Assessing Airlines: Philippines Air

Journey: Long Haul
Plane Type: A340

img20161017112056I recently attended my friends wedding back home in Australia. This was a fly-by visit with my actual time in the company of friends and family spanning 5 days. 4 days were spent in transit!

Last year I flew Philippines Air back from Sydney to London and really enjoyed it. Both legs of the long journey were virtually empty and meant I could stretch out and relax in relative comfort.

Based on this experience, I booked Philippines Air (PAL) again for the wedding trip. Unfortunately, I did not have as much luck second time around.

PAL are a no frills airline, i.e. there is no in-seat entertainment system which is found in most other airlines on long haul flights.

They instead push you to download and install the ‘MyPAL’ player before boarding the flight. Then, once the plane is in the air for about an hour, you can connect via WiFi to the MyPAL player and you have a choice of several films and TV Show episodes to while away the hours.

Now, I did my research the first time, I knew PAL had no inflight entertainment, or not as you would expect it to be. I always pre-load my phone with things to watch and make sure my kindle is fully charged etc.

So many people were caught out by the entertainment issue. Some people may not see it as important, but we are talking about a 7.5hr flight from Sydney to Manila and a whopping 14hr flight Manila to London. Things can get a bit boring.

I did notice that at Manila airport they have regular announcements over the PA and they provide you with a flyer when performing the document check which advises you to download the app before boarding. That’s great and all, but unless you are A. Filipino with a Filipino mobile plan or B. Mega-rich and can afford international data, you can’t download it before boarding whilst at the Airport. There is advertised ‘Free WiFi’ for PAL guests but I’ve been at Manila Terminal 3 times now and it has not worked once.

At Sydney and London they do not tell you about the MyPAL player.

On the longer leg of the journey, LHR-MNL or vice-versa, there is the option to borrow an ipad (you just need to hand over your boarding pass) and this bypasses the MyPAL player issue.

I borrowed an Ipad on the journey out but the choice was not that broad, and I ended up leaving it my seat back until they came around to collect it again!

So, make sure you have the MyPAL player downloaded before you board is my main advice. Or, like me, bring your own entertainment, it’s much better!

The planes themselves are quite dated. Smallish seats and very little padding. I could just about cope on the shorter flight but the 14hr leg is excruitiatingly uncomfortable.

The staff are flawless, however, probably the best I’ve seen in recent years.

The journey to Sydney from London on PAL does require an overnight stopover. Accommodation and transfers are not provided by PAL so you will need to organise this yourself.

I usually stay in one of the ‘Resort World’ hotels near the airport as they have hourly shuttles to and from the terminal which are included in the hotel price.

You may get a bit of grief by the passport control and customs officials as to why you have no luggage and are only there for 1 night (despite the fact that hundreds of people must do the same thing every week). You just firmly tell them you are there for 1 night and are leaving the next day and your luggage is checked through to final destination. My first time there they tried to remove me to transit lounge and I was nearly in tears until I found an English speaking official who told me they were wrong and I was free to leave!

All in all PAL is OK for the money. I don’t think I would fly with them again, not for such a short travel time anyway. The fact I had to stay in a hotel was an inconvenience ultimately and I would have preferred to just change planes and get on with it, but that is my fault, not theirs 🙂

PAL Comfort 2/5
PAL Staff 5/5
PAL Food 3/5
PAL Entertainment 1/5
Is PAL Recommended? Yes