I often travel to the Philippines, usually with Cathay or Singapore. This time, because of the Olympics, everything was snatched. The only flight from Melbourne to Manila is a red eye, the frequent flyer program is not associated with OneWorld / Star Alliance, and I read a lot of negative reviews, so I was very reluctant to fly with PhilAir.

First, the bad things: the logistics. In the age of e-tickets, PhilAir has ones, but they are not issued, you just hope they wouldn't lose your ticket. (In fact, their boarding passes were printed on Qantas blanks.) There is no online check-in, of course, and the company routinely overbooks its flights, so 3 and a half hours before the flight the queue was already very long. Luckily, everything worked.

It turns out that it is very easy to get an emergency exit seat, unlike in other airlines - you just ask. Most PA flyers are either unaware or even reluctant to take these seats. So I had no problems obtaining ones.

The flight itself left on time. The plane was fairly new Airbus A340. The food was served nearly immediately, complete with hygienic towelettes. The flight attendants were helpful and courteous. I read some reviews that Filipinos are discriminated against the foreigners by the staff. I didn't notice anything like this.

As a courtesy, the passengers are distributed socks, a toothbrush and a toothpaste.

The food was so so, but edible. The entertainment system are shared screens, some of which did not work.

After the food has been served, all the flight attendants disappeared. No water or juice was offered, and I had to go and ask a sleeping staff to get one.

We arrived on time. Centennial terminal of NAIA was just OK.

The flight back was more or less the same and also on time, but the sound in the entertainment system did not work, so it was switched off.

I would say it's not as bad as most people describe it, but still, of course, given a choice, I'd use a better alternative.