First Time with PhilAir

[mogo51]

On 8/24/2017 at 11:42 AM, 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.

Flown with PAL 5 or 6 times and they are ok.  When I first flew with them they were fabulous, great cabin service, good flights, good leg room.  Not so much now.  Food usually ok, only supply wine or beer, no more cognac, whisky etc.  But for non stop as mentioned it is worth it.

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 8/26/2017 at 4:24 PM, BrettGC said:

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. 

Possibly your next options is fly to Darwin and direct flight from there. 

[Sander Martin]

They are ok until you run into trouble. They changed our Iloilo-Ceb-Puerto Princessa and back booking 6 or 7 times in 3 months or so. Twice they rebooked us on a flight with a more then 24h layover (original 2-3h layovers) in Cebu and once they booked our return thru Manila with a 15min connection in Manila inc a terminal change 😂😂😂.

Lucky that the wifes sister was in Phils and called them.. every rebooking started with a "we have to charge a fee" even tho they xxxx our booking up with their flight changes and it took 2-4 calls every time to get the flights rebooked so they are actually normal (with a few hour layover max each way). Felt like their whole customer support team are wild monkeys working for bananas as they had no logical thinking etc what so ever.

Dont expect anything good. They are as good as your regular cheap shit airline like Jetstar etc.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Sander Martin

[Dave Hounddriver]

19 minutes ago, Sander Martin said:

Dont expect anything good. They are as good as your regular cheap shit airline like Jetstar etc.

Its one of those "your mileage may vary" things.  My mother flies here and back one in a while and uses Philippines Airlines business class. They treat her like the queen of England.  By contrast, she came once on Cathay Pacific, regular class and was hugely disappointed.  Its all about how much money you are spending.

[Jack Peterson]

Never been let down by them in many years, Always use PAL for Domestic, well 95% of the Time

[Sander Martin]

Just now, Dave Hounddriver said:

Its one of those "your mileage may vary" things.  My mother flies here and back one in a while and uses Philippines Airlines business class. They treat her like the queen of England.  By contrast, she came once on Cathay Pacific, regular class and was hugely disappointed.  Its all about how much money you are spending.

They would have probably served her like the Queen on Cathey aswell if she was flying business and not cattle ..

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, Sander Martin said:

if she was flying business and not cattle ..

Just as a matter of Interest what class were you Flying? 

[Sander Martin]

Just now, Jack Peterson said:

Just as a matter of Interest what class were you Flying? 

Cattle. All i was trying to say if you do fly business like Daves mom did, you do get a much better service (well you pay alot more, so its expected).

My problem with PAL wasn't with the service on the plane, but their customer support. I have had plenty of my flights changed before the flight (for whatever reason) and every time I wasn't happy with the change, it took me a short little call to have it changed. No questions asked ever, no bullshit. Not with PAL. None of the other Airlines did any retard rebookings either like PAL (the two 24h+ connections between short local flights and a 15min connection time in Manila with a terminal change).

[Dave Hounddriver]

13 minutes ago, Sander Martin said:

They would have probably served her like the Queen on Cathey aswell if she was flying business and not cattle ..

True, but if you have checked the prices, Philippine Airline Business Class is actually affordable for a middle class westerner.

[not so old china hand]

48 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

True, but if you have checked the prices, Philippine Airline Business Class is actually affordable for a middle class westerner.

And they frequently auction upgrades, giving successful bidders the opportunity to fly business class for little more than an economy fare. I stick by my earlier statement that my experience with them has been good: including their handling of missed connections.

Edited October 8, 2017 by not so old china hand