VIII. In-flight: PR 433
Philippine Airlines Flight PR 433
Tokyo (Narita International; NRT/RJAA)-Cebu City (Mactan-Cebu International; CEB/RPVM)
Airbus A330-300, RP-C3331
Seat 74-A (Economy window, back section)
ETD 1430 / ETA 1830
Unlike the flights to Japan, no boarding music was being played when I entered the cabin. I was greeted by the flight attendants and they pointed the direction to my seat, once again, at the back of the cabin. Another flight attendant, one of PAL’s older ones who incidentally looks like one of my aunts (but unlike my aunt, she had a very beautiful accent when speaking in English), led me to my seat. Like the flights to Tokyo, the seat beside me was empty.
I wasn’t surprised to find that on flights to the Philippines from Japan, PAL would advertise a home delivery service for Philippine mangoes and pineapples, both of which are very popular there (and very expensive too; I was shocked to find out that a single mango at Denny's cost almost 300 yen).
Not too long after settling down in my seat, the cabin doors were closed and we began taxiing to the runway. Shortly after we pushed back and began our taxi, the ground staff waved goodbye and bowed.
There were quite a lot of things to see as the plane was taxiing. It seems that not one, but two houses exist on the airport grounds.
A JAL 747-400 was taxiing behind us.
An Air Canada 777-300ER had just landed on the runway we were about to take off of, but it was moving too fast for me to take a meaningful picture. Instead, I got an ANA 747-400.
When we began taking off, I was able to take a picture of a bunch of Northwest 747s (one in Delta colors), A330s and a single 757, as well as a Continental 737, on the tarmac of Terminal 1.
The takeoff was a bit shaky, with the panel holding the drop-down CRT, the projector screen and the projector all shaking side-to-side as we sped into the air. The plane passed by a lot of farms and small towns in Chiba Prefecture before finally entering the Pacific Ocean and leaving Japan.
The in-flight entertainment service began shortly after we began flying over the Pacific Ocean, beginning with the distribution of newspapers (I got the
Inquirer again), then both a preview and the actual feature presentation of
He’s Just Not (That) Into You. Unlike on the flights to Japan, where they advertised PAL’s Mabuhay Miles and Swingaround tour packages first before moving to the feature presentation, they jumped straight into the movie.
The in-flight meal service, however, was another story. Because of the turbulence we were experiencing as we exited Japan, the distribution of meals had to be suspended twice, although no meals were distributed (on the second time the service was suspended, the carts were already at the front of the cabin). Better safe than sorry, I’d say.
I overheard from other passengers that the two meal choices were roast beef and Japanese fish, but since the meal service began at the front of the cabin, they ran out of fish meals by the time they got to the back section, and everyone else had to be served beef. I didn’t mind since I wanted the beef anyway, but there was one Filipina passenger who demanded fish. She relented and had beef instead because they were seriously out of fish. I think this means that next time, they should either stock more fish, or have meal distribution done simultaneously in both parts of the economy cabin.
Before I actually got my meal, one of the younger flight attendants asked me what I wanted to drink. Since I saw a Japanese passenger be served a full can of Virgin Cola, I asked for a 7-Up. She gave me the cup, but incidentally not the can. Shortly after, the older F/A who led me to my seat earlier said that they ran out of Japanese fish (even though I knew beforehand) and that I had to get the roast beef.
The meal was not particularly special, since I remember being served this a few years back on Northwest (save for the dessert, and mashed potatoes took place of the rice), but like the breakfast I was served on PR 434, I ate everything offered on the tray. It helped that I did not have lunch in Tokyo before entering the plane. While we were eating, the flight attendants began closing the cabin windows, arguably, in the words of the purser, “for a better view of the in-flight entertainment”.
What did change my perception of the lunch experience was that the F/As also started offering packets of peanuts to passengers, allowing us to take as many as we wanted. I took two. Later, they began offering glasses of juice and soda. As is the custom, I took a glass of apple juice. That was not offered on the inbound flight.
After the meal service ended, I reclined my seat and proceeded to listen to my iPod (I finished nine of fourteen tracks on For Whom the Rock Rolls by TOTALFAT, a Japanese punk rock band to which I was introduced to at ABC-Mart). However, I had to go to the lavatory, so it was really unfortunate that the fasten seatbelt sign had to be switched on again because of turbulence. I got up since I really had to go, but the F/A told me to sit down. Sometime after the plane stabilized, she approached me and said that I can move to the back if I had to go, but I said I’ll stay put. She did mention that the sign may be on for a good forty minutes or more, but I can wait. While waiting, I opened the window and noticed an unusual cloud formation over the sea.
When the fasten seatbelt sign was turned off, I went for a quick trip to the lavatory. The A(H1N1) scare in both Japan and the Philippines (we apparently now have the most cases in Southeast Asia) meant that I had to wear a mask for most of this flight.
The green bottle went missing from PAL’s lavatory offerings, too.
I also got my computer and continued writing this TR from where I left off at the airport.
Near the end of
He’s Just Not (That) Into You, the flight attendants began distributing another round of drinks, this time being full cans of soft drinks. I really miss ginger ale (we don’t have it in the Philippines), so I got that. Since I was using the tray in front of me, the flight attendant put down the one beside me so that I would have a place to place the drink. I’d consider it compensation for not being given the full can of 7-Up earlier.
It seems that on this flight, Flights of Fancy (the official name of PAL’s IFE) had a much more varied offering than on the flight to Tokyo. Between the advertisements for a property development company owned by PAL chairman Lucio Tan and a jazz rendition of PAL’s trademark “Love at Thirty Thousand Feet” with accompanying video showcasing its production by renowned Filipino jazz musicians, the following programs were shown in-flight:
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He's Just Not (That) Into You (in-flight movie)
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Just for Laughs
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WSJ Tech Watch
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How I Met Your Mother
I don’t even get that much entertainment on my Northwest flights between Japan and Manila (one movie and Northwest’s Currents entertainment program). For a four-hour flight on an airline whose planes have no individual video monitors in economy save on two 747-400s (the next 747, RP-C7472, will have individual monitors by end-July, according to a poster on PinoyExchange, a local forum), it felt like a lot of entertainment. I didn’t like though how the in-flight audio channels for video programming weren’t working well, perhaps due to the turbulence. All the other audio channels, on the other hand, worked perfectly, though it took quite a lot of guesswork to figure out which channels were which since the Flights of Fancy guide was not printed in the June issue of
Mabuhay, for reasons unbeknownst to me (I knew right from the bat though that channel 3 is the Filipino music channel and channel 14 is the Japanese music channel). The headphones, on the other hand, are much better than those offered by Northwest (Northwest headphones in economy have a notorious habit of pulling my hair, so I either ask for World Business Class headphones or use earphones in-flight).
Earlier, immigration and customs forms for the Philippines were distributed, but I filled up the information incorrectly, so I asked for a new set of forms. This is arguably the only time I have ever received forms in a sleeve, more so a sleeve advertising Tanduay rum (distilled by a company also owned by Lucio Tan) on the front cover. This may change as new government-issued forms are set to be released to general circulation, replacing the current, airline council-issued forms which, as a matter of fact, are perhaps the only set of forms in the world that are supported by advertising.
The in-flight entertainment ended somewhere near Taiwan as we entered Philippine airspace, and the flight attendants began collecting the headphones used on the flight. We were also asked by the purser to open the cabin windows as well. By this time, PAL began showing its airshow again, and this time, they used the correct airport diagram.
As you can see, loads on this flight were light, though it seemed that there were somewhat more passengers on this flight than on PR 434. The Japanese must now be really travel-averse due to the spread of swine flu. Earlier during the flight, the Japanese man who received a full can of Virgin Cola made a bed out of the empty seats in his row’s center section.
The clouds did not make for a good view of the islands we were flying over, but I can clearly see us flying over Samar…
…then Leyte…
…and, as we were on our final approach to Cebu City, the Camotes Islands, which politically are part of the province of Cebu.
I did notice that as the plane was landing, there was also ample space on the other side of the airport terminal (the side facing the town of Cordoba) in addition to the vast expanse on the side facing the sea. It will really make do for any expansion of the terminal.
The landing went smoothly, despite the shaking of the panel which contained the drop-down CRT and the occasional bump as we sped down the runway. During taxi, I noticed that this airport too had a golf course for the soldiers based at Benito Ebuen Air Base (I’m not sure if it is open to the public like the one in Villamor).