Airline Review: Philippine Airlines

By Kin Enriquez -

The PAL Boeing 747-400

Philippine Airlines (PAL), a flag carrier of the Philippines, is one the oldest airlines in Asia. It was founded in 1941. 
PAL, as it is often known, serves 19 domestic destinations and 24 cities internationally. Its fleet is a mix of Airbus A319, A320, A321 and A330 for short and medium-haul routes, and Boeing 747-400, 777-300, Airbus A340 for long-haul routes. 

I twice took Philippine Airlines for international trips, once to Bangkok and back, and also a roundtrip flight to and from  Hongkong. 


Booking and Price:
Full meal during the flight
Surprisingly the fare I paid for the round-trip flight to Bangkok was cheap - $245, including taxes (Fiesta deal economy class). It was just a tad expensive over a similar, non-seat sale fare from Cebu Pacific. I was able to book the flight online, which help save time (booking a flight from their PAL offices can be a tedious exercise because of the lines). It also gave me 25% credit for my Mabuhay Miles, PAL's frequent flier program. Baggage allowance is 15kg. 

 Cabin and Amenities
PAL is a full-service airline with a 3-star Skytraxx rating, so the passengers were served with a warm, full course complete meal during the flight. It was a welcome change compared to buying food from a cart when taking a low-cost carrier. Pillows and blankets are provided on request by the friendly crew. 
Cabin of the B777-300ER
Originally the flight to Bangkok was to be serviced by an Airbus A330, but the plane was changed the last minute and we took the Boeing 747 instead. The flight back from Bangkok is aboard an Airbus 320, which has a smaller cabin. 

 It much much better for the Hongkong flight, as we flew in the new (at that time, having made its maiden flight for PAL just 2 days earlier) Boeing 777-300ER. There was still the new-plane smell to it, and the cabin was a big improvement, with nicer and wider seats, wider legroom, and better inflight entertainment system. 

PAL has an in-flight duty-free store, and I was able to buy a 70th-anniversary limited edition die-cast replicas of PAL aircraft (a DC-3 and an Airbus 330 with PAL livery, for $39). Other items, such as watches, jewelry, perfume, cigarettes and spirits are also available. 

The newer Boeing 777-300ER of PAL. I took this one to Hongkong

 Schedule
My Bangkok flight was delayed for about hour because of the plane change. The flight back, which is scheduled late at night, was right on schedule. 

Some PAL flights from Manila originate from Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, and lately some domestic ones now originate from Terminal 3.
Useful info: PAL website


Other airline reviews:
Zest Air
Tiger Airways
Delta Airlines
SEAir
AirAsia 

updated review by Kin Enriquez. Originally published in kintoy.blogspot.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden Tara of Agusan

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
One of the main reasons why I am always drawn to museums when I travel is that I would want to see, in real life, the fascinating things that I've only read in books or have seen in the films, such as archaeological artifacts or the paintings of Van Gogh and Dali . Museums give you access to all that. I majored in History when I was an undergraduate in the University of the Philippines. As such, I am always excited to see artifacts and historical curiosities that I encounter during my travels. But sometimes, they also make me sad, like when I saw the Golden Tara of Agusan in the Field Museum in Chicago.  The reverse of the Golden Tara The Golden Tara is a gold statue of a Hindu-Malayan deity discovered in 1917 in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, in southern Philippines. Weighing about four pounds, the 21-karat gold statue depicts a woman deity sitting cross-legged, ornamented with a headdress and various accruements in the arms and legs....
Read more

Off the Beaten Track: Mapun, Tawi-Tawi

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Guest post by Mara Ione Sarail Mapun? Where is that?” I get this question a lot when people ask me about my hometown. I’d ramble on and on the island (its location and the culture and the pretty spots...) but since the place is not really in any of the Philippines tourist spots and is in the middle of nowhere, I might as well talk about Atlantis instead. But the island does exist.  Mapun Tawi-Tawi or Cagayan de Sulu) is an island municipality in the Sulu Sea on the southwestern extreme of the Philippines, located very close to Sabah. Or from the way I see it on the Philippine map, the island is located on the Philippine’s “armpit”. Mapun is a volcanic island. The picture above shows Mt. Nanggoy, an inactive volcano near the Sapah Lake. The most popular tourist attraction in Mapun would be the three crater lakes on the west part of the island. Legend says that the three lakes were once volcanoes that erupted together. The first two, Danao and Singuwang, b...
Read more

How To Track Your Travels with Google Location History

By Kin Enriquez -
Image
Ever traveled to a place then forgot the name of that small shop that sells the best tasting cronuts you've ever had? Or have you ever wanted to retrace your steps in your travels, down to the smallest alleyways you passed along the way but couldn't? Here's a travel tool that enables you to do that - so well that it's cool and scary at the same time: the Google Location History. I use the service - which you need to enable on your mobile phone and Google account - to look back at my travels and generate some cool maps that retrace my steps during my trips. Google Maps, by itself, is an incredibly useful app already; I cannot count how many times I've used it when traveling to find my hostel, the nearest subway station, that cronut place. Having location history enable, made it cooler and more useful. Take a look at these examples: The top photo shows my movements around Singapore during my trip there in September, It basically showed my movements in t...
Read more