Manila (MNL) - Sydney (SYD)
Qantas QF20
Business Class seat 6k
A330-200
7:20pm-6:30am
Intro
The last international flight of my trip, on my return to Australia I decided to visit my parents in Sydney for a few days before they head on an adventure to Asia for new years and therefore catch QF20, the red eye from Manila to Sydney. I again purchased this flight with points, 64,800 Qantas points to be exact and about 150 AUD in taxes. This allowed me to avoid catching the 2am QF98 flight to Brisbane but did mean I only had about 4 and a bit hour layover in Manila which in my case was more than enough to make the connection.
Navigating MNL, Check in & security
After collecting my bags from my incoming flight from Abu Dhabi I made my way through the declaration of goods area where my QR code was definitely not scanned by the staff members who looked like they were very much over it. I made my way through the arrivals hall and found the elevator to the very left of the hall to make my way upstairs to departures where my documents had to be checked again prior to entering the check in hall. To help visualise this please see below maps which ANA conveniently had on their website.
Qantas also uses row C at check in on the other side of Etihad and opposite ANA as noted on the below map. As I approached the business queue I was stopped by two fillipino security officials who asked me to open both my check in suitcases so they could swab them for explosives residue. I note they did this for all passengers on the Qantas flight but from what I could tell no other airline check in desks had this fun extra step. Of course I complied with the two officers who seemed to again be really bored but it was somewhat awkward to open your suitcases with 100 or so onlookers at check in, extra fun was the lack of aircon in the check in hall which just made the wait even less enjoyable.
Anyhow, after this I was checked in by the lovely crew who were decked out with santa hats and reindeer antlers truly in the spirit of the season. The crew overlooked my slightly too heavy hand luggage and gave me my PAGGS lounge pass but again just like Etihad didn't mention anything about the fast tracked security entrance. The whole process took maybe 15 minutes in the business line but I'd imagine much longer in economy.
So I once again found the Diplomats/VIP entrance and presented my business boarding pass to the gentleman guarding the line and was let through. Security and immigration took a little over 10 minutes today.
Lounge
While the staff provided me with the PAGGS lounge pass I didn't intend on using it as Terminal 3 is also home to the Cathay Pacific lounge and as Qantas is a oneworld alliance member, business class passenger and those with status are eligible to enter the Cathay lounge which is a much nicer place to hang out in. Upon entry I had my boarding pass inspected and was advised the staff only make boarding announcements for Cathay flights and then welcomed to the lounge.
The Cathay lounge is very much designed like a living room with diverse seating spread out in a room filled with food paneling and nice array of warm lighting, to the right there is a manned bar and towards the back of the lounge there is a live cooking station with dim sums and other items available cooked to order as well as dining booths for those that want to sit at a table and eat.
I found a spot near an aircon vent (and the amazing smelling christmas tree) and cooled down with a beer after all one of the downsides of Manila is how hot the terminal is. After this I was asked by a staff member if he could arrange any food for me which was both very surprising and delightful. I ordered the chicken rice and steamed pork dumplings, note I was not trusted with chop sticks by the lounge staff which I thought was funny.
The lounge was maybe 2/3rds full with three oneworld flight departing roughly at the same time but it didn't feel anywhere near as full as the PAGGS lounge. Never the less I didn't get many good photos of the lounge but there are multiple videos online which you can check out to get a better view.
Boarding
Our incoming plane was delayed by about 30 minutes but boarding wasn't pushed back so I just made an educated guess and stayed in the lounge for about 20 minutes longer, I wasn't alone as I could hear a few other aussies ordering another round of drinks (we are a very stereotypical people).
Ultimately I wondered down to our gate roughly 30 minutes after our A330-200 arrived from Sydney where we had to have bags once again inspected for any liquids. Qantas has a seperate premium queue which didn't have any one in it when I showed up which made this stop painless.
In the gate lounge which actually was far more prison like than the Abu Dhabi versions, there was a small section of seating cordoned off for premium passengers and behind this a large and fairly full section for economy. I'm unsure if there were any toilets in this lounge as there wasn't any obvious signs of them.
Our flight was clearly delayed but crew made no announcement of such which meant that people were getting a bit frustrated and antsy but ultimately we started boarding about an hour after we were meant to and I made my way onboard.
Seat and Layout
On this flight we were on the 27 seat business cabin version of the A330-200 which had two bathrooms. Qantas switched aircraft on this route several times between the two 200 and the 300 variants of the A330 between the time I booked and checkin in, so I got bounced around the cabin a bit and finally landed in 6k which ended up being a great bulkhead seat in the mini cabin behind doors 2.
While this seat is closer to the isle and misses a window, it has a much wider foot well and an extra storage compartment between the tv monitor and the cabin wall which can fit a large backpack/handbag and additional items like unused bedding etc.
This seat also had an armrest that could be lowered unlike my last Qantas flight and the seat was made of fabric rather than leather so I felt much more comfortable in the seat as it wasn't so hard. This all combined meant that I slept much better on this flight and would really recommend you snag one of these coveted seats if you can.
Service
At my seat was the menu for tonights flight and a breakfast card which I was to fill in and hand to the crew. My flight attendant introduced her self as Susan and offered me a drink, I chose a water. She later came back to hand out PJ's and collect breakfast cards, someone else came by to hand out immigration declaration cards.
After takeoff our dinner selections were taken and we were served a round of drinks with cold nuts and within the hour the trolley started making its way down the isle. One of the downsides of being in the mini cabin at the back is that you get served last but I don't think that made a huge difference on todays flight as crew were rather efficient.
My first course was the lemongrass chicken with vermicelli salad, this was my least favourite item on this flight. It was a bit greasy and I didn't really get any of the Mango or Tomato flavours or really the lemongrass. This was accompanied by a small salad with dressing and a bread roll with butter. I also had a cab sav which wasn't drinkable 3/10
They did redeem them selves though with the Braised Beef Brisket in Tamarind broth with Chinese spinach, tomatoes and potatoes. This dish was very comforting but also insanely spicy which I enjoyed but may not have been for everyone and importantly chilli was not listed on the menu but was already in the bowl. 8/10
And for dessert I chose the Rice Pudding trifle with coconut, jackfruit and pineapple. This was a great cool down after the spicy soup but was a little challenging to eat out of the narrow glass. Taste however was great and not too sickly sweet. 8/10
The breakfast options on this flight were a bit meagre to be honest, your options were fruit, muesli (both available with or without yoghurt) or a croissant with salmon. Along with tea, coffee or a variety of fruit juices. I chose the fruit with yoghurt and a Mango energiser drink along with a cup of tea. Nothing here is noteworthy but I do feel like this is a really cheap breakfast offering and could have been served on a tray instead to make life easier for everyone. 5/10
Arrival
After our breakfast was cleared I got changed and prepared for our landing, the view at this point was lovely before landing in rainy Sydney. We were about 35 minutes delayed arriving in Sydney and joined a queue of international arrivals including QF2 from London/Singapore, QF74 from SFO, QF8 from Dallas and about 10 other wide body flights. All this meant that navigating immigration, baggage carousels and goods declaration was a bit full on to say the least. After collecting my bags I tried to make my way through customs but this was a nightmare and took 30 or so minutes with lots of people I'm guessing holiday makers, not having a clue what they are meant to be doing. I wouldn't want to be a customs officer working at 6am thats for sure.
Overall thoughts
I have to say this was a really good flight, I wished Qantas just directed all its passengers to the Cathay lounge as that was a highlight for me. The crew on this flight were very lovely and professional and all in all I enjoyed the experience. I think the flight is still good value for money and I far preferred this option over the late/super early flight to Brisbane, the handy connection timing is also great as long as everything works out of course.
