We docked at Gate 3, the other international gate, while a Qatar Airways A330 bound for Doha was parked at Gate 2.
Oddly, Econolight, PAL’s no-frills economy class product, is not offered on this flight (Econolight is not offered on trans-Pacific, Japan, Korea, Australia, Guam and Xiamen flights), but the sticker was there anyway. It must have slipped through the cracks when PR 843 became PR 434.
Arguably, out of all the flights I have ever been on (on any airline), this one has the best flight attendant I have ever met: the one who looked like my aunt. I tried to take a picture of her, but not only did my camera’s memory card run out of available space, she was also changing her shoes (she said I “caught” her). She asked if I would be staying in Cebu, and I said I’d be transiting here en route to Manila. Apparently, some of the F/As on PR 433 would later be on the last two flights to Manila: one younger flight attendant was assigned to serve on PR 864, the second-to-last flight bound for Manila). I never really got the chance to congratulate her and thank her for a job well done, but I’ll always remember that flight attendant. It pained me when she said goodbye, and even more so as I left the plane.
IX. Arrival in Cebu/Pre-flight: PR 866, CEB-MNL
Upon reaching the gate corridor, I noticed that there were two ways to reach the arrivals area from the gate. I tried taking the door closest to me, but apparently it was closed, so I walked down the corridor to the other set of stairs near Gate 2.
The quarantine inspection area was crowded, and there were only two quarantine officers available, occupying a single cubicle. There was a long line of arriving PR 433 passengers before it split into two, but only one thermal scanner was used to scan all passengers. I promptly submitted my health declaration form to the quarantine officer. Since I checked a box indicating I went to a hospital, he asked if I was a nurse. I said no and I mentioned that I was a student, noting that I only went to the hospital (and no further than the hospital reception area) with a member of the clinic staff to see whether or not we could obtain crutches for my dad. Fortunately, I was cleared to proceed to passport control.
After getting my passports stamped (the immigration officer asked why I had two passports, and I told him that I was a dual citizen of both the Philippines and the United States), I went to baggage claim. A PAL agent earlier asked which passengers on our flight were transiting to Manila, and a lot of passengers, myself included, raised our hands. At baggage claim, I noticed that my bag was already off the baggage carousel. I tried to get my bag, but the agent told me to wait for the other passengers connecting to Manila, inspecting the boarding passes and tickets of those who were connecting. It turns out that out of the twenty-or-so people who raised their hands indicating connections to Manila, only three (myself and two guys travelling together) had boarding passes for Manila-bound flights issued in Tokyo. Everyone else, though connecting to Manila, had to check in at Cebu.
When we completed customs, the agent directed us to connections. Again, I felt traumatized by the very small elevator. The two travelling buddies loaded their cart into the elevator, with the agent following them inside afterwards. Meanwhile, I used the stairs, since I only had one small suitcase to check in, and arrived at the hallway connecting the international and domestic check-in areas. I was actually about to fall in line at the PAL domestic check-in counter when the check-in agent told me to stop and follow him to an empty counter where our bags were placed on the conveyor.
As transiting passengers, we had the luxury of not paying the P200 terminal fee in Cebu. Neither the PAL agent nor the woman staffing the booth ordered us to pay the fee, and it seemed that people didn’t really care about us paying, since our check-in was done in Tokyo anyway. Well, so much for the flimsy excuse of the check-in agent in Manila refusing to check me in all the way to Tokyo at the beginning of this trip. Even if the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority is complaining about losing part of their revenue stream, they should be happy people are willing to transit through their airport, if any at all.
We breezed through the security check and eventually made it to the departure area, with the agent handing me my boarding pass. However, I had to give a little gift to Tito Billy (who happened to be the agent’s supervisor) from my dad, so he brought me to his office, which was empty. Instead, he told me to give it to his secretary instead. Kindly enough, the security personnel allowed me to bypass the security check since I was screened earlier, after I gave the box of Japanese cookies to Tito Billy’s secretary to be given to him. I wonder what he’ll say to me if I write to PAL again and I stop by CEB.
The domestic departure area of Mactan-Cebu International Airport, though architecturally dated (the airport, built in the brutalist style, reminds me of NAIA-1), is fairly modest, with lots of chairs to choose from. There are a few stores to choose from, though definitely not as extensive as in NRT, and a single television in the main departure area. The only downside was that it was not as inviting as it would be in the daytime, since the lighting made it appear to be darker than usual. It was a blessing though to see that it wasn’t full, since only a few flights (the last two flights of both PAL and Cebu Pacific, as well as a Zest Airways flight, all bound for Manila, were scheduled to leave anyway.
The FIDS used here at CEB is apparently the same as that in NAIA-1.
Gate 4, the gate where our flight was set to depart from, was still handling PR 864, the other PAL flight to Manila.
With over two hours to spare, I went around the departure area, taking pictures along the way. Like in some other major Philippine airports (ILO, BCD and DVO to name a few), Marlboro is the sponsor of the smoking lounge here.
Somewhere down the hall was the Mabuhay Lounge which, after taking a quick peek, only had one passenger inside. Not only was it somewhat smaller than the international Mabuhay Lounge, but the TV worked perfectly here as well. At least I proved myself right this time: the lounges did look the same. From the outside, the lounge certainly looks different from what it did in 2001 (in 2001, the domestic Mabuhay Lounge in CEB had a 34-inch CRT television, no couches and bare beige walls).
Beside the Mabuhay Lounge was a computer station sponsored by Smart Communications, where there is free Internet access. The connection was slow at times, but it was worth it. I did notice though that they use Wi-Fi, so I went out of the computer station and continued exploring around the terminal until most of the passengers on PR 864 had already boarded. By that time, there already was a free outlet near the gate.
Unlike in Manila, Cebu has free, working Wi-Fi, sponsored by both Smart and Airborne Access, although there was a timer which indicated how long I was on. I was able to use Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger, check my mail and continue writing this TR. The connection did get cut around once or twice, but I didn’t mind at all, since if it does cut, I can always switch to the backup network. The Wi-Fi though was much faster than the connection at the computer station.
Around thirty minutes into using the computer, the gate agent began boarding passengers for PR 866. The boarding calls were done in rapid-fire sequence, with full boarding being called in around 90 seconds, much faster than in Manila (though certainly not like in Tokyo). I gave my boarding pass to the agent, but he had problems tearing off the coupon from the main boarding pass. He was able to tear it off after a while, but contrary to standard practice, I was handed the main boarding pass rather than the coupon, and I began to approach the Airbus A320 that would bring me home.
X. In-flight: PR 866
Philippine Airlines Flight PR 866
Cebu City (Mactan-Cebu International; CEB/RPVM)-Manila (Ninoy Aquino International; MNL/RPLL)
Airbus A320-200, RP-C3230
Seat 18-A (Economy window)
ETD 2035 / ETA 2155 (actual 2130)
A male flight attendant (I think one of those who was on PR 433, but I can’t be sure since I haven’t seen him) greeted us as us passengers made our way to the back. As I crossed the Mabuhay Class cabin, I quickly realized that this was one of the older (but not ancient; in PAL’s case, their A320s have three different types of seats) A320s with the seats reminiscent of the ones on their A330s: seats that I have not been able to sit on since 2001. The seats in Fiesta Class, meanwhile, had the same floral-pattern seat covers as those in their A340s. Like the wavy seats on their A330s, the A320 cabin felt warm and inviting, if not a bit crowded from the sheer number of passengers trying to load their bags onto the overhead bins. It took me quite a while just to get to my seat, having to negotiate aisle space with a bunch of other passengers. Although the seat immediately beside me was empty, there was a passenger who occupied 18-C. Like the guy who sat beside me on PR 843, he wasn’t much of a talker, and he was busy reading his copy of the
Philippine Star.
The seat pitch on the A320 was okay. It appeared to be narrower than on the A330, but it was just as comfortable. I miss the footrests though on PAL’s widebody aircraft.
Although this particular A320 has drop-down LCD monitors, they were not used for the entire duration of the flight. As we pushed back, the flight attendants performed a manual safety demonstration, something that I have not seen from PAL in a very long time (which was way back in 1996, on a Fokker 50 bound for Manila from Marinduque). Not too long after they completed their demonstration, we took off for our hour-long flight to Manila.
Since this was the last PAL flight out of Cebu, no newspapers were distributed in-flight. Instead, the in-flight meal service began, and unlike the “breakfast” I had going to Cebu, my “dinner” was a bit more substantive: salted crackers, peanuts and a glass of water. I do wish though that they'd reintroduce the ensaymada, or at least the cake, on their domestic flights.
The crew was very efficient and professional on this flight, though I must say that they were a bit prone to talking to each other too much during the meal service.
My “dinner” didn’t feel like it was enough though, so I added the Snickers bar I bought in Tokyo earlier to the mix.
The rest of the flight was generally uneventful. After having “dinner”, I was able to finish the remaining five tracks of
For Whom the Rock Rolls (which is a very good album despite the somewhat mangled English), play three songs on
Tap Tap Revenge 2 (“Come On, Get Higher”, “Bite to Break Skin” by Senses Fail and “If Tragedy’s Appealing, then Disaster’s an Addiction” by Moneen) and take a quick glance at my recently-arranged class schedule for my first semester at the Ateneo de Manila University on an application I installed on my iPod a few weeks ago before beginning our final descent into Manila. That was fast!
Arguably the landing was the smoothest out of all the four flights I’ve been on the last week. It was also on this flight that the actual time of arrival was mentioned in the announcement (exactly 9:30 pm), so I was surprised to hear that we arrived 25 minutes early. After the initial landing announcement, a second announcement was made for passengers connecting to other PAL flights. Surprisingly enough, the purser used the intermittently-heard 1997 tagline, “Asia’s Sunniest”, in her closing, and it was indeed pleasant to hear it once again. That was the only time I’ve ever heard the tagline used on this particular trip.
Deplaning took quite a while since people quickly began filling the aisle even if the doors were still closed. However, as more people exited the plane, the faster the movement became. For posterity’s sake (and since the last time I rode an A320 was with Northwest on DTW-LAX and LAX-MEM), I just had to take a picture of my seat which, though not as comfortable as the A330 seat, made do just perfectly for a one-hour hop.
I certainly won’t be seeing this or any other PAL cabin for a while.
