Hi everyone and welcome to my report on my recent flight with Philippine Airlines. I apologize for the lack of pictures and I hope you will enjoy reading!
In the Philippines, the summer season is usually from March to May. However, our school shifted its summer schedule to May-July (We were one of the first schools to make the switch as the school that I attend is a specialized science high school. Because our family has different schedules, it's hard to plan a vacation. However, my father has to go to a business trip to Manila for one week before going back abroad and so our family tagged along and so we booked tickets online.
Anyways, here is the flight itinerary:
Francisco Bangoy International Airport (DVO) to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
Economy, 29th of May 2017
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Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) to Francisco Bangoy International Airport (DVO)
Business, 2nd of June 2017
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Here we are at the airport. The current terminal was planned back in nineties when the two old terminals almost reached their capacities. Construction then took place at the dawn of the millennium. The new terminal was then inaugurated three years later. Now fourteen years later, more flocks of tourists now come to Davao and so the capacity was exceeded. Since then, several renovations took place here and there.
Security is tight here as there are two checkpoints: one at the entrance and one before entering the pre-departure area. In addition, you have to remove everything and place your stuff in a tray (including shoes; I guess this is normal for other countries), so it's hard for me to take pictures of the airport at the land side and so I've placed some of my pictures in my first report here.
And after a quick breakfast, we are now at air side.
Not long after, our aircraft arrives in Davao.
A closer look of the plane.
We now board the plane which is a HGW variant of the Airbus A330-300. The management at the time where they bought the A330s were focused on making the airline look like a low-cost carrier to boost profits and so we can see that the seats are jam-packed and there are no PTVs. Fortunately, the old management eventually bought the company and they hope that the airline will become a four-star airline soon.
And so we board the plane. As I have said earlier, the seats look tight as they are in a 3-3-3 arrangement. Pitch is OK though. There is no IFE screen but there is a magazine (If there is no IFE other than the magazine, the highest score it could get in my book is 6.0).
And here are the contents of the seat pockets. The new design of Mabuhay, PAL's magazine, does not appeal to me (I prefer the old magazines).
I'm so sorry I couldn't take more pictures of the take-off. I was in an aisle seat so I really needed to stretch my arms. My camera also acted strange until landing so I wasn't able to take pictures.
So after take-off, snacks our served. If you read my first report, they only offered crackers. Now they actually improved it with a packaged baked good. I actually thought it was going to be a savory snack for today but it's actually a cake slice by Red Ribbon which is a famous bakery in the Philippines. The slice of the day is a chocolate moist cake (Actually I do not like chocolate cakes but this cake is actually good). I was really hoping for a bun but I guess a cake in the morning isn't too bad either.
Well, actually, our seats were skipped by the Flight Attendant who only took our drinks (They only offer water, tea or coffee; I do not take caffeine (aside from softdrinks :P) as I might be awake the whole day (unless it's a frappucino or a blended drink) as well as hot drinks so I'm stuck with water; A fruit drink would have been nice -_-). We then called the FA button. It took about eight minutes (They're still serving other passengers so it's understandable) and the FA (The FA was another one) apologized and offered us another round of drinks while getting the snacks. The FA was swift actually and also offered us another round of drinks after (That makes it two rounds of drinks by the FA). I admire the gesture by the FA who then again apologized (I got the picture from Red Ribbon as my camera was again acting strange in-flight).
Moments later, we landed in Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
You know you are in Terminal 2 when there are a parade of PAL planes!
A Boeing 777-300 bound for Vancouver (I think?).
And we are now in Manila! Mabuhay is a greeting common in the Philippines. It roughly means "Long live" but it is actually used to welcome people.
And this is another low-key reminder that you are in Manila (In Manila, there are a lot of warning about sinkwater being non-potable.).
Thank you for reading my report and I hope you'll enjoy my next one! Mabuhay!
