A first look at Philippine Airlines' new A350-1000 business class: comfortable suites, friendly but surface-level service, and solid value for the price.
Hi Ben, weren’t you going to fly PR118 to YYZ? That’s what your initial post (I’m Flying Philippine Airlines’ A330-300 & A350-1000)’s ticket reservation said — PR437 from NGO and PR118 to YYZ. Did you decide that you’d suffered enough of PR, so you would only fly it until SFO? 😉
Jokes apart, it’s a bit sad how PR is the only operator of the A350-1000 in Southeast Asia, where TG, SQ, MH and even VN — which all have an objectively better product and reputation — have not ordered the -1000. Moreover, most A350-1000 operators belong to Oneworld, and Philippine Airlines is going to join their ranks in the near future.
Too bad that the other new East Asian operator of the A350-1000 — Starlux — is most likely NOT going to join Oneworld at all. Its A35Ks are, as you’ve seen, a world apart in both product/service and livery (especially the two Airsorayama birds, B-58553 and B-58554). Good thing you paid $4.8k and flew JX all the way from LAX — even though you couldn’t experience the Huan Yu VIP Terminal at TPE.
Now, if only Cathay would stop vetoing that luxurious Taiwanese airline from joining the most A350-1000-heavy alliance… 🙁
@ Proximanova -- You're absolutely right, that was the plan. What happened is that I wrote about my plans hours after booking. A reader asked if I could also review the Patina Osaka, which would require adding an extra night. So I decided to do that, but the catch was that the only attractive Philippine Airlines fare the next day was to SFO instead of YYZ. Since it was within 24 hours of booking, I could easily rebook. 🙂
I read that economy on the NEW A350s was going to be horrific. So business is getting better and economy will be a sardine can.
@Parnel, yep, it's the worldwide "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" system.
JL has been flying the A350-10 fot a while now on selected routes.
Maybe Japan doesn't squeeze into your definition of SE Asia?
@glenn-t lol perhaps you are unaware they are going to add one more seat across in ECONOMY Philippian sardine
Ben makes very good points. The airline has attractive ticket prices in business class so of course they cannot offer the best of the best. Though, some enhancements should be improved.
1. If the airline does not offer cappuccinos on their flights, then they should be taken off the menu.
2. WiFi issues at the lounge and onboard should be fixed.
3. Ben is right despite what others or rather what one other says in regards to the boarding announcements. Having been at business class lounges of CI and CX they do not provide announcements to the level that Ben has described or more like a lack thereof. Also, their lounges are much better and I never had a problem finding a place to sit at any time of the day at their hub lounges.
Hi Ben. Apologies if a this is a stupid question but if the transfer process is so bad isn’t the easy workaround to just enter Philippines and either head to departures or just take an uber if heading to another terminal? I’ve done this before in places like São Paulo and has worked well for me
@ Sam -- Not a stupid question at all. Yes, if you're moving between terminals, that could make sense. However, in this case I was transiting within the same terminal.
They’ll probably never be the best airline in Asia. But they are improving slowly and could become a decent airline.
Ahh, so it really does just come down to the hard product/literal seat. 2-2-2 A330? Nope. 1-2-1 A350? Yes. 777? Depends if they’ve upgraded the cabin. Am I getting this right?
Hard product is just so important. It’s why I don’t think it’s crazy for an AA 789P to challenge an SQ 359. It’s not like SQ ever had the very best hard product, although obviously light years better than that 2-2-2.
Peter, this is exactly why I don’t ‘buy’ their new #1 airline in the world status. Like, until they’ve finally upgraded those cabins, with the fold-down lie-flat, I can’t agree, on hard-product alone. Like, based on Ben’s (and Samar’s) recent reviews, I’d’ve expected airlines like Starlux to be higher than #13, especially when Hainan gets #8… c’mon.
@ 1990_ -- I think it depends on the flight, and whether you're looking to sleep, how long you're onboard, etc. And contrary to what Darryl has tried to claim, let me point out that I haven't actually shared my overall thoughts on the A330 flight (since I'm just going to publish the review soon). My post was specific to the seats, since I found them to be so remarkably bad, that I thought they were worth their own discussion.
I appreciate that nuance, and looking forward to your full review.
(I feel similarly about the former #1 airline in the world. If I booked and paid for Q-Suite, then actually receive it, I’m a happy camper. I can also ‘live’ with non-Q-suite 1-2-1, but it’s still a let-down. However, if I paid top-dollar, but the airline no-notice swaps its flagship product last-minute for an inferior 2-2-2 angle-flat, I’m livid.)
I don't think PAL needs to become the best airline in the world, this is reasonably competitive.
MNL is not going to become some mega transit hub like TYO or ICN due to geography, when you overfly so much of East Asia.
I know one of your biggest gripes with them is that they provide creamer over milk for coffee. I think it's more of a Filipino thing where they prefer creamer over milk.
Their fifth freedom flights back in the day however were a real treat. Aside from Vancouver-New York, they also had Vancouver-Las Vegas on the A343 years prior.
@ Mike O. -- Those fifth freedom flights were fun! And this time around there was milk, so at least that wasn't an issue. 🙂
I mean, now that you have two kids, it's probably time to graduate to just drinking your coffee black anyway 🙂
I think I like the format. But feels like it needs bold headings or something with categories if you are looking to streamline for internet attention spans.
Just curious if the WiFi was more of a Viasat issue than PAL? If you were able to connect to the network but then spotty to no internet connection once connected? Possibly something to do with one of the new Viasat satellites? The picture you included is usually what I see when I connect to the network but before I log in to the airlines portal.
Obviously this is on the heels of your laptop not working at the lounge so who knows.
@ Peter_ -- It wasn't one of those situations where it just didn't work for part of the flight, but it was broken for the entire flight. I had heard reports that PAL is having issues with Wi-Fi on some of its new A350s. I'm not sure what's causing it, but this was separate from the general "spotty Viasat over the Pacific" issue. Anyone know what's actually going on?
Quite the contrast with the A330. This shows that Philippine Airlines doesn’t need to be Singapore Airlines to offer a compelling business class product. A good seat, comfortable bedding, friendly service, and an attractive fare get you most of the way. Now if they can get the Wi-Fi working and actually produce the cappuccino advertised on the menu, we may really be getting somewhere.
Is Philippine Airlines the first Full Service Carrier to go 10 across on the A350-1000 in economy?
French Bee & Air Caraïbes are more "lower cost" no frills carriers so they don't count here.
Last July 2nd I and my son were booked to fly from Toronto to Manila on a Premium Economy. We were upgraded to Business Class. The plane was really huge. This flight was my first after 8 years. We were thankful for the upgrad. In my honest personal opinion, I was disappointed the entire meals were unforgiving. I believe PAL should change their caterer. Their meals were a complete disappointment. Being a
Fil-Can, my first choice is to fly PAL to visit the Philippines. With the experience I just had lately, I am having a second thought to use PAL again.
Thank you for the trip report Ben.
I travel on PR from time to time and have to say that they are slowly improving. When considering price, crew friendliness, and their direct-flight route network if flying regularly to/from MNL, they are an acceptable option especially on flights within SE Asia. They do have a ways to go with fleet upgrades, but on shorter haul this does not make a huge difference. Crew friendliness is overall much better than many other options, so if the hard product is one of their newer planes, they are a worthy option on flights to the USA or Canada if onward connections are not needed.
Given the ongoing improvements being made to airport facilities at MNL, upcoming membership in OW, and pretty decent pricing, I think PR will become much more competitive in the years to come.
Nice review, Ben, but would appreciate a picture of the menu (if one was offered) or a description of the meal choices as you have done in the past.
That will come with the full trip review. This is one of the quick takes that Ben publishes right after the flight, and then in depth trip review with all of the meal info and everything else will be published in the near future.
Unironically loved the song/jingle! A nice reward upon landing. It’s giving modern Christian music vibes in a good way.
I recently snagged a ~2150 USD r/t YYZ to Shanghai trip (via Manila) on Philippine Airlines in business, so I'm disappointed to not get the Manila-Toronto review, but I appreciate the review of the airport. At least that way I'll have the ability to prepare myself (especially since its ~16 hours there, and I expect I'll already be exhausted)
Thank you for this! Very well-balanced analysis that evaluates the product for what it is. Calling out the minor soft product gaps like the Wi-Fi glitch while still giving credit to the solid Collins suite hard product, quick meal service, and overall price value is completely spot on, certainly there is room for improvement, but that is the case with any carrier. The value proposition of PAL transpac is difficult to dispute, as per usual!
After Bashing them yesterday on two separate articles, you have decided to praise them? Got paid, Free Tickets? What Gives
Can you imagine buying business class then being downgraded to economy 10 seats scross on that plane? It would be horrible. That possibility would keep me from ever flying PAL business class.
Regardless of the plane , wifi seems to always be an issue, technology is there to fix this gap, but anyone that has been or lived in the Philippines for any amount of time understands they don't move very fast to address anything:)
How do you determine the chaos of the terminal, lounges and overall ground experience don’t also apply to the aircraft maintenance and pilots as well?