BACKGROUND Philippine Airlines re-entered the Australian market with flights to Sydney and Melbourne several years ago. From a few flights a week, the carrier now offers a daily air service from Manila to both cities. Travellers from Melbourne can choose either a morning or evening departure from the city’s Tullamarine International Airport. Flight PR210 takes off every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 0920 with one stop in Sydney, arriving at Manila’s NAIA Terminal 2 at 1720. Meanwhile, Flight PR212 leaves the Victoria capital on Monday, Thursday and Sunday at 0030, a direct flight that brings it to Manila at 0530.
CHECK-IN I took the airport transfer van at the Whiteman Street entrance of Crown Towers at 2130, arriving at Tullamarine International Airport 2.5 hours before my PR212 flight at 30 minutes past midnight. With four pieces of luggage plus two hand-carry bags, I forked out A$4.00 (US$4.20) for a trolley before proceeding to counters 78–88 for check-in. There was no queue at the Business Class counter so getting my boarding pass was a painless process. Armed with an express card, I breezed through immigration and the additional security check in less than 10 minutes.
BOARDING With an hour left before boarding, I resisted the urge to browse through the duty-free shops and went straight to Gate 8. To kill time, I switched my iPhone on to surf the internet, but found that you have to pay for a wifi connection. I settled down with a book instead. Boarding commenced at midnight. First to enter the plane were transit passengers from Sydney, but there was no separate queue for business and economy class passengers. Thankfully, there was no pushing and shoving, and everything proceeded in an orderly manner.
THE SEAT The aircraft was an Airbus A330-300 with a twin-aisle, two-class configuration that seats 302 people. The business class cabin has seven rows totalling 42 seats. I was seated in 5K, a window seat, which I normally choose as it offers more privacy. Fortunately, the seat beside me was empty – in fact there were only four other passengers in business class, so I anticipated a quiet, restful flight. There was no side storage, so I stowed my handbag and laptop underneath the seat in front of me, but there was still enough legroom for me to stretch my legs. The seat was comfortably wide and reclined a good distance. Three buttons control the seat, one of which activates a back massage function. The table was stowed under the left armrest and the personal TV in the space between the two seats.
WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE For a night flight where sleeping is the norm, avoid rows 1 and 7, located near the galleys and lavatories which tend to have a lot of activity during the flight.
THE FLIGHT We took off about half an hour behind schedule – from the bits of cabin crew conversation that I overheard, take-off was adjusted so that the aircraft would not arrive at its destination before 0530 (apparently NAIA airport is on a total lockdown before that time).
Not long into the flight, dinner was served. The appetiser consisted of salmon involtini, smoked duck and goat’s cheese with tomato dill vinaigrette, served with assorted bread rolls and artisan bread slices. For the mains, the choices were bistek tagalog (stewed beef) with steamed rice, rellenong sugpo (stuffed shrimp), poached barramundi in coconut laksa sauce with corn salsa and lemongrass scented steamed rice, and chicken rosemary in garlic jus with linguine in tomato concasse. Craving a taste of home, I went for the beef dish. I eschewed the offer of wine and asked for plain water. After eating, I settled down to a movie. The in-flight entertainment on the aircraft did not include a AVOD function and video selection was limited but adequate. After the movie, I slept through the rest of the flight until light illuminated the cabin three hours later for the breakfast service before landing.
ARRIVAL Despite the delay taking off from Melbourne, our flight landed at NAIA Terminal 2 on time at 0530. I went straight to the transfer desk, where airport staff assisted me past immigration and escorted me to the Mabuhay Lounge on the departure level where I could wait in comfort for my connecting flight to Hong Kong.
Gigi Onag
Verdict
Friendly and accommodating service by the cabin crew was pleasing, but the in-flight entertainment system needs an upgrade.
Fact file
PLANE TYPE A330-300
SEAT CONFIGURATION 2-2-2
SEAT PITCH 45in/114cm
SEAT WIDTH 19.8in/50.29cm
SEAT RECLINE 10-12in/25.40-30.38cm
PRICE Internet rates for a one-way Mabuhay (Business Class) ticket from Melbourne to Manila in mid-April start from A$1,075 (US$1,136)
CONTACT www.philippineairlines.com
