Philippine Airlines (PAL) Reviews

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Philippine Airlines (PAL)
★★☆☆☆
1.8
17.0% of users recommend this
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Latest Reviews

“THEY ONLY CARE FOR THE RICH”

★☆☆☆☆

written by smCochran118 on 20/05/2019

My reservation was affected by changes in their internal operations. They don't care how important your flight is why you booked it way ahead of time. I booked multi-city economy reservation (international & domestic). They cancelled the domestic flight. The resolutions they can offer me is to refund the whole reservation and if i re-book the international flight, my fare cost will be higher than the original OR leave the original reservation without refund of the cancelled domestic flight. MEANING - WHATEVER OPTION YOU CHOOSE - YOU LOOSE. They only want to take money from their customers and the agents does not care about how you feel or how it affects you. They will let you call them until you give up because you're not being heard anyway.

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“PAL Awful when trying to plan your trip”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 260Hooper on 30/11/2017

I have not yet flown with this airline but will probably never will for a number of reasons. Firstly, earlier in the year I booked a flight that due to family illness had to be cancelled. I must point out I accept there are terms and conditions with cancellations and I may be out of pocket. I booked the flight, online, from the UK. When I contacted the PAL London office I was told I had to contact a different number, in London. I called it and they referred me right back to the first number I called. Frustrated I was then told that as my booking was made online, from the UK I had to call a Manila PAL office for a (partial refund). I did eventually get a refund, at a great loss and the telephone call to Manila cost me £36.67 about PHP 2444. First bad experience. So this year I am going back to Manila to plan a wedding and to celebrate my birthday. So dates and time are important. Booked a flight from TUG to MAN for my fiancée on 26th December to meet me in Manila. Last week I received a flight status update after I paid and made booking weeks ago: Original schedule 26 Dec 17, New Schedule 27 Dec 17. A day lost for us both and no compensation offer just an e-mail saying re-schedule. Plan was to stay in Manila a couple of nights then fly domestic to TUG and enjoy the family and spend New Year together. Having already lost a day together okay but 30 minutes later get an e-mail stating our flight back to Manila on 2 Jan 18 is cancelled and STANDBY for your new itinerary! My birthday is 2 Jan 18 and we had massive family plans but PAL have not yet told me what that new itinerary is and can I find somebody to speak to....NO! Trying to find a way from PAL website for the domestic flight is impossible, to ensure we get to Manila for my birthday I have now arranged for a 12 hour van trip as too much is planned already. I have lost money on hotel bookings by a couple of nights here and there.

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“Philippine Airlines Reservations Problems”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 108Nelson on 07/11/2017

I had previously written a review (not on this site) which was quite flattering relating to an actual flight, but this is regarding reservation woes. I booked a flight online from Dumaguete to Manila and a flight from Manila to Bangkok both on PAL (not on same ticket - too expensive. Later I received a flight advisory changing the domestic flight to half an hour later, meaning the connection (arrive T3, depart T2) became tight. I asked the office at DGT airport to change to the morning flight but they said I have to pay more than P2k each (3 pax). I asked why I have to pay, since PAL changed the schedule, but they said they can't change it unless I pay. I looked around for somewhere to complain and found PAL Feedback. They ask for loads of info they could simply get off their computer with ticket number or reservation reference, I guess that is because most feedback are complaints, few people bother to "commend", so they make it difficult, so you will give up. So, I filled up the form and sent it off. I guess it's no coincidence that you cannot keep a record of your submission, since they didn't bother to acknowledge or reply to my submission. So I tried again with a reminder through the same feedback site. This proved to be even more difficult. After filling up all info again, I couldn't send because I forgot the Captcha, so I did that and clicked send again. But it came back because it said I hadn't entered my e-mail ad twice, so I did. then it came back for another Captcha which I completed and clicked sent, only to find that all the information I had entered had been wiped out and I would need to enter it all over again. At which point, realizing I'd been beaten by stupidity, I gave up.

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“Terrible Customer Service”

★☆☆☆☆

written by PeteZ on 28/10/2017

Used Philippines Airlines (PAL) for a trip to the Philippines for a couple weeks of diving the waters of the Philippines then to Thailand to visit a friend. Philippine Airlines has terrible customer service, their "PAL chat" is not user friendly and that is really the only way contact customer service when traveling - Trying to upgrade is impossible it's like they don't want your money when it comes to upgrades - But when it comes to economy seating they will charge you to change seats and call it "Premium Economy" which is nothing better than any other economy seat - They really don't have an on time schedule it's a given that they will be late so don't have a close connection - If you are flying back to the US through Manila the holding area is hot, uncomfortable and crowded you are forced to sit or stand with hundreds of others in the area for 2-3 hours then you get to sit in economy seating for 12- 13 hours - Bottom-line if you are traveling to the Philippine avoid Philippine Airlines if possible - The above experience was between 21Sep17 and 17Oct17 and is a fraction of the disappointing experiences we had flying with Philippine Airlines - I now see way they are rated so low on this web site and others - Philippine Airlines never again!

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“Philippine Airline - Terrible Customer Service”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Coryc221 on 14/04/2017

On the 17th December 2016 I was supposed to depart from Manila at 12.15pm, but it was cancelled at very short notice with an announcement just an hour and a half from the boarding time. Whilst the airline provided their statutory obligations by providing overnight accommodation etc, as you can imagine the problems this caused with serious trouble and inconvenience for me and my fellow passengers. The UK agents for PAL are AVIAREPS PLC . Despite writing to them and following up with 2 emails, neither company has had the courtesy to respond to my request for out of pocket compensation. Apart from this and the fact that this route only provides entertainment from small iPads. There is no way to recharge your laptop for this 14.5 hour flight so trying to use their inflight WiFi services is only available for the life of your laptop batteries. Do not expect to get the standard of service offered by the likes of Etihad and Emirates who I will be returning to forthwith for future flights. Not a recommended airline if you like those little extras like good customer service, responses to complaints or even an occasional drink during the flight. I am told that other routes are better.

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“We travelled with Philippine Air on January 2017 from...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by TnCWilliams on 27/01/2017

We travelled with Philippine Air on January 2017 from Busuanga Airport to Manila. While doing our check in and bag drop we were disappointed to discover that we were asked to pay extra for anything over 10kg in luggage per person. This was shocking to us because when we initially booked these flights online (May 24 2016 Budget economy ticket - PHP 3545 per person) we called back and spoke to someone and they reassured us that if we paid an upgrade fee to a Regular Economy ticket (an extra PHP 448 per person) we could have 20kg per person. Naturally we took this offer up and made sure that we brought all the paperwork with us to the airport for the check in. Unfortunately, the staff at the airport told us that it was a mistake and that no one is allowed extra baggage unless paying the fee on the spot at the airport. Despite it being the fault of the customer service operator back in May, we were told that we had to to pay a very high PHP 3000 for the extra luggage! Again we were shocked and disappointed that even though it was Philippine Air's fault, we were still being asked to pay extra. But to make matters worse, we tried three times to reshuffle the bags to make the weight less and because the weight was just over (11.5kgs per bag) we were turned back and told we would still have to pay. We then asked the service counter if we could then get a refund for the extra fee we paid back in May (PHP 448 per person - we still don’t know what this fee is for??) given we were told the wrong thing and we were paying this fee for nothing. They told us that they couldn't refund anything and it was unlikely that we would ever get our money back. By this time we were very annoyed and frustrated and by the fourth try we were able to get our bags back down to 20kgs total (10kg each). But now we were taking a lot of bags on board! What a waste of time and energy this was for everyone! Either way the luggage was going onboard, and given they were the ones who made the mistake, they should have simply allowed us to check all original bags in! Philippine Air staff were very rigid in helping us by declining our weight even though it was close to the 20kgs required for two people (NO OTHER AIRLINE IS THIS RIGID! - WE HAVE FLOWN AROUND THE WORLD OVER 30 COUNTRIES AND NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM!) We asked for grace with the baggage limit, but were plainly refused. How many of us carry only 10kg each while travelling? Philippine Air should have the option of 20kg baggage check in, instead of charging per kg at an astronomical rate at the airport!!!

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“Excellent trip in busines class”

★★★★☆

written by DiverSteve on 03/02/2016

I have used Philippine airlines for the first time in 23 years for return trip from London Heathrow to Manila. I was attracted back by the direct flight and a great promotion on business class. I was a little dubious at first due to some poor reviews but these proved to be unfounded. Both outbound and return flights left bang on time and the service and attention I received from the cabin staff could not have been any better. Admittedly thebr4e were not many passengers in business class so this probably helped a little, although at times you almost got too much attention. The food was well prepared and tasty and although catering to more Asian cuisine, it is an Asian airline at the end of the day, was more than acceptable. The aircraft itself was an older style A340 and whilst the business class cabin was a little tired looking the seating was very comfortable with fully reclining to flat bed position ensuring a very comfortable flight throughout. Minor grumble would be the in air entertainment which was either by pad or, my choice, the in built seat screen. Thought the selection of movies was a little poor and dated compared to say Cathay who I have used a lot although I still found three decent films to watch over the two trips. The only other minor disappointment was there was the in flight wi fi that PH websites indicates that you have, apparently this is not up and running on all aircraft yet. Those two points aside though an excellent value for money flight, would use them again.

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“WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD”

★☆☆☆☆

written by VioletQuinlan on 21/02/2015

Want to have your vacation ruined? Book PAL, works everytime. Delays are simply a given. You will miss your connection. It is a full-service airline, yet their planes are cramped as the worst low-cost carrier from the US. Domestic flight? They will give you water or coffee, that's it! Regardless of the lenght of the flight. International is slighltly better, but decades behind from any other asian competitor. Crew sometimes try, sometimes don't. They have a horrendous business product that many economy class from other airlines would put to shame. I live in the Philippines and it is hard to avoid them, given that the other option (Cebu Pacific) is as bad as then, but at least acknowledge their low-cost status. It is truly a shameful flag carrier for this wonderful country.

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“IDIOT PAL EXPRESS AIRPORT ADMINISTRATION STAFF”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 15/05/2014

My Pal flight on November 13,2013 was delayed for 4 long hours I was bound to Cebu and going to Singapore I was already at the airport then i told them cancel because its no use i'm going to miss my international flight.a staff member said its ok just go to the old airport they will fix it I went there another staff told me go to pal online, they assured me for a full refund that was November 13 now its already May 2014 I got no response. this is frustrating all I want is my refund THIS IS NOT MY FAULT there flight was so delayed. That flight was for 4 people. Never ever buy from this carrier.

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“They Extort You For Baggage Fees”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Zaviert232 on 28/02/2014

I recently flew from Manila to Taipei. I checked two bags that each weighed 50 pounds. PAL charged me $32.00 US for excess baggage fees. On my return flight to Manila I checked two bags each now weighing 19 pounds. PAL extorted me for $92.00 US for my bags. Never, ever will I fly with this carrier. It is sad that such a wonderful country like the Philippines would condone this sort of action by PAL.

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“Useless Website ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 07/11/2013

I have lost count of the times that I have tried to book a flight online using an International Master card or Visa card. Never accepts them, even though I am a Mabuhay member, so I come to reserve the flight and pay later, provides me with a reference number but cannot the number on lien or over the phone to their ticketing centres, you have to go to a PAL office to use the reference number. PAL as backward thinking as ever! Your flying inetrnational now, so get your act together PAL! Also the food on the plane is terrible and on bith occasions I have flown international with them, it has been served cold!

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“PAL = PLANE ATROCIOUSLY LATE”

★☆☆☆☆

written by suedhi on 17/10/2013

Shame on you....The flights whether I fly fm home or fm the Philippines have always been delayed......and passenger are always left in the dark ....not only that they keep pretending everytime that first the flight will be delayed by 2hrs....then plus another 2hrs & then + another 2 hours....& The most anoying flight delays I have ever encountered in my Life

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“CRAZY”

★★☆☆☆

written by on 08/10/2013

After being delayed while already INSIDE the plane for 1-2 hours, a few minutes after take off we experienced a nightmare. The plane dropped twice due to air pockets causing the whole cabin to scream. NEVER again Philippine Airlines. This flight was HKG to MNL. I will never fly with PAL again.

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“Poor service”

★★☆☆☆

written by on 03/08/2013

When we checked- in they announced that a different aircraft will be used due to some technical problems of the original aircraft that we are supposed to fly-in so they have to change our seat number. Unfortunately, when we got inside the plane it was very chaotic the ground stewards messed up the seat assignments and when they got inside to fix the problem they were the one who were rude to the passengers. It took them 1 hour to fix the problem. Before our flight, I received this email re: cancellation of our flight from 9am to 6pm. We came from the province and no WIFI in our house. We already checked-out from the hotel when we found out on the same day that our flight has been cancelled and our 1 year old baby has been awake the whole day and PAL never offered any accomodation for us. Me and my wife has been loyal passengers of PAL since this is the official air carrier of our country but we were very disappointed to them. The service was average, the crew was not very accomodating, no tv on each chair if they are using Airbus, business class was fine but not the economy you can tell the discrimination of their crew between business and economy passengers. PLEASE! DO NOT FLY with Philippine Airlines!!!!.

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“MOST CUSTOMER UNFRIENDLY :(”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Suresh3005 on 02/08/2013

I made a booking on e-bookers for a round trip from Abu Dhabi to Manila and back. I was booked from Abu dhabi to Bahrain and back on Etihad Airways and from Bahrain to Manila and back to bahrain were by Philippine Airlines. I could select a seat of my choice (Aisle always, as I am a bit taller) and also I could web-checkin on Etihad and the flight was great but when i tried to seat select on philippine air, I found that there is no such facility online and when i called the local office of philippine airlines in abu dhabi, I was told that as this is a code share flight of Philippine airlines and Gulf Air, I cannot select seat and also I cannot web-checkin. Wow, what a great arrangement between two national airlines :(, anyway I requested the lady at Abu Dhabi office to make a note that I need a Aisle seat for the 10 hour long journey and she informed me that a note has been made on my booking. Upon my arrival at bahrain, I found that there is no such booking and the Gulf Air staff at the check-in counter assigned me a seat and informed that its a Aisle seat as per my request. I boarded the flight and to my shock I found that the seat is a middle seat and when I requested the cabin crew to help me with a Aisle seat, they just ignored me and acted to be very busy. I had no choice but to squeeze myself in the seat for 10 hours. Now for my return flight from Manila to Bahrain, I called and also sent mails both to Philippine Airlines and Gulf Air but no one bothered to get back to me. Both of them keep directing me to each other on the phone. Atlast one brilliant Philippine Airlines staff asked me to come to the airport WELL IN ADVANCE (??, how well in advance??) and be the first to be on the line and get a Aisle seat. Brilliant :), isnt it??? Never again PHILIPPINE AIRLINES........

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“PALpak Express”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 28/06/2013

I traveled alone: Ormoc Leyte-Cebu-Davao, with my infant 6 days ago. We had this turbo prop type of plane, sabi ko.. naku patay! I know the experience would be terrible for my 10 month old kid. She was a behave baby but for this one, every trick I’ve known didn’t work for her. She was crying around 90% of the total flying time. She vomited but I understood. Anyway to make this short I rebooked our flight such that the plane would be A320 and the flight is 9:05 AM, They have it during Mon-Wed and fri only. sakto lng pagdating ko ng CEBU I could catch up for Supercat trip to ormoc. I didn't even ask my husband to fetch us sa Cebu since it will be a straight trip.I felt confident na. We were at the DAVAO Intl airport and they just told me our flight was delayed, exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes, from 9:05 AM to 11:50 AM. I WAS SO UPSET! no advisory! I should have brought my baby a lot of extra cereal to eat. I should have left home 2.5 hours before the flight so that my energy won’t be drained. Now I need to wait at 4:00 PM for Supercat and this means I'll be home at around 8:00 PM na. What a waste of time! Every minute counts for me. Their reason: operational requirement. No weather issues at that time, and taas pa ng sikat ng araw. What I did? I made a scene for the first time in my life. They cant just delay the ETD without even informing their passengers.Their supervisor sa may check in counter (Mr Bisnar) cannot even contact their Manager for a talk. I asked him for any options, he couldn’t give any and ako pa and nagpumilit na he need to make any action for my case. He referred me to withdraw my tix and book the Cebu Pac flight at 10 AM worth 3K and I need to add 1K- because of them I need to shell out 1 K again? Stupid! I didn’t check in until then.I didn't buy their reason, I asked them Ill becalmed if ey tell me what’s the real reason. Sabi Nila and this is from them: They have added an extra flight for OZAMIS. See? very unprofessional! Did they even think about the schedule of their passengers? any meals they have served- Well there's a biscuit for everyone piece! and a drink: water, coffee whatever. I think they should change their name and Tagline: from PAL express: your home in the sky”. to “PALpak Express: PALa Delay kmi, sasakay pa kayo? Well be warned!

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“PALpak Express”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 25/06/2013

I traveled alone: Ormoc Leyte-Cebu-Davao, with my infant 6 days ago. We had this turbo prop type of plane, sabi ko.. naku patay! I know the experience would be terrible for my 10 month old kid. She was a behave baby but for this one, every trick I’ve known didn’t work for her. She was crying around 90% of the total flying time. She vomited but I understood. Anyway to make this short I rebooked our flight such that the plane would be A320 and the flight is 9:05 AM, They have it during Mon-Wed and fri only. sakto lng pagdating ko ng CEBU I could catch up for Supercat trip to ormoc. I didn't even ask my husband to fetch us sa Cebu since it will be a straight trip.I felt confident na. We were at the DAVAO Intl airport and they just told me our flight was delayed, exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes, from 9:05 AM to 11:50 AM. I WAS SO upset, there were no advisory! I should have brought my baby a lot of extra cereal to eat. I should have left home 2.5 hours before the flight so that my energy won’t be drained. Now I need to wait at 4:00 PM for Supercat and this means I'll be home at around 8:00 PM na. What a waste of time! Every minute counts for me. Their reason: operational requirement. No weather issues at that time, and taas pa ng sikat ng araw. What I did? I made a scene for the first time in my life. They cant just delay the ETD without even informing their passengers.Their supervisor sa may check in counter (Mr Bisnar) cannot even contact their Manager for a talk. I asked him for any options, he couldn’t give any and ako pa and nagpumilit na he need to make any action for my case. He referred me to withdraw my tix and book the Cebu Pac flight at 10 AM worth 3K and I need to add 1K- because of them I need to shell out 1 K again? Stupid! I didn’t checked in until then.I didn't buy their reason, I asked them Ill be calm if they tell me what’s the real reason. Sabi Nila and this is from them: They have added an extra flight for OZAMIS. See? very unprofessional! Did they even think about the schedule of their passengers? any meals they have served- Well there's a biscuit for everyone piece! and a drink: water, coffee whatever. I think they should change their name and Tagline: from PAL express: your home in the sky”. to “PALpak Express: PALa Delay kmi, sasakay pa kayo?

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“CHANGE/CANCELLED FLIGHT WITHOUT INFORMING US”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 17/06/2013

They cancelled our flight and change our flight schedule without informing us. Our flight supposed to be 5:15PM but they change our flight to 5:40AM without informing us. We only knew because of the reminder notification I receive 5PM a day before our flight. Sucks we are hopeless!!! we need to cancelled our plan and schedule for the next day. We plan for this vacation long time ago and we have plan/schedule for that day. Our vacation is ruin and they did not give back the memories and experiences we lost that day! By the way, do not rely on "WECARE" they dont reply on your email or call "632) 777-5939" they don't answer the phone... Delay is not acceptable much more of changing your flight without you knowing!!! So STUPID

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“Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Annnnnne on 22/05/2013

I have had a dreadful experience with Philippine airlines. When my partner was hospitalised with a life threatening condition, they charged more than 50% administrative fee to refund. The flights were for early March 2013 - I requested the refund on the 5 February 2013 and I still haven't received the refund (of far less than 50% of what I originally paid) by 22 May 2013. They don't respond to emails, have poor customer service and almost no compassion. Don't fly with them unless you absolutely have to!

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“The most horrible experience”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Eseno13 on 04/05/2013

It started out with asking for baggage allowance, i called pal customer service and was forwarded 5x wasting precious money on useless long distance calls. Finally i got the right number but no one picks up. I webt through once but the agent put me on hold very very long that he had forgotten. I chose pal because it minimizes layover time but the last minute pal cancelled and so i have to endure a gruelling 12 hours layover at manila airport without aplogy or assistance whatsoever. And until i got to airport no one knew my baggage allowance! Food is terrible! Customer service sucks. I thought paying a little extra for pal would be worth not having too much inconvenience but proves the cheaper lines are way better. Do not fly with them.

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