Review of my Philippine airlines Manila <->London flight.

Well... The whole review was accurate but also was intended to be slightly amusing. I didn't feel unsafe. I have a mental picture of the dismay on @Methersgate face as he discovered his plane was about to land on the wrong runway and likely give everyone a very bad day - specially since I believe NAIA only has the one runway that will take that size plane..

I just felt bored. Very bored and my backside hurt from sitting. But in all fairness - I feel bored on all flights that length and my backside hurt on the seat watching les miserables recently as well. I personally don't use the inflight intertainment, I prefer to try and sleep or read - so the woeful in flight entertainment didn't upset me as much as it might some. The worst thing for me was that the staff didn't come around with drinks at all so you had to go and seek them out and demand a glass of water, that I couldn't see a little map thing that tells you how far you have to go, that I couldn't charge my tablet/kindle/phone at my seat, and the seat wasn't as comfortable and didn't have the little ears that fold out to hold your head like the seats on the cathay planes do. On the plus side, you do have a 30kg hold baggage allowance, and a direct flight with no need to stop. To be honest I personally would prefer a direct 14 hour flight with lacklustre service to a 5 hour layover at any airport, no matter how beautiful - so you 'pays your money and you takes your choice' as they say. Overall, I would probably still fly Cathay next time because its a more pleasant experience and the layover in HK is typically only an hour -just enough to stretch your legs - and since Cathay uses different routing, the overall flight time is very similar despite the fact that you change in HK when flying Cathay. .

As for China southern.. I have never used them. But I'm sure that they are cheap and obscure for a very good reason. I dislike air travel at the best of times. Personally I would rather pay extra and arrive alive with all my body parts configured in the same way they were when I set off.

Best to regard flights as just another way to get from A to B.

• Switch off.
  
• Don't get aggravated.
• Don't panic if your flight is delayed.
  
• Try to find any little irritations amusing.
• Think positive.

I find it helps to say to myself:

"And the end of the fight
Is a tombstone white,
And the name of the late deceased
And the epitaph drear;
A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East!"

If a plane were even to come close to landing on NAIA's second runway, it wouldn't be just its passengers who'd have a very bad day - it'd be an even worse day for those embarking or disembarking flights at Terminal 4. That terminal sits right at the north end of the secondary runway which, I understand, can only used for take-offs by commercial aircraft.

It would appear that PAL's attempted re-emergence in Europe hasn't been terribly successful for them and have scaled-back their sole service there quite considerably; I'll not be surprised to find out that the service is suspended within a few months. PAL no longer has the benefit of San Miguel's deep pockets and Lucio Tan, who has retaken his place at the helm, seems more interested in building on the airline's more successful Australian and North American routes.

I agree, you have to go with the flow, I'm flying to Liberia this afternoon and have a couple of tight connections, if I don't make the connections then so be it. I missed a connecting flight from Johannesburg to Zimbabwe the other week, I relaxed knowing I wasn't going to make the flight, walked out of the airport and checked into the Intercon across the road from arrivals. You can always fly another day.

As you know, some places are better than others to get stranded in

ChoiAndJohn,

Personally I enjoyed reading your account of the PAL experience and it did bring a smile.

I've only experienced PAL once (well return journey so twice) that was from Narita to Manila and that experience was so close to your recent one.
I remember saying to my wife that all those boxes of stuff and numerous cases of luggage will never be allowed on the plane.
As you'll now know I was wrong on that assumption.
It was chaotic from start to finish.

Never used them again, much to my wife's annoyance.

Good points.

Cathay are rather strict about baggage. Its 20kg in Economy and should you go over it is sixty bucks a kilo, Manila to London:

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_.../check-in-baggage/extra-baggage-charge.html#Z

Mind you, there is a sort of exception between HK and Manila where excess baggage is often "winked at" - the reason for this is that CX use the HK Manila route as "something to do" for their big jets, during the day, between their overnight long haul rosters, so they have plenty of space on the route and they price to fill it with domestic helpers who by definition always have too much baggage.

The only possible downside to Emirates is the risk of an unaccompanied and inexpert Filipina getting lost in the Dubai terminal!

Does Cathay Pacific still have those 'sliding seats' that don't recline ?
Haven't flown with them in a few years simply because of those seats. They just didn't suit me. Good idea in theory though.

For quite some time we've been flying Singapore Airlines and they've always exceeded expectations.
I especially like the upper deck on the Airbus A380's

Last five or six times I've used cathay to Manila from NY and from London they did not have the old rigid sliding seats. They had the conventional type. Believe they are now retired.. And to be honest I'm happy about that coz I flew using the sliding hard shell seats on a number of occasions and hated them. I don't think I've rode in one since about 2013..flown cathay three times this year and had conventional seats each time.

Likewise. Our flight early this year was a conventional seat. I also hated the sliding seats.

China Southern are really nice I think I flew them last year and compared to KLM it was like travelling in kuxury. Good entertainment and nice meals on board and the leg room was also very generous especially as im 6'6"

Thanks for the update; it seems they have really made an effort to improve.

Thanks for that. I will tell my wife to allay her fears.

Problem (maybe) with China Southern is that they often have insane layover times, which stretch your travel into the best part of 2 days (or maybe actually over 2 days!). Couple this with a longer route to reach their hub anyway, and it makes travelling a stressful thing.

Of course, you can easily check this when you compare flights. They aren't the only ones who do this though. Always be careful when booking (of course)

At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

I didn't mind an uncomfortable journey on my way to the Philippines as I was dying to see the missus but I hated an uncomfortable journey on the way back having left the loved one behind, the flight home always seemed to take longer

I have flown once with PAL long haul. Worst flight I have ever experienced. On the other hand, I have flown China Southern several times in the last couple of years, (although not long haul) and have been very satisfied with them.
Just my opinions.

Al.

For my wife's flight, China Southern have very good layover times - around 2 hours 20 minutes in China, but my wife is flying to Amsterdam for a KLM Cityhopper flight. The wait in Amsterdam is also around 2 hours 20 minutes.

Everything is looking good but when I said to my wife that "China Southern has maximum 7 stars for airline safety" her response was: "What is that mean dear?"

I have always flown Emirates and I must say never had a problem but at the end of the day it costs more. I do like however though the sound of one flight jump on in London wake up in Manila. But I think I would wait until if they ever do upgrade the aircraft with lye flat seats. This old gorilla can't and won't do the back of the bus on long haul.

In recent years I have alternated between Etihad and Emirates....both first class airlines IMO. Wealthy too, using all the latest planes and kit. Both also offer generous baggage allowances and both fly from Manchester, my most convenient departure point.

They have a short ( 2-3 hour) stop in the UAE, which I like as a leg-stretcher, but Etihad's home airport at Abu Dhabi is much easier to get around when changing planes.

Prices to Manila are usually among the lowest. Actually the main reason I use them !