PHILIPPINE AIRLINES BUSINESS CLASS: 13 Hours from Manila to San Francisco

Today we tried a

business

class that I wanted to try for a long time. Philippine Airlines has been flying to San Francisco for as long as I can remember, mostly with 747s until they retired and now with triple sevens, regardless of when I finished a recent trip to Asia. I knew exactly which airline I wanted to fly home on. Welcome to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, where we will board Philippine Airlines' mabuhai

business

class for the 13-hour flight to San Francisco. Philippine Airlines has never been known for being the most luxurious business class, but it's also not the most expensive, with fares from Asia to the United States in business class for as little as a thousand dollars, so although I don't expect it to be the best. luxury travel experience.

I'm mainly just trying to get a measure of value for money spent. The first thing I will mention is that I will never say anything bad about the traffic in California again after driving in the Philippines, the traffic from my hotel to the airport was only about four miles, a little less than seven kilometers, and it cost me only about four dollars, but I was in that taxi for over 45 minutes and we were on a highway most of that time, starting there is a specific section of Philippine Airlines Counters for flights departing to the US right now only They were Los Angeles, Guam and San Francisco.

These counters have some lanes dedicated to business class passengers, but that didn't make the process any easier. The first thing I had to do was go. through a baggage check, I had to open my tight suitcase so they could change the inside and make sure there were no hazardous materials; Then, after struggling to close it again, I headed to the business class counter. One thing I've noticed is that people on these flights from Asia to the US seem to travel heavy, often with multiple large suitcases and even with large boxes, which didn't help this line move faster as most people had a lot of bags to check, even in business class.

The queues had a good amount of people in line, interestingly it would have been quicker for me to check in online and head to the baggage drop counter which was shared by both business class and economy class passengers , so far business class has not. It didn't actually save my time from there, it went to immigration and security. Interestingly, there was no specific immigration and security lane for business class passengers open at this time. The only priority lane at the airport was for people with disabilities or pregnant women, which is fair but unique in not having a specific lane for business class.

I also want to mention that whether you're in business or economy class, you'll want to allow excess time to get through the airport based on the timestamps on the videos I took. It took me a total of one and a half

hours

from the time I entered the main gate of the terminal to the time I passed through security and entered the terminal that most Philippine Airlines flights from Manila operate from Terminal 1, which is the oldest international terminal in Manila. The terminal is also known as Aquino Nuisance Terminal as it was the site of his assassination in 1983.

Terminal 1 is the busiest of the international terminals here in Manila, but in 2010 more flights began moving to Terminal 3, including some from Philippine Airlines. Inter-Asia flight renovations at Terminal 1 are ongoing, but the terminal has been over capacity for 30 years. The opening of other terminals has helped, but Manila's Terminal 1 has been ranked among the worst terminals in Asia for years, evidenced by the number of people crammed into lines. in the hallways, sitting and sleeping on the floor, besides the strange layout, you may have seen a lot of shops as we passed, but no doors. I found that the vast majority of the shops and restaurants were actually quite far from the actual gates, there were a few other oddities with the layout of the terminal, as we'll see later, there are a few lounges in US departures wing one of terminal 1, which is known as concourse a and two concourses pogs.

Interestingly all three lounges are contract lounges, apparently Philippine Airlines has their own mabuhai lounge but it is located in terminal 2. my boarding pass clearly indicated access to the pog lounge so right after gate 7 I found the pog room, however when I went to the counter I was informed that I would have to go to the pog room next to door 2. This sounded far away, but it was only 20 meters away. I thought it was strange to have two identical lounges so close together, but apparently this is the one used for American passengers, but I don't understand why.

We couldn't have just used one lounge for everyone, considering we hadn't gone through any additional checkpoints. or anything related to other passengers, calling this lounge disappointing would be doing too much of a service. The VIP Room was nothing more than a small room. With limited seating and some food, even charging ports were difficult to get to. I counted about 10 total in the room, but they were on two strips in front of two specific seats, so you had to wait for one of those seats to become available or whoever it was. Sitting there they didn't mind you passing your charger around them, however the most surprising thing was that the hall didn't even have bathrooms to use the bathroom, you had to walk across the hall to the other pogs.

Lounge, I mean, come on guys. Do it all in one room. I finally went to use the bathroom and was surprised to find out that the other pogs. The living room was much bigger and better. I think I was supposed to leave immediately after using the bathroom, but I decided to take the scenic route out. living room to see what they had inside. I didn't actually stay in the lounge because I didn't want to push the boundaries too much, but I was happy to be able to see both lounges on the way back to our lounge to explore the food options.

The food was actually the same in both lounges, with the exception that the larger lounge had a full bar and our lounge only had a few bottles on a self-service shelf. Other than that, although the food was pretty good, there were two counters, one for cold items and one for hot items. The cold items counter had a couple of dessert options like banana cupcakes, chocolate and peanut bars, cookies, nuts. and avocado ice cream, plus a cup of noodles, tuna sandwiches and some bread and jam. Next to that in the corner was the drinks first were in the refrigerator with the soft drink options including soda juices and some fresh cut fruits, next to it was the San Miguel draft beer and lastly was the machine of coffee, the counter next to the drinks housed the hot food options which were in In my opinion, the best food in the lounge with options such as chicken adobo, penne pasta, chicken mesclune or threadaldo and dim sum, then in the other end of the buffet with all the dishes which definitely took me longer than it probably should have to find after about 30 minutes.

I was able to get a seat by the charging strip because I wanted my devices to be fully charged for the flight, although when I sat down later waiting for my flight and starting the script for this video, my laptop died again, but at least I had A window. Leaving my lounge seat about 10 minutes before boarding left me time for one more security check, which is normal for most US-bound flights to go through an extra security check, but It required me to take off my shoes and pull out my laptop just one more step. This time I found the layout of the terminal to be a bit strange, especially for US-bound passengers, as I had already passed most of the shops and restaurants and, more importantly, all the VIP lounges, but now that I had gone through security for the US passengers I was stuck on this side of the checkpoint where there was a small restaurant, a small souvenir shop and a bathroom, but honestly, that was it. what we had here while we were waiting on board, as you can see the gate areas were full, it wasn't.

It helps that all the flights were delayed, which I found a little strange considering it wasn't that bad of a day here in Manila. The flight from Los Angeles left about an hour and a half late. The Guam flight had maintenance problems and had been grounded. for a while and our gate was filling up as boarding time was now about five minutes ago. Another thing I found strange and stressful was that there wasn't even a plane at our gate, but a plane finally stopped, although at the adjacent gate tar finally our departure time came and went still without a plane, but the most annoying thing was that not even a single announcement from the gate agents except calling random people to the gate for different checks, finally 30 minutes after our scheduled departure the gate agent arrived. on the loudspeaker to inform us all that our plane had arrived our plane today in triple seven had lived its 14 years of life all with Philippine Airlines boarding finally started but we were having problems because half of the passengers had their boarding pass in the Apple wallet but the gate agents needed the actual physical boarding pass so they could tear off the part and keep the passenger count.

It didn't help that the flight was 100 percent sold out, so there were the maximum amount of people in line. trying to find your boarding pass or, worse yet, have a new one printed. Philippine Airlines business class is definitely dated in style with a 2-3-2 configuration with flat seats like most triple sevens. There are two business class cabins, the first one in the front is four rows deep and the aft one where I am sitting is two rows deep. The heat itself is a fabric material in different shades of blue. I feel like the color palette makes it look a little older than it is, unless they're actually the same. 2009 seats, which I suppose is a very real possibility, also come equipped with onboard amenities.

Each seat is actually quite large with a good amount of legroom, more than you could ever need. Now to take a look at the aspects of the seat the armrest is adjustable but I didn't figure out how to move it until later in the flight by lifting this tab you can raise or lower it but it has to be all the way up or down the footrest folds down giving you a nice place to rest your feet when you sleep or rest. I also noticed when getting off the plane that there may have been a cup holder here in a past life in the center console you'll find. the charging ports in the front with universal charging ports and USB ports had a closeable panel that we never really used on the inside of the center console you will find the remote control for the inflight entertainment screen which is very useful Considering how far the entertainment screen is from your seat, the seat controls are a little strange as you'll find all the presets on the center console next to the drinks counter, there are also individual seat controls for each part of the seat. seat, but they are inside the flap that also houses the tray table, that tray table opens up like a pretty good sized large table, it's a little awkward getting in and out as you can't move around without having to lift the flap of the center console, so During the flight, I usually had to move everything I had there so I could move the tray out of my way if I had to get up.

Behind the center console we also have these little reading lights, unfortunately there were no air vents in the roof, although Fortunately the cabin stayed cooler than most cabins I've been in recently so that was perfectly fine with shorts and the blanket they gave us. The televisions are located right in front of each passenger, but if you are in a business class seat, you will find them quite far away, although they still have a touch screen in addition to a remote control. Next to the TV is also the literature pocket cubby with some items in which we were also given face masks and menus that were on our center console.

When we get to the seat, talking about the menu, in my opinion, the food is where Philippine Airlines really shines. First is the meal options, where you can see the dinner options, then the mid-flight snacks, and lastly the breakfast service, which means we're timing meals based on the weather in Manila since we arrived in San Francisco around 9:00 p.m. m., which was a strange time to have breakfast, although it would be between noon and 1 p.m. m. in Manila then there were the drinks, there was a full page of wines mostly from California, this was followed by some beers andstrong alcohols along with the cocktails they can make with those alcohols and below with all non-alcoholic options including coffees, teas, soft drinks and juices, other gifts with the seed including slippers and a service. kit that are only issued on overnight flights for business class passengers, then the amenities kit that I couldn't determine if the brand was from Eric or Bricks as the letters were all mixed up, regardless of whether the bag was actually a material Nice enough inside the bag was the usual set of things, socks and dental kit, but oddly there was no eye mask or earplugs, on top of that were the amenities including lip balm, skin lotions. face and body and a piyo facial mist.

The pillow supplied with the seeds was quite substantial. A semi-firm pillow had a good amount of thickness, making it ideal for sleeping and relaxing on its own without needing help from another pillow. The blanket was wonderful too. It may not have been the thickest blanket, but it had a fleece lining. which was great to not only warm you up but was also extremely comfortable. I was also excited because I read online that Philippine Airlines offered free fast Wi-Fi on board, as now evidenced by the signs on the bulkhead, a strange detail that was What bothered me was that there seemed to be some delamination on the walls of The cabin above one of my four windows almost looked like it was filled with water or something.

I'm guessing it just came off the walls of the plane since it's just a decal. for decoration, if there really was water there I would guess it's just because of the air conditioning and condenser to deal with the humidity, the bathroom was pretty basic but I at least appreciated the blue countertop to give it its own touch, there were some amenities too like soap, of course. but also cologne lotion and mouthwash with glasses on top, before the rejection we were given hot towels and a drink of my choice, of which I chose to have some champagne in the meantime, although it's sneaker time too literally since we edited this video.

United has announced that they will do so. begin nonstop flights to Manila from San Francisco, giving Philippine Airlines some competition on U.S. routes, as no other U.S.

airlines

currently fly to the Philippines except United's short-haul routes from Guam, since we tax departure. One thing I will mention is that the crew were fantastic to start boarding, they asked me how I would like to be addressed which was a great personal touch. Also, one of the best things about the Philippines in general is that, at least in the cities, people speak English very well. It was also true for the crews of Philippine Airlines flights.

This is not always a fact on Asian

airlines

, although obviously English is an Iko standard and all crew must be fluent in English, but unfortunately there is still some sort of language barrier for many Asians. The airlines, whether they are not familiar with certain phrases or the different accents, make it more difficult to understand, not because of those airlines, as they don't have much control over that and any type of English is appreciated, except in Philippines. airline flights. I found the conversation to be in completely fluent English, including common terms, and therefore, for travelers who are less comfortable with English language barriers, that may be a reason to fly with Philippine Airlines on flights to Asia, as which can connect to Manila to reach almost anywhere, while we were taxiing, I also realized that there is not only a large maintenance base in Manila, but specifically one that services many A380s, such as Korean Air's A380s and Emirates that I could see in those hangars.

Once in the air I started to notice that there were a few things broken in my seat before departure, in fact the flight attendant came to tell me and my seatmate that our screens and reclining features were broken, obviously that would be a Shit after paying for business class, however we tried it and everything worked fine once. We got into the air, however, we began to notice some problems, as it turned out that the power to the entire center console that controlled both of our seats went out. Sometimes things would work well, but other times they wouldn't, for about an hour or two. you would lose control over anything connected to the console and then you would have 10-15 minutes where they would function normally.

You can see first that the remote control was not working, the only button that worked was the stewardess call control and the dome light at times, so at one point the dome light stayed on while the entire cabin It was dark and I tried to cover it with my hand as best I could. I also accidentally pressed the flight attendant call button and then couldn't turn it back off, so both the light and the flight attendant call button were stuck for about 15 minutes until I could get the buttons to work again. The center console-mounted reading light was also more of a strobe than a solid reading light, ultimately making it almost unusable. and perhaps most annoying was that the seat controls rarely worked, as seen here, they flashed constantly when they flashed, they didn't work, but when the lights were solid, which only lasted a short time, I was able to control the seat, which was harmful. at bedtime but more on that later for now however take a look at the inflight entertainment which unfortunately worked as the remote didn't work.

I had to use the touch screen, which is usually fine, but it was so far from my seat that I usually had to get up from my seat and bend over, kneel on the floor to make my selection and then sit back down, which was difficult with the tray table because there wasn't enough room for a human to squeeze around the tray table. So if my tray was out and I had to use the screen, I had to carefully find a place to put everything on the table so I could move it out of my way, which was just a small process.

Movies, there wasn't exactly an endless selection like you'd find in North America or on golf carriers, but there was still plenty to choose from. They had them sorted by genre, but they also had selections in English and Pinoy once you chose the genre. I would be presented with several selections and several pages of selections, plus the touch calibration seemed to be slightly off as it often took significant pressure for it to register and sometimes it would register that I had pressed somewhere slightly different than They had. They had several episodes of the shows they had, but the shows they had were kind of strange things that I wouldn't normally watch on a flight or at home.

Each show had two to three spangled episodes, but from a random season I would normally wish that if Airlines only had a few random episodes, they would at least be the first few episodes so you could almost use it as a test for that show. Personally I was hoping they had Superstore too. one of my favorite shows, but also one of the best TV comedies in the Philippines. The music actually had a good selection and I considered listening to something at a couple of points in the flight, they had English on Pinoy radio but they also had a lot of albums for different genres so there was plenty to choose from, then came the game , nevermind, lastly, it was the flight map option that gave me a flashing headache, so I opted to only use it when I absolutely wanted to check our progress a couple of times during the flight, there is no onboard magazine on Philippine Airlines flights, but we opted to use the display screen on the seat-back TV to show all the information we could learn about the Philippine Airlines culture and a A good number of their destinations include things like tours of several of their planes, information on their internet and baggage policies, tour packages for several of their top destinations, instructions on the USB player, which left me stuck in a loop of terms and conditions and Lastly, it was a shopping catalog which really makes me miss the Sky Mall catalogues.

I was also excited to try out the inflight Wi-Fi they boasted about and see how fast it was, unfortunately I couldn't get it to appear during the entire flight, the flight attendant reset it several times, but we were never able to get it working shortly after departure. They stopped by the booth to take our dinner orders. By the time they got to me, they were already out of a couple of items, but thankfully. There was still the best one, the pork adobo, I didn't hesitate for a second to order it, in addition to a cup of tea to accompany it, to start the food service, they gave us the amuse bouche of salmon mousse on cucumber and a melon ball with prosciutto and mozzarella along with the Tiger Beer which I like to drink whenever I'm in Asia and which then came with the bread tray for our choice.

I opted to go with one of the Filipino sweet rolls, however, they also insisted that I also try the garlic bread. I also opted for a tiger beer, which is one of my favorites when I'm in Asia. Then for our appetizer, I chose the tuna tataki salad instead of beef and bone marrow with corn. It sounded lighter, healthier and better in my opinion, you also know I'm a big fan of custom branded cutlery and while it's not the most obvious branding, there was a Philippine Airlines logo carved into the fork and spoon and printed on the knives, then came the main course. and it was advertised the pork adobo, one of my favorite Filipino dishes and it was cooked to perfection, the pork was wonderfully seasoned and the texture was wonderful, the rice was actually a garlic fried rice, flavored with reduction sauce of adobo and topped with some chilies as well.

Then I ordered a nice night tea and they gave me this matcha green tea. I probably would have preferred more of the chamomile tea that I was offered later in the flight, but this would do for now. Luckily, I was tired enough to drink some matcha green tea. I wasn't going to win the sleep battle, so to finish the meal they came with a dessert tray that included chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookie, vanilla ice cream, and a cheesecake with raspberry sauce. I opted to finish my meal with the cheesecake once the meal was over. They got up and people got ready to sleep, they also handed out a bottle of water to each passenger right after takeoff, when my sea controls were working for a while, I decided to check the bed because I wasn't sure how long or if it would work later .

The seats in Philippine Airlines business class are not completely flat at 180 degrees, but they do lie flat only at one angle, hence the name angled flat. One thing you will notice is that even with the seats fully deployed there is still space between the end of the seat and the back of the row in front of you, the bed itself was quite firm, not the hardest surface ever but definitely reaffirming that The pillow and blanket were wonderful, they helped make the bed quite comfortable and the cabin stayed a little cooler. It was a great place to sleep now, here's the problem.

Those bed shots were filmed right after takeoff before lunch. Once it was time to sleep, you can see the buttons flashing once again. I was definitely ready to go to bed, but it seemed like the seat. It wasn't because I couldn't recline it making it more upright than it would have been even in coach with the standard recline. I decided to watch more of my movie and hope the controls would come back online soon after about 30 to 45 minutes. the lights became steady once more and I was able to recline, although not quite yet, as on my way down they went out of commission again.

I was able to get it in a relaxed position, but definitely not flat or even close to it, but it was good enough. to get some sleep, so with that I'll see them when I wake up a few

hours

later. I woke up to the first signs of a sunrise that had taken off just after midnight. It wasn't long before we saw that sunrise. I was still in and out of sleep, but I had to pay attention to the sun coming up on the horizon, which is quite interesting as we landed around 10pm, which meant we would also see the sunset, which is a Strange schedule when you're sprinting through a full sun cycle, I'd say a day, but technically we crossed the date line and came back a day after a few more hours of sleep, once I was fully awake I went to the bathroom to freshen up and use the mouthwash cups provided to passengers and for those who get a little spicy, there was also a snack basket in the galley with fruits and snackssalty The strange thing about these flights is that even though most of the cabin was daytime and we arrived at bedtime, they still maintained the entire cabin. dark, I would think that because of the jet lag you would want to keep at least some light in the cabin until at least sunset.

Oh, it's dark in my seat, but my seat neighbor was still sleeping, which made me realize that The best thing about these seats is how easy it is to pass the seat neighbor when they are completely flat, since there is space between the bed and the back of the front seat, it's a shame they don't join a footrest as I feel like that would help it lay completely flat and could be more comfortable, but in a 2-3-2 configuration I can appreciate this a little more style. We were still about six hours from San Francisco, so I decided to order something in between. -Flight snack menu in this case I chose the Cantón bihongisado pen seat or essentially sautéed noodles with shrimp I also ordered a cup of coffee so you can understand my confusion when they gave me water but it still had cream and sugar.

They were still making coffee, so a few minutes later life made sense again now that it was light. I noticed that while the camera had had trouble focusing before, you'll see these marks all over the windows, which I assume means I just need some cleaning a couple of hours from Landing, they took our breakfast orders. You'll see in a moment the food was amazing, but it was strange timing as we were landing around 10pm. in San Francisco and even in Manila time. It's only 1:00 p.m. m., so I wouldn't have expected a breakfast, maybe more of a lunch, instead of complaining because as I mentioned it was still fantastic, breakfast service started with a hot towel and a wonderful mango smoothie, then came a parfait of yogurt along with also a plate of fresh fruit, once again they came with a bread basket with panda Soul cheese bread and a croissant and finally came the breakfast itself, for which I ordered the dizzy chicken burrito, which was not as good as my other meals, but still excellent and definitely above average for an airplane meal by then we had begun our descent into San Francisco, but since I was still in the middle of the movie, I was glad my seatmate chose having his map up, although his also kept flashing and giving me the information.

Same headache after a while, although at least I was able to keep track of our location by talking about things that needed a bath. I noticed the discoloration and cowl inlet on the engine and I'm not sure if it's just dirty or starting to show signs of wear, but it was the first time on the flight I had a chance to look at the engine as the sun was finally setting. setting and the cabin lights turned on slightly for the meal, so I didn't feel too bad about opening the blinds. and Lighting up part of the cabin also felt a bit strange watching the sunset as on a 12 hour flight we took off around midnight saw the sunrise fly for a whole day saw the sunset again and landed just before midnight on the same day we left due to the International Date Line.

I don't know, the weather is just weird or something, also as a pro tip for those of you flying into San Francisco, if you're coming from the north you'll want a seat on the left side of the plane in the ACs to give you a great view of San Francisco as it flies by as we make our final descent into San Francisco. I was thinking about how, given that the window shades were asked to be kept down and the lights were kept off for the most part even on a mostly daytime flight. I would like to pose a question to all of you if you are on a long haul flight, whether it is daytime or not, do you mind if the cabin is kept dark all the time? time maybe it's just me personally, but if it's daytime I'd like at least some level of light, even if it's artificial lights from the cabin lights.

I totally dim the cabins to help with jet lag, but as I write this script, it's currently 4am in San Francisco after I landed and I'm barely tired as the cabin was kept dark, keeping me drowsy for so long that I never felt that I could start my day until I landed, at which point everyone around me was getting ready for bed. On a minor note, being in a dark tube for so long also tends to give me a bit more of a feeling of discomfort. I'm not sure if I'd classify it as claustrophobia, but I definitely feel a little cooped up, so definitely let me know what you think.

About That Next Foreigner When it comes to my final thoughts on Philippine Airlines, I first have to consider a couple of things. I was lucky enough to get a nonstop flight from Asia to San Francisco for eleven hundred dollars compared to the other nonstop. flights commonly here are more expensive, for example Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to SFO costs around 5000 Singapore costs around 4000 EVA Air costs around 6000 and the list goes on That said, I don't think the Philippine Airlines product is remotely close of the service offered by those airlines, whether that's why I want to consider value more than apples to apples comparison, starting with the airport experience, business class deals in Manila are currently worse than most class deals economy and other places in the world, the idea that economy class passengers could get through faster than us if they checked in online.

It was strange. Typically, you would expect that specific business class lines would help get you through security faster. That said, Manila airport is the true example of hurry up and wait, as even if I could check in faster, I would still have had to join the same immigration and security lane as economy class passengers. I will include that I travel coach often so I'm used to those lines in some places, but when I pay a little more for business class, getting a shorter wait time is usually one of the main advantages once they pass For security.

Terminal 1 is crazy and needs to be replaced or expanded. The only additional service for business class passengers was a lounge, if you can call it that. I was happy to have free food, but I still had a hard time finding charging ports. What I will say is that the product on board is definitely starting to show its age, but as far as a 232 configuration goes, it really isn't terrible, the best benefit was still having it. space to surround the passenger in the aisle, normally like on Lufthansa, if the aisle passengers are in bed mode it is impossible to pass them, the food was top notch and I couldn't have asked for much more from the crew either as they were wonderful.

The whole flight he spoke English to me and everything, so the question we always ask is would I fly it again and honestly the answer is yes and no, but I will specify why I say that, first of all, the value for money, I think which is more than I'm pretty sure it's not the greatest business class in the world, but it's also one of the cheapest; However, on some occasions when traveling in Asia, Philippine Airlines has been the cheapest business class to get to San Francisco from places like Taipei, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc. but Asiana generally costs only a couple hundred dollars more, if not even, and while I haven't posted a video on Asiana business class yet, especially on the A350s, it's a much better experience in a one-two configuration with a lounge adequate and a suitable business class. airport entry and amenities, not to mention that Philippine Airlines tickets are almost impossible to book with points since they are not in any alliance and only have a few random airline partners, so essentially if Philippine Airlines If it were the cheapest option, I could definitely see myself sleeping with them. again, but otherwise it might be worth spending a little more and taking a different airline.

That said, with a single business class, its A350 cabin seems to be a bit more of a game-changer and potentially a sign that better things are to come. Philippine Airlines, so we'll add that to our to-do list, but for now let me know your thoughts on Philippine Airlines business class and as always, safe travels and I'll see you all next time abroad.