I’d like to nominate Philippine Airlines for the award of “worst flat bed business class seat offered by a full service airline.” It really boggles the mind that anyone signed off on this product. I’d also like to introduce you to my seat mate’s feet (fortunately he’s wearing socks).
Philippine Airlines takes top & bottom seats to a new low
I’m currently flying Philippine Airlines home from Japan to the United States — my Osaka (KIX) to Manila (MNL) flight is operated by an Airbus A330-300, while I’m connecting to the carrier’s new flagship Airbus A350-1000.
Look, I don’t want to be too much of a diva, as my A330 flight was under four hours long. It’s not like I suffered, or anything. However, I judge airplane seats based on the competitive landscape, and that’s the lens through which I’m viewing this. Let me also emphasize that Philippine Airlines has two versions of the A330, and the other one is much better. But gosh, as far as flat bed business class seats go, this one really sucks.
In the past I’ve written about what I consider to be the world’s worst business class seats. Royal Air Maroc’s Boeing 787-8 business class seat made the list. It feels a little bit like sleeping on an ironing board, and each pair of seats are in a “top and bottom” configuration, where one passenger essentially towers over the other when reclined. Clearly Philippine Airlines was like “hmmm, that looks great, but how can we make that seat even worse?”
“How about we get rid of the seat back entertainment?” Check!
“How about we make the seats even tighter, given the A330’s narrower fuselage?” Check!
“Can we place the power port a little more inconveniently, so that you’re guaranteed to knock it with your arm any time you try to use it?” Check!
I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’d rather just have a regional recliner seat without a flat bed over this product.
Nothing about this product makes any sense
Okay, so there’s literally nowhere to place anything in this configuration. Like, for the pre-departure drink service, everyone had to take their tray tables out, because there’s no other logical place to put a drink.
And even the tray table is awful. It basically rests on the far armrest with a margin of around one centimeter, so if you even slightly push it forward, it just plops down and falls, so that it’s at a pretty rough angle, and potentially knocks around anything on the tray.
They didn’t install seat back entertainment, but there is streaming entertainment (and in business class they give you a tablet). Great… but where are you supposed to actually place the device? There’s no personal device holder. Yes, you can put it on your tray table, but a) that keeps falling down and b) that means you can’t actually watch anything while eating.
There’s just nowhere to store or place anything, and everything is so tight that I kept seeing people knock things over. Two different people dropped their phones into the side of their seats, because there’s just nowhere to even place them.
As I hinted at above, there is a power port at the seat, but it’s at a 90-degree angle to the seat, and roughly at the height where your arm would be. For example, I was trying to charge my laptop with a “brick” charger, and I couldn’t help but keep knocking it over and over, given the angle and lack of seat width. That says nothing of the fact that the charger just falls out every two seconds because of how loose it is. And let’s not even talk about the cabin’s condition…
Anyway, thanks for indulging me. This is all embarrassing, and I hope my flight on the brand new A350-1000 is better. On the plus side, the crew was absolutely lovely, so no fault at all to them for this. If only the hard product matched their kindness and warmth…
Bottom line
Philippine Airlines managed to take my least favorite flat bed business class seat and somehow make it worse. Ultimately it’s not like this was the worst ride for a fairly short flight, but I just don’t understand how anyone could possibly sign off on this product.
Like, was the person in charge thinking “this is great, our customers will love it?” Or “meh, this sucks, but who cares?” Or…?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a poorly executed seat in terms of functionality. There’s nowhere to put anything, the whole thing feels insanely tight and bare bones, and it just makes me wish I were on one of those A321s with standard recliners.
Honestly, matters were probably made worse by the fact that I was on “bottom,” and the guy next to me was pretty gassy. Anyway, I’m sure the Manila ground experience will be lovely, and more than make up for this… right?
Am I the only one who hates these Philippine Airlines A330 business class seats?
Look, I’m not going to pretend that particular A330 seat is the second coming of First Class, because clearly it has some issues. But calling PAL the worst airline over one dated A330 configuration is a bit dramatic, no?
The review is basically judging an entire airline by one seat on one flight, while even the author admits PAL has two A330 versions and that the other one is much better. He also admits the...
Look, I’m not going to pretend that particular A330 seat is the second coming of First Class, because clearly it has some issues. But calling PAL the worst airline over one dated A330 configuration is a bit dramatic, no?
The review is basically judging an entire airline by one seat on one flight, while even the author admits PAL has two A330 versions and that the other one is much better. He also admits the flight was under four hours and, perhaps most importantly, says the crew were absolutely lovely. Thats kinda important when you're reviewing an airline and not just a seat cushion.
And this is where I think the PAL bashing gets a little gregarious. PAL has been around for 85 years and continues to invest in the fleet, including the new A350-1000 and the wider fleet renewal program. You dont have to love every single seat to acknowledge that.
There’s also the small matter of PAL Awards, which in 2026 brought together and recognized its top-performing international and domestic travel partners. That doesnt magically make an awkward power socket disappear, obviously, but it does show an airline with a pretty substantial commercial network and ongoing relationships across the travel industry.
And lets be honest, awards and passenger experience arent the same thing. But PAL has repeatedly received industry recognition over the years, and the airline is clearly not some obscure carrier that nobody takes seriously. The 2026 World Airline Awards are a completely different measure from PAL's own partner awards, so I wouldnt mash them together, but the broader point remains: airline quality is a lot bigger than whether one blogger managed to knock his laptop charger over.
The seat can be criticised. Fair enough. The tray table sounds annoying, the lack of a seatback screen is a legitimate criticism, and the wear shown in the photos isnt exactly inspiring. But “this particular seat is badly designed” and “PAL is a terrible airline” are two very differnt arguments.
And frankly, if the crew were warm, the flight was comfortable enough for a sub-four-hour sector, PAL is introducing newer aircraft, and the airline is continuing to build out its network and partnerships, maybe the fair conclusion is simply: PAL needs to get the old A330 interiors sorted out. Thats a much more reasonable take than declaring the entire airline guilty because one seat has nowhere to put your tablet.
PAL isnt perfect. No airline is. But this review feels like it took a legitimate gripe with a specific hard product and turned the volume up to 11 becuase “these seats are awful” makes a better headline.
Just for context: this seats were installed in a different era of Philippine Airlines. The ownership at that time (which didn't last very long) tried to compete with LCCs by going very downmarket. This is how you end up with planes with no screens, business class seats like *that*, and A330s with 9-across seating.
That era of PAL is regarded as something of a failure and those planes are on the way out.
I know this is your job, but I'm not desperate enough to want to fly to anywhere else in Asia on PR.
Exactly. I can't image any readers ever wanting to fly this airline.
Filipinos are the second shortest people on earth. Imagine you are male; 4’10”-5’3” tall and weigh 90-110lbs. Maybe tiny people think the seats are luxurious.
Oof. So, you're saying... PAL is not your 'pal.'
I remember you flying these exact same seats on Royal Air Maroc years ago, but with TVs!
Fortunately they plan on refurbishing their A330s along with 77Ws.
Watch out for critiquing PAL, otherwise the TD of PAL aka Darryl will come out and attack you.
Nothing some delicious lechon (oh, wait, Ben doesn't like pork), or... adobo can't smooth over.