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.
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.