The airline:
Philippines Airlines (PAL), Asia’s first airline.
The route:
Auckland to Manila, via Cairns. That’s 11,223 kilometres.
The plane:
An A321-200. It appeared to have a fair few kilometres on the speedo but was clean and tidy. The capacity is 199 passengers but on the Auckland to Cairns leg there were only 120 and we picked up 10 travellers in Cairns.
Time in the air:
Around 11 hours, 42 minutes. We left Auckland on time at 6.15pm but our scheduled 45-minute transit time in Aus stretched to well over an hour by the time we re-boarded the plane
Up the back or in the pointy end:
1K in business class, as close as you can get to the front of the plane without flying it. The 12 business class seats are configured in a 2-2 arrangement, while economy fliers are seated in a 3-3 formation.
The seat stuff:
The biggest surprise is that the business-class seats don’t fold down to lie-flat beds. The pitch is a comfortable 94cm and there’s enough room to wiggle around, but the darned things just don’t go all the way down. Fortunately, I come in at a smidge under five foot, so I was able to curl up and get some sleep. There’s not much room to store your bits and pieces, but in-seat phone charging is available. I’m told lie-flat seating on the AucklandManila route is coming soon.
Baggage allowance:
40kg in business, 23kg in economy.
The service:
Superb on both legs. Bonus points for having a cabin crew member named Cherry Pie. ‘‘That’s my real name,’’ joked the gorgeous Manila-based attendant. ‘‘I don’t know what my parents were thinking when they named me!’’
Comfort factor:
Spacious with enough room so you don’t have to disturb your seat mate when nature calls. The covetable royal blue L’Occitane goodie bag almost made up for the lack of a lie-flat bed. The perfume, lip balm and moisturisers went down a treat.
That’s entertainment:
iPads loaded with the latest releases and a range of international and foreign TV shows, which do away with the need for in-seat screens that never quite angle as well as you’d like them. I settled in to watch La La Land, hoping I’d like it better the second time around. Sadly, it wasn’t any better at 30,000 feet.
Feeding time:
I’d ordered a special meal but swapped with my colleague when I realised she wasn’t overly fussed with her coco