Akiestar

Hi guys. This is my first trip report here on FT, and after reading everything here (and on A.Net as well), I just had to jump right in! I really hope you don’t mind both the length and the intermittent blurry pictures. This particular TR, which I hold close in my heart for reasons other than being my first, highlights a recent trip to Tokyo to close my summer vacation, following a routing similar to the pre-1994 Philippine Airlines Flight 434 which, although non-existent today, still somewhat lives on in the day-to-day operations of Asia’s first airline. Please be advised that this is an extremely long TR (with 208 pictures and text which takes up 37 pages of space when typed on Word, a testament to my love for detail), so do bear with me here.

Anyway, time to move on to the TR proper. Hope you enjoy!

Prologue

Sometime in April, my stepmom heard of a Philippine Airlines seat promo from a friend of hers, and tells me afterward so that I can book her on a flight to Tokyo for a business trip. The promo, called “The Real Deal”, offered tickets to Tokyo for as low as $162 inclusive of taxes (except Philippine travel tax), which are a steal compared to the $600 plus 20,000 miles she and my dad each paid to travel to Tokyo on Northwest, or the $430 (tax exclusive) they normally have to shell out when flying PAL. There was a catch to the promo though: you can only avail of the promo when flying from Cebu, unlike all the other fares in the promo, which you can only avail when flying out of Manila (some destinations, like Seoul and Xiamen, were not covered by the promo). My dad hears of the promo and figures that it would be a good way for us to spend a meaningful vacation before the start of classes, and for us to spend more time together as a family.

The “Real Deal”, however, quickly turned into a nightmare. Due to PAL limiting the duration of the promo only to April 29 and 30, their website was quickly overloaded with thousands (some say tens, or even hundreds, of thousands) of people wanting to avail fares as low as $8 to Hong Kong to as high as $488 to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas or Vancouver (excluding taxes). Their telephone lines were jammed to the brim, with many customers unable to call PAL’s customer service hotline in Manila, forcing others to call their customer service hotlines in Cebu and Davao, where it was reportedly less jammed. If you were lucky enough to be connected to their hotline in Manila, you would have to wait as long as three hours just to be able to speak with a PAL customer service agent. Their ticketing offices were filled with people, some even spilling out into the street (as was the case for their ticketing office in Quezon City), just so their bookings can be processed due to the unusually high incidence of failed bookings. The unfolding chaos meanwhile found its place in the national media, where PAL was forced to defend itself against a tsunami of complaints from both customers and even travel agencies (who complained about being shortchanged by the promo) against the promo’s shortcomings.

I know the story too well (and I was even quoted by the Manila Standard Today, a local newspaper, for a remark on another forum which caught their attention). Having arrived at 2:00 pm on April 30 at their ticketing office in Makati City, I thought I would have been able to process our failed bookings (I have tried booking over fifteen times over the last 24 hours, all to no avail) by the time the ticketing office closed at 5:00 pm. However, while I was issued number 5478, they were still serving customer 5049! A friend of mine whose parents were going to Shanghai went there at 9:00 am, only to be processed at around 3:30 pm (she was number 5070). The ensuing chaos (and increasing inability of PAL ticketing agents to handle the growing number of disgruntled customers) forced the ticketing office to handle claims well into 7:00 pm (our booking failed completely, so I had to rebook our complete itinerary), and for PAL to “extend” (meaning honor and continue to resolve all failed Real Deal bookings) the promo until 10:00 pm on Labor Day, May 1. I returned the following day to confirm the booking, and I came out about an hour later with tickets in hand. I felt bad though about the schedule: we were supposed to travel together on June 2 and return on June 9, but instead we had to settle for a split itinerary, with me returning to Cebu on June 9, and my dad and sister on June 11. My stepmom, sadly, couldn’t join us for medical reasons. Luckily though, I was able to book for our tickets to Cebu and back online (I would return to Manila on June 9, while my dad and sister would return on Independence Day, June 12), so I just asked for the tickets to be printed on PAL stock while I was at the ticketing office.

The tickets cost only $182 each for CEB-NRT-CEB, which are a steal on this route (PAL charges $506 for a normal roundtrip ticket between Cebu and Tokyo). A different promo meanwhile allowed us to get tickets to Cebu and back for only P1000 (around $18). The total cost of the itinerary per person was P10,567 (around $210) including taxes, which is a definite bargain, as tickets to Tokyo can go as high as $700+ (exclusive of taxes, on JAL) in economy. Though it comes with a boatload of restrictions (no Mabuhay Miles accrual, no rebooking, no cancellations, no change of itinerary, maximum stay of 8 days, etc.), for us budget-conscious Filipino travelers, we could care less.

It’s been eight years since I have last flown PAL (2001, on MNL-CEB-MNL), and this trip (booking pains notwithstanding) will make or break my belief that PAL will be able to rejoin the ranks of the world’s great airlines. I have sent their management two long e-mails in the past about possible improvements to their customer service, and it is their assuring replies that continue to let me believe in PAL being able to excel in what they do best despite me having flown their main rival to the United States, Northwest Airlines, for the last eight years. I just hope their replies will prove me right, and this is their examination.

I. Pre-departure: MNL-CEB-NRT

In the Philippines, it’s kind of unusual for airlines to permit passengers to obtain boarding passes for other passengers on their behalf without them being physically present at the check-in counter, let alone the entire terminal. It’s a practice that confounds me, but one that a lot of people seemingly take advantage of.

I left the house with the driver at 2:50 am, our entire set of checked luggage (and my carry-on luggage) in tow to Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 2. Traffic going to the airport was quite light, typical of early-morning traffic flows in Manila, which led me getting there at around 3:20 am. Unlike my dad, who is known for his tardiness for almost every occasion, I am very punctual when it comes to traveling, so I had to urge my driver to go faster, even in the early Manila rain (the rainy season came about 2-3 weeks early this year).



MNL’s Centennial Terminal, as it is aptly named, feels different from what I remembered it to be eight years ago. In contrast to the never-ending chaos that characterized the terminal’s initial years of operation, NAIA-2 today seems more organized and orderly. The new landscaping and addition of canopy roofing seems to have also brought out the simple modernity that the terminal exudes. On the outside, it feels like a very down-to-earth structure: built to function the way that it’s supposed to be without too much architectural excess.



II. Pre-flight: PR 843, MNL-CEB

The check-in area of the terminal’s south wing, where all of Philippine Airlines’ domestic flights are serviced, is very busy upon my entry. After completing the preliminary security check, I proceeded to the check-in counters assigned to our flight. I was third to be served, and second in my line, when I fell in line.





An older woman who was flying to Davao tried to push ahead of me when I was next in line to be served. Luckily, the guard, who answered her query pertaining to which check-in counters are for her flight, was able to stop her. The guard then told me to proceed to counter 11.



Counter 11 incidentally is the check-in counter for PAL group bookings, although the check-in agent accepted me. I find it quite weird though that all the counter agents in our area (and probably in the other side too, as well as in all the NAIA terminals) are male. The agent, sadly, seemed listless and bored when he checked me in.

I tried requesting for through check-in to Tokyo, although he told me that he couldn’t do it since the authorities in Cebu refused to allow it since it gives people an excuse to bypass paying Philippine travel tax there (which was already paid for in this booking). Since I don’t think I’ll be able to get through check-in to Tokyo through bargaining with the agent, I tried bargaining for bulkhead seats instead. This time, he says that the only available bulkhead seats are located at the last section of the plane, and they are in the middle section. Since my dad prefers the increased legroom of bulkhead seats, I requested that seat for him and one beside him for my sister. I, on the other hand, requested for a window seat. Although we got our preferred seats, it did come at a cost: I ended up being six rows behind my dad and sister. While they were in 61-D and 61-E, I ended up in 67-K.



I proceeded to load the luggage onto the weighing machine, which carted them off to be checked and loaded onto our plane afterward. The agent then issued our boarding passes, and instructed me to proceed to the terminal fee counter, then afterwards to gate S1. Before proceeding there, I rushed the boarding passes to the driver, who I told to quickly return home to pick up the rest of my family before boarding begins at 4:00 am.

After giving the boarding passes, I turned around and went towards the terminal fee counter. However, the FIDS caught my attention, and I decided to photograph it. The system used in Terminal 2 is the exact same system used in Terminal 3, although the larger main FIDS for the terminal was out of operation.



I then went to the terminal fee counter, where I paid P200 to the agent. She stapled the terminal fee coupon onto my boarding pass, subsequently stamping it. She then instructed me to proceed to the final security checkpoint behind her.

The security checkpoint required that all passengers take out all metallic objects (and shoes) from their person, so I removed all the concerned items and placed it into the scanner. Although I passed the inspection, I wished that I did not wear my favorite Converse high-cut sneakers to the airport (as I usually do) since they are such a hassle to put on. Add on to that the length of my jeans (at 34 inches, they are longer than the length of my legs, so I had to fold them inward) and it quickly became a recipe for disaster: the folds were no longer holding after a good deal of walking through the terminal. Next time, I'll keep an ample supply of bobby pins on my person at all times.



The main concourse seemed quite busy at such an early time in the day: PAL flights to cities all over the Philippines are docked at their gates, but only flights to Cebu, Davao and Bacolod were leaving within the next hour. All the other flights, like this particular A320 bound for Zamboanga (with the sequential flight number 123), won’t leave until later in the day (around 6:00 am, if I remember correctly).



Laptop and mobile phone charging stations did not exist in 2001, so I was surprised to see them here.



I did some walking through the terminal and I noticed that the faulty FIDS was not limited to just the check-in area. It seems that the entire terminal’s FIDS was down: the monitors which would normally display flight information were off, with PAL staff resorting to the use of a manual placard system in order to display flight information. One particular gate with an A330 bound for Davao used paper instead of a plastic placard in order to display the required information.



I don’t have a picture of it because of the double glass (and a set of stairs separating it), but apparently the north wing, where all of PAL’s international flights are based, seemed eerily devoid of passengers.

I decided to head towards the laptop station to begin this report when I passed by gate S4. S4 is the only hardstand gate at the domestic wing, and unlike the other gates, faces inward instead of out. I can see stairs jutting downward from the door.



The laptop station is not far from S4, so I plugged my laptop in and began writing this TR.



A woman headed for General Santos who needed to charge her mobile phone asked around the laptop station for an adaptor since her charger uses a British-style plug. I promptly offered her my adaptor and proceeded back to work. Luckily, the charging station is right in front of the laptop station.

Terminal 2 supposedly has Wi-Fi installed, but I was unable to access the Internet after a few rounds of trying. A lady beside me told me that I can get 30 minutes free on the Airborne Access network being offered by one of the concessionaires (I think Delifrance) in the terminal, but I had to register. I decided not to use the Internet anymore and just continue on writing the TR.

At 4:00 am, boarding was called for PR 843, my flight to Cebu. When I stood up, the woman who I lent my adaptor to hesitated and thought that she needed to return my adaptor, but I told her that I wasn’t planning to leave just yet. Mysteriously, PAL boarding announcements for this flight came at a somewhat rapid-fired pace: boarding for priority passengers, Mabuhay Class passengers and passengers in my section were all called within three minutes of each other. It was when they called the passengers in rows 32-48 were being called that I decided to proceed to the gate. She then promptly returned the adaptor to me and quickly proceeded to gate S1.



I gave my boarding pass to the agent at the gate, although I told her that I needed to wait for my father and sister before I can board. She took the stub and allowed me to sit down to wait, although I decided to just walk around until they arrive. Around ten minutes later, I saw them in the distance, walking towards the gate, and so I meet up with them. They proceeded to submit their boarding passes and we went inside the plane together.