Review of Philippine Airlines flight Manila → Tokyo in Business

Hello once again! Picking up from the last report, I will cover the second half of my journey towards Tokyo. For this leg, I will be traveling on PR 422 bound for Tokyo in Business Class. Though I have tried PR's domestic business class product, this is my first time trying their international business class. As I have said in my previous report , I was upgraded by bidding through MyPAL upgrade. I placed a bid of around $200, which was ten-fold compared to previous flight's bid, then again we're comparing apples and oranges here- for context, I upgraded my domestic leg to comfort class (or premium economy) while I upgraded this leg to business. Needless to say though, it was still a very reasonable price considering it was less than half of my ticket. Business tickets on PR (and probably legacy carriers for that matter) usually cost triple the cost of economy. While I received my upgrade notice on the first leg a few days before the flight, I was only informed of my successful upgrade for this leg the night before I was supposed to fly. Anyways, let's continue where we left off.

pre-departure

After the mad dash to the international wing, I then had to proceed to the preliminary security check before proceeding inside the airport, after which I went straight to immigration. Compared to my experience with Terminals 1 and 3, the immigration queues were shorter and faster. The lines for the second security check were also quite short. I think this is due to Terminal 2's size as well as the fact that it only serves Philippine Airlines. I do think however that PR seems to outgrow the terminal especially during peak hours quite recently. There are also a lot of duty free shops along the sides that eat up a lot of the space in the airport. Though wouldn't be here for too long anyways.

Shortly after I gathered my belongings at the second security check, I went towards the lounge. I only have limited time here, so I only had a quick breakfast. The lounge is fairly functional and modern, though it is quite small. I managed to roam the entirety of the lounge in a few minutes.

The buffet is the lounge is sufficient enough. Don't be fooled by my pictures, there's actually more to the buffet beyond what I took. There aren't a lot of hot options though as most were sandwiches and pastries. There was also a wide array of drinks in the lounge, even a full scale bar (this seems like the norm, but Philippine lounges usually just have a beer case and two bottles of wine for a bar (and when you're in a domestic lounge, consider yourself out of luck).

I got a few choices from the lounge spread as I served myself a mango danish, an empanada, and the flagship arroz caldo (basically chicken congee). While the lounge itself is nothing out of the ordinary, its arroz caldo is definitely something unique. Like the Longaniza mentioned in the previous report, it is also a product of Spanish colonization (shout out to Pilpintu/Fernando!) You can basically decorate your arroz caldo with your choice of toppings. It usually looks more colorful with green onions and hard boiled eggs, but being the boring person that I am, I just chose to have garlic on my arroz caldo. It still tastes good though!

Departure

After only twenty minutes in the lounge, it was time to board the plane. As with any Philippine Airlines flight, boarding was done simultaneously with separate lanes for regular and priority passengers. I decided to board the plane as early as I could so I can savor PR's business product as much as possible since this is a relatively short hop. When I boarded however, my seat was changed from 3A to 1C for some reason.

Today's aircraft is a relatively new (~4 years old) Airbus A321neo. I know it's not exactly new, but having seen it for the first time in person makes it seem new to me. Now, there are two versions of the A321neo: there's the short-haul variant with recliner seats, and there's the standard variant with lie-flat seats. The check-in website doesn't quite show the difference between the two, so it was a gamble. Either way, I was quite happy to try the new A321 Business Class product. 

You might be wondering why I refer to this A321neo as the newer product. You see, when PR was taken over by a certain company, it abruptly changed into a hybrid carrier. One of the notable changes was the cramming of economy seats (have you heard of a legacy carrier putting 400 all-economy seats into an A330?) as well as the omission of IFEs. Even if PR was bought back by its original owners, the A321s remain in service, though they are usually deployed to domestic flights only nowadays. Though I know the A321 and the A321neo are different aircraft, I still refer to the neo as the newer A321 out of habit. Anyways, here are some of my old pictures of the previous seats from my old reports for your comparison, but I digress.

Anyways, as I entered the aircraft, I was delighted to see that the lie-flat business class seat was deployed to our flight today. The A321neo business class cabin consists of three four-abreast rows, which is standard for any single-aisle aircraft (save for a few airlines like SQ that have throne seating embedded in their cabins). Like the previous aircraft it smelled new despite being being in service for four years now. Needless to say it was quite an improvement over the old A321s which were deployed for intra-Asia routes. 

Once I sat, I explored the seat and its amenities. There was a large duvet pillow waiting for me together with a blanket. Though there was no amenity kit (not that I was expecting one for this short hop) there were slippers and a dental kit in the seat pocket together with the headphones (which were of good quality by the way) and the menu. You can see that the seat is showing some scratches already,  but it's not too bad.

One of the flight attendants introduced himself while asking for our choice of water, four seasons, or pineapple-orange juice as our pre-departure beverage. Sorry, no champagne here! Oshiboris were also served with out drink. 

Let's take a look at the menu as well. Another flight attendant each addressed us by name and asked us for our meal choice prior to take-off. For today's flight there was a choice between a Japanese menu and a Western menu. Considering that I'll gorge on a lot of Japanese cuisine while I am here, I chose the latter.

As soon as we took off, we were handed out our meals. As far as I know, you can also choose to have your meal served later into the flight, which is a nice touch considering the flight's short length. The appetizer was served together with the dessert (up to this day I'm quite puzzled with this set-up, usually meals are either served by course or all in one tray). There was also a pack of cashews with our meal. The appetizer was quite ok, it was a Kesong Puti salad with Chicken Inasal (grilled chicken). It was a western twist on Filipino food.

A hot dinner roll was served together with our meal. While there was no variety like TK (I'll post this report later!) it was still quite soft and buttery.

After I was done with my appetizer, the main (I chose the baby back ribs with yang chow rice) was brought out. I did not feel pressured by the pace at all. The pork had a mellow sweetness to it which complemented the rice pretty well. My only qualm was that the serving was quite small, but the bread rolls kept on flowing so I wasn't quite hungry on this flight.

After finishing the main, I ate the dessert that remained on my plate. Later on, I was also handed out premium vanilla ice cream (this is actually one of my favorite brands)!

I finished my ice cream while binging all five available episodes of Superstore. While I've heard of it before, this is actually my first time watching it. Anyways, the entertainment onboard PR is quite extensive. Well, this is compared to the non-existent entertainment on some of its aircraft in the past, so I'm not sure if this is a good metric. Nevertheless, there was a good amount of western media, though there were only a few pieces of Asian media but I didn't mind.

I dozed a bit into the flight after finishing my bingewatching. The lie-flat seats are definitely comfortable! I could see myself on this seat for a longer flight (perhaps Manila to Sydney). Anyways, I woke up as soon as we descended. We were handed out a bottle of water prior to landing.

We soon landed into Haneda in no time. I could feel a lot of nervousness and excitement as I walked out of the aircraft, so I wasn't able to take a lot of photos during landing. Don't worry though, I'll try to take a lot of more pictures when I return for my break!

Since I have virtually no snapshots of the landing and the airport, here's an anti-climactic photo of a SIM card vending machine as a proof of life. Anyways, thank you for joining me on my move to Japan! I still have a few more backlogs, and I'll be covering a few more flights as I return home next year, so I'll definitely be posting frequently on this platform! See you around!

Bonus : Click here display hide

While I'm not technically a tourist, I'd like to show some form of bonus anyways! I'll definitely include more spots for when I write my return report (hopefully in February), but here are some of the sights that I squeezed into my busy schedule as a student! First off, here's a few pictures of my university (not sure if anyone of you can tell by looking at the pictures). It really looks great during the fall!

There was also one time where I got lost in Shibuya station which prompted me to get out and see the sheer massiveness of the area for myself. I had to catch a train home though so I was not out for too long. 

I've been to Tokyo Tower as well. Though its height has since been eclipsed by the Tokyo Skytree, it is still a massive sight to behold.

The view was stunning, especially at night!

On my birthday, I went on a trip to see Mt. Fuji as well as the Mt. Fuji Ropeway! I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but here are some of them.

I was also able to enjoy Hōtō, a Yamanashi specialty. It consisted of thick noodles with fresh vegetables (including kabocha which I like!) It was hearty and perfect for a cold morning near Mt. Fuji.

Here's a rice roll wrapped with pork that I enjoyed at the top of the Mt. Fuji ropeway to end my bonus!