First ever (thriller in) Manila trip ... 1 trip; 2 classes; 2 hotels
Jun 25, 2016, 8:18 pm
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,677
Sorry for the delay in posting. I had totally forgotten about it finishing it!!! If do forget to post (which could happen!) you can probably find it on my globetrekka blog.
Apologies once again and enjoy the business class leg
SQ921 MNL-SIN
December 2015
A333
Class: Business
Estimated duration: 3hr 15mins
Scheduled Departure: 19:00
Actual Departure: 19:47
Scheduled Arrival: 22:45
Actual Arrival: 23:08
Plane registration: 9V-SSC
I had been warned to prepare for the awful traffic and leave for the airport early. So I left the hotel at 4pm – the 3 hour gap my friends had told me about. Of course there was some traffic, but actually it only took 30 mins to get there!!
The taxi dropped my off at door 1, and driver didn’t help with my luggage. In fact it was almost as if he wanted me to pay him just to open the boot. In any case I did it all myself, paid him, and he went on his way.
Now for a piece of advice, if you are travelling PAL your check in desks are at Door 1 (maybe 2 and 3 as well). There is a security screening taking place at the door — X rays and so on. Doors 1 – 3 had pretty impressive queues. To avoid them, just go to Door 4 or beyond. The queues are much shorter, and there is no restriction on where you can go once you have been through the security.
If you happen to have a lot of luggage, you can hire a porter for about PHP50 — roughly US$1. I actually think it’s quite a reasonable offer. As I only had one check in bag and a carry on, I had no need for it. My colleague who used the porters on his recent trip, said that once they got through into the terminal; they hung around until he paid them a tip.
And this was the lovely picture that greeted me at the entrance to the check in counters.
Check in was smooth and relatively painless. In fact when I checked in, it became apparent that the other people at the business class check in were checking in for the earlier flight. So no rush for me at all.
At the check in desks I saw an advert for the new Premium Economy Class seats. I don’t think that they’re available on regional flights, but it was probably just letting everyone know that they could book these seats on the long haul leg of their journey. Not tried them before. I would prefer to redeem miles on business or first rather than spend money on Premium Economy.
After checking in, I wander around the land side of the airport for about 10 minutes trying to see if there was anything of note to look at. Basically there was nothing. So instead I just headed into the immigration and customs check. What is particularly interesting is that the queue for Philippines passport holders is much much longer than it is for foreign passports. As usual I used the APEC queue and after the one guy who seemed to take ages got cleared it was pretty quick for me to get through.
Now here is where I have a small beef with customs in Manila. They insisted that I was not allowed to take an empty plastic bottle larger than the 100ml allowance (which in fairness is their security policy). I understand that airport security doesn’t want liquids or gels in the bottles, but an empty one? Seems they are the only airport in the world that doesn’t allow empty plastic bottles to be brought in. They better be recycling cause there were a lot of plastic bottles in there!!!!!
After passing through immigration and then customs, I made my way to the business class lounge. It is near gate 115 (the gate I was departing from). And you get to it either by waiting for a lift or taking the stairs. Before I got the lounge, I managed to catch a sneak peak of the 1710 departure after it was being pushed back.
The SilverKris lounge in Manila is another of the new-concept lounge that has been rolled out across the network. It’s a bit confusing, some regular travellers to that airport could let me know, but it appears that it was due to open in March 2015, but ended up opening in July 2015. Below are a bunch of the photos I took of the lounge
The food was supposed to be a mix of Singaporean and Filipino specialities. The food here wasn’t too bad actually. I took photos of the individual food items but have chosen not to put them here to reduce picture overload!
There was Singaporean chicken curry, stir fried vegetables (which didn’t look that appealing – looked more stewed than stir fried), Pork Sinigang (I really liked this — had several helpings) and there was a pasta/rice option. Also on offer was an array of fruits, nachos, salads and sandwiches.
Unfortunately my stomach was playing up so I didn’t try any of the alcohol. Didn’t want to risk an accident on the plane!
At about 6.30 (i.e. half an hour before departure) there was an announcement in the lounge that our flight was delayed and that we should remain in the lounge until called. In fact it wasn’t until after 7 that we finally got called to the departure gate (115) which was very close to the lounge.
Upon reaching the gate I realised that the rest of the plane had already been boarded. It is something that I really haven’t got used to as I don’t really travel premium class that often. In fact I initially thought that I had been sent to the wrong gate!
When I finally got on the plane, it turned out to be almost empty in business class. Other than two business people who sat next to each other, every passenger had their own pair of seats to themselves, and there were still a number of empty seats
And, as usual, SQ had got into the festive mood by adorning the cabin. I couldn’t get a great picture as the back light was making it difficult to focus on something as primitive as my iPhone.
The flight stewardess came round to take our orders, and at the same time mentioned that the menu that had been loaded was not the same as the food that had been loaded. No matter, the options for the flight also included the roast turkey, which is what I wanted in any case!
After my dinner, I watched a movie (finishing Furious 7 that I had started on the way out) and eased back in my chair. Although not fully flat, it was comfortable enough for the purposes this short trip.
There’s not much to say about the arrival at Changi. Really that actually is a good thing. Immigration and luggage collection is so smooth that you almost don’t notice it.
Comments always welcome!!
You can find the outbound and inbound report here
Apologies once again and enjoy the business class leg
SQ921 MNL-SIN
December 2015
A333
Class: Business
Estimated duration: 3hr 15mins
Scheduled Departure: 19:00
Actual Departure: 19:47
Scheduled Arrival: 22:45
Actual Arrival: 23:08
Plane registration: 9V-SSC
I had been warned to prepare for the awful traffic and leave for the airport early. So I left the hotel at 4pm – the 3 hour gap my friends had told me about. Of course there was some traffic, but actually it only took 30 mins to get there!!
The taxi dropped my off at door 1, and driver didn’t help with my luggage. In fact it was almost as if he wanted me to pay him just to open the boot. In any case I did it all myself, paid him, and he went on his way.
Now for a piece of advice, if you are travelling PAL your check in desks are at Door 1 (maybe 2 and 3 as well). There is a security screening taking place at the door — X rays and so on. Doors 1 – 3 had pretty impressive queues. To avoid them, just go to Door 4 or beyond. The queues are much shorter, and there is no restriction on where you can go once you have been through the security.
If you happen to have a lot of luggage, you can hire a porter for about PHP50 — roughly US$1. I actually think it’s quite a reasonable offer. As I only had one check in bag and a carry on, I had no need for it. My colleague who used the porters on his recent trip, said that once they got through into the terminal; they hung around until he paid them a tip.
And this was the lovely picture that greeted me at the entrance to the check in counters.
Check in was smooth and relatively painless. In fact when I checked in, it became apparent that the other people at the business class check in were checking in for the earlier flight. So no rush for me at all.
At the check in desks I saw an advert for the new Premium Economy Class seats. I don’t think that they’re available on regional flights, but it was probably just letting everyone know that they could book these seats on the long haul leg of their journey. Not tried them before. I would prefer to redeem miles on business or first rather than spend money on Premium Economy.
After checking in, I wander around the land side of the airport for about 10 minutes trying to see if there was anything of note to look at. Basically there was nothing. So instead I just headed into the immigration and customs check. What is particularly interesting is that the queue for Philippines passport holders is much much longer than it is for foreign passports. As usual I used the APEC queue and after the one guy who seemed to take ages got cleared it was pretty quick for me to get through.
Now here is where I have a small beef with customs in Manila. They insisted that I was not allowed to take an empty plastic bottle larger than the 100ml allowance (which in fairness is their security policy). I understand that airport security doesn’t want liquids or gels in the bottles, but an empty one? Seems they are the only airport in the world that doesn’t allow empty plastic bottles to be brought in. They better be recycling cause there were a lot of plastic bottles in there!!!!!
After passing through immigration and then customs, I made my way to the business class lounge. It is near gate 115 (the gate I was departing from). And you get to it either by waiting for a lift or taking the stairs. Before I got the lounge, I managed to catch a sneak peak of the 1710 departure after it was being pushed back.
The SilverKris lounge in Manila is another of the new-concept lounge that has been rolled out across the network. It’s a bit confusing, some regular travellers to that airport could let me know, but it appears that it was due to open in March 2015, but ended up opening in July 2015. Below are a bunch of the photos I took of the lounge
The food was supposed to be a mix of Singaporean and Filipino specialities. The food here wasn’t too bad actually. I took photos of the individual food items but have chosen not to put them here to reduce picture overload!
There was Singaporean chicken curry, stir fried vegetables (which didn’t look that appealing – looked more stewed than stir fried), Pork Sinigang (I really liked this — had several helpings) and there was a pasta/rice option. Also on offer was an array of fruits, nachos, salads and sandwiches.
Unfortunately my stomach was playing up so I didn’t try any of the alcohol. Didn’t want to risk an accident on the plane!
At about 6.30 (i.e. half an hour before departure) there was an announcement in the lounge that our flight was delayed and that we should remain in the lounge until called. In fact it wasn’t until after 7 that we finally got called to the departure gate (115) which was very close to the lounge.
Upon reaching the gate I realised that the rest of the plane had already been boarded. It is something that I really haven’t got used to as I don’t really travel premium class that often. In fact I initially thought that I had been sent to the wrong gate!
When I finally got on the plane, it turned out to be almost empty in business class. Other than two business people who sat next to each other, every passenger had their own pair of seats to themselves, and there were still a number of empty seats
And, as usual, SQ had got into the festive mood by adorning the cabin. I couldn’t get a great picture as the back light was making it difficult to focus on something as primitive as my iPhone.
The flight stewardess came round to take our orders, and at the same time mentioned that the menu that had been loaded was not the same as the food that had been loaded. No matter, the options for the flight also included the roast turkey, which is what I wanted in any case!
After my dinner, I watched a movie (finishing Furious 7 that I had started on the way out) and eased back in my chair. Although not fully flat, it was comfortable enough for the purposes this short trip.
There’s not much to say about the arrival at Changi. Really that actually is a good thing. Immigration and luggage collection is so smooth that you almost don’t notice it.
Comments always welcome!!
You can find the outbound and inbound report here
