Fly Philippine Airlines Business Class From New York To Vancouver On The Cheap!

Fly Philippine Airlines Business Class From New York To Vancouver On The Cheap!

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It’s entirely possible that I’m the only one excited about this, but here it goes anyway… 😉

As of March 2015, Philippine Airlines operates a 4x weekly fifth freedom flight between Vancouver and New York. The plane flies from Manila to Vancouver, and then continues on to New York as a “direct” flight.

jfk-yvr

The good news, in theory, is that you can book the flight exclusively between Vancouver and New York if you wanted to.

Philippine Airlines is the second foreign carrier operating the route — Cathay Pacific also flies between New York and Vancouver, and is arguably a much more comfortable way to fly. I’ve reviewed the New York to Vancouver flight in first class, which is hands down the most comfortable way to fly within North America.

cathay-pacific-777

I want to review as many new business class products as possible, and the flight between New York and Vancouver seemed like a fun way to review Philippine Airlines. Unfortunately the fares they’ve published in the market have been outrageous up until recently, which makes no sense to me. I’ve been monitoring the flight pretty closely, and it seems to consistently go out pretty empty, so I’m not sure why they didn’t make the flight more attractive for those traveling within North America.

Fortunately it looks like that has recently changed, as Philippine Airlines finally has attractive pricing in the market — you can fly roundtrip business class from New York to Vancouver for ~$650 (the cost is roughly the same in the other direction, priced in USD). This fare is available just about every day through the end of the schedule.

philippine-airlines-business-class-1

Do note that the airline has very strange flight times, since clearly they’re scheduled around the Vancouver to Manila flight. The flight leaves New York at around midnight, and gets to Vancouver at around 3AM. The eastbound flight is timed much better, with an afternoon departure that arrives at night.

philippine-airlines-business-class-2

If you’re not wanting to take the flight roundtrip, one way pricing is about two thirds the cost of a roundtrip.

philippine-airlines-business-class-3

Philippine Airlines has angled seats in business class on their 777s, so ultimately this is still a very nicely above average transcon product. It looks like their newest 777 may even have fully flat beds, though I doubt there’s a way to guarantee that product.

With roundtrip tickets costing ~$665, you also won’t find another premium cabin product priced so attractively.

Philippine Airlines also has some useful partners if you don’t want to collect miles in their Mabuhay Miles program. Specifically, they partner with Etihad Guest and ANA Mileage Club, so you can earn 125% miles through either program.

Anyone else tempted to fly Philippine Airlines across the continent with these kinds of fares?

(Tip of the hat to chanello)

Conversations (23)
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  1. CR Guest

    Hi Lucky,

    Will you be reviewing Philippine Airlines soon?

  2. Tony Member

    Thanks for this. I booked 2 of us to meet a cruise in Vancouver in August, biz class for around $1500 for both! It's cheaper than AC or CX in coach.

  3. DH Guest

    Thanks for the info! I booked this flight today. For some reason, Orbitz is much cheaper than booking directly through the Philippines Airlines website.

    The trip is several months out and I'm not sure if I'll get the lie-flat seats, but we'll see.

  4. Paul Smith Guest

    No one would doubt that Cathay Pacific service is excellent, but then if you have to pay hard earned money for your ticket,their prices are way too high on these sectors.

    I run my own travel agency, here in the UK, and I've flown Heathrow to Manila with Philippine Airlines and I'm here to tell the tale.

    The service was infinitely better than some carriers that I could mention, and the crew did all they...

    No one would doubt that Cathay Pacific service is excellent, but then if you have to pay hard earned money for your ticket,their prices are way too high on these sectors.

    I run my own travel agency, here in the UK, and I've flown Heathrow to Manila with Philippine Airlines and I'm here to tell the tale.

    The service was infinitely better than some carriers that I could mention, and the crew did all they possibly could to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

    It all comes down to the fact that "you pay's your money and you take your choice".

    I find the reviews helpful, even though at times they may be biased, but cutting through all that,it can help me sell a product to my client's, especially if I've not flown with a particular carrier before.

  5. Vin New Member

    Finally, some PR love! Even I won't like to do this. Or maybe solely for the MNL lounge's arroz caldo. Who knows?

  6. Grant Guest

    Thier last 5th Freedom route was YVR-LAS, correct?

  7. Anna Guest

    Philippine Air is the most terrible airline in the planet.

  8. g50 New Member

    @Todd
    You can fly Air Canada's 787 and get the same business seat as Cathay Pacific's for 25k vs 30k miles one way.

    CX flight in business is about $500 more one way than AC

    Philippine Airlines' business on this route is most likely going to be 2-3-2 angled seat.

    This is why I brought up AC.
    "Philippine Airlines is the second foreign carrier operating the route — Cathay Pacific...

    @Todd
    You can fly Air Canada's 787 and get the same business seat as Cathay Pacific's for 25k vs 30k miles one way.

    CX flight in business is about $500 more one way than AC

    Philippine Airlines' business on this route is most likely going to be 2-3-2 angled seat.

    This is why I brought up AC.
    "Philippine Airlines is the second foreign carrier operating the route — Cathay Pacific also flies between New York and Vancouver, and is arguably a much more comfortable way to fly. I’ve reviewed the New York to Vancouver flight in first class, which is hands down the most comfortable way to fly within North America."

  9. Credit Guest

    What's so great about Cathay first class compared to Philippines airlines?

  10. Singularity Guest

    The latest 777 has fully-flat beds, looks like Zodiac Aura 2015 similar to Turkish's new business class, but with more privacy. There's only one for now, plying the MNL-YVR-YYZ route. But you'll have to wait for the second one this December for you to have better chances to review the latest product. They'll also actually use these to make MNL-LAX service twice daily.

  11. Rome M Guest

    Based on the video, the new business class seats are definitely lie-flat (about time!). Almost identical to TK's J class seats on their 777-300ER.

  12. Alan Diamond

    Last time I flew CX 1st from JFK-YVR it had almost the same schedule. Leave after midnight and arrive in the wee hours.

  13. Another Steve Guest

    Intriguing, maybe as a one-way eastbound at some point, but it's hard to imagine any scenario when that westbound schedule would work for me.

  14. Mike O. Guest

    @Mike Uh, I'm Asian :D :D

  15. Mike Guest

    I swear, why does nonasians find the ugly or average at best asian girls "hot"? Lol. Fools.

  16. glenn t Diamond

    Put it back in your pants Mike O ! Jeez.........

  17. Mike O. Guest

    I have to admit, the girl in the video is hot as hell.

    So when you jumping the gun on PR?!

  18. Adam Guest

    if you review PAL I would prefer you to also review some hotels in Manila like the Conrad or Marriott.

  19. Todd Diamond

    @g50

    Sure as shit they do...at 5 times the cost!!!

    I don't think the intention of the post was to point out who flies between YVR and NYC. It was to highlight the incredible J fare.

  20. Colin Guest

    Service is typically very well intentioned but as someone said above, they're no CX. I flew them nonstop MNL-LHR in their "business class." Was cheap but was brutal.

  21. Hugh B Member

    I went to check out this fare on google flights and saw something very strange on the AC option: it showed 3600$ for business class (way to expensive anyway) and 6200$ for first which could only be booked through UA. Any ideas on why this is happening?

  22. g50 New Member

    Air Canada does the route as well with a 787.

  23. Job Guest

    I would actually love to hear your thoughts on Philippine Airlines! It's definitely no Cathay Pacific, but since you're willing to try new products, it would be interesting to read how it compares with other angled-bed business classes (both in hard and soft product too!)!

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

CR Guest

Hi Lucky, Will you be reviewing Philippine Airlines soon?

0
Tony Member

Thanks for this. I booked 2 of us to meet a cruise in Vancouver in August, biz class for around $1500 for both! It's cheaper than AC or CX in coach.

0
DH Guest

Thanks for the info! I booked this flight today. For some reason, Orbitz is much cheaper than booking directly through the Philippines Airlines website. The trip is several months out and I'm not sure if I'll get the lie-flat seats, but we'll see.

0
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