Incredible flights or absolute disasters. Over the years every one of my Philippine
Airlines flights fit into one of those categories and today is no different.
From the business class cabin, let’s get into it, welcome to Kuala Lumpur.
If you’d like to know the exact fare that I paid or my next five videos in queue, please check
out the description below and if you’re new here, hi there and welcome, my name is Kevin.
You’ve found yourself on a channel that takes unbiased travel content seriously. I
make airline trip reports, high end hotel reviews and cruise ship tours as well.
I always film without the company’s knowledge to be sure I get a true
experience and give you nothing more than my honest unbiased opinion.
Except for the torrential rain all morning, it has been a beautiful day here in Kuala Lumpur,
now arriving at KLIA’s primary terminal. I’m currently on an extended trip which
all began with this pair of flights that will bring me down to Sydney. At the time,
it seemed like an incredible “buy it now” deal, but now many months later, they’re still selling
tickets from Southeast Asia to Australia in Business Class for what feels like pennies.
KLIA’s check in hall is organized in much the same fashion as any other
large airport in the region with rows upon rows upon rows of check
in desks for the 56 or so airlines that currently serve the airport.
Check in was a quick experience but I do think the airport needs to simplify the
checkin counter signs since you can barely even see them from a far, let alone what they say.
Been a while since I’ve seen a sign like this. This regulation just applied for one
small airport in the Philippines for some reason, nothing related to today’s flight.
As with most non-Malaysian carriers here, our flight would be departing from the
Satellite terminal but first we need to head through customs and immigration.
Similar to Singapore’s Changi airport, security is done individually at each gate here.
My favorite little aerotrain was under maintenance at the time so I was making
my way down to the bus on the lower level when I noticed this Starbucks.
Nothing to do with Starbucks, but if you’re ever in the terminal without lounge access,
this is quite the nice place to have a seat and watch the apron from.
To the bus we go which will take us from the
main terminal on the left to the X shaped satellite on the right.
Philippine Airlines or PR, was founded in 1941 and has it’s primary base at Manila’s
Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Prior to the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 90s,
PR was one of the larger airlines in Asia, but that all quickly changed.
From 1998 until 2007 they were put under receivership as they struggled to survive,
only to emerge just as the rest of the world was sliding into a recession again.
Currently, they fly to 48 destinations in 17 countries. In the past they used to fly
to multiple destinations in Europe, but those have been cut since Covid.
During covid they shed quite a few aircraft, including some newer ones
to right size the operation and last year again began achieving a profit.
PR always seems to be somewhere on a roller coaster, which I’ll get into more in my
next Philippine Airlines video. Luckily for today, the roller coaster was at it’s peak.
My fare today gained me access to the Plaza Premium lounge on the upper level.
The lounge is comfortable, has decent views and a normally decent selection of food,
though it doesn’t seem to be replenished all that consistently.
Before Plaza Premium and Priority Pass cut ties a few years ago,
this lounge was always a chaotic mess, so today was actually quite pleasant. While
some Plaza Premium lounges have since returned to Priority Pass recently at the time of writing,
this one still is not participating, while the Plazas in the main terminal and KLIA2 are.
Have always loved the rooflines and light’s in the satellite.
The terminal having been designed by famed Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.
Filming anonymously- as in, no invitations, no sponsorships,
no freebies and no special treatment- I think is an important part about any unbiased review,
whether for a flight or a hotel stay. If you support honest travel content,
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Time to get through Security and into the gate.
Our 8 year old A321 today has PR’s standard regional configuration with 2x2 recliner
business class seats. Though they do also have a version that they use for longer flights,
even to Sydney at times, with 2x2 lie flat seats. Boarding began on time and was quick with
boarding passes having already been checked at the gate’s entrance.
As for today’s flight stats, we took off a few minutes late for our 3 and a half hour
flight up and over to Manila where we ended up landing 36 minutes ahead of schedule.
Seats on board, while standard recliners are honestly one of the more comfortable and plush
models out there, so I’m more than happy for this and in fact think these as seats,
are more comfortable than their life flat A321 seats.
Upon boarding each seat had a pillow and blanket along with a menu card.
The seats have decent recline and also have a
USB and universal plug at each seat as well as individual overhead air vents.
Very hot towels and pre departure drinks were
passed out and I was reminded very quickly of how good, PR can be.
As I mentioned in the opening, I think this was my 9th PR flight and they are generally
excellent or absolute crap and it normally comes down to three factors, the crew,
the food and the transit experience. On this flight it was clear the crew was top notch,
super friendly and chatty and exactly what you think about when you think of Pinoy hospitality.
We pushed back and then made our way to the runway, rain still in tow.
Today we’d be taking off to the north, the spool up and take off are coming up next.
Finally some blue skies. Let’s quickly check out the creature comforts.
The blankets are that standard, kinda feels cheap but it’s really comfortable so I don’t care
quality and the pillows are nice and firm. Choices of
drinks were passed out with some cashews. Let’s take a look at today’s full menu.
Please note the red prices are my addition to the
menu and are just to give you an idea of the wine value on board.
The starter was a salad with smoked duck breast. Looks wise, we’re not winning any awards today,
but the calamansi coco dressing was one of the better dressings or sauces I’ve had in a while.
The main dish was the star today though. Prawn cakes. A really simple dish that is really easy to
screw up but these were really good. Still bouncy pieces of shrimp inside, perfect balance of sweet,
sour and spicy and well prepared rice. The bread roll was soft and fine and
that dessert- well I don’t know how that is a Chocolate Truffle, but it was good.
For in flight entertainment, there are no screens on board but there
is streaming content available as long as your download the MyPAL app before hand.
Just connect to the wifi, open the app and there’s a decent selection of movies available as well
as an interactive moving map which frankly was better than many you’d find onboard most airlines.
The bathrooms were basic with their standard assortment of
branded potions and lotions, but it was kept quite clean.
Flying to or anywhere around the Philippines is
always a treat with thousands of beautiful islands all around you.
Our approach today was a straight shot into a beautifully clear metro Manila.
Fun fact, did you know that Metro Manila is actually made up of 16 different cities?
Manila city itself is the most densely populated city on earth and five of the
top ten most densely populated cities on earth are found within metro Manila.
A quick taxi and then I was off to the dreaded Manila transit experience.
This first flight though was just about as good as it gets for under five hours. Delicious food,
really hospitable crew, comfortable seats and early arrival- not much more you could ask for.
I really do hope you enjoyed this video today, if you did, please be sure to give this video
a big thumbs up and subscribe so you don’t miss out on any of the content coming up. With three
times a week postings, this week I’ve got the Kimpton Margot in Sydney and the continuation
of this flight on an A330 to Sydney coming this week. Oh and thanks for watching until the end.