Background:
This series covers a trip to Manila over Labor Day weekend. Please refer to Part 1 for the background. As a reminder, the routing is:
Part 1 – LAX-ICN [OZ 203, Boeing B777-200ER, Economy] – Here
Part 2 – ICN-MNL [OZ 701, Boeing B777-200ER, Economy] – Here
Part 3 – MNL-ICN [OZ 702, Boeing B777-200ER, Economy] – You are here
Part 4 – ICN-LAX [OZ 204, Boeing B777-200ER, Economy] – Here
This report will cover the flight from MNL to ICN. I tried to find the TG Royal Silk Lounge at Terminal 1, but ultimately failed. There will be a spotting bonus at the end of this FR.
Pre-flight:
After a leisurely breakfast, I took a taxi from the hotel to the airport around 9am. The taxi ride took about an hour from Ortigas Center and cost 275 PHP (~$6). I opted not to try my luck with one of the Jeepneys.
The taxi dropped me off right in front of Terminal 1 at NAIA. Terminal 1 houses most of the international carriers except for a couple that have moved into the newer terminals.
As with the rest of the city, there was very high security control at MNL. In order to enter the terminal, there were metal detectors and x-ray machines for all bags.
Inside the terminal, there were some chairs in the middle and the check-in desks on the two sides. OZ’s counters were to the left and were crowded; I used the priority line for OZ elites which was empty. The agent confirmed my seats and handed me my boarding passes.
Before going through immigration, I tried to go to the bathroom in the check-in lobby. You need to do some yoga to make it around all the construction going on.
Immigration and security were both very empty. There was no wait for immigration and security had one person in front of me. They split security by gender. All women go to the left and all men go to the right. I can’t think of too many other airports that segregate security by gender.
After clearing security, there is a small duty free section.
The airport is very empty and has long hallways towards the gate areas from the “T” shaped terminal. I tried to go towards a JL plane, but the security guard stopped me saying my gate was the other direction. I told him I just wanted to walk around and he let me through reminding me that I need to be at my gate by the boarding time.
Waiting areas at Terminal 1.
The *A website says there is a TG Lounge at NAIA Terminal 1. I found this kiosk, but was turned away saying that it was only for TG passengers. I found the real Royal Silk Lounge later, but it was permanently closed.
With no lounge to go to, I just camped out near the fake TG Lounge and did some spotting since it was perpendicular to the active runway for heavies. The spotting pictures will be at the end of this report to spare those that don’t care.
My boarding documents.
Around the boarding time, I went over to my gate. Here is the entrance to the OZ gate. The doors to the left are the permanently closed TG Royal Silk Lounge. You have to go downstairs, where there is a table with OZ agents that check your documents and scan your boarding pass.
You are stuck in this quarantine room until boarding starts. There was an announcement that boarding would be delayed 15 minutes due to late arriving aircraft.
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Asiana Airlines, OZ 702
Equipment: Boeing B777-200ER [HL7775, delivered November 2008]
Departure: 12:15 (ATD: 12:38)
Arrival: 17:15 (ATA: 17:01)
Flight time: 3:22
Because of the delay in boarding, boarding was completely chaotic with no order on how people were being let on. Since boarding passes were already scanned to enter the quarantine area, everyone just rushes into the jetbridge.
Fuselage shot.
Boarding, the FAs were hammered with people. I just grabbed a newspaper and went straight through the galley and to the rear Y cabin. The first row of my cabin.
An elderly lady was already in the aisle seat, so I just took my seat without taking pictures. The pitch is good on this plane with the old Y cabin.
Pre-placed on the seat were pillow and blanket.
My newspaper.
Seatback contents and headphones.
Something on sale in the Duty Free catalog for Numero_2.
The old IFE.
IFE controls.
Yellowish lighting.
My airplane registration and the terminal.
These guys aren’t fools. They cleverly stand under the shadow of the wing on this hot day.
A TG B777 pulled in next to us.
PR A330 taxing as a PR A340 rotates.
As we taxi out, a PR A333 lifting off.
Reaching the threshold of the runway, a little PR Dash8 lands.
Aligning onto the runway.
USAF Boeing C-17A Globemaster III.
Lifting up over NAIA.
Rising into Manila Bay.
Flying over Cavite City and the Danilo Atienza Air Base.
Looping around the city as we begin our journey north through Luzon.
As we were leaving the Philipines, meal service started up. As normal, there are 2 carts per aisle deployed. I’m in the 3rd row of the 2nd Y cabin, so I get food very quickly. It was an option of bibimbap or seafood and rice. I opted for the bibimbap for the 3rd flight in a row…
The tray as delivered (without the soup yet).
Condiments and cutlery.
The meal ready to eat.
The dried Pollock soup they serve with the Korean meals.
After flight after flight of Cass, I finally get a Hite^^ If my memory serves me correctly, the KE Lounges serve Hite and the OZ Lounges serve Cass.
After the meal, two passes of coffee/tea were made.
I was done eating by the time we reached the halfway point between the Philippines and Taiwan.
Flying over Donggan as we reach Taiwan. This is a teaser since my next overseas trip will be to a nearby city.
We fly along the west coast of Taiwan, but it was too cloudy to spot any other cities.
Another look at the IFE in these old Y cabins.
There are different movie categories, but only 2-5 movies under each heading.
I opted for Casablanca, a timeless classic.
Most of the flight was blue skies over a cloud covered ocean. There were a lot of pockets of severe turbulence just like on ICN-MNL.
Reaching the Korean mainland.
Arrival and connecting gate information was displayed. Weird that they only show connecting flights to the US, I guess all of the flights to Europe/Oceania are long gone.
Dropping into Incheon.
What an unusual place for a golf course^^
The iconic Incheondaegyo.
The first glimpse of Incheon.
We touch down near the KE/OZ cargo operations about 15 minutes early.
The construction of the new terminal at ICN.
Remote stands.
AC B787.
VN A350.
AA B777.
KE A380 touching down.
We pull in next to our OZ bretheren.
We quickly engage and the cargo bay opens up.
Cabin shot deplaning.
The antiquated J cabin.
Out the jetbridge we go.
We land right next to the transfer security point so I’m quickly through security and back into ICN.
I’ll leave off this series here as I begin my layover in ICN.
***BONUS***
Spotting at MNL.
My OZ B772 arriving from ICN.
JL B763 departing for NRT.
MF B738 arriving from XMN.
CI B744 heading back to TPE.
The local flavor of PR.
KE B773 arriving from ICN.
CX A350 arriving from HKG.
5J A320.
BR B77W in new livery.
GF A332.
Thank you Michael. ^^
What an ugly airport !
The temporary TG lounge might not be that fancy...
I'm a bit disappointed that no Ssambap has been served on these 3 OZ flights. ;)
Thanks for the champagne but I prefer Bollinger bubbles. ^^
"If my memory serves me correctly, the KE Lounges serve Hite and the OZ Lounges serve Cass." -> But no OB Lager which is my favourite Korean beer.
"I opted for Casablanca, a timeless classic." -> As Time goes by. ;)
"What an ugly airport !"
- It is quite disgusting, even BAQ seemed better maintained. I wonder what the terminal that NH/CX use looks like...
"I'm a bit disappointed that no Ssambap has been served on these 3 OZ flights. ;)"
- Will you bibimbap appear for a 4th flight running? Stay tuned^^
"I prefer Bollinger bubbles. ^^"
- Of course Numero_2 loves the drink of 007... Bollinger R.D....The Best!
"But no OB Lager which is my favourite Korean beer."
- Personally, both Hite and Cass are both terrible, so OB Lager has to be better^^
Play it again, Clement ;)
Gulf Air has one of the best liveries imo.
That KE B777 isn't a 300ER - no raked wing tips and those are PW not GE90 engines.
The GF tail is very well done.
Good eye, forgot KE was one of those obscure B773 operators. Not many of this type floating around. Corrected the mistake.
Another great report, Michael. Looks like you had a good trip, and again great photos from your flight. Great spotting photos from MNL as well too - looks like lots of 777's fly into that airport.
Asiana looks quite nice for Economy.
"looks like lots of 777's fly into that airport."
- MNL has a metro area of close to 20,000,000 so its not surprising to see a lot of traffic at this airport. This airport is way undersized and is in quite poor shape (with no space to expand), so it'll be interesting to see what happens with it...
"Asiana looks quite nice for Economy. "
- It's a solid carrier, just not too fancy ;)
Thanks for stopping by Matthew!
Hello, NGO85, and thanks for this FR!
I remember travelling to the Philippines in March 2015. Had the chance to use Terminals 3 and 4 myself.
Terminal 3 is their most modern terminal I think, and was very well maintained when I flew in/out with Singapore. Other than Cebu Pacific, other carriers there operate wide body aircrafts there no problem. Cathay's presence perhaps being the most noteable foreign carrier. It was all hassle-free except for the short queue for security screening before entering ther terminal.
Terminal 4 is I think the perfect definition of a low-cost terminal. To me it felt like a food court with exit gates leading to the apron where there are airplanes that can take you places.
Asiana's old hard product still seems pretty satisfactory even by today's standards, at least for a short haul flight. Do we know if they're all being refurbished, or maybe even phased out entirely?
Oh, and Asiana needs to up their IFE game to cater to more western travellers' tastes I think. I had watched a video review explaining its lack of western contents.
Thanks again, and happy flying!
"Terminal 3 is their most modern terminal I think, and was very well maintained when I flew in/out with Singapore."
- CX/NH/SQ are the big Asian carrier there now. I think I saw on the *A website there was an SQ lounge there where which be a big improvement to *A experiences at MNL, but TG/OZ/BR are still in the old Terminal 1.
"Do we know if they're all being refurbished, or maybe even phased out entirely?"
- These old B777s have been around a long time and I don't think they have refurbished any of them. Even the B777s with Smartium cabins have an older version and aren't anywhere as nice as the ones in the A380s. You think they would have unified the J cabin when they came out with the A380, but maybe they will wait for the A350 deliveries to establish a uniform J product.
"Oh, and Asiana needs to up their IFE game to cater to more western travellers' tastes I think. I had watched a video review explaining its lack of western contents."
- It has a ton content, but most are Asian films catering to their Chinese/Korean/Japanese passenger bases. They have a small footprint in Europe/Oceania, but the US is a large market for OZ and they should try and appease that passenger base. Based on the LAX-ICN and ICN-LAX sectors, over 70% of the plan was non-US citizen.
Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting.
Surprised to learn that this is one of OZ's newer 772s. the interior looks really tired, especially the J cabin. It's odd that there was no lounge at all available to *A Elites in MNL. Once again, the bibimbap looks good, but I imagine it does get old--a little more diversity in choice would be nice. Great aerial shots and beautiful spotting at MNL! Thanks for sharing!
"the interior looks really tired, especially the J cabin."
- The J cabin was outdated at the time this plane was delivered in 2008. I'm not sure what their plan is going forward with the 777s, the 30ish A350s they are getting will replace the ancient 747Combis and 767s.
"It's odd that there was no lounge at all available to *A Elites in MNL."
- Probably a 3rd party lounge, but since I was using *S status and a *G card, it was offered at check-in. As Clement pointed out, any 3rd party lounge at MNL is also probably poor^^
"a little more diversity in choice would be nice"
- Yeah, I wasn't too excited to eat this for the 3rd time in less than a week, but it's still better than the Western option.
Thanks for stopping by Kevin!
Thank you for sharing this FR with us!
How was the traffic on the way to the airport?
Beautiful spotting shots while taxiing to the runway.
"Reaching the threshold of the runway, a little PR Dash8 lands."
- Cute, nice shot!
This particular cabin is in an instand need for refresh.
I'm glad you had a nice crew.
Lots of beautiful aerial shots, really interesting golf course prior to landing at ICN.
Absolutely fantastic spotting shots in the end, lovely! Great spotting shots from ICN too.
Have a good one, see you!
"How was the traffic on the way to the airport?"
- Terrible^^ The taxi driver took a detour to avoid some, but it was still a long a tedious drive in stop and go traffic.
"Cute, nice shot!"
- We held up at the threshold so I knew something was going to land, i just sat and wait for something to cross into my frame. The little Dash8 was probably the last plane I expected to see on the longer of the two runways.
"Absolutely fantastic spotting shots in the end, lovely! Great spotting shots from ICN too."
- I was hoping they had an outdoor platform, but no luck. They was a list of spotting locations around the airports perimeter, but way too hot to wait outside in the sun.
Thanks for stopping by!