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

I flew Philippines airlines from London to Manila and back in the last 2 weeks. I flew out alone. I flew back with my family on their initial entrance to the UK. It was my first time flying PAL and if at all possible I would also like it to be my last time. Whilst it's true that I was miraculously lifted into the air and conveyed to Manila (and back) with all my limbs still attached to my body, I can't truthfully say that it was a particularly likeable experience compared to say Cathay Pacific who I view with newfound respect following this experience.
The check in process at london Heathrow terminal 4 gave me a taste of what to expect. Incredibly disorganized with the longest most strange queue I have ever seen in an airport. It took me an hour to check in. Most of the other passengers had so much luggage that they looked like refugees. There were about 2 check in staff on duty and they moved with incredible slowness.
The plane was an airbus 340 and it felt like stepping back in time to the nineteen nineties. The battered interior sported a couple of those large drop down CRT TV sets - the seats didn't have individual screens - and - although the airline proudly claimed to have individual ipads that could be borrowed - when I asked they didn't have any left. The airline helpfully informed me that I could view entertainment material on my own phone or ipad, but had neglected to mention that I needed to download the application onto my phone before getting on the plane. There was also no 'at seat' charging facility like there is with Cathay.
So it was with some disquet that I huddled under the threadbare blanket and faced a fourteen hour flight on the hard seat.
Soon after taking off in brilliant sunshine, the crew closed all the window blinds and they remained that way for the majority of the flight, with sunlight peeping tantalizingly round the edges. That should have made it possible to sleep, but the cabin lights were turned from high to low to off to high in some kind of weird pattern with no discernible sense to it. On one occasion I wondered whether a child was actually playing with the controls because the lights altered so frequently. On the way out the cabin was too cold. On the way back it was too hot. The service was lacklustre both ways and food and drink were hard to come by - indeed - I didn't even see the flight attendants for the majority of the flight. The attitude towards seat belts and flight safety was laissez faire at best - I managed to take off with bits of hand luggage littering the floor near my feet in an exit row seat that would have seen the Cathay pacific staff having fits of apoplexy. But here in PAL land, the flight attendant looked blankly through me and didn't mind a bit. I just hoped that staff with diffferent attitudes handled the engines..

On the return trip, it took my asawa about four hours to become delirious with boredom. I was forced to inform her the good news that we had completed four hours. The bad news being that there was another ten hours to go and that the baby a few rows back had just gone off like an alarm clock. By the time we were on final approach to heathrow her hair was hanging over her glazed eyes and baby seated a few rows back had turned purple and looked like he was about to self destruct.

So, it was in a plane filled with bitterness and unmet basic needs that we made our squeaky bouncing landing before rolling thankfully to a stop at heathrow. I almost kissed the carpet when I got off but then thought the better of it.

The final verdict: Good if you want to carry lots of luggage due to the 30kg hold allowance and a somewhat relaxed attitude towards enforcing it. Also quite cheap - but so is sawing your leg off, and I wouldn't recommend that either.

Sounds pretty similar to friends of hours, who just tried PAL for a trip for the first time and vowed never to bother again.

I'd stick with Cathay Pacific every time. Good movies. Good organisation.A pleasant, all round experieince, and bearing in mind the time it takes I think that's pretty important.

Plus, Hong Kong is a good stop over, and you can get good stopover times. Plus the one time I missed a connecting flight they put me up for free in a hotel in Hong Kong for the night. Which was nice.

My wife will be flying China Southern. Are they better/worse/the same as?

Personally i find listening to people complaining about small insignificant problems on airlines tedious. You should be grateful that you live in a time and place that allows you the privilege of flight.
Anyway, the important factor is you and your wife can now live, as man and wife....congratulations

They dont have a great reputation, however they will meet your wife's needs

Why? Surely an airline should provide a good service and good comfort on a long haul fight. Some can manage it. Why can't others?

Thank you for the congratulations. I'm sorry that you found my post tedious I was trying to make it an amusing read. I'm not sure that I entirely welcome you telling me what I should be grateful for, but you are entitled to your opinion, as indeed, I am.
I was asked to post my experiences on PAL airlines by another forum member and I did so in an attempt to be helpful. Whilst it is true that any of these carriers most likely will get you to your destination alive and with all your body parts connected to one another, I think that there are some carriers that will get you there in a better mood than others. I don't feel that there is anything wrong with talking about it.

Yeah. I've made the trip using cathay almost thirty times from a variety of places. I don't disagree with that or with HK as a good stopover point. I just chose PAL this one time because of the 30kg luggage allowance and because it was cheaper than Cathay and I wanted to give them a chance.

The round trip PAL ticket from London cost me (roughly) about seven hundred pounds. The Cathay ticket from memory is about hundred pounds or so more. The main selling point for me was that PAL did do single tickets (from manila to LHR) and Cathay don't do single tickets at any reasonable price (they were about the same price as return tickets).

glad your all here Choi and John----and back posting on the forum

Price? For example most countries have a low budget airline which churns out cheap flights with terrible service but you still get from A to B.

Thank you. That's very kind. yeah we are just wading through all the organisational bits N bobs needed which is why we have been kind of quiet..

Sorry, if you feel my little rant was directed at you personally because it wasnt
Instead of writing comments online, people should spend that time educating themselves about the full cost of an airline ticket and decide where their priorities lie.
If you want to pay the lowest fare with certain restrictions or pay instead a higher fee with better service.
Remember the old axiom you get what........

Of course. I don't take it personally. This post was intended to allow people to educate themselves. Indeed, I read some glowing online reviews before buying the ticket. However, I have to say that either the reviewers were either unused to flying on an airline more luxurious than Yorkshire airlines, ( ) or were under the influence of some strong drug which sadly they didn't share with me, because I was somewhat underwhelmed. Do I regret it? No - after all I saved three thousand dollars on this one occasion (because I only needed single tickets from manila for my family). But, at the price point PAL are charging for a standard return - it's too close to Cathay Pacific to be any sort of contest in my opinion.

Always good to discuss a bad airline experience, then others can learn and will know what they might expect with an international PAL flights.

Bearing in mind that a higher fare (fee) does not always guarantee a better experience, the higher fare might be for the same seat but with less restrictions on cancellation or change of itinerary.

Sharing bad travel experiences:
My worst ever flight was with Vietnam Airlines on their Hanoi - Frankfurt route.
Unbeknown to me, the front section of economy is where all the women with infants/families with infants are sat by the check in staff, it is also where I had inadvertently chosen my seat whilst booking my ticket or checking in online.
I remember playing Black Sabbath on my mp3 player for the entire flight.