Philippine Airlines Reviews 486

I am forced to give a one-star. If there was another option, this would have been a NEGATIVE STAR.
Changed planes several times; my payment for preferred seats were disregarded. We were assigned seats to Timbuktu. Lucky, we were not assigned the comfort room. AWFUL AIRLINE!!!! No disregard for the customer!!!!

I recently flew with Philippine Airlines and was extremely disappointed by the lack of clear communication regarding baggage allowances. I was not informed that my flight had a zero luggage allowance, only to later discover that I would be charged per kilogram—a cost that ultimately exceeded the price of the ticket itself.

What made this situation even more frustrating was that on another segment of my journey (from Cebu to my destination), I was allowed a 10-kilogram baggage allowance. This inconsistency left me feeling misled and inconvenienced.

Clear, upfront information about baggage policies is crucial for a smooth travel experience. I believe Philippine Airlines should take immediate steps to improve transparency and ensure that all passengers are fully aware of any additional costs before booking. I hope my experience prompts a review of these policies so that future travelers can avoid similar frustrations.

Sincerely,

Max lewenhaupt

I flew Sydney to Manila in business class. It was with Wamos Air. They were doing a wet hire agreement, and providing the service for Phillipines Airlines. Wamos is a Spanish airline. A sick passenger was brought onto the plane just before take off. During the flight, two family members from the economy section stood in the aisle for the majority of the flight, bumping against me. I raised this with the attendants, they said they would ask them to move but didn’t. The worst part was when the family decided to change the sick ladies nappy, as she could not go to the bathroom. They did not cover her and exposed her from the waste down. At this time I pressed the bell for the attendant. They came down and did nothing. So apparently in Phillipines Business class you now get to watch a sick person have their nappy changed? Terrible experience. I looked at the PA approval for a sick passenger to fly, and it clearly asks if their travel will upset, disrupt, disturb others. I have no idea why Wamos or Phillipines airlines would have allowed her on the flight. It was clear she could not go to the bathroom. And, I nearly forgot, apparently cold food is appropriate to be served in business class…. Terrible flight! I emailed them and got a simple apology…. But I’m really not sure what more they could do, the damage was done!

1st and foremost, No long wait for the customer service. Answered all queries, explained everything clearly and solved the problem
Very knowledgeable, well trained and courteous

With Wamos Air replacing Philippine Airlines from SYD-MNL to MNL-SYD and originally having premium economy they had 2 of us upgraded into Business class and the other 2 passengers were in Economy. It took such a long time to get the money which was originally meant to be given at the gate before boarding but wasn't actually given until we arrived in Manila with 1 ground staff waiting for us to guide us through arrivals.

Flying from MNL-HND to HND-MNL was a great flight but only having one toliet in Economy which was at the very back of the plane. We would be at the back of the plane for very long time and made it hard for staff to work at the back as there was so many people waiting to go to the bathroom.

From MNL-SYD, the bag weighed 33kg and made us move 1kg into another bag. It was so chaotic as we had to get the bags checked for drugs as per Australian regulations and checked again for weight. It would be nice to know that the maximum for the bags is 32kg

Every time I try to book an "award" ticket on PAL they come up with some reason why I can't use miles on a specific flight. First off, their website is horrible to use and find info. Once you have wasted your time trying to navigate that nightmare, they inform you that you have to call AND complete a form??? WTF??? So, I bit the bullet and called only to have their CS person inform me that of the 35 business class seats available on the 777ER, only 4 of them are allocated for MM awards and there are NONE available (this is 3 months in advance of the flight). WHAT A TOTAL SCAM. So, after years of travel on PAL to accrue miles for award travel, the miles are unusable. Avoid this airline at all costs. They dupe you with lower priced business class tickets but their business class is really not good at all (old planes and worn-out seats) and the supposed benefit of accruing mileage turns out to be worthless. I'm done with PAL.

I’ve flown with pal many times but recently flew with philippine airlines again during jan 2025. In economy class, it was terrible. Check in was a mess and took around 1.5hours bec despite online check in, you still had to line up in the same line as those who havent, so it was pointless. Personnel also said different things so it was confusing. There was no inflight entertainment.. there was but you have to use your phone and it just kept loading so basically none. Some seats had tvs. Overall not a good experience.

A few days after, i flew business class. Check in was faster. Lounge was new but not great. Plane was small. Didnt have inflight entertainment but again on phone. I asked about it then they offered an ipad.. but flight attendant forgot. Had to ask twice for it. I also asked for water with the assigned attendant and it was also forgotten. I was already in business class and service was still not good. We were only 12 in that cabin.

Overall i wouldnt recommend this plane. I take it just bec of the flight time.

2025 and still worst customer care. Cares only for profit at the expense of customers. Or probably it's just me and my family who are the unfortunate victims of PAL. We had previous unfavorable incident with PAL 2 years ago which was never resolved and we wasted a lot of money & tears. We tried to give PAL another go this year but guess that was a major foolish decision on our part. Slap on our face like telling us "you never learned your lesson."

My husband's flight from manila to seattle was supposed to be at 10:35pm last January 5th. He was at the airport more than 3hrs before the flight for check-in (and this was booked already way ahead of time, he was not a chance passenger). When he arrived at the counter, he was told to wait. He waited until 10:35pm! Meaning he missed his flight. Why? Because according to their manager it is their right to bump out passengers during peak season coz the LAW allowed PAL to book more than 10% of its capacity. Tbh, I don't get how this is beneficial to passengers. My husband plus few others were the unfortunate ones who got bumped out without their consent. And sadly, (unless probably you are a prominent person or relative of the airline owner) there's nothing u can do but rant and vent your frustration and anger. My husband was desperate to get into that flight coz he has work next day. Given the situation, he has no choice but to be absent. To add insult to injury or confusion & frustration, the PAL manager was without remorse when talking to them. Insisting that it's the law! He was telling my husband he understood his situation and kept insisting that he go back and read the RULES rather than listening to their concerns. The people were agitated already which was a normal reaction at that time, but rather than pacifying he as a manager was being defensive & unapologetic.

On the other hand, the people in PAL office who helped rebooking (coz my husband really had no choice) were genuinely nice, patient, understanding & sympathetic of the situation of the passengers. But then again, i know this review won't matter coz seems like PAL is used to these complaints. But for customers planning to fly PAL, please spare yourself unnecessary heartache, hassle, stress & financial loss. To those who always had pleasant experience with PAL, good for you. But for me & my family, it's a battle we will never win and the only thing we can do is share our experience for awareness and NEVER FLY PAL AGAIN....

I booked with Philippine Air because, as the national airlines operator, i believed they would have superior customer service to other local operators. Their website boasts of their Customer Service Care. Unfortunately, this isn't the reality. Schedules change and i accept this. Unfortunately, Philippine Air doesn't inform passengers when there is a scheduled change. So you make your travel plans believing you are in safe hands, when in reality they don't care about their customers. Maybe it will be better when i actually manage to fly with them? They have offered alternative flights but they fail to understand what they have offered doesn't work with the other flights and hotels booked. I will now suffer financially and suffer a shorter holiday all because they don't communicate schedule changes to paid flights. They make me incur extra costs this time but i won't fly with them again. "Failure to perform service including schedule changes" is in the Notice of Incorporated Terms.

They charged us for business class, then changed the plane and said the new plane does not have business class for the first trip, they compensated us (I did give them one star); however, for the return flight, they cancelled our flight, lied about the reason, changed the plane (no business class), and refused to compensate us. They blamed the cancellation and plane change on the eruption; however, every other airline in the airport flew out on time to the same destination all around the same time.

This airline lies and cheats. I would not recommend and I will never fly this airline again. I would pay double to fly on a different airline.

It's a shame because this is supposed to be the flagship of the Philippines; with this type of behavior from the airline that bears the namesake as the beautiful county, it will only destroy the reputation of the Philippines.

PA does FA for their clients
Not happy.
They changed our flight itinerary 4 times since we booked our original flight plans
If we could give zero stars, we would

I booked with Expedia for TD for flights from Ho Chi Minh city to Manila and then to Toronto on April 9th., 2025. I reserved two seats for me and my wife in the middle row with one aisle seat. Today, Dec 14, 2024 I received emails from Philippine Airlines informing that our flight schedules have been changed and worse of all our previously chosen seats have been changed. They put both of us in the middle seats instead of aisle seats. We logged in their website to see that the aisle seats are still available but they wanted to charge about $29 extra. We are senior people and the reason we chose the aisle seat in the first place so that we would minimize the disruption to other passengers when we have to go to the bathroom. If I know in advance how horrible this Philippine Airlines is, based on so many negative reviews, I would never booked a flight with them. We do hope that their customer service will be improved in the future.

Add note: I have received a reply from Philippine Airlines on December 17th, 2024 explaining that the seat re assigned was due to operational necessity or schedule changed. But as I indicated in my original review, the aisle seat that was booked by me before is still available but for an extra cost of $29; it's so obvious that Philippine Airlines just wanted to make some extra money from us. This is so low a management style on the part of Philippine Airlines. I am looking for a reconsideration from them to give us back the aisle seat without charging extra for it 🙏

I wanted to share my nephew's recent experience traveling with WestJet and a connecting flight to the Philippines. We had such a pleasant time in Edmonton, thanks to the friendly service from the WestJet agents, particularly Mindy, who was so kind and helpful. However, the experience changed dramatically when my nephew arrived in Vancouver. For the first time, he was unexpectedly charged $100 for extra weight on his hand luggage. After he paid this fee, they then asked him to bring checked luggage as well, which was quite confusing.

When I reached out to the agent for clarification and asked for her name, she told me it wasn’t necessary to know it, which felt very unprofessional and disappointing. Given the significant cost of the $2,800 flight ticket, this made the whole experience feel undervalued. My family’s trust in Philippine Airlines has certainly been shaken, and we are now considering Air Canada for our future travels.

It’s disheartening to think how such situations can impact travelers, especially during the busy Christmas season. I truly hope that airlines, including yours, can find ways to ensure better communication and service for all passengers. We appreciate the consistent customer service provided by Air Canada, and I hope our feedback helps in making improvements for future travelers.Attention to AGIDELA

Truly the worst customer service that you will ever experience from an airline. Wasted hours trying to contact them via their website, messenger and email and can't get any response or when I get an email back, they tell me to use their website which I already told them doesn't work which is why I'm contacting them so just keep going around in circles, getting nowhere

After being delayed for several hours, PR118 to YYZ was cancelled at 10:50 PM on 11/22/2024. The airline did reschedule our flight for 10:00 AM the following morning but the ground staff was unbelievably disorganized, they only got us settled in our assigned hotel @ 2:30AM. We needed to be back in NAIA in 4 1/2 hours to make our (rescheduled) flight so that allowed us zero rest. To make things worse, PAL did not even think of providing us with dinner, they NEGLECTED that BASIC NECESSITY!! When we reported that dinner was not provided, the airline's response was two breakfast vouchers!! We needed food during that stressful and exhausting night they cancelled our flight. PAL already caused us so much distress with the cancellation, neglecting to feed us at the time when it was needed most, is just MORALLY WRONG, it's dehumanizing.
PAL owes passengers of PR118 compensation for not providing enough notice on the flight cancellation, that is according to PAL's Terms and Conditions.

Scam airline! Do not fly with them!

On the 30th of October I wanted to fly from Coron/Busuanga (USU) to NAIA (MNL) with my girlfriend because she had an important appointment the following day. I paid 33610 PHP for flights MNL - USU and back for 2 persons and the first flight went well but the second (worth half of it (16805 PHP) didnt:
After we had been waiting one hour right at the gate, our flight got cancelled due to "bad weather conditions" (it was a bit rainy and ALL the other Airlines were starting and landing and serving the same route during the same daytime so at least for the others it was no big deal).
Every other flight to NAIA was full, so we had to switch to Sunlight Air immidiately and fly to Clark (CRK) four hours later and then use the bus to Pasay City where the appointment was and where we stayed over night.
So far so bad. After reaching out to the customer service I got an answer from some "Jana" (case no. 01289595) who really had the audacity to charge me a "refund service fee" of 2000 PHP per passenger and a "late cancellation fee" of 1500 PHP per passenger (which would be 7000 PHP in total for THEIR fault that the flight did not take place). I disagreed and referred to their own customer policy which says that customers get the full refund if the flight is cancelled by PAL and not by the customers.
Then I got an answer from a person named "Knox" who agreed with me and told me to give me my whole refund.
First I thought everything is going to be okay, but the following days when I checked my credit card I just got a refund of 200 PHP and not 16805 PHP as expected.
I reached out to them again but the case was already closed at the same moment I have got their last answer, not even waiting for me to approve if the refund really arrived, so I opened up another case (case no. 01325508).
Then I got an answer from some "Monique" who just told me that the refund can take up to 3 weeks and she blamed the bank for the whole delay. As a former fraud and scam investigator I immediately knew that this was a lie because the mysterious 200 PHP that reached me took only one business day to get refunded to me. I wanted to answer again but again my case was closed immediately. I reached out a third time and got again an incompetent answer from "Monique" who blamed the banks again and then closed the case (case no. 01345507) again before waiting for me affirming that the money has been refunded.
Right now I opened up my fourth case at the customer service and I am writing an official complaint to the CEO because the customer service is hell of a shithole. Nobody cares and there are only incompetent people who do not wanna help you but scam you!

I warn everybody from flying with this airline! You will lose a lot of money! PAL ist a big scam!

@PAL: You still owe me 16605 PHP! Pay it back or I bring you to court!

WORST AIRLINE, DO NOT USE THEM

I paid 300 Australian for my flight from Brisbane to Bali and due to illness could not take the flight, I cancelled and asked for refund 24 hours before and my ticket is flexible! And they wanted to charge me 1000$ to reschedule even when my flight is flexible option

They are shady people, really useless customer service and extremely rude!

Honestly, Do not waste your money and time

Plus I’m still fighting for a refund and they say they will “contact me” in 90 days which is ridiculous

Worst airline customer service! What kind of airline asks a customer to provide a medical certificate just to get a refund for a canceled flight? After submitting the certificate, they ignore you. Their customer service is terrible, and they give inconsistent answers to your questions without any justification. They even charge a rebooking fee, even if you rebook within 24 hours. This is the worst airline ever!

I recently booked a flight with Philippine Airlines, only to realize shortly after that their prices were significantly higher than those of other airlines. Within the 24-hour booking window, I decided to request a refund. While the customer service was polite, it felt robotic and lacked genuine care.

To my surprise, they informed me that processing the refund would take up to 90 DAYS. That’s beyond unreasonable! Additionally, they charged approximately £30 per passenger, which is nearly a third of the ticket price. This “refund fee” is excessive, and the lengthy wait time makes the process even more frustrating.

Overall, I’m very disappointed with Philippine Airlines’ approach. The experience felt exploitative, and I’ll think twice before choosing them again.

They canceled my flight. I had to book one the day before which left me with over 24 hours layover in Manila and added extra stop to my flight. I was left stranded and they refused to refund my change of ticket, I had to argue with them on the phone for 3 hours just to get to a manager and it also took 4 hours to just change my ticket. It took them several hourly calls of giving me the run around and blowing me off. They were intentionally referencing incorrect flights. Absolute incompetence and just a greedy corporation. Use someone else if you are able.