We flew Air Asia Airline for a family trip to Boracay with 11 members on November 16. The staff…read morewere polite, but the coordination system was an absolute nightmare. Our flight from Manila to Boracay was delayed for almost two hours. Our flight was supposed to board at 10:20 in Terminal 2, Gate 15 at NAIA, but we didn't board until nearly 12 noon. To make matters worse, they changed the gate from 15 to 14, then to 18 at the last minute, leaving passengers scrambling between gates. If you're not travel-savvy and don't pay attention to announcements or the flight board, you could easily end up on the wrong flight. What made the situation even more frustrating was that our 83-year-old mother, who had been traveling with us, had to walk between those three gates repeatedly. My mom insisted on taking these "short" walks for her health, but she eventually gave up and my sister flagged for a wheelchair. Caticlan-Boracay is a small local airport. The plane doesn't park near a terminal; instead, you have to deplane using the stairs while carrying your luggage. Oh, and if you have bulky, heavy luggage and an elderly relative with mobility limitations, you'll be in for a real challenge. You'll have to climb down at least 20 flights of stairs to the ground, and then you'll have to walk another quarter mile or so to reach the main building of the airport in the middle of 80-90 degree weather!!! On our way back to Manila, our Air Asia airline nightmare continued. We arrived two hours before our flight, and we learned our lesson from previous experience and asked for wheelchair assistance, despite my mother's protest. When we reached the counter, the lady at the front desk asked us TO PLACE ALL OUR LUGGAGES , BACKPACKS, SMALL PURSES AND LITTLE HAND BAGS TOGETHER TO BE WEIGHED!!! I have never experienced that before in all my travels in several continents around the world! This is the FIRST! Of course piling the luggages with our hand bags would generate the extra weight they are looking for so they can charge you more money. I had actually bought extra luggage allowance on our way to Boracay before thinking they are going to pull this stunt to charge you more. However, for some strange reason, Air Asia's website wouldn't allow me to buy extra luggage allowance for our carry-on back to Manila. They had an instruction to buy for extra luggage allowance for carry on at the front desk on their website. They HELD my boarding pass and instructed me to use a QR code on display near the counter to pay ! According to them, this was cheaper! Guess what? I couldn't access the darn code because the airport Wi-Fi didn't work, and my iPhone mobile network couldn't connect to the internet. They knew the airport WI-FI is a total crap. All the passengers with excess weight on their luggages ended up paying them directly without using the useless QR code. My sister and I decided to pay the P2,000.00 they are asking for so I could have my boarding pass and join the rest of my family! Oh dear, the nightmare didn't end there. After that VERY eventful check-in, we had to take another bus ride to the where the plane is parked. We sat inside the bus for over an hour, waiting for the late arrivals. The bus was already full, yet they kept waiting and filling it up until we were packed like sardines. We endured another hour of waiting before boarding. We were supposed to board at 10 AM, but instead, we climbed those dreadful flights of stairs again with our heavy luggages and finally boarded the plane after 11 AM. Several foreign nationals on the bus were complaining about their experiences with Air Asia and vowed never to fly through this airline again. One Australian made a comment about how unfair it was to make other passengers suffer unnecessarily for those who had poor time management. There were eight buses on standby. Why couldn't they use another bus to wait for the late passengers instead of making us wait for another hour? He mentioned that he had a connecting flight to another country and hoped that all this waiting wouldn't affect his schedule. People were exhausted, just wanted to get home. We had come to the Philippines from another continent for a brief respite and relaxation. I just wish our journey to our destinations in the Philippines wasn't such a hassle, bordering on a nightmare. Air Asia Management you need to improve your customer service!!!

If I could give them negative 5 stars I would. This was the complaint I sent to them regarding a…read morecarry-on/ check in baggage issue and the response I received. Dear Air Asia I am writing to share my disappointment regarding an experience I had with your staff and a policy that, in my view, needs immediate review. During my recent travel, I encountered an issue at the check-in counter related to the carry-on restrictions on liquids over 100ml. Unfortunately, the representative assisting me failed to inform or warn me about this limitation. As a result, I was forced to discard personal products that I could not bring through security. Had I been properly informed at check-in, I would have chosen to check in my luggage. However, when I returned to the counter to explore my options, I was told I would need to pay the full check-in fee again. This lack of flexibility in your policy is both frustrating and unreasonable. I overheard another representative informing other customers about these restrictions, which only underscored the inconsistency in the service I received. To make matters worse, neither the staff nor the manager took accountability for this oversight. The manager, in particular, demonstrated a lack of customer service skills and made no effort to address the situation or provide a satisfactory resolution. This dismissive attitude left me feeling undervalued as a customer. I strongly urge you to review both the policy in question and the training of your staff. Clear communication with customers about carry-on restrictions is essential to prevent situations like this, and a more flexible approach to luggage fees would go a long way in fostering goodwill. I hope you will take this feedback seriously and implement changes to improve your service. I look forward to hearing how you plan to address these concerns. This was the response I received and then they quickly closed my case. They don't take any accountability at all. They just want your hard earned money. From AirAsia Upon further review and clarification with our relevant team, we have been advised of the following details: Initially, your party opted for Xtra Carry-On Baggage for PHP 1,090. However, one of your carry-on bags exceeded the 7kg weight limit and contained items that were not compliant with carry-on restrictions (e.g., liquids exceeding 100ml). Our staff offered the Additional Airport Baggage (AB15) service as an alternative, which would accommodate your 10kg bag. However, this option was initially declined. (I declined it because the representative failed to ask or warn me if I had any liquids over 100 ml & they take no accountability for the rep failing to do her due diligence in asking a customer, I only initially heard the other customer rep asking the other customers when I returned to try check in my baggage instead) Please be informed that once the Xtra Carry-On Baggage or any add-on payment was confirmed and accepted, it could not be voided or changed due to system limitations, as was communicated by the staff. Unfortunately, as the Xtra Carry-On Baggage service was fully availed, we regret to inform you that a refund for the PHP 1,090 payment cannot be processed. We understand that this situation caused you great inconvenience and that the outcome was not aligned with your expectations. However, please be assured that we will take your feedback into account as we continuously work to improve our processes and customer service. If you have other concerns or need further assistance, you may revert back to us via this email trail. Thank you for understanding and continued support. Best regards, Maria Customer Happiness AirAsia As we boarded the plane, they insisted that my elderly mother remove her carry-on bag, which was being pulled alongside my cousin's roll-away bag, citing the rule that each customer can have only "one" carry-on at a time. It was clear that my mother wasn't carrying any bag herself, yet they assumed it was hers. This was completely unnecessary and absurd. What an embarrassing experience with this company. Avoid this airline at any cost!

We travelled on Philippine Airlines from LAX to Manila, Philippines for our family get together and…read morevacation. Then we also travelled from Philippines to Japan for our family and friends vacation. As well as our Manila to Boracay trip. We haven't used Philippine Airlines for 8 years as we've been booking with other airlines for our previous flights to Philippines. We decided to try Philippine Airlines since they are the only airline that flies direct. Also because they were highly recommended to us by family and friends for the best customer care. We experienced excellent customer care for all our travels both international and domestic. Great experience for us from checking in at the counter to the flight attendants on board and all the way to the captain navigating the plane for take off and smooth landing. Philippine Airlines staff at check in as well as flight attendants onboard provided our child with specialized meals due to our child's peanut and tree nut allergies. They were accommodating. They catered to families with food allergies. The flight attendants were consistent with delivering our child's peanut free and nut free meals half hour before serving everyone's meals to avoid cross contamination. Thank you so much to the amazing staff of Philippine Airlines. You guys are excellent. Mabuhay!

They kept my check-in baggage hostage and charged me $500 US dollars…read more I asked if there were other options indtead of paying this hefty price and all that was recommended was to purchase a 7kg carry baggage. They could of just upgraded my ticket and resolved my issue. Muybuyah my @$$

I'm not sure what all the hate is all about, but I guess my party of 6 got incredibly lucky…read more We were headed for a quick trip to Cebu. Everything went smoothly: getting through the PASSENGERS ONLY point was easy and their check in counters were easy to find. We were mindful and were compliant about the weight of our bags, so we knew that wasn't going to be an issue. What I liked is they taped up the zipper latches (at least those that weren't secured or locked) to avoid accidental snags or openings during transit. The staff were very friendly - even making a strong point and advised us that gate assignments happen frequently and to be mindful of it. No biggie. The flight was short and smooth. Snacks on the plane were available for purchase, but given it was less than an hour flight (plus we had hours before our flight, so we snacked during the wait) we didn't feel the need for it. And I hate to admit this, but I did my research and didn't expect much, but I'm glad they proved me wrong! Excellent first run! AirAsia - please keep it up!

We flew with this airline twice going to Boracay and another to Cebu, both from NAIA Terminal 2…read more Not all service counters were open. The lines were piling up and were long. The open service counters were VERY SLOW. The staff working the counters as I observed were working at a VERY SLOW pace with no sense of urgency. If you like waiting in very long lines and receiving SUPER SLOW SERVICE, fly AirAsia. The planes itself were basic. The isles were narrow. If you are fat, good luck squeezing in. The flight crew looked stress. Thumbs down to AirAsia Philippines overall.

Singapore Airlines is hands down one of my favorite airlines in the world. They have the best…read moreplanes and world class service. On a trip to Germany, my sister discovered a small worm in her vegetables. After she reported it to a stewardess, all the staff came rushing over to apologize and immediately changed her meal. She was even given a gift certificate of SGD 100 in Duty Free. WHAT? Where's my worm?? I immediately started looking for a worm in my vegetables but to no avail. With this level of quality and service, you can't expect it to come cheap. The good thing is, every year BPI has a promo with Singapore airlines. If you plan your trip ahead and patiently wait for the right time to pounce, you can go to Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain or Turkey for less than EUR 700 - EUR 900. Yes, you read that right. That is not cheap, but is super good value.

I was supposed to fly to Jakarta one time, and I was already in the airport when I found out that…read moremy secretary bungled my flight bookings and I ended up missing my flight because with her desire to find the cheapest flight, she booked me on a flight to Jakarta's CKG airport with a connecting flight via Taipei. It turns out that I needed a transit visa to go through Taipei because I had a Cebu Pacific ticket, and Cebu Pacific didn't have transit facilities in Taipei's airport. Long story short, I had to book another ticket in the last minute and I ended up with a flight to Jakarta that had a connecting flight in Singapore's Changi Airport. Flying Singaporean Air is probably the most pleasant airline experience I have ever had. There is hardly any doubt as to why Singaporean Air has won many awards, and was even hailed as one of the world's best airlines in terms of service. I was seated in coach, but I love how the flight crew treated us all in Economy like VIP. I have only flown business class once before, and other airlines' business class is Singapore Air's coach. I remember being handed a nicely printed menu of the specials, and they were kind enough to fix me up with a vegetarian meal even though I didn't get to request for it in advance. The person next to me also had to request for Halal and they took care of his request promptly. It was a smooth fight to Singapore. The plane was fitted with high-tech implements like your own tablet screen with games and movies, and other really snazzy features. If you could afford it, treat yourself to a stress-free and smooth flight and fly Singapore Airlines. The service is stellar!

For a classy flight to Hong Kong and back, take Cathay Pacific…read more From the moment I got on the plane, it felt different compared with my other flight experiences, and that includes flights from other airlines (including domestic ones in other countries) across Southeast Asia. It's an overall feeling I got and might not be totally captured by a few examples. But in any case, I'll try: first, the seats are comfortable. Then, there are the efficient and businesslike flight attendants. It's really the food that I remember, though. It doesn't taste like airline food. It's delicious and tastes like food prepared when I eat at casual dining restaurants. This must be one of the reasons Cathay Pacific flights are more expensive than those from any of our local airlines. There's also inflight entertainment like movies, but they're really for the Chinese as they're in the Chinese language.I like the screen that shows where we are on our flight and figures like how many feet we are up in the air. I don't think Cathay has direct flights to anywhere else from the Philippines, though. The other flights I checked, like Shanghai, Seoul, and Jakarta, are all via Hong Kong.

I missed my flight and now i can't get my luggage in JFK in New York. I keep getting the run around…read moreeverytime i call. They just have to notify American airline at JFK to release my bags and send them to Manila. I have medicine for my heart and type 2 diabetes in my bag. I have been on the phone for 2 hours trying to get this done and I'm no closer now then when i started.

I've flown Asiana once before from the US to the Philippines and back, but it was a long long time…read moreago. I got a really good fare for this trip (a third of what I usually pay when I travel in the summer or Christmas time), so I really shouldn't complain too much. Luckily for me, there's nothing to complain about. The flight from Manila to Korea was pretty uneventful. Check in was very smooth and efficient, the flight wasn't delayed, and the service on the plane was very good. They served a meal during the short 4 hour flight, but I slept the whole time, so I can't really comment on the food. The only thing that might dissuade me from booking again with Asiana is the super long layover in Incheon on my back to the US. The layover was almost 12 hours. I did spend 5 hours of that time on a free transit tour of Seoul, but I still had to sit around for another 7 hours before my flight back to the US. But hey, if the price is right again, I might just suffer through another long layover. I travel to Philippines every year, so the savings I'll make will mean more money for other travel!

Asiana Airlines is awesome, don't get me wrong. I usually don't write bad reviews and hate doing it…read morebut after the experience I had at the Manila station...? They don't deserve 5 stars just yet. Flying Asiana Airlines to Manila a few times already, I've always had below average customer service here. But my last experience pushed me to write this review. I wanted to startup a PIR for one of my luggage that was damaged, and so I went up to the OZ staff that was just standing around and talking to each other not assisting inbound passengers collect their luggage (mind you all the other OZ stations I've been to assisted passengers with collecting their luggage from the carousel). I asked these two gentlemen if I could file a report, and within 30 seconds they deny my claim. I'm thinking okay?? That was quick, so I ask for an explanation as to why my claim was denied spot on. In short terms what they said to me was basically "your luggage can't handle the weight that was put inside." Uhhhh excuse me?! Insulting much? My luggage was not overweight, and now you're telling me my luggage couldn't carry the things I put inside? Pretty much telling me my luggage wasn't good enough. That was a total sad excuse to deny my claim. I got their names in case of future reference and just left. I didn't want to be insulted any longer. I'll still fly Asiana Airlines, they're great. But I really hope the Manila Station gets more training on customer service. Asiana Airlines 5 stars, but Asiana Airlines Manila Station 3 stars for now... :/

Tried ANA's business class product 5/10/18 from MNL to HND, on the new 787s with Rolls Royce…read moreengines. Verdict? Super quiet ride relative to the big guns like the A380s dominating long distance travel nowadays. While the seats are not lie flat they recline to 160 degrees. It's only a 4 hour flight and this is your typical 2-2-2 seat configuration for a 4 hour, international flight in Asia. What is noticeable however are wine, food and service. ANA's wine list rivals that of a high end restaurant. I can't even begin to wish what American carriers could do; we could never match this level of service. Even United's upgraded business product called Polaris is still far inferior to its Asian counterparts. We are a bit backward as travel providers and am hoping that by seeing what's out there penny wise US carriers would wisen up. Not! LOL. I opted for the Japanese meal and it came with a Washoku series of traditional apps, beef filet, steamed rice and sake. Twas super excellent. The vegan crackers and champagne were top quality. Super impressed for yet another time. They now have internet onboard so I'm testing work email and a couple of Yelpreviews on board to see how it goes. Visits: a few

I love this airline. After my last 2 trips with them on a code share with United, I simply fell in…read morelove with them. Cabin crew is the best. The plane is immaculate despite a long flight. I have taken so many flights in Asia and have never seen such dedicated staff. Also they do take their time to accommodate your request. They go above and beyond to make their guests feel heard and happy. Since then I always try to book this airline on my trips to Asia.

I recently flew LAX-HND-MNL-HND-NARITA-LAX in Business Class…read more The ground crew at LAX was just meh. The flight leaving LA had a 4-hour delay, and the ground crew didn't care! The ground crew in Manila provides much better customer service! They start their check-in service by bowing to all their passengers. The FAs from Haneda-Manila-NARITA are very kind and friendly! They are by far the best crew I've experienced. The ground crew in NARITA has exceptional service. They are all smiles and very accommodating! The Sakura Lounge in Narita is the best I've ever been to. I enjoyed my stay during my long layover. I even got to shower. JAL is my new favorite Asian flight carrier! I am looking forward to flying with JAL soon. The only issue I had was the old planes. I guess the LA routes are not a priority for upgraded planes now.

I don't travel internationally very often but I have to say, Japan Airlines has been one of the…read morebest experiences we've had so far. We've only used them to travel to and from Manila and we found that they consistently provide great customer service, they are courteous and really know how to take care of their passengers. From our departure, the lines to the checkout counter was very long and I'm not sure if it's because they weren't open at that time or what but thankfully when the attendants began opening up their kiosks, the lines began moving decently. And although I know most of the employees are Filipino, it's quite interesting to see them adapt the Japanese culture and etiquette to their services. After checking in, we were brought to the lounge which I believe was part of my parents' traveling perks. The lounge was nice and clean, food was pleasant, and the restrooms well kept. The attendants at the lounge were also helpful I'm informing us of when the wheelchair attendant was on the way to pick me up due to my physical disability. All in all, we've enjoyed traveling with Japan Airlines and we look forward to flying with them again soon!

I went to the Turkish Airlines office in Manila and could not have been more satisfied! The office…read moreis comfortable and staff very polite and welcoming. I presented my problem and all was resolved quickly and professionally within 5 minutes. Excellent service , well done. John Cummings

UPDATED REVIEW (3 stars)…read more I had to go back to Turkish Airlines and was really dreading to go because of the experience I had the last 2 times. Well, I would like to share that it's very nice to see when places improve. They now have a person that greets you when you arrive and who gives you a number. Right away, I was called by the agent whom was friendly and did what I needed to do with my ticket. The change of date was still long to do but at least she talked and explained what she was doing. A much better experience. Bravo!

Air Swift was sold to Cebu Pacific. Air Swift has many South East Asian airport stops, I…read morespecifically take them only for one reason. and that is to go to El Nido. Most travelers going to El Nido go to Puerto Princesa and take a 5 or 6 hour ride, boat to El Nido because of cost. You can pick many many airlines to Puerto Princesa on the cheap , $50, $100 Round trip from Manila, El Nido has an airport but it's own by Air Shift and they are the only ones that can land there so you have to pay 3 or 4 times the price of flying to Puerto Princesa. I don't know what Cebu Pacific plans are in the future about pricing. Even at a high price Air Swift is a no frills airline, it's on a little over an hour to fly to El Nido and there are no meals, all the seat are economy, but if you going to El Nido and you can afford it I say skip the 5 or 6 hour road trip and take the direct flight.

Delays, Cancellations & More Delays. Honestly this is one of the top two worst airlines I've ever…read moreflown. The delays and cancellations are rampant and the employees are both lackadaisical and incompetent. They stood there laughing as stranded passengers were frantically looking for alternatives for their cancelled flights. It took me over 20 min to pay for my bags because they could not locate the one cashier. Unfortunately I didn't have a choice island hopping in the Philippines. I hope I never have to fly this airline again!