Philippine Airlines' Mabuhay Miles' "no points expiry"

[Melburnian1]

Philippine Airlines' Mabuhay Miles FF program has just announced that points will 'never expire.'

This is quite a reasonable FF program: with tier bonus of 25 per cent, I typically obtain a 'free' Melbourne or Sydney to Manila return (taxes and charges are a high $480) after four return paid trips.

I've found it easy to obtain FF seats. The exception would be late December and early January northbound, and the first half of January southbound. It has a separate website Mabuhay Miles :: Home

Now that PR (PAL) flies ex PER, BNE and DRW to MNL as well as ex SYD and MEL, membership from the island continent should increase. There is access to Air NZ Koru Club lounges at all these ports except DRW for Mabuhay Miles members having Elite or above status, although a companion is only allowed to join the member if the latter has Premier Elite or Million Miler status (equivalent of Gold or Platinum), which to me is stingy.

 

[jetlagger]

Philippine Airlines' Mabuhay Miles FF program has just announced that points will 'never expire.'

This is quite a reasonable FF program: with tier bonus of 25 per cent, I typically obtain a 'free' Melbourne or Sydney to Manila return (taxes and charges are a high $480) after four return paid trips.



Now that PR (PAL) flies ex PER, BNE and DRW to MNL as well as ex SYD and MEL, membership from the island continent should increase. There is access to Air NZ Koru Club lounges at all these ports except DRW for Mabuhay Miles members having Elite or above.

Correction.. AFAIK.. The appropriate lounge access in BNE is QF.
I have had FF countless points expired & 'lost" on PR over the years, I have never bothered to redeem - far too antiquated & complex a program.
PR always got me where I needed to go in a safe & randomly timely manner as per requirements.
Look forward to the improvements though.

 

[Melburnian1]

Correction.. AFAIK.. The appropriate lounge access in BNE is QF.

Since I have not used PR's new BNE - DRW - MNL flights, I cannot be definitive but I would be surprised if it's QF lounge access as PR uses NZ in MEL and SYD. Years ago, it had a commercial agreement with QF but now appears to regard QF as a competitor not an entity with which to collaborate.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Well that is certainly a positive - I have had many pts expire over the years as just did not suit me to redeem - non expiration of FF pts in any FF program should be the norm IMHO.

 

[HKGNZL]

Have just realised PAL has started flying out of PER. Is it any good? What is J like?

 

[albatross710]

Have just realised PAL has started flying out of PER. Is it any good? What is J like?

I have a trip at end of July. I'll file a TR then.

 

[Melburnian1]

J will be pretty basic as it's not on a widebody, but the fares are very cheap.

Unlike JQ, PR is a full service airline. It's pretty reliable: most flights run to time or within an hour, although so far the PER and BNE via DRW northbounds seem to often be half an hour late into MNL - it has reasonably tight turnarounds at DRW each way and the end point (PER 4x week, BNE 3 x week).

I'd go for PR over JQ any day.

 

[Melburnian1]

In a long overdue move, Philippine Airlines is renovating its T2 Manila NAIA Mabuhay Miles FF international lounge. While works are underway, passengers can either use a partitioned off area of the main terminal - I did not go in but it looked to have a very poor range of food - or from 1800 nightly when domestic flights practically cease due to so many other domestic airports lacking ILS, the domestic lounge near gates S2/ S3 is opened downstairs (this is at least carpeted, and has a still poor but slightly better range of food).

On my most recent visit, I asked several staff what the renovations encompassed.

Not one was able to tell me. PCs that work reliably? A better range of food and drinks? A wider selection of newspapers? Showers (heaven forbid)?

I am not overly optimistic because the footprint area does not seem as if it is being extended.

While I like PR's excellent B777-300ERs that it uses to and from MEL (3 x week) and SYD (4 x week) and applaud PR for recently commencing flights to DRW (nightly, A320), PER (4 x week via DRW) and recommencing for the third time to BNE (3 x week via DRW), its flagship Mabuhay Miles lounge in MNL needs to drastically improve.

At least in MEL and SYD (and possibly in BNE and PER), I can use the Air New Zealand Koru Club lounge as PR (like a number of other carriers: CZ is another) has an agreement with NZ. The Air NZ MEL lounge at 122 seats is smaller than SYD but has a reasonable (not fantastic) range of food and an excellent range of drinks, though I am always there in the morning so I never feel like alcohol.

 

[Inver]

Trying to deal with the Australian and Philippine call centres is extremely frustrating trying to retrieve my mabuhay miles number.
In a word: PATHETIC.

But I am used to dealing with bureaucracy like this over there.

 

[Melburnian1]

If you are merely adding your Mabuhay Miles number to a booking, you could ask the airline staff to look it up for you when you approach a checkin chick or gent. If you are trying to redeem points, you will still need to telephone the call centre which in Australia is only open on weekdays (and which closes at 1730).

 

[Inver]

If you are merely adding your Mabuhay Miles number to a booking, you could ask the airline staff to look it up for you when you approach a checkin chick or gent. If you are trying to redeem points, you will still need to telephone the call centre which in Australia is only open on weekdays (and which closes at 1730).

No I lost my membership number when I joined courtesy of my 1 year old closing the browser session. Thinking this was no issue since the confirmation email would certainly arrive stating the new number I didn't worry about it too much. Then when no email arrived I tried to retrieve the number via their website which you can't do.

I did call the Australian call centre and when they could not help rang the Philippine call centre who were useless.
I did receive an email from their "wecare" Customer relations team to expect "further communications" from the web manager but it has been a week and nothing has transpired.

My gripe is they have a long way to go before becoming competitive when it comes to customer servicing and their website. Want to book a discount economy fair but want to prepay for than 10Kgs of luggage.... sorry you can only do that at the airport at an exorbitant rate or choose a higher class fare (this is for a domestic flight).

My wife wants to change her surname it's too hard lets move her from department to department until she hangs up.

Don't get me wrong its great they are modernising their fleet and offering great special fares but they still have a long way to go. I'm just trying to warn AFF members what sort of treatment they can expect if something is a bit out of the ordinary and gets put in the too hard basket.

 

[Melburnian1]

If your wife is having difficulty changing her surname in the PNR (ticket), this is an argument to use a travel agent to buy the ticket. The agent should be able to talk to PR's staff.

I agree: PR now has a more modern fleet serving Australia than QF or some others and PR's fares are often competitive (and sometimes outstanding vakue for a full service legacy airline) but its call centre staff in Sydney can lack knowledge. This takes training: if Philippines as a nation can overtake India in call centre staff by having more empathetic, better trained staff, at the micro level PR should be able to do that too.

 

[Inver]

If your wife is having difficulty changing her surname in the PNR (ticket), this is an argument to use a travel agent to buy the ticket. The agent should be able to talk to PR's staff.

It's just for her Mabuhay miles membership but yes I think using a travel agent for PR flights is a good idea.

I quite often speak to the Citibank, Microsoft & Telstra call centres in Manila and Cebu. I never have a problem with communication not like when I go to the provinces and people have a hard time understanding my Australian accent I ask for butter at a sari sari store and they look at me all perplexed I wouldn't have that problem if I had an American accent. It's all fun.

 

[Melburnian1]

The Philippine Airlines site (currently down for maintenance unless my browser has a problem) has a list of about nine specialist travel agencies in Sydney and four or five in Sydney who sell lots of PR tickets. There is also at least one agency in Brisbane. I am not aware of any in Perth or Darwin but logic tells me they must exist.

 

[jetlagger]

If your wife is having difficulty changing her surname in the PNR (ticket), this is an argument to use a travel agent to buy the ticket. The agent should be able to talk to PR's staff.

I agree: PR now has a more modern fleet serving Australia than QF or some others and PR's fares are often competitive (and sometimes outstanding vakue for a full service legacy airline) but its call centre staff in Sydney can lack knowledge. This takes training: if Philippines as a nation can overtake India in call centre staff by having more empathetic, better trained staff, at the micro level PR should be able to do that too.

The PR GSA in SYD is in my limited dealings - totally useless, as is most of PR call centre & check in staff, whether in Philippines or abroad.
For better or worse, I still have to on some or all occasions travel with PR, though on a optimistic view things are slightly improving, but yes they definitely have a long way to go on the service level considerations.
Oh, the frustrations.. I've become accustomed to, & yes the Mabuhay lounge in MNL T2 is/ always has been from day 1. coughola.

 

[albatross710]

You guys are taking away my hope so early in the day.

I was using PR to bring together some staff for a meeting in MNL later this month. Between the rescheduling of my flight BNE-MNL and now a reschedule of one of the provincial incoming staff members flights it has really added unneeded complexity.

When I say 'rescheduled' I mean changed the staff member's flight to a day later than originally booked.
When I say 'complexity' we had arrival times within about 90 minutes of each other and were sharing land travel.

While we can either take up the fight with PR call centre I'm thinking that for A$30 just book them on Cebu Pacific and forfeit the original PR ticket.

Alby

Update: A call to the AU call centre number re-instated the original flights as they were still available. Not really sure why the change in the first place.

 

[Melburnian1]

albatross, always be careful that if you have what the travel trade calls multiple'flight coupons' (multiple flight sectors booked on the one ticket - PNR) you use each 'coupon' in the same order that each appears on your eticket.

A failure to do this without a doctor's certificate may mean that the airline invalidates all your remaining flight sectors, forcing you to buy a single (one way) airfare home, which can be very expensive.

 

[Melburnian1]

I see that PR has just reduced its surcharge (i.e. taxes and fees) payable on Mabuhay Miles redemptions (award tickets).

I cannot remember any others, but the only route that I have used for a 'free' ticket is MEL - MNL - MEL. The surcharge has dropped from A$481.40 if I recall correctly to A$324, a very significant drop.

I'm not sure why PR has reduced the surcharges so much. Perhaps they were uncompetitive in the first place; perhaps it's just another initiative from the relatively new owners, the well respected San Miguel Corporation that once owned Berri fruit juice makers and dairy company National Foods in Oz but sold it for a tidy profit.

Anyway, well done. Are other airlines doing this?

 

[jetlagger]

Who ever cares even which (SMB) only apparently owns 49% stake in PR... It is still mostly run by the mouldy corrupt cronies.
There is still far too much of a scent of an mismanaged airline in the modern age, despite the marketing hype of new aircraft & 'improved" levels of service & ...

I am duly still waiting in vain for a simple email response from PR.. Fiesta Time again.. I guess

Just my perfectly observed & experienced views..

 

[Inver]

Yes no reply as promised to my email request either, pathetic but it was expected especially since Cebu Pacific are just as awful when it comes to email communication.