Hi Guys!
This is my last hop from my recent holiday from Bali and in Manila.
JQ 117 SIN - DPS First Leg
5J 280 DPS - MNL Bye Paradise!!!
PR 511 MNL - SIN Holiday is over!
When going back to Singapore, i consider 2 possible schedules, first one is to take the first flight in the morning, so i can have the whole day for me to rest before going back to work the next day, or if i want to torture my self and maximize my stay in Manila, ill take last evening flight out of Manila then few hours of sleep then head to work. So i chose the former and chose to take a rest.
For A 6am flight i left home at 230am and booked an uber, after $6 (300 php) and 45 minutes, i reached NAIA terminal 2, where Philippine Airline exclusively using this terminal, catering all International Flights and Selected Philippine Airline operated domestic route. North wing will be International departure and Domestic departures will be on the South Wing. Note the PR subsidiary airline PAL Express uses the Terminal 3, so plan your trip accordingly if you are planning to fly with PR and having connecting flight going to other parts of the Philippines.
I arrived at the airport with almost empty terminal. There will be an initial security checks before you enter the terminal.
All check in counters opens at the right side of the North Wing, first counters are for all Business/Mabuhay Class passengers, further right are for Economy/Fiesta Class passengers. If you can read/see you can still ask for Business class upgrade upon check in and with seat availability. For MNL-SIN sector costs $250 for up front upgrade, but for some selected eligible passenger they can opt to bid for class upgrade at least 36 hours before departure. Like what i did before, i bid for the minimum amount and they accepted my offer. On my previous report, i claim that i got an upgrade for $100, but when my statement came, it was $150, still cheaper than buying a Business class ticket or upfront upgrade.
Mabuhay and Elite status holder checkin counters.
I Queue up to the first Economy Checkin Counter after business class counter, the agent is still accommodating another passengers, then when i looked at the business class check in counter which was empty, and the agent saw me, she immediately call me and open her counter and checks me in, gave my boarding pass and pre departure card for Immigration purposes.
NAIA Terminal 2 is relatively small, when you enter the terminal Check-in counters, when you face to your left, Immigration desk, few steps, final Security check, after 2 steps, small Duty free section, turn to your right is waiting area and on your left, few food kiosk, that's all! You can walk both ends of North wing in just 5 minutes, just 6 boarding gates. With this off peak hour, since the time when i enter the terminal up to seating to the waiting area only took me roughly 15 mins.
After the final security checks a small Duty free section most of the brands are still closed.
Guangzhou flight is still on board after departure, Gate 6 is the waiting area for Singapore bound passengers.
still empty waiting area. I notice that gate numbers were changed from the last time i flew PR, gate numbers starts from right to left and changed now to left to right. thinking that my gate 6 was on the further left side of the terminal, but still, im on the same gate as before, on the right side.
there is a small table for you to use your laptop and few power points to charged up your devices, just besides that is the Mabuhay Lounge.
It's funny that the direction signage for Mabuhay Lounge is Bigger that its main Mabuhay Lounge logo at the entrance door.
there is only one food stall that was open that time, i ate Beef lasagna and hot chocolate for $12.
At 515am, agents announces the boarding procedures, starting with Passengers that needs time for boarding followed by economy passengers by rows, Business class may board anytime and they have their own priority lane. Boardng starts at 525, i was seated at rows 64, row 64 onwards is the first group to board the plane. after agents check and scanned the boarding pass, you will pass by this boarding hallway. this hallway also uses by arriving and departing passengers both for international and domestic flight, this section is secured and controlled.
passing by the south wing of the terminal as our plane was parked on this side.
Our plane that flew us from Manila to Singapore.
Before boarding…
PR's A321 leather seat, my seat for the 3 hours short flight to Singapore. pillows are already placed on each seat.
Seat pitch is generous for my 5'6 height.
Hi neighbour, A321 just landed from Denpasar… ooohhh i missing Bali…
There is halt on the boarding process, after our group boards, it been 10-15 mins after when the next group boards the plane, that cause 15 minutes delay on departure.
small and soft pillow wrapped in a thin cloth.
Reading materials, Safety card and blow bag.
after boarding, safety demo was shown by the crew. here is also the cabin view from my seat.
push back at 615am
taxing… the sun is breaking!
last glimpse of Manila, see you soon!
we already in our cruising altitude when i check PAL's myPAL Player entertainment system, unfortunately it still not on.
while waiting for the system to be switched on, lets look outside the window for our natural entertainment. Sunrise was so amazing, filter is not needed on this view.
After 30mins from the last time i check, its already on. one of my fave channel, the map!
After that, i check the PAL video section to check whether their new #heartofthefilipino safety video that was recenlty launched few days prior to this flight is already there, to my disappointment, its not yet uploaded.
Thou other entertainment section is updated from my December trip.
After an hour of flying, they start their meal service, the options are Chicken Tocino and…. sorry i forgot the other option. I was so just happy that they will serve Chicken tocino on this flight and dont bother for the other options hehehe. I know they only offer this dish on their North America Flights. On my previous flight, i even tried calling PAL to request if they can make some special arrangement for me to try this dish on my usual MNL-SIN or vise versa flights, but i failed.
This dish never failed me, the chicken is tender, very tasty and delicious. So let you know, Tocino is a marinated Meat, either pork or chicken, then stir fried, it taste like cured ham, sweet and salty. Pineapples are fresh, the bread is… bread nothing special and apple juice as my beverage. after the meal another rounds of drinks were offered and another glass of apple juice and water this time. then they cleared the trays.
I was waiting for ice cream to be served, but no ice cream for me this time, either i fell asleep and missed my ice cream or they just don't serve ice cream on this early morning flight.
less than an hour before touch down. i did not bother browsing the contents of myPAL Player as as was really sleepy, just played my playlist on my phone and slept.
Starting our decent to Singapore.
Touch Down Singapore with condensation on the wing.
General Airside hall of Singapore Changi.
Duty free shops at Changi.
Immigration hall, i used the automated gate, i passed it with a breeze.
when i came to our luggage belt, no bags yet is being delivered. so i head to the nearest Shoppe to buy a bottle of Tequilla.
When i came back, bags are ready to collect.
And that concludes my short holiday.
hoping for more travels and flight soon.
Thanks for the review and beautiful pictures.
I was on the PR flight to SIN in the afternoon last month and my experience in T2 was a complete opposite of yours.
Personally, I feel that NAIA T2 was not built for PR's current capacity. When you have 2 or more wide-bodies departing within minutes of each other, T2 becomes chaotic. Not enough chairs to sit, many were just standing around or sitting on the floor. There were extremely long queues for all the toilets in the air-side. I am used to seeing queues for Female toilets, but I was amazed to see approximately 30 people queuing to use the male toilet. In fact, all the male toilets throughout the terminal had queues.
I like PR, but T2 is just not a good place to travel out of.
oh my, im sorry to hear that you encounter such an awful experience. Taking the first flight out is one of the good things as you avoid all the traffic from people and vehicle. maybe your flights was same as other wide bodied flights, thay is why you the terminal is full.
Thou, i remember that one of my flight to Manila is the same as two other flights from Middle east. Even though it was an early morning arrival to manila, the terminal is chaotic and the luggage belts was shared by 2 flights.
Once, i read a news that they will expands the North wing of the terminal occupying the abandoned building besides the terminal. there is no construction yet, don't know if that will pursue, but definitely that expansion will ease the crowd on the existing terminal.