[Click above for the video review.]
Overall Impression:
Mabuhay mga Banyaga at Pinoys (nationals, expats ,and OFW alike!) ! What is Philippine Airlines Business Class like?
As you can tell from our last videos, we have been flying Philippine Airlines a lot lately. We’ve spent a lot of time in the Philippines this year and what better way to visit the motherland than to fly the home carrier. Come join me and let’s fly PAL’s new business class product.
What I liked:
The food – The flight from Manila to Hong Kong is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, but we still had a full meal service from the crew (albeit abbreviated due to the flight duration). The catering was fresh and delicious.
The seats – Although it wasn’t our first time to try these new business class seats (Qantas also uses these on their A330s), we were excited to try this new Philippine Airlines (PAL) product, touted as the best Business Class seat in their fleet. These Thompson Aerospace Vantage XL full lie flat seats are configured in a 1-2-1 layout. I was seated in 4K on the starboard side of the plane in the last row of business class. I had one of the “true” window seats, meaning the seat is directly next to the window, rather than a table. The seat itself is beautiful and nicely upholstered in PAL colors. I tried out the full flat bed during the short flight and it was very comfortable, even for a side sleeper like me.
Pre-departure beverages were offered along with a hot towel. After takeoff, we had a full meal service (although a bit abbreviated due to the short flight duration). The catering was very good and service by the crew was excellent and very warm, which is one of the things I love about PAL.
It was OK:
PAL uses the Hong Kong Airlines Bauhinia Lounge at HKG and while there are much better lounges at this airport, we thought the lounge was more than sufficient for a short regional flight. We were there in the morning and the lounge offers some limited hot and cold food items on the buffet spread. A few made to order items were also available upon request, like eggs, HK style macaroni soup, etc.
What I didn’t like:
Arriving at MNL (NAIA) Terminal 2. This airport is way past its prime and the lines at immigration were horrendous when we arrived. It took us almost an hour just to get through. We’ve had much better luck at NAIA Terminal 1 and 3.
Bottom Line:
As you probably saw from my other videos, I really like PAL’s onboard business class service. I like them even more now that they offer full flat seats in select routes. I just wish that their ground handling can improve, especially in Manila. All that being said, I would still give this flight an 8 out of 10.
TravelingFoody.com 