108912

This one will have limited interest as 1) you will have to fly north to then fly south, 2) Connection times in MNL are generally fairly long and 3) Mabuhay Miles have very limited crediting opportunities but for near 9 hours in a flat bed for often less the cost of Jetstar it might appeal to some.

Best fares are available for departures from DPS (from GBP400 one way to SYD) and KUL (from GBP460 one way to SYD) to all Philippine Airlines australian destinations. All MNL - Australia flights are on 330's with all aisle access flat beds, or A321's with full flat beds.

Decent priced returns from GBP710 (ex DPS to SYD) and GBP821 (ex KUL to SYD).

I flew the KUL - SYD route in Feb, it is a decent product. MNL airport is a bit of a sh*t hole but on board they are pretty good. I credited to ANA Miles.

ociana

Thank you for posting this one! I have to get from SIN to WLG later this year and hadn't yet sorted out a reasonable way to pull off business seats. This deal just snagged SIN to SYD for $839 each for the lie flat biz seats with overnight travel and just a 4 hour layover in Manila.

cruser1

If you don't mind not having a lie-flat seat and just want to get from Point A to Point B, Jetstar business could also be an option They have a flight from DPS to BNE. Without the Business Max package, flights are usually 7006379 IDR (382 GBP) to 8385379 IDR (457 GBP) one-way, but can be as low as 5945379 IDR (324 GBP). The business max package so you can earn Qantas points is about a 120 GBP add-on.

beyounged

beware that transiting in MNL is brutal, and that may be an understatement. If you need to switch terminals, which is likely for this itinerary. You should leave a minimum of 4 hours and be ready for a trek through half a dozen security check points, immigration, taxi rides, and many others, likely with your luggage.

steveholt

This is the nicest thing anyone could say about MNL airport. Just a fiasco.

blackcarrotcake

Correct me if I'm wrong, but crediting to ANA miles is only applicable for flights to Japan with Philippine Airlines?

108912

Manila Airport is the biggest let down of the whole Philippine Airlines experience.

I am not sure in the case of DPS to OZ flights and vice versa but KUL and OZ flights thankfully use the same terminal. Even that being said, it isn't an experience to relish.

I have transited several times through MNL and the whole experience is very hit and miss. You follow the signs for immigration and flight connections. There you find a Philippine Airlines transfer counter. PR generally issue all your boarding passes at origin point so if you are in possession of your onward boarding pass you can proceed direct to transit security where you will either pass straight through and up some stairs and be back in departures - or - be told to wait for anything up to 45 minutes before being allowed to head up. Why the wait? Well, when you do go up the stairs and emerge in departures if you turn around and look at the door you've just come out from, it isn't just the transit corridor - it also doubles as a bus/remote stand departure gate. So, if PR is boarding a flight from that gate at around the same time you need to use the transit corridor up to departures you will have to wait until the flight is boarded.

This is all outside of PR's control unfortunately. What IS in their control however is their 'flagship' lounge at their hub. Disappointing is the word. It is small, outdated, dark. To be fair the food options are quite decent, they had some nice slow cooked fillet of beef in there last time I transited. But the entire place is like something out of 1997.

That being said, the KUL transit time is pretty decent, the DPS I would likely avoid - unless you leave the airport for a meal or such altogether.

GenZ

In some sad news, it appears my flight from MNL-SYD has been changed from the 1-2-1 layout A330 to a 2-2-2 layout.

And all the middle seats are taken

jamiegutz

I did this route (from KUL) on a similar fare just before covid in March 2020. Im not sure if it has changed, but at the time all passengers transiting in MNL with onward connections to either Australia or the US (and possibly the UK) need to go through a secondary screening at MNL. This was in T2. This involved all transit passengers being squeezed into a small room to identify their own check in luggage for it then to be opened and then manually checked by ground/security staff. Chaos would be an understatement, and those who had their luggage shrink/security wrapped were not happy when it had to unsealed to complete this check. They were then offered tape to manually reseal it. If you dont have a tight connection, you could be better off short checking your luggage to MNL then going through immigration and then checking in in departues (this can get very busy though).

Having spent alot of time in PH, these things are often completed much faster if you keep your cool and are friendly/respectfull to the staff. It became clear that those that were getting irate were not attended to quickly, and of course there was no real queing system in place. Also have printed paper copies of e-visa's, return tickets etc as you will be asked to show them at the gate regardless of whether or not they were verified at check in.

A350 Flat bed and service was excellent though.

RabbitohRob

I've been through 3 times this year, you're best bet is to give yourself an overnighter in Newport City. It avoids any stress from inevitable delays between flights. It makes it much more relaxing and less taxing.

BusinessElite25

Starting 16 June, all PAL intl flights will be using T1. This will make it a bit less of a hassle to transfer.. they use PAGSS (it might be called marhaba now) but all lounge in T1 mostly take priority pass and they are decent places to wait. T1 has improved a bit in the past 10 ish years but I don’t want to think how it will be when ALL flights (up till recently just US and Canada bound flights) are sharing the 12 gates

atlmom2022

thanks so much for this. Snagged a DPS-MNL-SYD for Apr 2024 and it is exactly what I needed - for such a nice price!
I have been navigating MNL airport for many years - used to the quirks, so I am mostly excited to be getting such a great deal to get to aussie!