Philippine Airlines - Business (Mabuhay) Class

[bsmith]

Hi There

I travel to Manila quite frequently and normally fly Cathay Pacific economy which I have found to be quite good from a service perspective

The boss has suggested that i give Philippine Airlines business class a try to see what it's like as it looks quite reasonable from a cost perspective

Have any of you budding Frequent Flyers ever flown Philippine Airlines Business Class before and are able to provide some feedback either good or bad?

Their website states that you can use the Air New Zealand lounges in both Melbourne & Sydney but have not been able to find any details on this on the Air New Zealand website!

Look forward to hearing your expert opinions!

Cheers

 

[serfty]

Seems there little Philippine Airline experience here.

 

[Alanslegal]

Flown a short mnl-hkg j sector a few yrs back but not really useful or current for your queries, the mnl lounge well was pretty ordinary.

 

[Limewood]

Flew Philippine Airlines in Y - HKG/MNL/DVO in April, lost in toto about 5 hours in 4 flights in late departures, planes were old and worn. Manila airport is a zoo, and even my Philippine friends fly other airlines each month to OZ and have done for years, if that is anything to go by don't.

 

[Mattg]

I think one member recently vowed never to fly with them again after some bad experiences in J with them. That being said, if the cost is reasonable it's probably worth a try, and then you can make your own judgement.

 

[ozmille]

Had a bit of a play around and it seems that PR J class on same dates is cheaper then CX whY class :shock:... wouldn't trust that as I am a believer in: you get what you pay for

 

[browski]

Had a bit of a play around and it seems that PR J class on same dates is cheaper then CX whY class :shock:... wouldn't trust that as I am a believer in: you get what you pay for

From Sydney, Qantas Y or PR J?
PR J everytime.

From Melbourne to MNL; Royal Brunei J
From Cairns; CO Y.

 

[burmans]

Had a bit of a play around and it seems that PR J class on same dates is cheaper then CX whY class :shock:... wouldn't trust that as I am a believer in: you get what you pay for

You're just the type of person marketers target, "lets put the price up so people think its better". I think one of the main reason people hang around these forums is that it's clearly true that sometime you can get things much cheaper than some people are paying for them.

 

[ozmille]

You're just the type of person marketers target, "lets put the price up so people think its better". I think one of the main reason people hang around these forums is that it's clearly true that sometime you can get things much cheaper than some people are paying for them.

This is exactly why I buy my tickets from Europe and pay a fraction of the cost I would pay booking from here. My point was more to the fact that an airline sells their J product cheaper than another airline whY and I reckon that the quality of said J product is not that high.

 

[Alanslegal]

My point was more to the fact that an airline sells their J product cheaper than another airline whY and I reckon that the quality of said J product is not that high.

But I would take any long haul J over any long haul Y even if it was QF, SQ, CX and anyone else who claims to have a great Y product.

 

[burmans]

This is exactly why I buy my tickets from Europe and pay a fraction of the cost I would pay booking from here. My point was more to the fact that an airline sells their J product cheaper than another airline whY and I reckon that the quality of said J product is not that high.

There is no doubt actual quality affects price but I would also suggest "perception" of quality is an even bigger factor. Qantas for example is perceived by most Australians (and I for one am unsure why) as a premium product whereas other airlines who may be perfectly OK are not regarded this way.

To me it is clear that one of the reasons (aside from just generally better competition) that flights are cheaper on QF flights from Europe and US is precisely because these people do not have the perception of QF quality that Australians do and just aren't prepared to pay the premium Australians are. Can't really comment on Phillipines but like Alanlegal would think a J product is definitely worth a try over a Y product at least once.

 

[horseman]

Flew Philippine Airlines in Y - HKG/MNL/DVO in April, lost in toto about 5 hours in 4 flights in late departures, planes were old and worn. Manila airport is a zoo, and even my Philippine friends fly other airlines each month to OZ and have done for years, if that is anything to go by don't.

Bout sums up my thoughts also after a syd Mnl return trip

 

[Cruiser Elite]

bsmith I have flown PAL several time in J - from MEL-MNL-PVG / MEL-MNL-PEK - and return both ports.

What can I say - PAL is a DISGRACE - nothing short of it. They are regularly late - they offer no serious apology or concern for that - their on-board product as bad as any airline going around - far worse IMHO than the Chinese carriers whom so many on here have never flown but are still happy to deride.

YES you do get access to ANZ lounge prior to departure - best part of the whole experience.

Food on board out of MEL ok - drink supply at times ok also. MNL airport and everything associated with it will totally disappoint.

PAL lounge in MNL a disgrace - ok maybe I exaggerate a little - but definitely very poor. Virtually no food and only 1 dodgy white and red wine.

Again onboard I have had flts in J on PEK / PVG sectors with ZERO food and drink - yes only 4 hrs but ZERO food and drink.

To sum it up - VERY VERY poor product and VERY poorly delivered.

BUT - it is cheap - I was regularly paying A$2,600 odd ret MEL-MNL-PEK / MEL-MNL-PVG - and as others have said J is J and always miles better than Y - but really dodgy J.

Watch PAL web site closely - sometimes real cheap deals on offer. Once I was searching ret into PEK and out - it was showing 2.6K - I just tried open jaw into PEK out of PVG and it threw up 1.6K in J - I jumped on that.

But I have since told my staff if any of them see me looking at PAL flts ever again they are to cough slap me into tomorrow.

I hope that helps - I did really only use PAL cause timing / routing / pricing suited - but it was never and would never be by choice. But if you gotta go to or from MNL than PAL at the prices offered does indeed look attractive.

 

[Austman]

PAL lounge in MNL a disgrace - ok maybe I exaggerate a little - but definitely very poor. Virtually no food and only 1 ****ty white and red wine.

Which is 2 wine choices more than the CX FIRST class lounge at MNL (which has zero). And CX had poor food (meaning almost zero) too. This part at least seems to be a MNL issue.

I even bought some wine while in Manilla - it was not particularly expensive.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Yes I should have added that - I have never been in CX F lounge but in CX J and SQ J only 2 choices dodgy wine also - and sparse supply spirits - it's definitely a MKL issue in general.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

bsmith I see on BF PAL J ex MEL or DYD ret $2,350 or so - yes the price looks very cheap - why not dip your toes in the water and test them - please report back with your experiences.

As an aside - one J flt I did with PAL they listed Charles Heidsieck as the champers - fantastic - bottle brought around a coupla times for refills - next refill in galley - just happened to walk past and see the top up coming from Piper Heidsieck bottle - abruptly brought them to heel - honest mistake they claimed - yes it might have been - but I suspect otherwise.