After eight days in the Land of the Rising Sun, I flew on Philippine Airlines once again from Osaka in Western Japan back to the Philippines. This afternoon flight on an Airbus A321 was decent but read more to find out! Come and fly with me back home.
Philippine Airlines is the flag carrier of the Philippines and also Asia's first and oldest airline (its long history dates back to 1941 and continues to shrine through until today!).
Note: This is a personal blog on our travel experience and is neither promoted nor endorsed by Philippine Airlines.
Booking process
I traveled to Japan as part of my school's first-ever study tour to the Land of the Rising Sun. The flights were arranged by a travel agency paid at an undisclosed price. There were thirty students (including me) and three teachers who accompanied us for an eight-day trip across four prefectures: Tokyo, Ibaraki, Kyoto, and Osaka.
PAL has five fare classes in economy class: supersaver, saver, value, flex, and premium. Our flight came with a perk common on full-service carriers: free baggage allowance (FBA), aside from complimentary meals. PAL's website states that economy class passengers for Japan are entitled to a maximum of two (2) pieces of checked baggage with an allowance of up to 23 kilograms per piece. I only brought one checked suitcase, while my carry-on baggage consisted of only my backpack. Furthermore, in May 2025, PAL made changes on the free baggage allowances for its Japan destinations, which removed the FBA for passengers who availed the supersaver fares for its Nagoya flights, while other destinations (Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka) still have the usual FBA. See this link to know more.
Our travel agency opted for the supersaver option, which is the cheapest among the five fare classes.
Travel requirements
Aside from your passport and travel itinerary, you would also need to fulfill the following requirements to Japan:
Philippines
- eTravel - used for departing Filipino citizens and ALL arriving international passengers. Mobile users can download the eGovPH app, while you can visit the sign-in portal here. For Filipinos, this should be filled up TWICE: for your departing flight and for your arriving flight. You can fill this up within 72 hours from the dates of your flights.
- Travel Tax - as explained earlier, economy class passengers should pay this levy of 1,620 pesos either online (for Philippine-based airlines) or at TIEZA counters at airports.
Japan
- Valid Travel Visa - for the purpose of my Philippine viewers, a visa is required to enter Japan. Visit this site for more details.
- Visit Japan Web - acts like an online arrival card. Arriving tourists are required to create an account in this portal and accomplish the immigration and customs forms before arriving in Japan. You can fill up the arrival form here.
Main review: Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Coming from the conclusion of my school’s study tour in Japan, we boarded our bus to Kansai International Airport. We arrived at 12:22.
Interestingly, KIX is located in the middle of the sea — on an artificial island which was optimal for 24-hour operations, unlike NRT, which was built right next to residential areas. The construction of KIX learned the problems of what NRT was experiencing and building it off the shore would make it optimal for non-stop operations. Offshore airports built using land reclamation are also found in the airports of Kobe (UKB) and Nagoya (NGO). However, the airport's islands are sinking at an alarming rate.
KIX has two terminals. Terminal 1 is used by most airlines, while Terminal 2, designed for low-cost travel, is only operated by homegrown Peach, as well as Spring Airlines of China, and the Korean-based Jeju Air. Other low-cost carriers, such as the Jetstar Group and Cebu Pacific, serve Terminal 1. And most importantly, the vast majority of airlines operate from T1.
Flight information
Route map
At the time, Philippine Airlines flies to Osaka twice daily. It uses the Airbus A321-200 for these flights, which seats 199 passengers in two classes: 12 in business and 187 in economy.
Pre-departure: checking in and KIX's new changes
I checked in one suitcase and only brought a backpack with me as my hand-carry baggage. Despite a long line, the process was seamless and quite fast enough. My suitcase, after being filled with souvenirs and groceries over the past week, was one gram heavier than the 23-kilogram limit (note: 1 gram = 0.1 kg). Airport staff were, however, generous in allowing my suitcase for carriage.
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| KIX Duty Free is one of the airport's newest additions in the international airside. |
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| The duty-free shop immediately before the gates |
Two years ago, I was at KIX for our evening flight on Cebu Pacific. While security checkpoints remained the same, the difference is in the immigration area and the vicinity immediately after it. Unlike in 2023, when elevators and stairs followed after, we were taken down the escalator to a duty-free shop, KIX Duty Free.
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| The newly renovated international departure airside. It's nice to see! |
Boarding
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| RP-C9902, a 2013-built Airbus A321-231, took me and the entire delegation home. |
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| All Nippon Airways, Japan's largest airline, codeshares PAL's Osaka-Manila flights and many of the latter's flights to Japan, including those to Tokyo, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. |
Boarding commenced at 14:35 at Gate 16. I was seated at 63A, 3 rows ahead from my former seat on the previous flight.
At 15:08, the doors were closed early as the plane was filled up with passengers. The crew then did the traditional Mabuhay greeting at 07:02, followed by the manual safety demonstration, where the crew demonstrates the aircraft’s safety features in front of the passengers. This is rather unusual in today’s standards of a full-service carrier, since nearly all planes of FSCs have in-flight entertainment and the demonstration is instead embedded in a video.
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| Interior of our plane |
Takeoff
We took off at 15:37. What followed next was a scenic takeoff, flying above Osaka Bay, Awaji Island (a part of Hyōgo Prefecture), the cities of Tokushima and Kochi (and above Shikoku, Japan's smallest of its four main islands), and a small part of southern Kyushu, specifically beside Kagoshima.
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| Sumoto City on Awaji Island, a part of Hyōgo Prefecture |
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| A quite blurry shot of Kansai International Airport from above |
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| Tokushima Airport |
Lunch service
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| The pan-fried fish meal that I chose for this flight. |
In a big improvement from my last flight, PAL finally made the two options available throughout the flight, unlike the last one which only had one after the other ran out. Two meals were served: pan fried fish with pasta, and beef gyudon. I chose the former. It also has a cocoa bun, bread and butter, and others more. You also have the option of choosing your juice drinks; I chose the orange juice.
Wireless entertainment
Like my previous trip report, PAL's A321-200s lack the traditional on-screen seats for its in-flight entertainment, instead relying on a wireless mode which requires users to scan a QR code on the seat and access it on their mobile devices.
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| PAL's "IFE stickers" have been around since February 2025 on their A321ceos and some A330s. |
Despite the introduction of such, I have mixed feelings about it. Having to look down on your phone just to watch your favorite movie is inconvenient for some, as you might not be able to relax with this setup, compared to those with in-seat IFEs. The good news is, PAL will refurbish these planes, but you’ll need to wait until 2027, when all 18 A321ceos are fitted with such.
I rested for a few hours during the flight; while waiting it out, I listened to music from the wireless IFE.
Arrival in Manila
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| Flying above the provinces of Aurora and Bulacan |
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| We saw a rainbow while flying... |
The arrival to Manila was a scenic one, like the departure. As we entered Philippine airspace, we flew above Aurora province and eastern Bulacan, where the plane banked to the right above San Jose del Monte and Santa Maria. I also saw, from my plane, the back of Ciudad de Victoria, where the Philippine Arena and the Philippine Sports Stadium are located. Both are owned by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), an independent nontrinitarian Christian church.
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| A quite blurry shot of Fairview, Quezon City (Novaliches) |
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| Ciudad de Victoria (Philippine Area and Philippine Sports Stadium) from our plane |
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| A beautiful sunset as we flew over Bulacan. |
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| Flying above Antipolo City in Rizal, where the famous cathedral, an International Shrine, can be found. |
The plane made a holding pattern above Bulacan as many planes lined up for landing. After flying above the Sierra Madre mountains, we lined up for Runway 24. We flew over Antipolo City in Rizal province before flying above the towns of Cainta and Taytay, above the Manggahan Floodway, the Pasig River, and finally, Taguig City, before we landed at 18:20, twenty minutes ahead of schedule. It took just only four minutes to finally arrive at our gate, Gate 1, at Terminal 1.
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| A last look at RP-C9902! |
After completing the arrival formalities and baggage claim, we rode our bus which brought us back to our school.
Verdict
Timing and frequency
As mentioned earlier, Philippine Airlines flies twice daily between Osaka and Manila. This flight, specifically, is good for those wanting to depart during daytime, especially that you can catch this one after checking out of your hotel in the early morning, then riding a train from the city center to the airport. It is also convenient enough for those wishing to rest and wind down from their vacations to prepare for the next working week or day. Conversely, its outbound flight, PR 412 (morning departure and afternoon arrival at 14:00), is good for those arriving to catch up for hotel check-ins.
PAL also operates a second outbound flight, PR 408, which departs at past 14:00 and arrives before 20:00 in Osaka. Its crew then winds down and does a layover in KIX before they perform its return flight, PR 407, which departs at past 10:00 and arrives around five hours earlier than our scheduled arrival time in Manila.
Overall service
Overall, Philippine Airlines offers a decent full-service flight, but its entertainment offerings are inconsistent throughout its fleet. While passengers on its long-haul flights enjoy the usual wired in-flight entertainment (IFE), its regional passengers do not. But this will eventually become untrue for the regional passengers, as they would soon enjoy onboard entertainment as PAL refurbishes the A321ceos soon.
PAL once had the moniker "Plane Always Late", but just recently, it has been named as one of the most punctual airlines in the Asia-Pacific according to data from Cirium, with more than 86 percent of its flights arriving on time (as of April 2025). This has been always (most of the time) the case for this route, and it was evident with the very early departure of this flight, which resulted in an extremely early arrival. You can count on Philippine Airlines for their reliability, comfort, and Buong Pusong Alaga service.
Positive indicators
- Decent seat and legroom
- Delicious breakfast meal
- Lavatory is clean with additional amenities that are not usually found on low-cost carriers
- Friendly, lovely, and courteous flight attendants
- Consistent punctuality in this route
Point for improvement
- Although PAL's temporary wireless IFE is a good development on its A321ceos (and some bi-class A330s), the conventional in-seat IFE should be installed sooner so that they can offer a consistent product portfolio.
Ratings
I rate each aspect of the flight in a scale of 1 to 10.
- Check-in - 9.5/10
- In-flight entertainment - 8.0/10
- Punctuality - 9.7/10
- Seat - 8.5/10
- Lunch meal - 9.1/10
- Crew - 9.5/10
- Price (around an average of 16,000 to 25,000 pesos/pax) - 8.0/10
Overall, ETJ rates this round-trip journey an 8.9 out of 10 points.
Watch my trip report here:
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