Philippine Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

On December 21st myself and my wife traveled from LAX to Sydney with a layover in Manila. Flights were with Philippine Airlines. We arrived in Sydney on December 22nd after almost 25 hours of travel on a filthy airplane (cover on the back of the seat infront of both of us was falling off and looked like multiple pieces of chewing gum stuck behind it), the TV was not working in our section of the plane from LAX to Manila (notified air hostess and advised there was nothing they could do, advised radio was an option) and to top it off the pillows we were given on the plane were filthy, appeared to be blood on the pillows, we checked multiple before finding two that appeared clean. We obviously took photos of all these details. On arrival in Sydney we discovered our baggage was lost. 4 days later they showed up, after Christmas day (so no presents for the family on December 25th!) and Philippine airlines solution was to offer us $76 (Australian dollars), in Sydney this didnt even cover the basic needs e.g. toothbrushs, clean underwear etc...

I travel several times a year internationally and this was by far the worst experience i have ever had with an airline... Really really bad experience on 4 very bad but expensive flights. for both of us these flights cost $5K (US dollars!) After this experience I would strongly recommend anyone to avoid this airline and stick with the main players like United... they are not much more expensive and you will not have to worry about your health!...

Thesen guys should really consider tidying up these planes.

Photos are attached

January 13, 2016 Tuesday.

My sister and my dad have to travel 3-4 hours road trip to get my bloody ticket where in fact theres a away office only 5 mins and i gave my sister my passport as its the only document that they would need to get the ticket like i always had with previous purchase but unfortunately they were asking more than that asking for a resident card which I DO NOT HAVE and when i gave them the only paper that the australian department of immigration they came back to my sister as its not good and we cannot issue the ticket?! WHAT THE FCUK?! i have been travelling in and out since 2013 with the same visa and passport WITHOUT NO PROBLEMS! they should only be issuing tickets nothing like this! spend more money on calls and text just to clear everything but still no good.

this is a follow up complaint from my original inquiry about getting a refund for my cancelled flight on the 27 th December 2014 booking reference QHGZEN with Philippine Airlines due to me missing my departure i re booked my flight booking reference DIWAOL the agents on the phone told me to contact you regarding a full refund minus a cancellation fee .
I would be grateful if you could look into this matter for me .

if you require any more information please feel free to contact me my e-mail address is [protected]@gmail.com

I look forward to you handling this matter

Mr Simon Carr

I purchased a Phil Airline Ticket in 25 Jul 2014 for a flight schedule of Feb 15 2015 - return March 7 2015 (Sydney - Manila). Due to work commitments, i can only have a 10 days leave. When I talked to Zignal Travel (Blacktown NSW) about my dilemna in 01 Dec. I was told that I have to pay $400 to re-schedule my flight to 18 Feb 2015 (departure for Manila) and 28 Feb 2015 (arrival from Manila). I followed this up again in 07 Jan 2015 and the price for rescheduling my flight has gone up to $470. Can any sane person give me a logic about these cost for rescheduling a flight. All I can understand is a matter of keyboard strokes on the computer checking the available flight and seat availability which might take just 10 minutes and I have to pay $470? Zignal says it is Philippine Airlines policy but I dont think so. This is just a complete rip off. The ticket was paid for, and I was not cancelling my flight. I plan to travel on a weekday meaning my weekend seat would be occupied by another passenger since more people travel weekends. I think this attitude of PAL or the Travel agency amounts to bullying and arrogance. So many airlines are offering flights for around $700 for that period and I wouldnt be paying a total of $1220. I wish PAL and Zignal review their stupid and useless policies.

We bought two tickets to flew in the Philippines from Cagayan de Oro city to Manila on 31, March 2014. We come to the airport on time, we got boarding pass, but the reject the flights all the time, later and later, until it was passed 7 hours, they canceedl our flight and the flight after it that was the last flight in that day. So we missed our connection flight on that night, from Manila via Hong Kong- Moscow to Tel Aviv. Aday later when we arrived Manila we needed to rebooking a new flight and we find only flights after a week. So we needed to take Hotel for a week and to pay for food and transportation and other expenses.
When we come home we sent a registered letter to Philippine Airlines and we asked them to pay about all the expenses that we spent, and no answered come. We send to them mail about it but still no answered. Then we wrote a letter to the office of the Department of Transportation to asked thier help.
The answered of Philippine Airlines to the government office was that " PAL is not the operating carrier of this flight which we complained.
I want to tell you that we have certification from Philippine Airlines that they confirm about cancelling our flight.
All the people who read our complained need to think good before taking flight with Philippine Airlines.

Patishi Eliahu

I booked for a domestic flight on around Aug 28/29 2014. A msg on the site indicated a system error. I assumed .my booking was cancelled due there was no e- ticket/ Receipt issued since. Abt 2-3 hrs before the flight on Sept 2, I was given a confirmation by e-mail. I want to refund my payment via CREDIT CARD due I already booked on another airline on the very same day on Aug 29 before i was not given a confirmation earlier by Philippine Airlines.

Last Aug. 11, 2014 I purchase PAL ticket online using my BDO Debit Card with reference number WKTTJD from Manila to Dumaguete for Aug. 14, 2014 PM flight worth Php 3, 053.00. But sadly the following day as I check my savings account I was charge twice the same amount. I call the BDO Costumer service immediately and said she will make a report and send me dispute letter form to be filled out and signed and send back to them. I followed what she instruct me and it takes about 35days to refund as what she said. The following day I went to my Branch were I open my saving account to address my complaint and they told me to call the Philippine Airline Hotline. Then I call the hotline and gave mi this website to file a complaint and refund the same transaction. Hope this will help.

I booked a flight for a friend from Manila to Hong Kong however I was told my payment could not be verified. After many phone calls to PAL I was told the flight had been unticketed and the booking was cancelled. The payment was taken from my credit card so I called again and was given an email address to request a refund. I also spoke to the credit card company who confirmed that they had authorised the payment and gave me the authorisation code. I have sent emails asking to be refunded but not had a response. The booking reference is CRQULD.

I'm Benigno Saus and I was one of the unlucky passenger on PAL flight PR 105 from San Francisco bound to Manila. This was June 18. The flight was supposed to depart at 10:30 pm . Every body was ready for boarding and they called for all passengers on wheelchairs to board. But the flight got delayed due to mechanical issues. The 1st announcement was delayed by 2 hours which will be 12:30 am and then 2nd announcement was 4:30 am, and then they finally they announced that the flight will be canceled ti'l the next day at 1 PM. During this waiting time they only gave the passengers soda and biscuit for snacks. They did not even attend to the passengers on board that are on wheelchairs. Stating that " They are not asking for anything." The service was really poor. They don't have any counter measure for that type of problem. They charged all passengers with a ticket price of $1600 for that flight and that's the treatment they got. They did not even arrange hotels for the passenger to stay during the night. Most of us came for away stayed on the airport awake, no place to rest. They gave us food voucher. We just bare with it because we have no choice at that time. But the treatment we got was really substandard. When we got home they gave us a flight voucher worth $200 only to be used for plane tickets and expires on July 2015. This was given to those poor passengers at the time of arrival which they are all exhausted from travel with jet lags. Not mentally stable to complain. I still have my voucher today. This is the last time I'm flying PAL. That's why the voucher is no used to me.

I am writing with great hopes that you take immediate action with the incident that happened this morning. My family had been patronizing philippine airlines for so long now, especially with our flights to the usa. We had been very happy with your company's services until this morning. And I can't tell you how embarrassed and disappointed I am with the incident. I arranged a flight for my german friends to coron, names marco and melanie sauer. I specifically told them to buy tickets from pal because of the quality of services pal has given us. So I bought tickets last saturday (Smx) and even if half of the trip wasn't covered in the promo period, I bought the tickets for them (Mla-coron-coron-mla-mla-cebu-tagbilaran-mla). I asked about the extra 20 kg luggage and they told me to pay in any ticketing office for the extra luggage before their flight so it will only be 350.00php for each bag (20kg). So on jul 10 (A day before the flight), my brother went to the ticketing office (Ayala alabang-petron) and paid for the extra 20 kg luggage but the lady said my brother could only pay for the mla-cebu and tagbilaran-cebu because they do not have a tag for coron (?!) and that the passengers may just go to the airport. She said the fee in the airport will only be about 700.00 php (But they paid 3, 700.00php!). So earlier (Jul 14) in the airport while checking in for coron they were charged with php3, 700.00. My friends were so confused and already frustrated with the 3, 700.00 fee in the pal check-in counter. The pal check-in personnel (Ground stewardess) kept on insisting to me that they had to pay that much. So they paid that amount because it seemed like there was nothing more to do. If we had known we had to be in the airport 4 hrs before the flight (Because that was what the airport pal personnel told them) to avoid these fees then we would have done it. But we weren't told about it earlier!). I even asked your employees from smx and ayala alabang twice and they gave me different instructions. When we called the main office (Jul 14), they told us that the ticketing office in which we paid for the extra luggage (Ayala-alabang-petron) should have let us pay for the coron flight, that it shouldn't be that expensive and we should go back to that ticketing office to pay for the coron-mla additional luggages. So why wasn't it allowed?! So we went back this morning (Jul 15) to the ayala alabang pal ticketing office ang again they said prepaid check-in is not allowed. This is all so confusing!

We never had problems with these things before in our domestic and international flights with pal. I don't understand why this is happening now. Such a waste of time and money! I want to bring this to your attention and would await your response. It is so unfair to be paying for such an amount because of a mistake in your employees' part. It is so humiliating to my german friends to be caught in that situation with the most esteemed airline in the philippines, the flag carrier, and the worst part is, it wasn't their fault. They will go back to manila on the 14th and I refuse to believe they will need to pay the same amount. I am demanding for a refund of the overpriced luggages they paid for or if you have a better idea on how to account for your own employee's ineffectiveness in doing their job, then we want to hear that as soon as possible. I hope that the philippine airlines would recognize the respect that we had for the company, take immediate action and inform us on what you can do.

I had a flight last week which is a 1 hour flight.
This turned out to be a depressing, stressful and disappointing 18 hour journey .
Main complaint is the lack of care and attention given from staff to waiting passengers.
We actually boarded the flight a little late and then sat there while the pilot was doing his checks and to find out he had problems. He told us for our safety we need to get off and wait for further instructions.
We all sat in the terminal building again and there was another announcement inside. This was the last announcement given for the whole morning and afternoon.
The only announcement after that was a food call at 11am and another about 3pm.
I have to ask at the 11am one to see what is happening as we were not told anything else as to what will happen. The man giving out the food said i need to see the front desk which i did and the young man explained he himself does not know what is happening. He said we are waiting for Manila to tell us.
I asked if i can get transferred to another flight which your company only has 2 flights per day.
Cebu and Air Asia have a lot more flights which they were not willing to transfer me.
We were just left in silence and no care what so ever.
i see some people being sent to other flights for the next few hours but i was made to wait .
i am so disgusted with the company and staff.
It carries the Phillipine flag but they are great disappointment.
The 0720 flight turned out to be a 2300 flight and not get to Manila till after midnight.
That makes it a 16 hour travel time not including the need to wake up early and lack of sleep in the morning and unable to sleep while i am waiting in case there is a call which never came.
They totally wasted one whole day of my relaxing holiday and i never gained rest for the rest of my holiday as i was always trying to catch up on sleep with insomnia. They really know how to spoil a persons holiday.
Plus the cost of my taxi waiting at the airport since 0800 and a waste of a days hotel cost.
i am so sad to say they are the worst airline in the world.
No one can mess a flight and customer service as much as they did and their people did that day.
Also forgot the mention their bad flight times being changed after i booked it.
I really hate this airline from that day.

On 9th May, 2014, I took airplane from Cebu to Seoul, Incheon airport.
It was 1am in the morning and the airport and airplane was very cold, so I asked for blanket before the aircraft took off.
Later, I was informed that the blanket is not for every passenger and they have no more blanket at all because blankets are for children.

I cannot understand the reason of 1. What kind of problem the Philippine airline has with blankets so they refuse to carry for all passenger on board, 2. If it is a policy of Philippine airline of not carrying enough number of blankets for all passengers then why they prepared one for each person when I took a flight from Seoul to Cebu.

Above all, I was very upset about the attitude of the crew that she did not show any interest on my inconvenience at all.
I already complained about the low room temperature of the airplane and requested for blanket.
My request had been ignored and when I made second request she went to check but never came back with answer.
As my seat was at emergency door so it wasn't difficult to locate me at all.
After meal, I went to the toilet, shivering with cold, I saw so many grown-ups with blankets under very warm air, that the heating does do nothing on the seats next to the emergency door.

I find it indifference and ignorance of the crew. Thanks to her, I had light cold and ache all over my body after the flight.

I want to have sincere apology and reliable explanation from the cabin crew and Philippine airline on this happening,
and if I take this Airline next time, specially late-night flight, I hope to have proper blanket for every passenger on board.

As I post this on this site, I send complaint e-mail on Philippine airline as well.
I will wait the response of Philippine airline until this Friday, 16th May, 2014
and see if they can convince me.

I booked a ticket for my mother and paid in full more than two months ago. The flight ticket I purchased is flight PAL 0113, LA to Manila, has a connect flight PAL 0382 from Manila to Guangzhou, with a lay over time about 2 hours in Manila airport. However, just a few days ago, our agent told us that Philippine Airline canceled our flight 0113, from LA to Manila, therefore caused a misconnection on my schedule flight. They forced me to accept another flight which let passenger to wait at airport for more than 8 hours, plus passenger has to get her baggage and find another terminal and re-check in for connection flight. My mother, the passenger, travels alone, cannot speak English, and has no experience for international flight. I have called many times to ask for assistance or just to cancel the flight. I explained the situation and complaint to the airline company and travel agent, but they all kept telling me that it is nonrefundable for this ticket, and any assistance we asked for is subject to additional fees (i.e. we asked to get assistance for my mom to transfer to connection terminal in Manila). This airline company is non-responsible for their fault, neglecting the passenger's need. Most importantly, this whole inconvenience is caused by the Philippine Airline, not us, the customer. I require a full refund or I will take legal procedure to safeguard our right. My email: mcen.[protected]@gmail.com

The ticket was issued for the wrong date and they would not change it. I was at the airport and they were of no help. I fly 100, 000 miles per year. I thought I would avoid the United layover to Manila. Philippine Airlines phone number is a dead number. They are the worlds greediest and worst airlines! Never fly PAL. They are only in business because Filipinos fly with them because of the name of the airlines. Very corrupt airlines!

Paki cancel po ang flight na nagka doble doble manila-butuan-manila travel date is May 1, 2014 to May 11, 2014. Very big amount ticket same place same date, noong nag online kami expired ang message kaya palagay kami na walang confirmation tapos ngayon nakita ko ang receipt 2 pa. Pls. help to refund both.

Joel dayao
Flight mnl-sgn, sgn-mnl
Ticket no. [protected]
Cancellation of my flight booking and getting my ticket payment refund

I would like to have a refund of an unused ticket, dated sept28, 2013, from vancouver, canada to manila, naia.. arrival sept30, 2013.. fare basis code:xlpr6mpv.. booking class: x... I purchased this eticket for my nephew, patrick arcilla.. I bought the ticket via metrobank visa card... my nephew decided to pursue his studies in canada, thus not using the ticket going back to the philippines.. I know there are penalties to be paid.. but im sure some amount can still be refunded. thank you.

I am trying to reschedule my flight and my ticket specifically says a $200 penalty fee but when I try to reschedule my flight the customer service says they have to upgrade my flight and have to charge me an additional $400 making my total charge $600. BUT the day I want to rebook for is the same price as my original ticket so when I tell them the price is the same, PAL customer service just says they don't have access to the internet price and have to raise my ticket the additional $400 to the higher fare...

If PAL, Philippine Airlines, is going state that there is a $200 penalty fee then they should honor that price if the changed date is available at the same price as the original ticket. But for them to force you into a higher fair simply because they don't enable you to change your flight on the internet is completely incompetent, dishonest, and bad business.

I will definitely be calling my credit card company to dispute the additional charges and possibly try to get a full refund.

And after this I don't know that I will use PAL again just to validate my concerns and not give them the privilege of getting my future business.

PAL is definitely the worst airline that I have ever dealt with on ticketing and customer service.

Attention: Kron 4 News Complaint Dept.
The last card I could think of because BOFA Dispute Department doesn’t want to open a dispute charged in my behalf for reason that I bought a non-refundable ticket. Please, help me to get a refund of $1, 254.90 from Philippine Airlines I have two bookings under my name one is paid by me and the other one is paid by Mr. Anupam Awasthi, CEO of the company I’ve been working for 4 years.
I summarize for you the detail of my flight schedule and provided you as well some documentations that the charged on my Boss credit card was authorized by him.
Follow up are all the supporting documents that may help you to understand and to see a clear picture in my case.
1) copy of our business cards - Anupam ( who authorized his cc to pay my airfare ), Maral ( who booked my flight on March 7th) and myself.
2) copy of Mr. Anupam Awasthi’s credit card and driver license which I need to present to PAL employees to register my ticket in compliance to their policy because someone is paying for my ticket..
3) copy of my bookings referencing #CEVGMB
4) copy of e-mail communication with PAL employees
5) copy of excel sheet detailing the information of my flight schedule in a comparative format 6) copy of approved vacation
The documentions above will serve as a proof that my bookings was legitimate. Also, this will give
you enough confidence that the purpose of my trip are on a fixed period approved by my Boss.
I am truly believe that my case is exemption to the existing policy of PAL because it doesn't fit and if it doesn't fit you must open the case and dispute the charged on my behalf …I am screaming for help...but BOFA dispute dept shut the door for me and give me a heart breaking news that they cannot open a claim because the ticket is a non-refundable.
I am a resident of USA known as the Champion of Justice where people are treat fair and morally right. But where is justice if I PAL will forfeit my money. I strongly believe that you can beat the system of PAL with the proper chose of words you will convince them to refund the full amount immediately because that is the right thing to do as this should be treat a duplicate payment. If PAL forfeit my payment I am winding up paying my ticket a whooping $2, 682.44 ($1, 254.90+37.64+$1, 389.90).

Where is the justice that I break the law/policy here? Yes, the ticket I bought is a non-refundable? Did someone paid for my ticket? Yes, under Mr. Awasthi and under my Bofa cc, so PAL is receiving two payment
For the same person, right? The same time frame although different booking so on May 8th I will be
at SFO airport then how can I used the ticket I bought on May 9th if I am already at PAL airplane?
Do you think that there is justice in my case if PAL won't refunded $1, 254.90 + $37.64 charged by BOFA
as foreign transaction fees.
The refund total of $1, 292.54 will be my pocket money for my 7 days vacation as my siblings in the Philippines are all broke. I am hoping that you and I have the same conclusion that my case is a special one. Who will say NO to a free ticket to the Philippines, this is a form of incentives because I did not get a raise last year. I was working when he ordered Maral to booked me using his credit card and I am so afraid if I told him that I already paid my ticket so I keep quiet thinking that I can refund it without any problem but I was wrong PAL was so greedy this is our lifestyle in the Philippines you cannot get a refund for any item you bought there is no 30 days grace period I hate Philippines but I have siblings and friends over there. Please, help me I know they will listen if you get involve in my case. That said, you will make my vacation a happy one and I am grateful for that.
Sincerely,
Amelia R. Gregorio
Cell#[protected]

Dear Sir/Madam:

A pleasant day to everyone concerned. I have been your recent passenger this March 7, 2013 from Manila to Los Angeles via PR 102. I must say that it was one of the friendliest crew I have ridden from all of my travels. There was an unfortunate incident though while enroute this particular flight. I have passed out twice on the plane;I was seated at 67F. I wasn't feeling very well so I decided to get up to have a better blood circulation and as soon as I hit the aisle I immediately lost consciousness. I have no idea how long I was out but when I started to regain myself I started heading towards north of the plane where the closest restroom was located. Right before reaching it I passed out again and unfortunately no one was there to help me until I slowly regained consciousness again. It was the worst feeling to be alone and helpless in an unfamiliar surrounding. I was still able to return to my seat and slept. When I was feeling better I went and seek help to the first flight attendant I encountered. I told her of my mishap and she said that a passenger actually saw me and reported the incident to her. She made her documentations and said that she checked on me but I was asleep when she saw me. I asked that my wound on my face be cleaned because I felt that I had a facial abrasion and that it needed to be cleaned. I was afraid that it'll get infected. She said that they have nothing onboard to clean it but offered her own personal antibiotic to at least use on my wound. 3 more other flight attendants were going in and out of that little space where they took me but no one had the knowledge on how to treat the situation. In the meantime I was asked to just leave it alone like that and it will heal faster that way. The good thing though that they were all courteous but what about the first-aid that I was trying to seek? Even the head attendant didn't address my situation but instead kept offering me food since part of the reason I passed out was from lack of sleep and maybe from not enough intake of food. My dad had just died and its been days that my family have been grieving from his demise. Anyhow, until this other steward came by the name of Dan who thankfully remembered having a betadine somewhere. When he came back with it they did not feel confident touching my wound because it was quite big and fresh. I had to do first-aid treatment to my own self while reassuring myself deep within that I'm going to be okay. They then asked me if I wanted to do an incident report in order that after disembarking the plane that I can get further assistance. So after all these I got to Los Angeles left the airport but no one approached me for any more medical assistance. This is where I start to worry because this is one of the most frequent incident that you will encounter. An international flight without a proper first-aid kit hence training on how to deal with situations I have just experienced. Mr. and Ms PAL officials it could have been a more grave situation and I just wish that someone had step in to have handled it better since obviously I wasn't even 100% all together to decide and to treat my own wound. Anyone who saw me and learned about my experience were all disappointed! I brought myself to an urgent care the next day because I just didn't want to chance any possible condition that could worsen after that accident. There is surely a lot of room for improvement that could be addressed based from this. I would like to know how any of the right officials would take the necessary steps so that this will not happen again. I will leave my contact information below and please use it because I would like to know. My agitation and apprehension about PAL worsens each time and that I hope these concerns get to the right person possible.

Sincerely,

Gillian Bigornia
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com