I flew Philippine Airlines' A330 business class from Osaka to Manila. The crew was friendly and the food decent, but the seats might be the worst fully flat product.
The video and music is distinctly Pinoy. Although the seat looks horrible, the staff always came across as warm and welcoming.
I recentl flew on CX KUL-HKG-KUL on their A333's in J. The service was fantastic however the seats were nothing to write home about.
Fortunately Aria will be the standard going forward. Suites with doors on the 777s and A350s and Studio without the door on regional flights. I foresee an announcement next year on the A350 refurbs with the project to start shortly thereafter. However the recliners on the 773 and select A330s will remain until their retirement in a couple years time.
That will be interesting to have given KUL-HKG isn't too far of a flight. I also recently flew on MH's A333 from NRT in J and I found those to be much better than CXs J. The Aria standard will certainly be a much improvement!
Those A330s are getting long in the tooth. Though I was hoping CX would've gotten the B787-10 for its regional planes, the A339NEO will be an excellent plane for CX.
They plan to order another 50 aircraft and it'll be interesting to see what they order. They can certainly use more A350s and the 787-10 is still a possibility. While not as big as the 773, it's certainly bigger than the A330. One thing about CX you can appreciate is you can get a long-haul configured aircraft on such a short flight.
For sure! I still think there won't be any B787-10's in the order. IMO the A339NEO order took care of it. I expect to see a lot, if not most being A350's in the order.
They currently have 43 CEOs along with 30 orders and 30 options for the NEO. The first 30 will replace the first batch of CEOs that won't get Aria while the 30 options will eventually replace the rest of the CEOs, so 60 NEOs total (17 additional aircraft) which is modest.
They're in a pickle right now. The 773s don't have a direct 1:1 replacement. While reconfiguring the 77Ws for regional routes can be a short-term solution, it's overkill for regional routes as the aircraft and engines alone are heavier. Same with the A350s. And the A330s are too small. So this is where the 787-10 comes in.
I agree that the B77W is a bit of a large plane for "regional" routes but I'm not so sure about the A330's being too small. The A339NEO is a large plane. Also, carriers do use their A350's for short haul as well. Lets not forget that Cathay own a number of single isle planes.
Too many ways this can go. I would certainly love to see CX order some B787's though, that would be very cool.
We'll know soon enough.
Ben really got the 'top-bottom' 2-2-2 old J experience twice-in-a-row with PAL and RAM. Oof.
My family of five is flying nrt to manilla to Sydney in January. A321 recliner seat to Manila then “angled flat bed” 777 to Sydney. Actually quite looking forward to both flights. Recliner will be fine for five hours and the 777 looks old but has a giant footwell. Ultimately a better sleep then most biz class these days.
About $1000usd one way. Same price as direct on JAL but family voted for biz and and adventure.
It is incredibly cheap for Philippine Airlines not to serve champagne in business class.
Finally, a OneWorld airline that makes CX look good. Just what they wanted!
Are you sure your Vina Arnaiz Verdejo from Rueda, Spain is a California Chardonnay?
I'm surprised to find a wide-body plane with an IFE setup worse than HA's A330. At least the latter's has a dedicated iPad holder.
Yum, I love Japanese green tea ice cream. That almost makes the flight worthwhile.
Been there, done that and hated every minute of it! Sgn-mnl
A truly bizarre and amazingly uncomfortable configuration
On the other hand - I was on a new 321neo a few weeks ago and it was great
The other PR issue is connections - if both flights both are in t1 it's doable but a change of terminals is an adventure as MNL is a totally dysfunction nearly 3rd world airport
There is no inside-security bus and the connection bus is a small van that runs every 15m(or not) and has taken upwards of an hour to get from t1-r3
They are in the process of putting all international flights into t3 but we'll see
So your ticket was $1700 for a business class from Asia to the US on one of the non-premium airlines and you're expecting everything to be perfect. I think your expectations should be considered relative to the price. Furthermore as you said it is just a few hours flight, not the long haul.
The kiwi drink looks like a Cathay Delight.