Philippine Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

The never ending delayed flights of pal annoyed tf out of me! and not just 30 mins or 1 hr but more than 2 hours late. What pisses me off its not even due to weather condition or air traffic but because of their aircraft not arriving on time! i can forgive them if its just delayed once or twice but for the third time of my flight? and they give us bs reasons. Where is justice in letting the customers come early to check in and wait for more than 2 hours?! why can't we ask for a refund or compensation for this inconvenience? and when customers are late they can just leave and go?

Feb 26, caticlan to manila flight originally at 945am PR2044
1. delayed to 1pm of same day
2. no prior notice (e.g. by mobile)
3) lunch was served but the supplier was not able to deliver all packs - thus, some left without food. Additional waiting time for food packs 45 min and counting (as this is being written while waiting for the food)

Me and my wife are travelling together in this flight. we had three wonderful days in Boracay. PAL just ruined a very nice vacation. Another PAL flight is waiting for me (mla - bacolod 355pm same day - not I'm at risk of missing that)

It is just right for us to be given a refund. This should not be tolerated. Foreign guests would probably comprise half the flight. Such an embarrassing situation caused by a "flag carrier"

Please give me feedback through [protected]@gmail, com

12:45. Food arrived for the rest of the passengers, but wow, the water bottles are still incomplete so another wait for that.

I booked a flight last Feb 23 for Davao to Clark on March 10 for ₱2656. When I checked today Feb 25 the same flight I found out that the price is ₱1570. That's not fair that the price went down after 2 days. I can't rebook my flight for the same price, but I have to pay double. If I want a refund I have to pay. What kind of service is this, just getting money from customers? You should be fair. I want to rebook my flight for a lower price without additional payment since you did not have any announcement for change in prices. Not fair, really!

I arrived in sydney on Sunday 19/2/17...I put in a report that my luggages didn't come ..They traced it back to manilla ...now I can't understand why it is taking too long to be put on the next flight to sydney..I only have the clothes that I landed.it's now getting very frustrating why is it taking so long my report number is PİR AHL SYDTR10535.Can some one give me an answer please

Dear Sir/Madam

It is much to my regret to tell your good office that you lack system or process.I already book twice for the said flight manila-hongkong, macau-manila.However, I haven't received any eticket but I received confirmation number.Ano po ba ang problema na hindi nyo ma process.Moreover, na checked ko po na nabawasan na yung account sa bank.Na checked ko rin po na may promo kayo bakit naman po pag bumili sa inyong online e ndi nyo kayang ma-i-send kaagad ang eticket.

Hope to hear from you any moment and thank you very much.

Everald Garcia

We travelled with Philippine Air on January 2017 from Busuanga Airport to Manila. While doing our check in and bag drop we were disappointed to discover that we were asked to pay extra for anything over 10kg in luggage per person. This was shocking to us because when we initially booked these flights online (May 24 2016 Budget economy ticket - PHP 3545 per person) we called back and spoke to someone and they reassured us that if we paid an upgrade fee to a Regular Economy ticket (an extra PHP 448 per person) we could have 20kg per person. Naturally we took this offer up and made sure that we brought all the paperwork with us to the airport for the check in. Unfortunately, the staff at the airport told us that it was a mistake and that no one is allowed extra baggage unless paying the fee on the spot at the airport. Despite it being the fault of the customer service operator back in May, we were told that we had to to pay a very high PHP 3000 for the extra luggage! Again we were shocked and disappointed that even though it was Philippine Air's fault, we were still being asked to pay extra. But to make matters worse, we tried three times to reshuffle the bags to make the weight less and because the weight was just over (11.5kgs per bag) we were turned back and told we would still have to pay. We then asked the service counter if we could then get a refund for the extra fee we paid back in May (PHP 448 per person - we still don’t know what this fee is for?) given we were told the wrong thing and we were paying this fee for nothing. They told us that they couldn't refund anything and it was unlikely that we would ever get our money back. By this time we were very annoyed and frustrated and by the fourth try we were able to get our bags back down to 20kgs total (10kg each). But now we were taking a lot of bags on board! What a waste of time and energy this was for everyone! Either way the luggage was going onboard, and given they were the ones who made the mistake, they should have simply allowed us to check all original bags in!
Philippine Air staff were very rigid in helping us by declining our weight even though it was close to the 20kgs required for two people (NO OTHER AIRLINE IS THIS RIGID! - WE HAVE FLOWN AROUND THE WORLD OVER 30 COUNTRIES AND NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM!) We asked for grace with the baggage limit, but were plainly refused.
How many of us carry only 10kg each while travelling? Philippine Air should have the option of 20kg baggage check in, instead of charging per kg at an astronomical rate at the airport! BASICALLY ROBBING!

To whom it may concern,

I have always chosen PAL by choice whenever I fly to Cebu from Montreal, Canada because of its Safety record, Comfort, Food and in particular, the competence and courtesy of your entire flight staff. Recently, I purchased round trip tickets from/to Montreal to Cebu; However, on flight PR 0017 from Vancouver to Manila on December 13th, 2016, I had the worst airline related experience in my life for the following reasons.

1. I am a 69 year old male, weigh 215 lbs and am 6ft - 2in tall and enjoy the seat size & leg room in the economy class of the advertized BOEING 777 JET, especially for a 14 hour flight. As soon as I boarded the airplane, I realized that it was an Airbus and not the advertized BOEING 777 and the Airbus's seat and leg room was significantly smaller than that of the BOEING 777. The leg room was so small that my knees were pressing against the seat in front of me and very often, I had to place my legs in the aisle.

2. In addition, the interior condition of the Airbus was shabby & dingy which is so unlike other PAL commercial jets that are clean.

3. Adding to my frustration, all passengers were delayed by 3 hours due to a computer problem that the pilot discovered before departing Vancouver. This 3-hour delay coupled with the scheduled 14-hour flight caused the flight time to be 17 hours from Vancouver to Manila.

4. Arriving late in Manila, caused me to miss my scheduled PAL Domestic flight from Manila to Cebu which would have brought me into Cebu on December 15th, 2016 at around 8:15 AM local time. My fiancée who arrived at Cebu Mactan International to greet me had to wait until almost 11:00 AM before I finally arrived.

5. My return trip from Cebu to Montreal is scheduled to leave Cebu on flight PR 2850 on April 11th, 2017 at 10:30 AM local time.

I am seriously thinking about trying out Air China from Manila to Montreal via Beijing; however, as a loyal customer of PAL, I will remain a loyal customer if you have the professionalism to show me that you care about my verifiable ordeal and as such, upgrade my economy seat to at least a business class seat on my return flight from Manila to Vancouver.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Percher

[protected]@bell.net

My sons ticket number: [removed] flight 6th dec 2016 from london to auckland. Name - [removed]
My son boarded the flight from london to manila to find there was no on board entertainment and no way of charging his phone to play his own music, the flight was to be 13.45 hrs. The next flight was the same - this flight was was 12.15 hrs. There was no mention of this in any flight details. This is so archaic! For a long haul flight... This should be mentioned in flight details at least and seriously the airline needs to sort it out!
There was no mention of the stop over in australia from manila to nz either in any flight details - this was an added burden to his voyage!
We will not fly philippine airlines again - we travel frequently from nz to the uk as does our son... This was appalling - the airline shouldn't be allowed to do long haul flights in this century!
Sort it out, get with the times or at least notify people who are flying with you of the appalling service they will receive.

Dear PAL International Flights,

I just arrived from my trip, Singapore-Manila-Bacolod, when I found out that my cellphone Samsung cellphone (sorry that I cannot recall the model number, but I can find when needed).
My flight no. from Singapore-Manila is PR502. My seat no. 42C.
I am positive that I accidentally dropped my cellphone from my back pack when I pulled out my jacket when I was already seated inside the plane at seat no 42C.
My cellphone has a sim no. is Smart [protected].
Appreciate if PAL can locate it, since I have my contact numbers in it.

Thanks and regards,

Romeo M. Consolacion
Bacolod City, Philippines

contact no. +[protected]
email address: [protected]@yahoo.com

I cancelled my bookings to them from Manila -Cebu because my son got sick. Their rules is they will refund an deduct 2500 each passenger so I asked them if they could give me a receipt so that I can submit and get claims for for that 5000 pesos + the insurance I bought from them. I have emailed the CSR and they told me that they will only issue a receipt if you cancel it at any PAL office. It really sucks and the insurance I have bought from them does not even bother to reply my email. They are just fooling people and that PNB insurance is a total waste of money it is a SCAM. I know that PAL will not gonna do anything about this complaint but this is intended for the other people.

Booked a flight for Ceb-Lax vice versa. I tried to manage my booking online I cant go thru the website manage bookings.
Called the customer service requested for access to the there website using my reference number instead he help me to have my seat selection.
they cannot process my payment after an hour being on the phone with them. They told the best way i go to there ticketing office by Mactan airport which is open till 10pm. I asked 3x they are sure that they are open till 10pm and the CS rep assured me. I went to the airport office at 9.30pm to get surprise that the office is already close by 8.30pm.

such a waste of time and money. no coordination from the actual office to the customer service center?

It is you responsibility to update you front liner for any changes of your office hours. I have to skip my dinner at work just to get there.

We were booked flight PR721 on the 19th of November London to Manila. I got carsick on the way to the airport. While we were checking the luggages in (5 passengers) I was still feeling dizzy. A member of staff very kindly asked me what the problem was and I told her I was just feeling dizzy and sick but I just need to vomit to feel better. She accompanied me to the toilet and I vomitted. I felt a bit better after that but obviously not fully but I was sure that a bit more rest will make me feel well. So the staff told me to sit again while waiting for my family. Then this guy came and told my family that I cannot fly because I was sick!

I got up and asked why I am being held and he said because he saw me sick. I asked for a manager and he said he is the manager! I told him to call a doctor to assess me and he said there was no doctor on site, that he only spoke to the doctor over the phone. And I said why didn't he let me speak to the doctor at least on the phone and he said I wasn't allowed to! So how was I medically assessed by just his words?

He said that I have to stay, go home and go to my GP and ask for a medical certificate and then come back to be rebooked. He wouldn't even offer a hotel! It takes an hour for me to get to the airport. I begged and told him that I was feeling better but he just said no stonefaced!

It was a lot of stress and humiliation because even though I was trying to calm myself, it was very frustrating as Luis Torrente would never listen to my plea and people were looking at us but luckily other passengers understood my predicament that even a nurse and another passenger butted in.

In the end when I was able to contact my doctor who agreed to email Torrente (as per instruction) to confirm that I do not have an underlying medical condition and perfectly fit to fly, finally I was given the all clear but because it was boarding time in 20 minutes, we all had to run to catch it.

I booked this flight 6 months in advanced but Torrente just ruined the first part of it. I think this manager needs to be trained as he is not capable of dealing with customers/problems properly.

Last nov 23 2016 i flew from mazatlan mexico airport going to los angeles for my connecting flight to PAL flight PR103 going to manila. I had checked in 3 luggage wehrein i pay $145 for the luggage. Upon arriving in los angeles airport i picked up my luggage for custom checked then after that i drop it in luggage drop off wherein i ask the attendant if it the right place to drop going to manila phil. Under PAL flight PR103 and he say yes.. upon check-in for my boarding pass. The ground steward asked me where is my luggage and i told her i put all 3 luggage in the drop off place. She checked in system and she said. I have to charge u $110 for your luggage. So i pay it. Upon arriving to manila, i waited 30mins for my luggage but i couldnt find it. So lady came to me and told me "sir your luggage are still in los angeles" im so dissapointed. After paying $255 for my 3 luggage in 2flights they will tell me my luggage had missed the flight.. all my clothes and important stuff are inside my luggage. So i have to buy my personal clothes coz i have nothing for me to change which cost 2000pesos and on the same day me and my family are planing to booked for flight going to kalibo but it was canclled due to my luggage delayed. I would like your company to settle/ pay/refund the cost that i paid for my luggage, cost of personal clothes purchased cost 2000pesos because of your luggage delay. And no action taken within 24 hours, il make sure this will lead to legal action..

I am writing to file a complaint about an incidence that happened on November 11, 2016. We have a flight from Zamboanga to Manila at 0625Am. Due to emergency situation at home We arrived 0542AM at the airport. We were actually on the line when the PAL employee put the rope in front of us. I begged for my life to consider us since we are already on line for checked in, but they didn't show any consideration or sympathy for us. Because I missed that flight, I also missed my connecting flight abroad on that same day. I am supposed to start a job but lose my job instead. Because of PAL irresponsible and inhumane decision to close the door on us that day, somebody's life was ruin. Is that how PAL treat their customer?

I demand PAL should give us a refund and/ or be compensated for losing my job. I hope you will give this matter your utmost attention. Your reply is very much appreciated.

Thank you.
Annalyn Rasul

This is to follow up from the appalling level of service received even before we flew with Philippine Airways on Thursday 13 October.
I had booked myself, my wife and our two small children aged 7 months and 3 years business class seats for the night time flight from Manila to Sydney PR211. These were full price cash tickets for the trip of a lifetime we were taking from London, UK. I had logged in in the morning to check us in and chamged our seats from the randomly allocated ones to seats 2A, 2C and 1D, all being front row seats according to your seat plan to ensure we could sit with the children and have access to a bassinet for the baby. I had prior to this sent a number of requests to ensure that we had this available.
An email was sent to me on the morning of the flight telling me the flight would be an hour late arriving than first planned, but nothing about the flight being over booked.
We arrived at the airport over two hours before the flight in order to take advantage of the business lounge, feed the children and get them settled ahead of the flight. When we got to the check-in desk however, there was a note on the desk informing passengers that business class had been overbooked and asking for volunteers to downgrade their seats. We didn't pay attention to this as we knew it was not an option for us.
As we started to check in, the attendant seemed to get increasingly distressed and took a long time. She informed me she was struggling to place us all together, although she showed me on the screen that there were still places available in business class. As I waited, other travellers were checking in at the kiosks next to ours. After about 10 minutes she informed me that she was going to see her manager to check something. More time passed and I started asking other members of check in staff what was going on as my young daughter was getting increasingly hungry and ready for bed she usually sleeps @ 7.30 hence why we had booked this flight as we knew she would sleep on the flight. After almost an hour the attendant returned to say that there was only 2 seats in Bussiness and that one of us would have to sit in Economy. My daughter by now was crying a lot, there was nowhere I could go to feed her and she was getting increasingly upset.
I was starting to get angry and ask for the problem to be fixed again the attendant went away. Eventually she returned and I asked to speak to a manager to be told I couldn’t and that nothing could be done, we were offered a free return flight from Manila to Sydney. To me this is useless I live in London and could never use the ticket. By now my son was in tears as he knew I was upset, my daughter was screaming. Quite frankly the way we were treated was appalling and not what I would expect from a business class check-in at the carriers home airport. Whilst we were being kept waiting with no information, more and more people were checking in. Both of my children were visibly upset and only getting worse, no one offered to help or made any effort to pacify them, what should have been a happy time after all a 3 year old gets very excited to be on an aeroplane even without the business class service we expected was turning into a horrid unpleasant situation.
Eventually the manager of the airline emerged and continued to tell us there was nothing that he could do and was extremely unhelpful. By this time there was only one seat left in business class, and the time that we would have had in the lounge was gone. Whilst I and my wife were trying to ascertain what options were left to us, one of the attendants offered to find out whether anyone already allocated a business class seat would be willing to give it up; she came back to say that they were unable to offer this. In the meantime, the manager attempted to convince me to accept the "free" flights despite my repeatedly telling him they were of no use to me.

With not long left before the flight was due to leave, it was clear that neither our children's nor our distress or appalling customer service experience meant anything to this manager nor his staff. We had no choice but to accept the seats in economy class offered under the proviso that our flights from Manila to Sydney would be fully refunded for all 4 of us which the manager agreed. I felt we had no option if we wanted to get to Sydney than to accept the offer of a refund, However even at last minute he attempted to get me to sign an acceptance of the replacement Manila – Sydney- Manila flights; and we later found out that a couple of people had offered to give up their seats to us but hadn't been allowed to...

If I had wanted to travel economy I would have booked it I paid a huge premium to have the luxury of business, for what was a once in a lifetime experience.

We ended up being the last to board the flight having only gone to security 15 minutes before the scheduled departure, we were the last people on the plane by some considerable time, you could tell just how settled people were and from what I was told but the other passengers.

Even on the flight there were problems the seat we were promised that had the basinet for my 8 month old daughter didn’t fit, so my daughter was placed on the floor wrapped in my blanket, the aircraft was so cold, I have flown a lot and never been on a plane so cold, people had head scarfs on and were wrapped up like they were going outside. There was no entertainment system, ipads were offered to bossiness class but not to my wife or son sat in economy even though I asked for them they weren’t offered the business class meal that I had requested. I had booked a Childs business class meal for the flight so this should have been on board.

Name: mirven remu m. lavilla
Address: pob. 4, hamtic, antique
Agency: department of health regional office vi, iloilo city
Cp #: [protected]
flight date: october 23, 2016
Destination: manila to iloilo
r 2145

Exchange ticket: [protected]
Code: zyuhme

Dear sir/mam, i would like to request for an electronic copy of my boarding pass which i lost last october 23, 2016 after my arrival at iloilo international airport. i badly needed the electronic copy for my liquidation in my office.
Thank you very much and hoping for your kind consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Mirven remu m. lavilla

I’m writing to express my disappointment for my mother (mrs. pacita gomez) travelling this morning to dumaguete - pr2545/mnldgt/7nov

The mishandling of your passenger is really unacceptable, knowing that my mother have checked-in early for flight pr2545/mnldgt/7nov cause she just bought the ticket right before she checked-in, cause she had misconnection a day before.
Your check-in staff coded a wrong gate info (gate 131) at her boarding pass that leads her for a misconnection again!

As far as I know, for security reason:
1. it is the responsibility of the airline staff to at least check/look for a missing pax - my mom was within the vicinity, have checked-in 5hrs prior the flight and at the boarding gate on time.. whilst she keeps asking the staff around “when is the boarding starting?” and no one even directed her to the right gate?
2. her baggage was still on flight pr2545 mnldgt 7nov even if she’s not onboard – where is the security checks for this flight?

The fact that my mother is coming from a long haul flight (ex auh-mnl) she was very exhausted and now she’s claiming of high blood pressure due to the stress that she was been mishandled. walking back & fort at your office whilst isn’t her fault - just to do the re-booking, claim her baggage back.

The negligence of your staff that leads to a health risk for a passenger, I hope you will look at immediate investigation to this – your airline is very poor on security safety, I should say!

We are loyal to pal but not anymore after this incident!

on 9/29/2016 I call customer support/service we made rev for 22 pax a week ago for a trip in April 2017 my wife is have a family re-union we talk to the agent for more than 2 hours after getting all the information done with the first agent then to the 2nd agent and spell all the names (22 pax) and correcting the agent on mis-spell names for some stupid reason they drop my wife first name (btw she has 2 first name) i called them to let them know of THEIR ERROR and for them to fix it i will be charge $30 after fighting for 2 hours again i was call a LAIR i ask for all the names of the agent and was giving cartoon names can somebody please talk to me like a 3 year old and explain to me how in this Professional when ask to talk to a supervisor he or she didn't have the balls to talk to me. Again Philippine Airlines this is what you call Professional we spend over $2000 booking this flight for 22 seat and because your agent made the mis-take we have to pay for it and call a lair thanks...sad!

The incident happened yesterday August 19, 2016. I came from bacolod city, my flight schedule was 3:15pm and it was delayed for 5 hours. Then the flight was change to almost 8pm and i have a connecting flight from manila to dubai at 9:15pm. We arrived at manila around 9:30pm because of the bad weather. So, when we reach in the airport, there was no enough time to process this refund for terminal fee for ofw and there's nobody who assist us where to go. When we asked one of the airline staff, she was pointing us to a different person. And then the other staff was saying that the printer was not working properly until they announce that the filght to dubai was boarding. Then this one lady said, we can make the refund when we travel back again to philippines. Is there an expiration date on when we could get this refund?. If ever we will travel back after two year, still we can avail this? Please let us know the answer.

Thanks and regards.

Customer support for Philippine airlines sucks. I thought I was just hearing these from my friends and encounters. But experiencing this myself only proves that they live up to what others expectations that customer support for Philippines airlines is worse than ever. I made an error in booking my flight, this is because the website was so slow. So when I check the dates of my flight was not the correct date that I am supposed to fly. Called customer service right away. Waited for so long in the line. They said they will resolved but it didn’t. They trick you that made you a good deal and waived rebooking fees, but if you calculate the total fare, you are still paying rebooking fees for a short window of time that you made a booking. Other airlines consider refund, rebooking’s if it is still within 24hrs from the moment you purchased the ticket. But not with Philippine airlines. It’s frustrating, coz PAL would be my flag carrier but next time and for the rest of my future flights, I will not be taking PAL anymore, or even my work who booked flights with PAL. Will discouraged them to never take PAL again. Philippine Airlines should consider reviewing customer support.