A review of the Philippine Airlines Mabuhay Lounge at Manila Terminal 1, where transit security was slow, the lounge was packed, and Wi-Fi wouldn't connect on a laptop.
"The Wi-Fi Doesn’t Even Work" For a second I thought the post was about Delta. 🙂
You're going to be SO SORRY you said that, because now you'll be inundated with stats about other airlines' lounge Wi-Fi setups, along with buses and trains and Hammersmith and Winnetka.
I mentioned on a previous post that I only fly Delta because I live in one of their hubs, I really like the overall service, was Diamond for 16 years in a row and will continue to fly them. But just last week, I flew them on 4 segments, 2 international and 2 domestic and their WiFi was useless. I am just reporting my experience.
Lucky, is the Philippines going to be the next country to ban you? 😀
Just looking at that crowd would've caused me to nopeout of that place in seconds.
As I said with the mini-review - just think, if you took advantage of the status match (still being offered!), your lounge complaints could have been submitted by a Mahubay elite member!
With the amount of travelling you do, I’m surprised you don’t have an worldwide data plan. I can use data all over the planet for 55$ a month…50 or 70 GB
@ Cedric Pinsonnault -- I do have a worldwide data plan! I use it a ton, and I had actually maxed out the use for the month, so they were throttling me. Heh.
It is possible the lounge WiFi is configured to only broadcast an channels not enabled on your laptop’s wireless card. Hopefully they are broadcasting using multiple frequencies. I don’t know how old your laptop is but if it support 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz, this seems unlikely. They also could just use channels in these frequencies not supported on your wireless adapter, but given other WiFi works for you this also seems unlikely. It could be as simple as there is a splash page that wasn’t loading in your browser.
Most likely it was a misconfigured network. There is a saying…”It is always DNS”
Side note, your experience is why most customers care more about good WiFi (Starlink today) than many hard products on flights.
Looks still way better than the PAGSS lounge in the same terminal (regarding food, seating, crowding...). And in terminal 3 you'd find cockroaches roaming the lounge floors.
NAIA airport is a total mess, and I guess you've still seen the "best" of it.
They did a lot of renovation in T3, but mostly it's cosmetic changes, and adding lots of food outlets all with pretty similar offerings.
The only things that actually have improved in recent years are Grab access in T3 and the landside terminal transfer busses (although the need for their existence is still annoying).
is it possible to visit this lounge if we fly into MNL on PAL J then connect on domestic PAL Y?
@ Bradly -- If you're connecting domestically you'd potentially be looking at using the domestic lounge, since you wouldn't have access to this area of the international departures area. I'm not 100% sure whether a business to economy connection offers lounge access, though. Maybe someone else can clarify?
1.5 stars review? Is this a new negative record?
I didn't think I would live long enough to see it
@ Marco -- Hah, it might be! When you literally have to leave a lounge to use the internet, and the staff member informing you of that seems totally unfazed, it's a complete failure, as I see it.
I think 1.5 stars is a bit harsh.
It seems like things got only worse from your MNL transit at the wake of the pandemic. Is this perhaps gonna become the oneworld's worst hub when PAL is in?
The lounge itself doesn't look half bad but the Wi-Fi issue and ESPECIALLY the consistent loud announcements would have driven me crazy too. This applies to the whole airport terminal experience itself, anywhere in the world. Passengers end up just having audio fatigue and ignore all of it. I can't even imagine in this confined space.
To your point about the whole NAIA T1 experience, I am not surprised at all. It is a massive embarrassment. While T3 will not win any awards, at least it's significantly better. They also closed down the CX and SQ lounge there and opened up a larger, common-use Meridian lounge. I recently visited and was surprised how nice it was. Most importantly, Wi-FI worked and no announcements 😉
:: Cathay Pacific breathes a sigh of satisfaction that HKG will be compared to MNL as a transit hub instead of TPE ::
The real message I get from all of this is don't connect in Manila. And that's really too bad as PAL is a TPAC option from the West Coast. @Ben, you mentioned several times that the airline doesn't control the inefficient transit security process but if they expect to serve connecting passengers, they would do well to try to exert influence to make some changes.
In fairness to MNL, signage to find lounges at some top European airports (I mean you, LHR and AMS!) could also be better. Just showing signs for lounge numbers instead of names doesn't help. AMS has a nice system of kiosks to help you find things and plan a walking route but neither the Amex Centurion Lounge nor the Rijksmuseum branch could be found in the system!
Philippines Airlines is run like a old government bureaucracy. They have in the last year hired a non Filipeno European with experience in the aviation field as CEO to try to change the attitude. With Philippines Airlines joinig Oneworld they really need to move to two levels above where they are now.
The thing with the Philippines thinking is not to keep improving and tweak. Do it once and done. No striving for perfection.
Philippines Airlines is owned by this old guy who is 92 years old called Lucio Tan. Philippines Airlines used to be government owned and he was buddies with the dictator Marcos. He made a lot of money under Marcos and then used that money to take over Philippines Airlines. He runs a huge conglomerate of beer, banks and other bullshit.
There is no hope ever to turn Philippines Airlines around. It is the same shit as Air India.
@Lucky, I think there are apps that will allow your phone to then share the wi-fi signal with your laptop
Sure, this tech is out there, but if the terminal is quieter and doesn’t need an extra workaround, why bother?
My family of five has a stopover here in January. 3.5 hours. At least it’s all in terminal 1.
$1000usd for nrt to mnl to syd in business class. No a350 unfortunately but still the price is outstanding. It was that or the same price to fly direct in economy on the regular big guys (jal Qantas etc).
Hopes are low but it will be a fun adventure
I'm literally sitting in that lounge right now, its packed at 0600 but still some open seats available. The wifi is working fine (as has the last few times I have been through MNL). Maybe reboot your device.
I took advantage of a shower since I have a 5 hour layover after my flight from SEA. While the food selection isn't Chase or Cap1 quality, they do offer several cold and hot options as well as a few sweets. Small bar available as well for alcohol if you're into that at 6 in the morning.
I do feel the transfer desk could be a little better coordinated, but it wasn't horrible, all in about a 10 min wait, then up the stairs to the lounge and gates.
I felt quite different about the experience. I found it charming and intimate.
Sorry you had to endure T1. The key rule when using MNL is to ONLY fly on airlines that use T3, a terminal that is vastly better than T1, especially with the new First Meridian lounge that is expressly for biz/first ticketed pax, with no access for CC/DP/PP card holders. They even put in a new escalator for direct access from mid airside concourse rather than the prior convoluted route. There is also dedicated immigration and security for business class now at T3.