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Cabin presence and attention. Responding to customer requests. Quality consistency among staff. Cabin Staff Service - Short haul Attention to cabin safety. Speed and timing of services. Priority boarding options. Boarding efficiency. Baggage delivery times. Onboard Product - Long haul Seat comfort.
Comfort items : blanket, pillow. Quantity of food served. Washroom amenities. Complimentary beverages. Disclaimer The Ratings shown on this website show headline extracts of the key areas used in final assessment and grading. I recently experienced my first Philippine Airlines flight, just a few short weeks after TPG managing editor Alberto Riva reviewed the same airline in business class. If I had wanted to pay for this flight using points, the Chase portal would have allowed me to redeem the Ultimate Rewards points earned through my Chase Sapphire Reserve at a value of 1.
However, I chose to save my points and pay for the flight in cash instead, earning 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar for charging the cost to my Sapphire Reserve. As soon as my ticket was booked, I could log in on the Philippines Airlines website to manage my booking.
I chose a free seat toward the very tail of the plane: 64H. I meant to look for a better, free seat later on at check-in, but every single seat not in the middle row was taken by the time I checked in, about 12 hours before my flight. Leaving the country 30 hours later was an even more painful process.
My taxi driver dropped me off at Terminal 3 instead of Terminal 2. The terminals at MNL did not connect. The airport had shuttle buses that offered the sole free connection between all four terminals, ostensibly, every 15 minutes, but even the airport website warned that the times were dependent on traffic. So that meant I needed another taxi to help me cross the 4 miles between terminals.
When I finally made it to Terminal 2, I found it just as chaotic and crowded as Terminal 3. The line just to get through the terminal door for security scanning was multiple rows deep, snaking back and forth. I waited in line for about 10 minutes before I made it into the building. Inside the airport, the madness was even worse. With multiple long-haul flights departing Manila for New York, San Francisco and Guam all around the same time, the signage was nearly impossible to see.
I ended up sliding into a line and hoping for the best. After a minute or two, a couple kind employees walked by and directed me to the right queue. Once I actually got into the right line, it took me about 15 minutes to get from my spot in line to having a boarding pass in hand. After a few more minutes, I finally made it through security and immigration … only to find myself facing yet another queue.
Yes, we had to go through a third set of security checks at the gate in order to board our plane. This one was much less invasive and involved document checks. But still, the line was more than four dozen people long 30 minutes before boarding time. Everywhere I looked, there were haphazard lines and lines of people.
As for the actual gate seating, there seemed to be fairly little available. I usually pick up a small snack in the airport to tide me over before long flights, so I wandered down to the other end of the building, trying to see what was available. Unfortunately, there were just a couple of small kiosks serving cakes, coffee and Middle Eastern food to supplement the little booths offering local snacks, Western cosmetics and other small goods.
After waiting in yet another line to order food at the Middle Eastern kiosk, I was informed that the shop was entirely sold out of rice and could only offer me one of two protein wraps. Despite the overall chaos of the airport, each of the elderly travelers in wheelchairs near the gate seemed to have at least one dedicated employee who would come back to check on them once in a while. We finally boarded about five minutes late.
Another passenger took the window seat later, though. Right then, the captain came on the intercom and said we were waiting on a number of passengers who had been stuck in the immigration queue. The final few passengers eventually boarded the plane, and we pulled back from the gate a full hour behind schedule.
There were still more than 25 empty seats in the back cabin. However, I was pleasantly surprised by helpful attitudes from airport employees across the board. Everything in this Airbus A , with registration RP-C, felt sparkly and new, despite the fact that this plane featured no AC power outlets in economy class.
The beautiful, oversized screens felt luxurious for coach class, and prominently displayed the row and seat letter in the top left corner, which made it easy to find the right seat when walking up and down dim aisles. Each screen tilted forward and had a powered USB port and a single-prong audio jack for headphones.
There was no separate remote control, but the touchscreens were responsive and intuitive passing the Dorsey Test , with controls for volume, screen brightness, overhead light, call button and power. I found the lavatories to be adequate, with the one in the rear galley larger and more comfortable than the ones flanking the center cabin.
The bathrooms featured tissue paper for paper towels, and small bottles of facial and body lotion, although bottles in both of the lavatories I checked had lost their tiny caps by the time I got there. I enjoyed the colorful lighting in the cabin, which appeared at special times such as meal services when the cabin transformed from night lighting to faux daylight.
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