PHILIPPINE AIRLINES BUSINESS CLASS: 13 Hours from Manila to San Francisco 

Dimming the lights when landing at night is a safety protocol in case of a crash, your pupils have adjusted to the lighting so in case of an emergency evacuation, your eyes do not have to adjust to the brightness/darkness of the environment. Conversely this is done opposite when landing the day, when the window shades are asked to be kept open

I find it amazing that everytime you land on an airport you see/meet people that you will probably will never see again for the rest of yur life. Airport = strangers land

i've been told by a former commercial pilot that if you're sitting on the window side, IT IS YOURS - i.e. no matter how charming the FA, you could say that you'd rather have the window open while in flight. however it is de rigueur to have the window open during take off and landing. the former pilot also mentioned that this close-windows thing, esp during night time, might have been due to passenger reactions. some passengers may think they 'saw' something outside the plane and become hyped. it could potentially cause concern or make the other passengers panic..

Thank you so much Patrick for pointing out positives and negatives on this vlog. I hope PAL and NAIA T1 management view your vlog and make the necessary adjustments for the better because much is to be desired. Hopefully, by 2028 or 2029 the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan will be ready for use. PAL will have a run for its money on head-on competition from United. Competition is healthy and gives potential passengers options to choose what airline to fly, price wise, service, comfort, and convenience of flight schedule. Great vlog and keep up with your excellent work.

My wife flew round trip on PAL Business Class from Manila to Los Angeles a few months ago. She said PAL Business Class was terrible and was just like premium economy. It was a waste of money. Also, had a broken seat that she told the flight attendant about. They said they couldn’t change her seat because the flight was full. So she couldn’t sleep the entire flight because the seat cushion kept sliding and had to be frequently adjusted. PAL was not very helpful afterwards and has poor customer service. I would avoid PAL at all costs.

Thank you for this video. You saved me money. There's no advantage in paying extra for a business class fare. IF PAL wants to compete with other airlines, they need to up their game.

the big boxes is because filipinos love bringing things back for friends to and from the philippines!

I can't believe how you managed to keep your cool with the litany of hassles you experienced throughout your "business class" nonstop flight. Sadly, "you get what you pay for" is so true. But crew and food were the saving grace of the day. Still, as a Filipino, I appreciate how you ended your video on a positive note by still flying PAL despite it all.

Nice video Patrick, I just returned with my family Wednesday night on basically same flight and time. Once you experience traffic in Manila, you won't complain about traffic in the US. Food and service were exceptional on our flight, for us the extra cost for business class is well worth it especially having 2 young kids.

I flew July 31 to LAX. It was exactly as you described. Heavy turbulence most of the flight and i couldn't get a cup of coffee served to save my life. I even asked in the galley during a restroom run. But again was ignored. Meanwhile a male flight attendent was delivering coffee to the passengers in his section. We didn't see our flight attendent for at least two hours.Not trying to be petty. But when you treat yourself to business class,you just assume a cup of coffee would be easy. Instead getting ignored compounded the issues with my chair not recliner having issues and the entertainment system kept turning on by itself.Its a long flight either way,but springing for Business class doesn't seem really worth it.

My son and I flew with PAL on a round trip from SFO to MNL and back on an economy seats. We opted for the seats next to the Exit door for a better leg room. Unfortunately, the pullout trays as well as the head phones weren't working. During meal time we used our laps to improvised. When we landed in Manila I submitted a written complaint to fix the problem. Thirty days later on the way back home we had the same seat numbers but the issues weren't resolved. I kept the tickets as souvenir for the bad experience. A year or two later, PAL was barred from entering the USA until PAL complies with the FAA maintenance requirements. Since then I refused to fly with PAL.

I liked how you narrate the details of your trip report, professional and use of kind words to express your frustration and dislike. Other vloggers make use of brutal words on their unpleasant experiences with either hardware or software products directly highlighting those crap, Very well presented with honest, well researched, balanced and fair reviews. Nice Bro!

PAL business class used to be my go to flight to MNL because it was the only direct flight from SFO, I hate layovers. It wasnt bad service. But now there is United Airlines direct to MNL, im giving that a go with the Polaris class and better seat layout/design.

The reason why T2 has Mabuhay lounge is because T2 was exclusively PAL's terminal for the longest time. It was only this summer when they forced PAL international flights to move to T1 making T2 all domestic flights. I'm sure they'll eventually have a Mabuhay lounge in T1.

From about Dec last year to middle of this year, only US bound PAL flights were transferred to T1 from T2. It was a much more pleasant experience with hardly any waitlines prior to check-in. The Paggs lounge was a bit full & I opted to go the smaller one which I enjoyed almost entirely to myself for nearly 2 hours. Not much in the way of amenities but it was quiet. I see from your video the situation has gone back to the chaos before T2 even opened with all PAL international flights back in T1.

This is why I fly Delta. I have been flying to Philippines for a while now . Never have I had any problems. It will always be Delta Airlines for me.

The positive thing about 4 terminals is that it can go wrong 4 times. Great to have a lot of material to write about .

What’s the point of giving a mobile pass if they’re not gonna honor it. Damn this airline is stuck in the 70’s when they were “world class!” So damn happy that United is finally flying directly to Manila!

Patrick, you are so right on flying in a darked out cabin for that long. Drives me crazy. I need to see out to maintain any level of sanity. On a recent flight to Hawaii, a lady with a window seat refused to put her shade down so I was able to look out her window. She was staying in same hotel as I so I made sure she knew how appreciative I was. I'm a foodie so I think I could put up with the mechanical issues if the food is wonderful. But that airport is a mess and don't think I could easily deal with it since I'm older now and less tolerant of unorganized crowds.

It looks like the aircraft that you rode on is an older model. The aircraft that we rode on last December from Honolulu to Manila (RT) is the Airbus A330-300. The Business Class seating configuration was 1-2-1. And our seats were pretty big. A pod like style. Very nice! My family and I are traveling to the Philippines again this December 2023, and all nine of us are all seated in Business Class. Excited for our flight!

Good recent video and seems likes things still have not changed with PAL. They are so behind the times and wow, wifi and seat issues is not a good start. You made it safely so thats the main thing! Thanks for the share!

Very informative as always Patrick. And it's not just you - if light outside the aircraft, I want my shade open, if dark outside I would prefer to close it.

After living in Makati for 5 years NAIA Terminal 1 has to be the worst airport I've ever had to depart from. I purposely avoided any airlines that departed from T1 and even T2, and chose Cathay/ANA/Singapore Airlines from T3 instead. Also in my 5 year of living in PH I can't remember a single time my flight was on time after 100+ flights out. MNL airport only has 1 runway for wide body planes so you're either circling the city for 30mins+ waiting to land, or you're waiting on the ground for flights to come in, then waiting for your turn to take off. As for Philippine Airlines, I avoided them at all costs and would even take a stopover in HKG, NRT, or TPE to get back to North America. I'd rather pay a bit more vs settle for below standard service/airline. I'm not surprised about your review at all in fact it makes me cringe bringing back bad memories. And why would you ever WANT to fly home on PAL? lol

I flew PAL Economy class last June of this year and I promise myself I won’t do it again. Period!

I agree that there should be more light in the cabin during daylight hours. It's not just this flight - even on domestic flights within the US I find that most passengers close their window shades. It's a shame especially with such beautiful scenery below.

This will definitely come in handy should we decide to take Philippine Airlines from NAIA to LAX instead of our usual Cebu-Mactan direct flight to LAX. Thanks a lot for your review, Patrick!

That is why PAL stands for “Pal Always Late”. Not only that Inefficiencies are the norm.

I hope that with the current Secretary of the Department of Transportation (and former PAL president) Jaime Bautista, renovating the terminals in NAIA would be a top priority. I have visited the PAL Mabuhay Lounge in Cebu International Airport a few times and that lounge is something Filipinos can be proud of, and hopefully PAL can make a bigger version of that in Manila.

PAL is currently building a new business lounge in terminal 1. Think they started during the pandemic. They have one room that fills up for 42 business class to LAX. Food is terrible. Very crowded. Food is good and service is good on the LAX flight. PAL just order 9 A350. To be delivered every six months starting in late 2025. To be used flying to USA. That should help mechanical problems inside the plane.

I don’t know if anybody said this but not to spook you but if there’s water in the wall there’s a lot of stuff there including the window itself that can be damaged in an unsafe deadly way. That’s just my analytical mind saying but I don’t know for a fact. What I do know is when you have power problems like that that could lead to a fire that plane should’ve never been flying. Seats being removable it could’ve been a loose plug between the seat and aircraft but that’s also a fire hazard. I might choose a different airline even though I kinda like that one. Loved your video.

Flew that flight, yes in Bus, in March 2019. I got the last seat available in Bus. While I found things, including the terminal, as you said, very crowded, I guess that's the main negative point of that experience. And yes, the whole setting seemed old, like you, I chose PAL mainly because of the direct connection from California and the food. Good to hear that United will be offering direct service starting in Oct 2023. I would pick them. In 2000 and 2004, I flew United to HKG and then just switched to PAL or Cathay to Manila. Those United flights on 747s were really superb. Unfortunately, my flying days to Asia are pretty much over.

I just got back from MNL and was sitting right next to where you were (I was seated at 6D). There was another passenger who sat in the same location where she was having issues with the seats. It was so bad that 2 flight attendants had to work together to put her seat back from sleeping position to eating manually. Wifi didn’t work and my remote wasn’t working. I wasn’t able to turn off the overhead lamp. I had to ask the flight attendant to manual turn it off from the main panel. Loved the food overall. After watching this video and saw the de-lamination on the wall, I knew those were the seats. I also saw the light flickering from the seat controls to confirm.

This was a great video! Nice to see more flight reviewers/reporters covering PAL (Philippine Airlines). More about the Lounge though: I think I know why there is two lounges for PAL. Firstly, since the move of all international operations to Terminal 1, the airline dosen't have its own lounge in terminal 1. It was a very fast move with poor planning (For the "premium" experience atleast) and the airline is still in the process of finding space for the Mabuhay Lounge in Terminal 1. Secondly, the two lounges for PAL flights is because the PAGSS Lounges are not only for PAL but also for other International Carriers flying to Manila. Also, all of the lounges in NAIA are small and cannot accomodate all passengers. Also, the lounge that you stayed in was (Dont Quote me on this) a makeshift lounge so that more PAL passengers could use the lounge. l'm dissapointed seeing this as this makes PAL take a step behind its already bright future. I'm happy to see though, that they are upgrading these 777s to much more modern A350-1000s in 2025, in fact two 777's are leaving the airline's fleet next year. However economy on these -1000's are rumored to be a 10-abreast seating for Economy. Which I am not looking forward for. I'm hoping that Business Class atleast becomes the industry standard direct-aisle access seating.

Great video! Love how patient you are! I agree PAL definitely needs those A350s!

Thanks for your honest review.

I flew Philippines airline with my eight month old and my three-year-old child in 2018. We got the bulkhead seats in economy class. We had an amazing experience my daughter who is three still remembers it so sad to see everyone’s experience we’re going back in 2025 and I’m starting to think that maybeI will choose another airline because we are flying business or first class this time

Great video! Have me flashbacks back to 2015-2016 when i was flying regularly to MNL on UA… i have flown PAL in economy from LAX to MNL and back before because it is the only non-stop bit after moving to the was coast in the U.S., now i fly there on Qatar Airways that flies to terminal 3 which is a tad bit nicer that old and worn out terminal 1. That mosh pit area you were flying out of is where they used to have Kuwait airways flying from but i can’t remember extra checkpoints for US flights as i also thought PAL was only flying out of terminal 2 before.

Excellent TR again, your narration & explanations were superb

Good lord, everything you said about the plane and the lounge happened to me. My seat didn't work, even the call button and tv remote are busted this time. Marbaha lounge is the saddest lounge that I have been to so far and I thought Plaza Premium in Hong Kong was sad...... but I'm so wrong. I need to walk to the other side of the terminal to get to this lounge. Why should US passengers endure lower standards? Do we actually payless for our tickets?! That's BS!!

For a long time I haven't taken PAL because of my last experience about 20 years ago where the flight stewardess was kind of arrogant. Maybe because I'm just Filipino just like her. At any rate, she's supposed to be respectful when talking to passengers regardless. But now, with this video, I'll probably take a PAL flignt again...that's if I could convince my wife. We usually take KAL or JAL because the flight crews are more respectful and clean the bathroom all the time.

I never try PAL yet, I always fly with United Airlines. Thanks for sharing your experience with PAL. 😊

I must agree with the light situation, I flew one of their A350s to North America 2 months ago, and the stewardess told us to shut our windows down prior to takeoff. Since then, the whole cabin has been dark till landing. It was kind of awkward to open our window shade as it will become the only source of light in the cabin.

Fair review. Thanks for sharing!

I personally never flew PR. However, two of my sons traveled on PR from MNL to HNL, and their gripes included late departure (scheduled 6pm departure; 715pm actual departure) and closed window shades. Admittedly, the closed window shades AND dark cabin do annoy me. The late MNL departure for SFO is interesting.

Good for United to fly direct to Manila. Good luck PAL. Please more options for us.

If you had that much of a problem with seating I would ask for a refund or at least partial refund. Terrible part of Philippine airlines. I like how calm you are with you video though. Good and honest review

Thanks for the thorough review!! This is great video!

Very good review. Thank you.

As my wife would say anytime I complain about promptness and delays "Its Philippine Time".

Well- chronicled about flight information.Very informative.Good.

I don't find them a good deal at all. They have a monopoly on all of their NONSTOPS across the Pacific, and they charge a premium for that. They are always the most expensive to/from Manila.

Thanks for the video. I've been curious about Philippines Airlines for years, and now I know. You have an incredible way of weaving a multitude of detail into your fast-paced videos. As to the issue of being required to keep window shades closed throughout flight, I agree with you and it's a pet peeve of mine as well. I want to see the sky, at least some of the time, and especially when we are flying over interesting terrain.

Another excellent video, Patrick. Extremely informative. I have no plans to go the Philippines or take Philippine Airlines, but if I were to your video would have been amazingly helpful. You brought up some items few others do. Keep it up! 9.25

I love your videos Patrick, well done!

Patrick The most extensive and objectives reviews. Well done

I wish PAL could get their act together. They must do maintenance. It gives people a bad impression.

Pal Business class - Manila=SFO=Manila should be labeled " Busines Class kono", in flight service is ok, food is ok.... but seat is premium economy! United airlines starts SFO-MNL with exceptional business class! its time to try

I have been on one of the ex Philippine airlines A350's from Mumbai to Munich, the A350 was bought by Lufthansa and retains the Philippine airlines A350 cabin as of august 2022.

Thanks for this review, I used PAL in 2018 and did not have a problem but since last year with so many complaints, I don’t think I will travel with them again. Hoping to fly Emirates from Orlando and stop in Dubai for few days then Manila.

I decided to fly in and out direct from Cebu this past July and that was very smooth and fast. I didn’t fly PAL though.

I definitely agree. When its daytime windows must be open.

Flew to Philippines on pal and Loved it!

Great sharing...

My return flight from Manila to NYC was cancelled due to weather so I had to stay overnight in a nearby hotel and then return to the airport at 5AM for my flight. I enjoyed the Paggs' lounge early morning breakfast. The economy customers were given Jolibees for breakfast.

Hello again Patrick. On 12:21 of your video you will see the metal tab with the round indentation on the lower right corner of the tray table. You pull on the tab and the tray releases to swivel out of the way so you can leave your seat even if laden with the meal. Unfortunately malfunctioning business class seats are a common occurrence on those old 777s of PR. One solution is to ask the crew to manually crank it into bed mode, a bit of a hassle but better than trying to sleep upright. Congratulations on a balanced report. I enjoyed it.

Great video on your experience--those airline seat beds look great but I'd like to see them fix the power problem so one doesn't get stuck with the seat in one particular position.

I used PAL's internet negotiation email system to get reduced price Business Class flight from Manila to JFK. I'd come there using their Premium Economy. As I'm 6'6" and a former Defense Noseguard, I needed more space. Business Class suits me perfectly. Firstly: I enjoyed being given a red carpet and expedited service for checking in while the rest of the people on line watched me move ahead. The PAGGS lounge was very nice. Very comfortable and quiet. The Food was good, but not perfect: a lot of dried out or emptied trays. The drink service was great tho. The flight was 16 hours. I was very comfortable, but I was seated ahead of the engine. A lot of high frequency vibration noise unlike the A380. Overall, I can't complain: economy and premium economy were far less comfortable and business class made my entire stay in Manila much more comfortable.

NAIA terminals sucks a lot!!!!!! I cannot wait for 2027 for the Bulacan airport to open... Good thing it will be manage by a private company SMC...

The two big requirements for me are reclining seats and wifi. I find it incredible that you had to struggle with those.

I agree, they should let the cabin follow the light cycle of the destination. I assume since they didn't give the eye masks they turned all the lights off, but I find that weird.

Terminal 2 was an exclusive pal terminal with international and domestic flights. Then recently, they moved the pal international flights to terminal 1. and terminal 2 is no longer exclusive to pal. That was one of pal’s selling points is you won’t have to transfer airports if you were coming from North America or other international pal flights since your connecting domestic flight was also on terminal 2. Terminal 1 only caters to international flights. If I’m not mistaken the only pal flights on terminal 3 were “pal express” flights.

I did the LAX to MNL business round trip, LAX to MNL, no entertainment system and no charge port Departed 3 hours late Was offered miles but only got half MNL to LAX no entertainment working, and the seat in-op and was stuck in full uptight for 14 hr, No offer for compensation Really a sad experience for me

Overall a good video about a PAL flight I took several times before finally reaching the "enough is enough" point with both PAL and NAIA back in 2018. A fair and balanced assessment of the absolute mess that is NAIA along with a reminder of how PAL earned the nickname "Plane Always Late". I hope you are able to do a video on the United direct route in the near future now that their SFO to NAIA route is active. For my wife and I, we made the decision to avoid NAIA and only use international flights that go directly to and leave from Cebu since that is where our family is located. Yes, we have paid more at times, BUT the "you get what you pay for" statement is very evident. It is still puzzling how PAL was ever able to earn and maintain a Skytrax 4 Star rating given they only have a 5/10 passenger rating on Skytrax. Oh well. Thanks again for taking the time to provide this video and safe travels!

I was on the MNL-LAX flight...delayed for passengers from davao...there were irate passengers..anxiously waiting for UNITED to begin direct service from SFO...

PAL was described the Filipinos I worked as Plane Always Late.

Even Filipino avoid PAL. Grandpa Vlogger had a video blasting PAL about a flight with no functional restrooms Happy that United now has a direct flight from SF to Maynila

Its an old B777. Lucky if you are flying with their A350. Thats the problem with PAL, cabin facilities do not require refurbishing on old aircrafts. Unfortunately, the last flight i took it was dirty and the overhead lights cannot be switched off so even if the cabin is supposedly dimmed after dinner for pax to sleep , the lights in my are is still lighted.. but of course the services done by crew is superp.. cant wait for United to start its flight. Maybe PAL will start fixing these inadequate cabin facilities.

I would never want to connect thru MNL Airport due to the logistics of changing terminals (if necessary).

I had the exactly same experiences as you this January from Manila to Sydney. I don't think I will flight with them again. However, to be fair, It was pretty good for our earlier flight from Sydney to Manila. the flight attendants were so nice though.

You should definitely try United Airlines' upcoming non-stop service to Manila starting this October and see how it compares to Philippine

I honestly felt that they purposely keep the plane dark as a subliminal way of getting the majority of passengers to not bother them and they could go chill out.

hope they'd refresh their cabins for international flights, we're paying 2x the price of a usual ticket with 5J so there better be ifes and chargers.

great review of NAIA. All of their protocols are superfluous and airport itself is as old as the country 😅!

Pretty accurate but I flew out of Manila just in July. There were power ports at each seat that were against the wall. There were center table with ports also

I honestly appreciate you doing this review. Made it easy for me to rule them out and man that airport and its layout! 😬 not sure I want to fly there 😅

#Philippineairline#aimglobal#thankyou Good morning and GOD BLESS ❤️

Very nice video and very well explained…good job young man….

That pork adobo was everything. I want to know how to make it! - Red

There's the compromise more money better luxurious amenities with other carriers so it's all about wanting a premium experience to match one's standards over low fare options ...

at 15:58 , parent company/owners of PAL also majority owners of that (Lufthansa Technik PH - joint venture with Germany's)

Good review 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I love this ❤

As a Filipino, I hope that the new Manila international Airport will be able to reduce the overcrowded NAIA airport

I just hate the fact that there's still security check at the boarding gate which made it hard for us to roam around the area while waiting for our flight

Regarding luggage,even the CX counters are delayed as domestic helpers seem to get a generous box allowance and I Have 1 hpur at J checkin several times.

I may have to reconsider flying PAL internationally as they operate out of Terminal 1 - i actually prefer Terminal 2 (where they use to operate international flights before) or even 3.

@patrick shea. Can you share where you get your plane ticket? 'A little over usd1k ' is a great price. Normally it is 2k-3k each way in pal biz'

A new manila airport is under construction at moment until 2027

Bro really loves his Tiger😊

It looks like I’ll be flying LAX to BKK this December. I’m sure that it will be economy and to reduce the cost, as I’m originating from Kansas City, I’ll fly Southwest on points to LAX (I’ve done this at least 15 times). On the return, the plane is supposed to land at 8:15 AM. I would normally give myself 3 hours to make the Southwest flight to MCI. As PAL has a reputation for being late, how much time should I allow to make my Southwest flight to MCI?