Review: Philippine Airlines Business Class 777 New York To Vancouver

Thanks for the review! Flying them in August the other direction

Colt45?? Did they get Billy Dee Williams as a spokesman?

I'm looking forward to flying this to New York one day.

Incidentally, I believe you meant AM: "finally began our taxi at 12:10PM"

Were you angled when you took the photo? Because the seat still looks angled even if the plane was flying nose up.

Best drink has to be the UNcola.... I wonder if ther serve unpepsi in economy...

You were assigned seat 5A but moved to 5A and were in a bulkhead seat??

I prefer Cathay Pacific on the YVR-JFK route 😉

Colt 45?! Sign me up!

I did notice the headphones to be cheap and flimsy, but they were noise cancelling. I don't think they would invest in a higher quality headphones soon because of the Filipino mentality of taking home things they think are free. 😉

Philippine is actually one of the first to introduce 3-4-3 in 777 Economy, but believe me they were more comfortable because the seat pitch is an industry leading 34", even their two new 777s will technically have more legroom because of the slimmer seats. They purposely did this to make up for the 3-4-3 layout and because they also target Americans. They're better than United and American!

The catering has actually improved, and they had partnerships with celebrity chefs in Manila. Boy I love their canapés! Their rice congee is also tasty and Ive been told by my Filipino friends that this is their proud specialty, especially in their lounge in Manila. The city is not exactly a food destination, but they have good high end restaurants focusing on fusion cuisine. About your coffee, it is my understanding that this was an evening flight. They do have milk but they only serve it in breakfast. As for the wines, I assume they are the same in all their flights because this is what I saw in all my flights with them, and they dont change labels per menu rotation and per month unlike Cathay, Qantas, Qatar, Singapore and most other airlines. And they serve two labels of Bordeaux, I was looking for a Pinot Noir or Burgundy back then. And I assume their Riesling is the dessert wine? I was actually looking for a Sauternes or a Port when I flew business class with them last year.

About the bottled water, I also noticed that when I flew Economy with them last month. They do not have proper individual water bottles in their meal trays. Instead, water is by liters and drink service is separate and cabin crew hand them over by plastic cups. For me, this is additional work and time for any cabin crew and not practical for galley space, and many airlines have seen the benefit of adding water bottles in their meal trays to maximize the utilization of the tray at least. When I asked one of their cabin crew about it, she told me it's not their standard loading. I did some research, and I found out that their water brands are manufactured by their sister company (they have their own brewery!) Philippine Airlines is part of a conglomerate in the Philippines, kinda like the 'chaebols' in South Korea. You will also notice this in their beer selection. All brands are produced and supplied by their own brewery. They used to serve San Miguel beer, the national beer of the Philippines, but soon pulled it out because apparently San Miguel Brewery is their competitor. Their champagne is Charles Heidsieck, and I prefer this over Cathay's Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve. It's an award winning champagne and for that reason it is now also served by Singapore, Japan Airlines, Swiss and SAS in business class.

The seats are fine. Although I do wish they would soon have beddings. I was also disappointed there were no espresso-based drinks. I heard they are very serious in obtaining a five star status from Skytrax, and even though it's still a long way for them, they have improved significantly over the years. I'm excited to see their A350 in 2019 and wish to fly their business class again.

Imho, 3 across seating does not cut it in business class.

Isn't Colt 45 Malt Liquor and not actually beer?

Interesting they have hard wired Ethernet ports above the USB port. I wonder if their is any internet going through them but I'm guessing you didn't have a spare Ethernet cord with you.

Always had pleasant experience with Philippine Airlines. They always have excellent catering (especially on long haul flights) and perhaps it's the only business class I know that serves the food straight to your table without the tray. The only drawback I have is the warm, friendly service is not consistent-- some team does it reallllly well, some teams does it like what Lucky experienced.

@ Lucky, how about Philippine Airlines' new business class seats which is set to begin flying to Melbourne from Manila? Or the Airbus 350 from Manila to JFK next year? They completely upgraded to 1-2-1 configuration using Vantage XL Design seats.
Are these flights on your list?

Check this out if you still haven't: https://www.ausbt.com.au/philippine-airlines-flies-new-business-class-to-sydney-melbourne

looks like it wouldn't be a threat to CX on this route given a worse departure time and outdated cabin. Hong Kong airline, on the other hand, might really get some budget conscious passengers from CX on its coming route YVR to HKG.

@Lucky where did you credit your mileage to?

Thanks so much. We're flying both directions in August and you've saved us a lot of money!

Did you use a lounge? The PR website says they use Alitalia...

@Tony - Yes, the lounge was covered in another article. Search OMAAT for Alitalia lounge or whatever.

Thanks, Chris. I just found it.

I'm not surprised by the good food and drinks, as the Philippines is very much a foodie culture in a sort of upscale buffet kind of way. I found the same in Guam and Singapore.

Excited to experience the new interior. 🙂 🙂 🙂 https://planefinder.net/data/aircraft/RP-C8784 I see here it took a little over a month to do this: https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2017/02/02/philippine-airlines-new-three-cabin-a330-wows-with-details/

Hey, I booked the Philippine air nyc-mnl flight all the way to the Philippines. I am no longer Interested in going to Manila. Will I be able to exit in Vancouver? Can they stop me from getting off?

I will not have luggage.

I will be flying PAL business class next week KUL-MNL-LAX (and return). Curious to see if I'll get one of the two 777s with true lie-flat seats. I work in the media and have spoken with their management and it seems they're trying to replicate Garuda's success in upping their game to become a far better airline in a relatively short period of time. I certainly wish them all the best, and would also be keen to fly on their new A350s once they've been deployed on a route relevant to me. I feel a bit more upbeat about the flight after reading this review. 🙂

Thanks for the info! I booked it, thanks to your review!

Instead of taking a direct flight to another city in the us, why u fly to canada then go back to the us?

Thanks for your review of Philippines Airlines business class. I was thinking of booking the business class flight for Vancouver to MNL (connecting to my destination in South East Asia) because it was the cheapest and shortest on Expedia. Haven't flown by Phillipines Airline before but always thought it as a budget airline by normal standards. It also isn't part of any alliance (preferably Star Alliance) so don't get to accrue qualifying miles.

Doesn't seem like a very good business class product huh? Guessing it's better to pay 30% more to book a flight on Air Canada than saving the money with Philippines Airlines. The plane looks very old and the business class seats look like premium economy on some flights.

I beg to disagree!

Terrible flying experience with PR102 on May 4, 2019, starting from pre-departure, in-flight “none” service to post travel. I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER fly your archaic, backward operation. WORST airline, worst than Turkish Airline. My business class fare was NOT WORTH a damn thing! In-flight cabin crew was more concerned with their beauty rest than serving your paying passengers, business class at that; purser upgrading family she knew from economy to business class; had to wait for almost 20 minutes to show-up and meet the plane in LAX (contributed further to the delay and us completely missing our connecting flight to San Diego); had to take a crowded shuttle service and did not arrive home until 3AM. Ridiculous! Had PAL-pak had their crap together, I would have flown in the comforts of business class to San Diego and been home in a reasonable time. None of that happened because of PAL-pak’s incompetence both at NAIA and LAX. I wasted my ticket to San Diego (3 business class passengers) and WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT - NONE OF COURSE?

I took Philippine Airlines flight from Manila to Los Angeles last Oct. 30, 2019 - PR- 102 - on a business class. I would say, The cabin crew needs more training to make their paying passengers comfortable and well attended. The service after take off was so turtle like slow. I was served with a butter but no bread roll. I charged my cell phone after take off and I went to lavatory, when I came back, the charger on my cp was unplug y one one the cabin crew without letting me know. Cabin crew gave me choices for the meals after take off- which she's supposed to get my choices before take off. She gave me options and have read what's on the menu, after I made my choices, she said- Oh I'm sorry it's not available now. Why she gave me a choices where the choice was the only one left????There was no water served with meals although I ordered orange juice and I have to asked for a cup of water. The purser was just sitting on the empty business class seat in 6A with her orange juice and eating her meals. The purser did not greet the passengers or at least say Hi upon boarding. After she ate, she slept right on the business class seat. What a mess. The portions of the meal in business class was stingy. Small meal portions and they did not served snacks in between. Philippine Airlines business class is not worth it. I would not let my family members fly with them.

About the coffee and milk. That happened to me too and I thought that was a little cheap. But it turns out that it's a problem of vocabulary. They indeed serve fresh milk in a small pitcher but you have to ask for cream or milk, forget which. Also, you should ask for freshly brewed coffee, as some Filipinos still prefer instant and they have that also.

As for the beverages served during boarding, you don't have to be limited to what they bring around. I always get mango juice w/o ice. Although canned, it's absolutely sumptuous.