Finally coming back to the States after a long past few days of flying! Our chosen method is one of Philippine Airlines’s bread-and-butter long-haul routes, between Manila and Los Angeles. PAL began service to L.A. via Honolulu on December 17th, 1980, shortly after introducing the Boeing 747-200. Over the intervening 45 years since the first Philippine Airlines 747-200 touched down at LAX, the island nation’s flag carrier has flown A330-300s, A340-300s, A350-900s, 747-200s, 747-400s, 777-300ERs, and briefly even MD-11s leased from World Airways back in the late 1990s. As the A350 prepares to enter the PAL fleet and gradually supplant the Bigfoot, I chose to fly this route with PR due to MNL-LAX likely being the first routes the Boeings will disappear from. Remembering how fast the 747-400s disappeared in 2013 and 2014 was an eye-opener, and the impending disappearance of airframes barely into their second decade drove me to get this flight, which I’d been putting off for months, in and a trip report posted before it was too late.
Server: Solo
Airline: Philippine Airlines
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Origin: Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Destination: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Flight Number: PR102
Route: RPLL-KLAX
Seat: 5A (Business)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 49 Minutes
Waiting to board our aircraft at Terminal 1 after spending the day in the Mabuhay Lounge watching planes departing and arriving at MNL. Our aircraft tonight is a 9.1-year-old 777-300ER registered as RP-C7779, the 4th-youngest in the fleet.
Starting our taxi out for takeoff. Philippine Airlines’s 777-300ER business class seating, at least on the C42/Y328-configured aircraft, is comfortable, but in a similar fashion to the A321-200 we were on previously, is starting to show its age. Nevertheless, our seat is clean and well-maintained, and while it isn’t the most comfortable seat in the world, it still is more than suitable for our roughly 13-hour flight to Los Angeles.
Getting airborne from Manila. Due to how tired we were, we didn’t even stay awake long enough to get to our cruising altitude, nodding off shortly after we passed through 10,000 feet.
Briefly waking up east of Japan. One advantage PAL’s business class has over its competitors is the length of the seat when full reclined, at a staggering 78 inches. For tall passengers like us, this is a most welcome feature, especially on longer flights.
Cruising over the Pacific at 35,000 feet a little over halfway through our flight. It’s been pretty quiet up here in business class, which has made for a relaxing journey so far. Service has also been extremely good as well, which helps a lot, too.
Over the OAK VOR just before starting our descent into Los Angeles
Turning onto final over Boyle Heights in East L.A., near the USC Medical Campus. In the background are the San Gabriel Mountains, still with some snow on them.
Landing on Runway 24R at LAX in the evening. It’s one of the best landings we’ve had, with only a soft jolt when the 6-wheel main landing gear bogies touched down.
Taxiing by a busy Tom Bradley Main and Midfield on our way to our gate. In the background is a Turkish Airlines 777-300ER departing to Istanbul as TK10. We’re actually going to be parking at the gate it left earlier, in the TBIT/T4 alleyway.
Deplaned at Gate 155 in between a Fiji Air A350-900 and an American Airlines 777-300ER. It was a good journey with Philippine Airlines across the Pacific, and while their seat was excellent as far as legroom goes for taller travelers, the dated aspects of it make a journey on an aircraft with the newer 393-seat configuration of the aircraft more appealing. Still, PR’s 777-300ERs will be becoming an “enjoy while you still can” experience, and we’ll definitely be picking up more flights on them.