Philippine Airlines flies directly from Perth to Manila, facilitating an easy direct flight option for Western Australia’s seeking to explore the 7,000+ islands of the Philippines and their many natural wonders that await eager travellers.
We decided to try the national carrier for the first time for our trip to the Philippines in February 2024. Read on for all you need to know and what to expect when flying from Perth to Manila with Philippine Airlines (PAL).
Flight Details
The Perth-Manila direct flight first took to the skies in March 2023. The three-weekly service flies into Perth on Monday, Thursday and Saturday at the time of writing.
This direct flight takes just over 7 hours, which offers an attractive time saving compared to alternatives that include a stopover in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
We booked a return Perth – Manila – Perth ticket which saw us hop aboard:
- PR224 from Perth to Manila, with a 09:00 departure and 16:20 arrival
- PR223 from Manila to Perth, with a late-night 00:05 departure and 07:25 arrival
We booked these flights about 4 weeks before our planned travel to the Philippines in February 2024, and unfortunately, flight prices had gone up a few hundred dollars from when I’d checked a week or so before.
We paid AUD $1,200 per person for economy return flights in peak travel season in the Philippines.
At the time of writing in March 2024, booking a few months in advance seems to yield flight fares starting from around $769 return in off-peak season. At the time of booking, we could have booked flight-only fares (e.g. excluding luggage, seats and meals which are all included with PAL) with Scoot for around $600 each.
As to be expected, flying on the only direct flight, and with a full-service carrier, does attract a premium compared to other flight alternatives.
Check-In Process
Arriving at Perth International Airport at 7 am before our planned 9 am departure, we were greeted with a reasonable check-in line.
While waiting in line for 10 minutes, we were asked to fill in the online e-travel registration form. Interestingly at immigration in Manila, we were not asked to present our completed form and QR code, but it is stated as an entry requirement for the Philippines.
We checked in our bags, with economy passengers receiving a generous 30 kg, received our boarding passes and were on our way.
At this time of the day with no other international departures, Perth Airport was empty! Unlike our recent night time flights, we breezed through immigration and security and were sitting by our gate less than 10 minutes after checking in.
Boarding
Boarding began early at 08:15, with the plane fully boarded and ready for take-off at 08:40. Delays on the ground meant we took off 15 minutes behind schedule, but made up time in the air, to land on schedule in Manila.
Flight Comfort & Seats
Philippine Airlines is using its long-range Airbus 321neo planes which have a small business class cabin of 12 lie-flat seats in a 2-2 configuration, along with 156 economy class seats in a 3-3 arrangement on this narrow bodied plane.
Seat selection was free for window and middle seats, but a fee was payable for aisle seats. However, we could select an aisle seat for free at online check-in from 24 hours before the flight.
With a 32” pitch and 18” width, the seats were comfortable enough for this 7-hour flight, even for my long-legged husband. A pillow, blanket and earphones were provided.
Seat Selection Tip: Avoid row 74, the last row on the right side of the plane. The toilet door opens directly across the aisle from you.
Entertainment
This flight has in-flight entertainment in the seat back. The screens were modern and responsive and had a good selection of the latest box office movies.
There was in-flight WiFi available, however, it wasn’t free for economy passengers so I didn’t get a chance to try it.
Meal
Breakfast was served on the flight to Manila given the 09:00 departure time. With a choice of chicken adobo or bacon and eggs, I chose the Filipino meal which was tasty, albeit a bit small.
Not long after breakfast was cleared, all lights in the cabin were dimmed and passengers seated at the window were asked to close the windows.
Personally, I found this quite strange for a flight in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, if like me, you don’t want to spend the day napping, it makes you feel quite disorientated spending the majority of your day in darkness!
There was no other food served until closer to landing when a light snack was served. About halfway into the flight, around lunchtime, I was quite peckish and after a long wait when pressing the call bell, I asked the flight attendant if there were any other snacks.
She came back with a small packet of Filipino dried peas and mango, plus some leftover bread rolls from breakfast. Needless to say, the latter wasn’t particular appealing and remained in my seat pocket!
So my advice is to bring snacks with you to tide you over, since there is no proper lunch served onboard.
With 90 minutes to go, the lights were finally turned back on and hot refreshment towels were served alongside a savoury lamb empanada-type pastry and a small muffin.
Final Verdict
The flight went smoothly, and the service was punctual, if not overly friendly.
Despite being a small single-aisle plane (which was full on our flight to Manila), the seating was comfortable for economy and more roomy than low-cost carrier alternatives we could have flown with.
In summary, the direct flight is very convenient and commands a premium accordingly. However, spending the entire flight in darkness during a daytime flight was very disorientating, and the meal that was served was tasty but small, with no options for passengers like myself who felt peckish around lunchtime.
One last tip: if you’re getting the return flight PR 223 from Manila to Perth, be warned that full water bottles will be confiscated or emptied at additional security screening at the gate. There are no water fountains in the waiting area after screening, which is my personal pet peeve in airports!
All in all, the flight went smoothly and saved us at least three hours from having a transit stop. The flight appears quite popular, as both our flight to and from Manila was quite full, so book in advance to take advantage of lower fares.
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I believe they dimmed the lights was so that passengers would feel like the need to sleep and so that way they can skip lunch and give a small snack towards the hand – so the 2 main negatives of your flight probably go hand in hand.
would make sense! except for those of us that want to stay awake at lunchtime haha