Today I flew from Hong Kong to Manila where I will be staying tonight before continuing to Busuanga. My flight was on a Philippine Airlines A321 and was 1 hour 45 minutes. I was located in seat 44K.
I got to gate 26 and awaited boarding, while I was waiting I managed to capture a new airline to Hong Kong, Loongair pushing back. I believe it is an A319.
I also found a HK Express A320neo parked up across from our aircraft.
I then lined up to board with a view of the plane taking me to Manila.
Once on board I was sat on the right side of the plane, I managed to get a shot of the beautiful Emirates A380 parked further along in the Expo livery.
Boarding took around 20 minutes and was extremely efficient, once we were boarded and doors closed it was an immediate pushback and back on 6:55 PM, the scheduled time, we were lined up on the runway waiting. Once in the air the stewardesses quickly brought round a meal, which for a cheaper option compared to Cathay, with only an actual flight time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, I was very impressed. The options were Chicken Pasta or Sweet & Sour Fish with Rice. By the time they got to me they had run out of Chicken Pasta but that was fine as I would have chosen the Fish anyway. It came with a small packet of dried mango, a bottle of water and I got a glass of red wine.
They then walked round with a big rubbish bag and asked everyone to just toss their rubbish in, this was no frills but honestly incredibly efficient so I preferred it this way. We then began our descent into Manila with views of the lights as we came down.
Once we landed it was incredibly efficient from the airport too, we walked through, showed our health declaration QR code, went through immigration, identified our bags to customs to continue to our flight tomorrow and left to get in the taxi queue all within 20 minutes. While the departures at Manila Airport are an absolute nightmare, it seems Terminal 2 has their arrival act together. We will get to find out tomorrow I guess.
Ratings
Seat Comfort: 3 out of 5
It was very average compared to airlines I have flown recently like TAP Air Portugal and Qatar Airways. But compared to Cathay Pacific who are now just cramming as many seats in as possible it is significantly better. Being someone who is 6’4 I struggle to find seats where I am super comfortable but this was definitely average if not slightly above.
Food: 4 out of 5
While it would have been nice to have a choice, I still got what I would have chosen anyway. The food was good, lots of taste, the only reason it is not a 5 is because the wine was very very bad and the inability to choose.
Staff Service: 5 out of 5
All of the staff greeted you with a big and wide smile, were very helpful and gave the people next to me 3 drinks each.
Efficiency: 5 out of 5
This is the first time I have ever seen a flight actually starting to move down the runway at the exact time printed on the ticket for departure. Normally that is pushback time. I am also amazed how quick and easy the stewardesses made it to get on and off the plane, down to customs and out the door, just astounding!
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
I would love to give this a full 5 but given the seat was only average and the poor wine choice, I just could not give it. Let’s see if tomorrows flight on the Dash-8 can achieve a 5!
This is my first flight review, would you be interested in seeing more of these?
- Yes
- Not Really Bothered
- No
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