If you're planning a trip to Dubai from Manila, look at other airlines like Emirates as I don't suggest flying with Philippine Airlines for this route specifically.
I flew on this flight last year on economy and its been the worst long haul flight I've ever been on to date. Nothing wrong with the service as PAL consistently provides that FIlipino hospitality we've gotten so used to. The problem was the actual physical product or the plane in service for this route.
The flight is almost a 9 hour flight which makes it a long haul flight since long haul flights are around 6-12 hours in duration. I was quite shocked upon boarding when I realized there aren't any In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) screens on the seats. This would have been okay for a medium haul flight say Manila to Seoul, but for a 9 hour flight?! You can only really do so much offline on your phone.
PAL does offer an alternative IFE in its MyPal Player which was an app you had to download on your phone to enjoy streaming of movies and tv shows. I literally just knew about this as we boarded when they announced it over the speaker and had to quickly download it using data on my phone.
Signal at our boarding location didn't make things easier as it took forever to download and it barely finished as the plane took off. Luckily I was able to download it just in time. Despite this, the app is pretty limited and I personally don't like watching shows or movies on my phone since the screen is too small for my liking. To add to the misery, there weren't any charging ports on the seats so if your phone dies mid flight and you've got no power bank with you then good luck.
If you're thinking "oh it's probably just because you're in economy" think again. My companion on the same flight was on business class and yup you've guessed it, no IFE screens either. This is quite surprising especially for a 4 star airline like PAL tbh.
The Plane used was an old and what seemed like a run-down Airbus A330. Aside from the actual plane everything else such as food and service was what you'd expect on an international economy flight on PAL except service time was a bit far apart and we were starving at one point during the flight. The overnight amenity kit was pretty good for economy class.
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As to why this plane was configured or designed the way it was eludes me as we'd expect much better from PAL. My guess is that since majority of passengers on this route are OFWs and with barely any market for businessmen, PAL decided it would be okay to just use one of their old A330s for this route.
In PAL's defense this was a time when PAL was having some financial issues and might have been a way to cut costs and get larger profit margins. A friend of mine who works as a flight attendant in PAL honestly told me "yeah that flight really sucks and nakakahiya", her words not mine.
Considering Philippine Airlines is a full service airline and isn't a budget carrier I honestly didn't expect it. You're much better off booking with Emirates or Turkish Airlines on this flight. If you're tight on the budget then go for Cebu Pacific since its cheaper and the route is also flown on an Airbus A330 anyways.
Also it was a day flight so it was hard to sleep on the plane if you were wondering.
Have you you tried this flight? Let me know what you think!
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