26 June 2004
Bangkok Don Muang (BKK/VTBD) – Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL)
Lufthansa LH 744
Boeing 747-430
D-ABVL “München”
1510-1930 – On Time
Economy Class, Seat 28H (Bulkhead)
I had a $100 Marriott Bonus Bucks coupon expiring soon, and it would make no sense to use it at most Thai Marriotts. In Cebu City, it would get me two free nights. Since I like The Philippines anyway, it was an easy decision to make a side trip to Manila and Cebu. BKK-MNL-BKK was a Miles&More award for 28000 miles – poor value but they were not my miles. I’d never spend my own hard-earned mileage for these sectors, as they are available for about EUR 200 usually.
I took a taxi from the Westin at about 12:30pm – that would give me some time for the lounges at Bangkok International Airport. I had used Lufthansa’s web check-in that morning – what a joke. You can’t choose a seat and must pick up your boarding pass before the usual check-in closure times. Anyway, check-in at the First Class/Senator desk was quick and I got my pre-assigned bulkhead seat 28H.
Thai Royal Executive Class Lounge, Pier 5
After getting some Pesos at one of the exchange counters, I headed to this new Thai International lounge. The first class section is currently closed due to some water damage apparently. The business/Star Gold section is rather nice in my opinion, I especially like the Thai design. Snacks consist of various pastries and small sandwiches and drink selection is good. I was checking Flyertalk on one of the workstations, and the gentleman at the other computer asks if I’m a Flyertalker as well… It’s the first time I have met another Flyertalker without any prior plans in a lounge. What’s even funnier, is that
tmeyer had stayed the night before at the Westin as well – on the same floor! And his seat happens to be the window seat in the same bulkhead row.
So, after a few snacks and lots of frequent flyer talk, we headed to gate 55 at about 2:15pm. Security is quick, but boarding hadn’t started yet. After a little wait, boarding finally started, and we headed through the First/Business side of the counter, but unfortunately had to take the economy class jetway to the plane itself. Seats 28ABC/HJK are great economy class seats, simply superb legroom. Lufthansa folks must have been really disappointed when they figured out a few years ago that the small cabin couldn’t accommodate another row of cattle seats on the side. A guy shows up with 28J – wouldn’t an empty middle seat be appropriate for two Senators on a half-empty B747?
We were pushed back a few minutes late with almost completely empty business class cabin for this last sector of the Frankfurt-Bangkok-Manila run. Departure was from runway 21R once again, and the 747-400 showed its true power on takeoff due to the light load. It was rather bumpy a few minutes after takeoff, but the rest of the flight was quite smooth. Service started shortly – an absolutely disgusting hot meal of some kind of beef was served. The only edible part was the fruit salad and a pack of dried mangos. The flight attendant serving our aisle was not interested in customer service on today’s flight, but yet managed to get me a Baileys at this point. She later dropped a bottle of Coke, spilling it over the passengers in row 36. A pile of napkins was thrown at them and she managed to say sorry.
Another drink service followed after the meal, and it took ages for the crew to collect the trays. They were nowhere to be seen for the rest of the flight. The remaining 1.5 hours passed by quickly with some more travel talk with tmeyer – I’m sure the middle seat occupant enjoyed our chat as well
. The captain soon announced descent into Ninoy Aquino International Airport – we should be arriving on time.
We touched down a few minutes ahead of schedule and quickly taxied to NAIA 1, and parked next to Air France and KLM B747s. We quickly disembarked and made a quick dash to immigration – no lines whatsoever. Since neither of us had checked bags, I decided to follow tmeyer to the departures area in order to get a cheap regular taxi. Despite numerous attempts to just exit the terminal, the security staff made us go through security when exiting the terminal building – great logic there.
Once outside, we got our taxis quickly, I ended up paying P100 to the Hyatt Regency. An obvious rip-off, but much better than a P500 hotel car from downstairs.
Hyatt Regency Manila
The only reason for me to choose this property (one night before going to Cebu and one after coming back) was the Hyatt Faster Free Nights promo. These two stays would get me one free night at pretty much any Hyatt property. Quite frankly, it might be the only reason along with the nice staff to choose this dump.
Check-in was quick, but there was some confusion about some voucher that didn’t exist. I booked via zuji.com.hk and apparently they handed over the reservation to some local travel agent. The lady checking me in was very friendly, as were most of the other staff members at this hotel. One of the guys from the bell desk then escorted me to my room on the 4th floor, and handed me that day’s International Herald Tribune. Nice touch.
The room was awful. About 20 years old I guess, with no renovations whatsoever. Everything looked tired. Balcony door lock was broken, minibar was empty, no slippers or bathrobe provided – just a sign “if you steal the robe it costs you xxx Pesos”. The bathroom reminded me of a 1-star hotel, and the king bed while large, was extremely hard and uncomfortable.
On the second stay (after the Cebu trip), I was given a larger corner room and same great service. Nevertheless, the room was still old and tired like on the first stay. I didn’t use any restaurants, but room service was quite cheap (Ordered a Caesar salad for $2.50 at 10 am to secure FFN credit…). Location on Roxas Blvd is not too bad – it’s close to the airport and there’s nightlife within walking distance. Quite long trip to Makati via EDSA though. It was a decent way to earn a FFN ($58 per night all in rate) but not a very enjoyable hotel.
27 June 2004
Manila Ninoy Aquino Intl (MNL/RPLL) – Mactan Cebu International (CEB/RPMC)
Philippine Airlines PR 849
Boeing 747-4F6
N752PR
1500-1610 (1555-1700)
First Class, Seat 1A
Originally, I booked the MNL-CEB-MNL part of the trip on May 2nd, the day after Philippine Airlines introduced e-ticketing on the Manila-Cebu route. Booking was convenient and fast using the PR Amadeus interface, however the airline itself screwed up the booking about a week later. I checked my booking on Checkmytrip.com just to ensure the equipment was still 744/343 – “Your reservation contains no data” was displayed. Sure enough, philippineair.com showed it as cancelled. Although I got the e-ticket email, ticket number newer showed up at checkmytrip.
I suspect PR staff never entered the ticket number to the Amadeus PNR, just to their own system and thus the booking was cancelled. I tried to get it all sorted with PR North America reservations – “Sir, our airline has no electronic tickets” was their answer. PR Mabuhay/First reservations in Manila got it sorted after a lengthy call – the agent insisted I had booked some 6am flights originally. She promised to email me the new confirmation – never arrived, so that’s why I went to the Philippine Airlines office at Bangkok airport earlier.
I took a taxi from the Hyatt at around 12:30pm for my 3pm departure – the nice Hyatt agent who checked me in the night before remembered me and told me I’m going to the airport way too early and that I could still keep the room for a while if I want. However, remembering the chaos at NAIA 1 last time I flew, I opted to go early anyway. After a quick taxi ride, I arrived to the NAIA Centennial Terminal 2. What a difference between this one and the dump called NAIA 1.
There was no line for the entrance security check, and I quickly found the check-in counters for my flight. I don’t understand why Philippine Airlines still uses separate counters for each flight when all the flights at NAIA 2 are PR flights. Anyway, I headed to the counter marked “PR 849 MABUHAY – CEBU”. There was nobody in line, but the guy had to go to the office to check something with the supervisor about e-tickets. The supervisor then came back with him and explained how you do check-in with e-tickets. PR staff seemed very inexperienced with e-tickets overall, and I saw no other passengers with the ticket info printed on their boarding passes. I then requested a seat in the first class cabin, and the guy replied: “How does 1A sound?”
I then had to pay the domestic terminal fee of 90 Pesos if my memory serves me, and after the inspector took his part of the ticket, I went through security. There was no wait at security either and no random searches, so I made it to the domestic Mabuhay Lounge with almost two hours to spare.
Philippine Airlines Domestic Mabuhay Lounge, Manila PH
The smiling agent waved me in after seeing my blue boarding pass, and I took a seat by the windows. The lounge is downstairs, and the windows are not at a convenient level to afford any decent views though. The lounge seemed rather busy with a few domestic departures coming up. A quick glance at the departures screen revealed the following: “PR 849 S02 1545 RE-TIMED”. Now I had almost three hours to spare… Philippine Airlines had sent me an e-mail notification about the schedule change at 10am – I should have checked my e-mail I guess.
The lounge was spacious but basic. There was a good selection of newspapers, some magazines, sandwiches, pastries, fruit as well as some soup to eat. Sushi was available as well, but once it was gone (I finished most of it – rather good) they had no more. Soft drinks and beer is available as well. I decided to go for a walk at the original departure time – the gate agent told me they haven’t finished cleaning yet as the aircraft came it with a full load as PR 301 from Hong Kong. The Centennial terminal is quite nice inside, and offers nice views due to large windows as well. I watched a Philippine Airlines A320 push back for Zamboanga City and then went back to the lounge for one more beer.
The lounge agent announced boarding of PR 849 at 3:30pm, and the boarding process was in its initial stages at gate S02 when I made it there. Passengers requiring special assistance were boarded first, followed by Mabuhay Class and Mabuhay Miles elite members. A smiling flight attendant told me to turn left at door 2L – always a good start for a flight. N752PR had only first (18 seats) and economy class on the main deck, and Mabuhay Class on the upper deck. Most business class passengers seemed to go to the upper deck, and only three other people were assigned seats in the First Class cabin.
The seats in First are old, and reminded me of the older Thai 747 configuration. Yet, I’d say they are rather comfortable with about 160-degrees recline, almost horizontal footrest and some kind of a lumber support. All controls are manual and there is no PTV in these seats. I was offered a cup of orange juice and a choice of newspapers as soon as I got to my seat, and the flight attendant offered to stow my rather heavy carry on in the forward closet as the side overhead bins are rather small in the nose of a Boeing 747. Orders for dinner were taken as well – it was a choice of chicken or beef.
We were pushed back ten minutes after the new scheduled departure time, and taxied to runway 24 for takeoff. The crew was struggling to stow the First Class screen used for safety demo, but managed just before takeoff. A US government Boeing Business Jet was parked near the LH Technik Philippines hangers. Takeoff was powerful – the 747 is meant for longer flights with high fuel loads after all. As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, dinner was served. I had chosen the chicken option, and it consisted of stir-fried chicken, fried rice with eggs and fried vegetables. Quite good, and the portion was large. There was also a tasteless roll and a piece of delicious chocolate cake for dessert. Drinks were served constantly with a smile. Unfortunately PAL no longer uses the classy real glasses in domestic business class.
As I was just finishing the dessert, we left our cruising altitude, and the captain announced that we’d be landing at Mactan airport in 20 minutes. Descent over the sea was rather bumpy, and we came in really low for the final approach. Maybe the Mactan-Cebu runway is so short you have to ensure maximum breaking distance for a 747? Touchdown was smooth, but the runway is not in very good condition, so the rest was very bumpy.
We quickly taxied to the terminal, and parked next to a Qatar Airways A300-600. As soon as we stopped, the QR Airbus was pushed back for its journey back to Doha via Singapore Changi. I thanked the nice crew and made waited for the first economy section to deplane (between doors 1 and 2). As I had no checked bags, I made my way to the taxi stand that is not by the arrivals hall but near the PAL ticket office instead.
Cebu City Marriott Hotel
Cebu Marriott is the only Marriott in the Philippines (Makati has a Renaissance), and is located next to the Ayala Center Cebu. The hotel is probably the best in Cebu if one doesn’t consider the Shangri-La Mactan Resort where president Arroyo stayed recently. Security is tight; bags are searched once you enter the hotel. Check-in was quick; I got a similar room as I had last time – no difference between Priceline and Marriott bookings.
The room was a typical lower end Marriott room – nothing fancy but nice enough. Basically it’s a room you’d expect at a Holiday Inn in Europe or U.S. Turndown service was provided twice even though they say you have to ask for it. They leave a pack of dried mangos instead of chocolates – a nice local touch. The only problem I had, was with the toilet on the last day – it basically flooded all over the bathroom floor. Luckily the cleaning staff was servicing the room next to mine at that point.
I like the location of the Marriott as I enjoy going to the Ayala Center eat and drink as well as use the rather inexpensive Internet café near Jollibee.
During my last day in Cebu, the presidential inauguration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took place. She got the highest percentage of votes in Cebu province, and the celebrations were moved there from Manila. It was also a national holiday in Cebu, and the streets were packed, as there was a big free concert near Fuenta Osmena for example.