Riding PAL

Travel Journal Entry: January 4, 2007

On board PAL flight Dvo-Manila

I believe it’s been a year or more than a year since I last rode PAL (Philippine Airlines). Main reason is, PAL is way more expensive than Cebu Pacific. It just doesn’t feel like it’s worth it, especially since most of my recent travels have been paid for personally.

But why is riding PAL still better that taking Cebu even though you know it will cost you more? Here are some of my reasons:

1) Flight Attendants, as I have observed are much friendlier in PAL. They seem to act more professionally. I couldn’t blame Cebu Pacific flight attendants for not having much pride in their craft; I mean will you really be confident if you are asked to sell giveaways and other unnecessary products on board? Plus where is the pride is serving only mere C2 (bottled iced tea) on board? Aside from that, PAL flight attendants are more courteous, I believe they’ve been trained well.

2) The aircraft is bigger and cleaner. I don’t think I need to explain this one; PAL just has bigger and cleaner aircrafts.

3) The food is better – it doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck, it just is better. Cebu Pacific doesn’t even serve food anymore, as I’ve mentioned earlier, they just serve bottled Iced Tea. And I love it that in PAL we can still choose the drink we want. I love my coffee on board. It’s not special coffee but the caffeine and heat just really makes one feel comfortable.

4) Reading my Paper – does Cebu even have newspaper for passengers to read? I can’t quite remember because I’m pretty sure I usually take out my book to read. But this last flight has allowed me to read the paper of the day.

This plane ticket is 1,000+ more expensive than if I flew via Cebu. Did it mainly out of convenience since my sister is taking the same flight back. Thank God PAL is not letting me down - giving me a good flight, making me feel as if this trip is worth every penny.