MEL and their product seems to be well below those airlines even despite being a “4 star airline”! The other airlines are sending their latest product and newest planes yet PR send clapped out A330’s. No IFE, 9 abreast in Economy… not great!
Wrong. PR competes with Cebu Pacific and it shows. They crank out their best product to the US since it was a monopoly but now United has entered the SFO route. You know it's bad when United is turning out to be the preferred option on an Asian route!
kamusta Aviation763 and just wana say that is not the newest a330 cabin I to had a red eye flight to Melbourne from manila and that is not the newest cabin the one I was in had ife's and had better seats and those weren't retrofitted yet so can you give them a second chance
Hi! Yeah I'm aware of that, I did mention that in the video. There's a roughly 30% chance that the MNL-MEL route will be operated by one of these high density configuration planes.
Yeah I imagine on the refurbished A330 it’d be just fine, the problem is there’s no guarantee you’ll get it and about 30% of the time you’ll get the high density A330.
As I mentioned in the video, that may be correct, but PAL aren’t reconfiguring any and are actually reconfiguring some refurbished ones to a high density config.
Common PAL improve your service and Aircraft A330 for long Haul Same as in Middle East no IFE? The meal is so awful presentation is not good.. si dull.. and FA doing safety demo? Lolz ur not a Lowcost carrier or flying in a domestic flight lolz…stop the safety demo in long-haul Flights.. That’s why its better to took Singapore Airlines, qatar Airways and Emirates going back to Philippines its impressive and good service..
Ok let me clarify. The reason Philippine Airlines still operates A330s with a High Density layout, is to accommodate the demand in the middle east. Usually on this route(MNL-MEL/SYD/HNL) Philippine Airlines will fly the retrofitted A330s. Currently 5 out of 11 A330s in PALs fleet are in the High Density config. And also, If im not mistaken, When San miguel was partly in control of the airline, they wanted these types of Plane configurations to compete in the LCC market. But I guess after that PAL attempted to turn it into a Full service carrier. Another reason is that PAL could be still recovering from the COVID-19 Pandemic aftermath. Whilst these are also arguably good reason as to why it is bad, It is no excuse to be tormenting consumers on these flights. And lastly, usually this route is a good one for me as I have flown it many times. It is just unfortunate my experiences arent always the same with fellow travellers. Philippine Airlines is very inconsistent and needs to improve more. But if the factors line up, I believe that Philippine Airlines can regain its 4 star rating and even achieve 5 stars. As an Overall for me personally, The airline is 7.5/10
As I mentioned in the video, 30% of the time it’s the high density A330 on this route. Which in my opinion considering how bad it is it’s not worth the gamble. Covid is no excuse for this anymore I don’t think. I agree they need to be more consistent and had potential to be one of Asia’s best again but it’ll take a LOT of change.
Yes I know. But why do the other airlines including the airlines of the neighboring countries of the Philippines are doing so well compared to Philippine Airlines? Those countries did overcame pandemic too.
If you travel with an inflexible attitude, you will have an awful holiday. Don't expect to get what you are used to or want. Because you are in a different country. Please give yourself plenty of days for flights try and break it up don't fly direct. If you fly economy don't expect business class seats. You sound very spoilt.
