Michi Photostory

Manila - Sydney - Manila was our first long-haul flight via Philippine Airlines, other airlines that we have tried for long-haul flights are Qatar Airways and Thai Airways. So I was curious if there will be a difference in Philippine Airlines long-haul flights because we only experienced their short-haul and medium-haul flight. If you’ve read my post about our Vietnam flight, nadisappoint ako sa food. 

Moving on, let me reminisce about our Manila to Sydney to Manila flight via Philippine Airlines. As per our ticket, here is the travel time but during our trip, we traveled in less than 8 hours. 

At the time of our flight, I was surprised when there was a Security Check before going to the check-in counter. We were required to open all our check-in bags; the staff wiped something on our stuff and put it in a machine before we were given a “Security Checked” sticker. 

Checking in is fast, unfortunately, we can’t choose seats na so we settled sa last row na lang. The advantage is, I can recline my seat na hindi ko ginagawa kung wala ko sa last row. The disadvantage is naubusan kami ng food. I wanted the beef + pasta pero naubusan na so for our entire row, we all received chicken meal. 

Our seats have monitor na, unlike sa ibang experience namin na “myPAL Player” lang meron. Pero kapag minalas ka nga naman, sira pa yung headset na nabigay sa akin. I did not bother to request a new one because I prefer to sleep. 

They provided an overnight kit too, the kit includes socks, an eye mask, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.

After a few hours of sleeping, we were given a hot towel and then morning snacks. I was expecting a breakfast meal just like my experiences with other airlines but I was wrong. I did not eat this sandwich and natapon lang. Yes, bawal kasi maglabas ng food from the airplane.

Keep in mind that there are restrictions in Australia so make sure you do your own research and always declare if you brought something from their list. Here is a sample of the declaration form. 

We arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, three hours before our flight but Philippine Airlines counter was still closed, sabay-sabay halos yung flight pa Manila kaya ang gulo sa pila and sobrang crowded ng airport. 

Immigration is via e-gate, mas mabilis pero matatagalan ka rin if ever nagkaproblem sa pagscan ng passport yung mga nasa unahan mo or ikaw mismo ang hindi maread passport. Natagalan kami dito, mas prefer ko yung may tao na nagcheck ng passport. 

And because of that, nagmamadali na kami so hindi ko man lang gaano naexplore yung Sydney Airport, parang kumain lang and mabilisang bili ng souvenirs then boarding gate na. 

Our Manila to Sydney flight was on time but our Sydney to Manila was delayed, For boarding, we rode a bus pa kaya mas lalong natagalan. 

Here are the foods for our flight, I chose fish kasi puro meat na yung kinakain ko sa Sydney kaso nagsisi ako kasi mas mukhang masarap yung beef ng anak ko. Hehehe! For snacks, natuwa na ko kasi nakain ko na, we had Cheese & Relish Sandwich + Blueberry Muffin.

I did not sleep during the flight so ilang movies yung pinagtiyagaan ko panoorin since I did not download any movies or series sa Netflix.

In addition, my husband has the benefit of "Priority Tag" on his luggage but when we arrived in Manila, we were one of those passengers na late na nakuha yung luggage. Mas nauna pa lumabas yung ibang luggage na walang "Priority Tag" sticker. Sa sobrang tagal namin, nakakwentuhan na namin yung foreigner sa tabi namin na kasabayan namin nauna sa carousel.