Greetings to everyone!
In November 2025, I tried out new airlines and destinations, and, accordingly, accumulated material for three reviews, one of which is almost ready. But in my last review of the flight from Manila to Dubai, which took place in September 2025, I decided to acquaint the reader with the Manila airport - sequentially with three terminals in three consecutive reviews.
The flight from the current review took place last year. And don’t let the reader be confused by the title that part 2 of the flight from point A to point B was published earlier than part 1. The reason, as stated above, is the continuation of the series of reviews related to the flight from Manila. In the previous one, I tried to present as detailed information as possible about Terminal 3 - the largest and most modern. The next Departure Terminal, which I present in the current review, is Terminal 1.
So, a review of the flight from Manila to Brisbane.
The flight in this direction was the second leg of a single ticket from point A to Brisbane. The first part will cover the history of purchasing an air ticket, its cost and the nuances that arose when overcoming the first leg of the journey.
Flight statistics.
Airline: Philippine Airlines, flight PR221, board A-321. Departure from Manila is scheduled at 23.45, arrival in Brisbane at 09.30. Travel time 7 hours 45 minutes.
Actual figures: the plane took off an hour later than the stated departure time, at 0.44, landed with a half hour delay, at 10.01, having spent 7 hours 17 minutes in flight.
The time difference between Manila and Brisbane is +2 hours.
Long transfer from the first leg to the second - almost 24 hours - allowed me not to sit at the airport, but to get to know the capital of the Philippines. That’s where I’ll start this review.
Manila.
Once in Manila, I did not imagine that exactly a year later I would visit it again, this time as part of a vacation to tropical islands. But at the time of this review, I had never been to Manila before, so I planned my long transfer time there in advance. I wanted to visit the most iconic places and, above all, Makati - the business district of the metropolitan agglomeration. But circumstances turned out differently, and I had to devote my stay there to a specific and quite banal purpose - I urgently needed to find and buy trousers, because the ones I was wearing were torn on the way from the original departure point, and the others were in the backpack, which was checked in as luggage. For this purpose, the administrator of the hotel where I stayed during the transfer called a taxi and directed me to Asia Mall. Therefore, my idea of Then I didn’t even think that exactly a year later I would still visit Makati, but this is already the story of the next review - about departure from Terminal No. 2.
The first feeling when I saw the city in the morning and left the hotel was that I found myself in Nairobi, and not just in Nairobi, but somewhere in Donkholm, Embakasi (a not very attractive, industrial, and also dangerous area of the capital of Kenya).
Arriving at night in hotel, you couldn’t really make out what was outside the window: some kind of parking lot, warehouses. And I didn’t really want to go into details after the flight. It was only clear that these were some kind of outskirts of the Philippine capital. A significant advantage of this hotel is its proximity to the airport. Its tower was visible behind the warehouses:
Getting up in the morning and looking out the window, the picture seemed even worse than at night and clearly hinted at the ugliness of the surrounding environment (screen from the video):
Before going to the Mall, I checked with the hotelier - how is the security here? To which I received an answer that everything was fine.
I left the hotel... Yeah... the surroundings hinted at the poverty all around and the simple way of life of the local population. After point A there is generally a sharp contrast, like heaven and earth. I don’t know why, but the interweaving of overhanging wires has always served as an indicator of poor infrastructure for me - the more pronounced this sign is, the weaker the improvement:
But as we moved towards the Mall, a more attractive and pleasing to the eye picture began to form:
Mall:
View towards Makati, which at that time had not been visited:
Well, I successfully completed my mission, it’s time to return to the hotel and get ready for the airport. Manila left a couple of memorable moments: first, it is very hot and humid there, it is almost impossible to be outside due to the heavy atmosphere. Secondly, it's very cheap there. Perhaps the price contrast after the point of departure and before Australia played a role.
Manila Airport
There is no need to separately highlight the story about the road to the airport, since the hotel is only a couple of kilometers from it. The hotel had its own free shuttle (they drove me alone in a regular car), and the time to the airport took no more than 15 minutes. I left when it was already dark. A couple of turns and signs indicating the proximity of the terminals appeared:
We drove onto the overpass to the departure hall, from which the boards of the local national carrier appeared:
The driver stopped in the middle of the long terminal. He thanked him and went out into the humid atmosphere:
Looking back at some gloomy composition in the form of a human figure, a drawing of which is usually used when a murdered body is discovered at a crime scene and outlined with chalk:
Did not specify the nature of this monument, he headed towards the entrance to terminal:
The full name of Manila airport is Ninoy Aquino International Airport. A couple of sentences to understand its structure. It has 4 terminals. Terminal 3, featured in my last review, is used by a number of foreign airlines, as well as local airline Cebu Pacific, on both international and domestic routes. Philippine Airlines has chosen Terminal No. 2, intended exclusively for domestic flights, where, in addition to the national carrier, other local airlines operate. However, Philippine Airlines international flights operate from Terminal 1 and my flight to Brisbane was carried out from there. Therefore, in the current review there will be a description not of the entire airport, but only of terminal No. 1, which was already described at the beginning of the review.
I go inside and find myself in an anthill: despite the open space, life here is in full swing and in full swing:
In total, I counted 87 check-in counters and it feels like they all worked, so much there were passengers. I didn’t need registration; I could board straight away. But first you need to look at the board to find out the status of your flight and gate number. Everything is fine, even more so, because the gate is already open despite 4 hours before departure. My gate number 11:
Usually at an unfamiliar airport I study the board to see which destinations there are flights to. In this regard, Manila surprised me with its vast geography and great diversity: here are the USA and Australia, Canada, Brunei, Korea, Guam, Saudi Arabia, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Japan and much more that would sound exotic if I were in a Russian or Kenyan airport:
How wonderful it is that I don’t need registration. There are a lot of passengers, the queue at the Philippine Airlines counters is somehow disorganized with a mixture of huge luggage boxes and bales:
In the middle of the check-in hall there was an exit to the gates:
I didn’t see the point of staying in this hall longer, so I headed for inspection:
Seeing the border booths and the sign “foreign passport” it was logical to follow them, which is what I did.
After border control I found myself in the zone inspection:
Checks passed. Immediately behind the security check area there is a small duty-free zone, but with a fairly decent assortment:
The duty-free was located next to one of the gates, and not only was it located, but practically merged with it. The “last call” for boarding had already sounded and pretty employees were looking for late passengers among duty-free visitors:
Behind the duty-free area there were ordinary shops, kiosks and a small food court, aimed at a more inexperienced passenger, since the prices were not that acceptable, but low:
The local fast food looked unpresentable, drowning in copious thick sauces. And I believe that a portion of this goodness would satiate the average stomach well, but with possible consequences for the inexperienced. In general, it’s a typical Asian thing, having tried it once, you’ll think “it seems good,” but you won’t take it the second time:
The terminal seemed cramped to me. It was divided into two wings, each of which had several gates:
Out of curiosity, I went into the corridor with gates 2-7:
From here flights were carried out to US cities and islands belonging to USA. An additional check of documents for those departing on these routes was organized here, so I did not walk further:
I returned to the place where the terminal was divided into corridors:
There is a toilet in a visible place at the fork. I came in to check it out and was left disappointed. The pipes were leaking, the garbage collection tanks were overflowing, the cleaning equipment was dumped right there and seemed abandoned, ownerless. If you are in Terminal 1 of Manila Airport, it is better to be patient and do your business on the plane:
Coming out of the toilet, I headed into another corridor. To where my gate was located, but not with the goal of finally settling there, since it was still early, but just to see what and how:
The corridor was a twin of the first. The floors are covered with carpet. On the left there are one or two gates, on the right there is a cafe and windows through which nothing was visible anyway:
At the end of the corridor there is a staircase leading to the level below:
Below - a rush of passengers. Having descended, I found myself at the end of the line for boarding in Vancouver, Canada. In addition, almost every gate was boarding:
At my gate there was boarding for the previous flight to Sydney:
Outside the windows you could see the sides, everyone was wearing Filipino livery airlines:
Back to the starting point, where the food court was:
Didn’t take any chances with the local cuisine, chose Subway, where I bought a sandwich with a cookie and a drink:
In the remaining time I found a cozy place by the window, from where I could view the aircraft parking lot. Nearby there was a gate where the boarding of the Air Niugini plane to the capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, ended:
Through the window a Boeing 737 of this difficult-to-pronounce airline was visible:
The board said the same thing: to those who flew to Port Moresby, we need to hurry:
I noticed that they changed the gate for me. Judging by the information on the board, boarding will now be through gate No. 10.
Half an hour passed, and the Air Niugini board was still standing in place:
I got bored of sitting and took a walk. Through other windows, wide-body aircraft of various airlines were visible:
When I returned to my seat, next to the gate in Port Moresby, I was surprised to find that the Air Niugini board had not moved. I looked at the board - and it turns out that the flight was cancelled:
Yes, you won’t envy the passengers who sat on the plane for almost an hour. It’s curious what the reason was, especially since several police jeeps drove up to the Papua New Guinea Boeing and a lot of personnel and police officers accumulated at the wing:
But I never managed to watch the performance to the end, since the time had come to board. Again, the path along the long corridor and descent to the level below to your gate. And again below there is chaos, pandemonium due to the accumulation of a large number of passengers. There was one general queue for the preliminary check of documents in the gate area - 10 and 11. Now gate 11 was assigned for departure to Perth:
After standing in line for a decent amount of time, I was not allowed into the waiting area, but was directed to gate 18. Gate 18 is a special place, it does not lead to boarding at any whatever the plane. This is simply a platform where the luggage of transit passengers heading to Australia is taken for identification of their belongings and additional checks. I was warned about this even when registering at point A, and they talked specifically about gate No. 18. It completely slipped my mind. I come here:
I immediately saw my backpack, which they had already rummaged through in my absence:
Noticing me, the employees began to fuss, saying: we have been waiting for you for a long time. They put another stamp on the boarding pass, which had already been thoroughly stamped:
I returned again to this chaos, but the number of people had decreased - most of the passengers to Perth and Brisbane had already passed this control. I saw a large stand talking about the procedure I had just completed after the fact:
After going through security, we were launched into the waiting area and here I heard my name announced over the loudspeaker and asked to come to gate 18. I returned to the employees who let me into the waiting area and asked them to leave. But they didn’t let me back, citing that all my checks had been passed, and the announcement was simply late.
Boarding began:
Through a small window the board on which the departure was to take place was visible:
Then the jet bridge and I board the plane:
On board, flight.
I pass by business class, half full, where I have time to take a photo:
Next - economy class:
Economy class seats look like this:
A pleasant surprise was that the seat backs were equipped with a media system. After all, on the way to Manila the same plane, A321, did not have them.
My seat is 70K - almost at the very end of the cabin:
By the way, about the seats. Their numbering is not continuous. The three rows in business class are numbered 1-3. The next 5 rows - seats with increased legroom start from numbers 21 to 23, but the next row is not 24, but 31 and the last one in this compartment is 32. Then the usual economy starts immediately from row 41 and in order ends with the last, 73rd row.
The opportunity to select a seat in economy class (service cost approximately 400 rubles per segment) was provided on the official website of Philippine Airlines immediately after purchasing a ticket. I chose a seat in the last rows, firstly, so that the wing would not interfere with my view, and secondly, with the hope that if the board was not full, then, as a rule, the last rows would remain empty, which on a night flight would provide a chance to sleep on three seats.
From my seat, the wing was far ahead. A Boeing 777 of the Taiwanese airline Eva Air was visible opposite us:
There were no fellow travelers nearby (yet), so I captured what surrounded the Philippine Airlines economy class passenger on this flight. Firstly, a pillow, a branded blanket, headphones:
Secondly - and that’s all - flight safety instructions:
View of a chair with a folding table:
The belt buckle is worn sides:
Boarding ended, my row was filled with passengers. And in principle, all the seats, as far as one could see, were occupied. The plane silently set off in the opposite direction - the tractor began to do its job:
At the same time, flight safety instructions began to be broadcast on the screens of the seat backs:
We drove out onto the taxiway and slowly moved along it. The same twin aircraft followed a parallel path, step in step. Apparently the one that was heading to Perth:
Then the tracks merged into one and we let this Airbus go ahead. We taxied for quite a long time, during which time we studied the multimedia system and chose a movie that we planned to watch during the flight. Stopped at Dune-2:
Before takeoff there was a small queue due to the fact that planes both landed and took off on the runway. Qatar Airways B-777 boarded:
Behind him, the A-321 taxied to take off, which was heading to Perth:
Then the A-320 Cebu Pacific landed:
Well, then it’s our turn. Take-off run:
We took off to the southwest, towards the bay. The capital of the Philippines was on my side, but it remained behind and could only be seen in the first seconds after the plane took off. Once over the bay, the plane began to turn to the left, to the south, and again flew over the ground:
After gaining altitude, the flight attendants handed out entry forms to passengers Australia and small bags with the airline's corporate logo:
Opening the bag I found socks (not even socks, but better said - knee socks), an eye mask and a teeth cleaning kit:
Before distributing food, the flight attendants walked down the row and persistently asked the passengers sitting by the window to close plastic curtains. For the first time I encountered this practice:
Less than an hour after takeoff, they began offering late dinner. The choice was beef, fish and chicken. I chose beef. The tray was served in this form:
Opened the packages on the plates. We saw: the main course - rice with beef and red pepper in gravy; cabbage/carrot/cucumber salad - just like in the tradition of Russian cuisine; bun; as well as sealed packages of butter, chocolate, dried mango and a wet wipe. As for drinks, they offered a wide selection of juices, waters and alcoholic beverages. I asked for red wine for myself. I expected that they would treat me to it in the form of an unopened bottle, which Kenya Airways had already accustomed me to, so I expected a similar presentation here. However, they simply poured it into a plastic cup. Well, okay, and thanks for that:
The food was quite tasty, fresh and filling. Everything was eaten, without a single residue. Interestingly, I bought the same package of dried mango, only in a larger size, especially for the flight at the Manila airport for the remaining local pesos.
After dinner there was absolutely nothing to do, and the multimedia system in this case, especially on a night flight, is a great help. I started watching the film. The sound was excellent, the plane’s engines did not drown it out at all, as often happens, for example, with Ethiopian. Several languages The system worked without glitches and responded perfectly to finger touches. The information content was more than comprehensive - many flight parameters were shown, including the location of the aircraft on the map. At the moment of the flight we are flying between the Philippines and Indonesia:
There are still five and a half hours of travel ahead:
Three hours passed, during which the film was watched and we even managed to take a little nap. Logically, it should have been light outside, but due to the fact that each porthole had closed curtains, impenetrable darkness reigned all around. In the cabin, at least the slightest lighting was turned off, so the path to the toilet along the aisle was almost blind:
Someone got ahead of me from the front of the cabin and, opening the toilet door, literally splashed light into the darkness:
My turn had come. I was pleased with the cleanliness of the toilet. Everything you needed was available, and even more - for example, cologne with a pleasant aroma:
He returned to his place. I no longer felt sleepy. I decided to open the porthole curtain. Against the background of complete darkness, even a small gap gave off a powerful stream of bright light, which instantly filled the surrounding space and echoed further, possibly disturbing the peace of passengers:
I sharply closed the curtain back and turned to the monitor, which reported that there were two and a half hours left to fly:
Opened the map - the plane was already flew over Australia - but not over the mainland, but over the territorial waters of the country, the Gulf of Carpentaria:
People began to wake up, as here and there flashes of light began to appear and disappear - someone also opened the porthole, but due to the sudden appearance of light, they quickly closed it again. Everyone apparently believed that the cabin crew should give the go-ahead to open the window shades. The next 15 minutes passed in timid attempts to let light into the cabin, when someone first simply opened it wide, and others followed his example in a cascade. I also opened the window, just at the moment when the plane was flying over the coastline of the continent, flying into the territory of the state of Queensland, over which it would fly until landing:
From this moment there were still about 2 hours of flight, during which I planned to just stare out the window. But this soon became boring, since the land was deserted, the landscapes were monotonous, not at all diluted by human activity - no roads, no settlements, nothing else. During the entire flight over Australia, almost until the start of the descent, the continent provided first-hand evidence of the most sparsely populated continent on Earth. The only thing I could see at one point were wind turbines:
An hour and a half before boarding, a pleasant surprise awaited me (and the rest of the passengers) - they announced over the loudspeaker that they would now offer breakfast. In principle, this should not have been a surprise, since the stated flight duration - 7 hours 45 minutes - included two meals, but somehow I didn’t think about it at that moment.
The airline offered something like this ration:
The set consisted of a pack of shapeless chocolate cookies (they didn’t look very good, but they tasted very good), and a pie with meat and grated cheese - also quite tasty and filling. They offered to wash down all this wealth with tea or coffee, I chose tea:
After breakfast, I continued to survey the land, but it still remained lifeless, despite the proximity of Brisbane:
After breakfast, the mood lifted, Brisbane was approaching. And it was only the point of arrival in Australia, but not the goal of my journey. After all, tomorrow I will find myself in the main resort city of the country - the Gold Coast, where I plan to fight the waves on some of the best beaches in the country.
After breakfast and before boarding, I had to visit the toilet, but there was a line there, so I just stretched my legs in the aisle, leaving the visit to the toilet already in Brisbane:
They announced a reduction. After some time, the flight attendants herded into their seats those who continued to stand in line for the toilet, who had not had time to do their job. During the descent, signs of habitability finally appeared on earth.
For example, Lake Wivenhoe, elongated and winding like a river, located 70 km northwest of Brisbane, with small towns and villages scattered around the coast:
There were no clouds during the descent, and the air was completely clear, so it was quite interesting to watch the approach of land and the suburbs of Brisbane. Judging by the unfolding picture below, the plane was planning an approach from the ground, and not from the water surface, since Brisbane's two runways are oriented in such a way that their ends rest almost on the edge of the ocean shore.
But when approaching from the ground, the plane will have to make a turn of almost 180 degrees, flying around the city center, thus it will remain on the right side of the plane, inaccessible to me for viewing. In general, as it turned out, I made the wrong choice when purchasing the place. You had to take row A to see the center of Brisbane. Here's what it looked like on the flytradar map:
Turning around, the plane entered the finish line, unfolding before me views of the suburbs of Australia's third largest city:
We crossed the Brisbane River, on which numerous yachts were visible. Also visible was the bridge that carried the M1 highway, stretching along the entire western coast of Australia from Cairns to Melbourne, and a park along the river where the golf course was located:
Just before touching, a large car park appeared, an international airline terminal - the end point of my journey, and a lonely Emirates A380 standing. Judging by its location, it was under maintenance or repair:
Touch, mileage:
While taxiing, the Brisbane CBD skyline appeared in the distance:
Taxiing took quite a long time. In the process, they first drove past the domestic airline terminal on both sides, where a group of Quantas aircraft stood first, then Virgin Australia:
Then we taxied between the terminals, past the same A380 that was visible during the descent. The plane was indeed either under repair, or in a state of deep maintenance, as it stood covered with stepladders:
We are approaching the international departures terminal:
Between the boards of Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, with their livery, part of the design of which reminds me of a gnawed fish bone, and not a fern branch, was the place where we stood:
The baggage delivery team promptly arrived. In Australia, they also don’t stand on ceremony with him: I watched as bags/boxes/suitcases were thrown around the trailer without any signs of tenderness; among other things, I saw my black backpack, which, due to its small size, was placed on top of someone’s suitcase:
I didn’t have to watch the suitcases fly for a long time, everyone was asked to leave:
After the flight, Brisbane Airport
The glass of the jet bridge is not sealed advertising:
which made it possible to remove the board, although not from the advantageous position on which it arrived, as well as the Air New Zealand A321, which the tractor was already preparing to pull away:
After the turn, the boarding bridge is already without windows:
I go out into the corridor, the windows are small. If you come close, you can see the airfield where the Taiwanese A350 China Airlines was taxiing at that moment:
The corridor is long, but due to its concavity, the end is not visible:
The walls seem to be unpainted or in the process of restoration. But no. This is by design. Very convenient, by the way. If it suddenly gets scratched, run a brush along the wall - and the style will not be damaged and the image will be restored:
The corridor seemed to be endless, so I used a travelator:
Colored installations flashed along the way in the wall:
As the corridor curved, new species appeared on the airfield. The exotic stuff, which you won’t find either in Africa or in Russia, was especially pleasing to the eye. Here, for example, are two Boeings: one 737 Fiji Airways from distant Fiji, the other 767 Air Niugini, already familiar to me, from outlandish Papua New Guinea:
As we moved, the walls continued to play in the same style - highly artistic daub:
The corridor stretches and stretches - I continue my path along it:
The corridor led to duty-free, through which I had to go. Apparently, at Australian airports there is such a thing - in Perth it was the same - exit through the gate:
And then - passport control:
It was not possible to go through the automatic gate - on my passport they did not react - and I was sent to the border guard. But the border guard passed quickly, no questions were asked.
I went out to the baggage claim area, I went to tape 3. I drew attention to the impressive geography of the arrival:
I'm heading to the exit:
But this is not freedom yet - after all, we have arrived in Australia, a country that is very confused in terms of controlling what you import. A long line awaited me for inspection.
A lot of things are prohibited from being brought into the continent, so a special declaration is filled out, indicating items, food products that are prohibited. This procedure was described in more detail in one of the previous reviews (Kuala Lumpur - Perth). This time everything was repeated as a carbon copy, only the dialogue was different.
I had several packs of pills with me, which I had brought all the way from Africa, plus I bought dried mango at the Manila airport, which I never ate on the plane. To be safe, I declared both, and I was sent for inspection. The woman asked to open the backpack, took a quick look inside and asked - are you bringing caviar? I answered her question with a question - is this because of my Russian passport? Yes, she answered, and I realized that she was joking. He also jokingly replied that no caviar would have survived such a long journey here from Russia, and in principle, I was not flying from Russia. In general, the woman turned out to be very friendly and let me through, only formally looking into my backpack.
I walk towards the now final exit:
Please note that not only in Moscow Sheremetyevo (perhaps somewhere else in Russian airports) the inscriptions are duplicated in Chinese. This is because there are a lot of Chinese living in Australia.
I go out into the common room with those greeting me, but no one met me:
I look around, as I need to change my SIM card to a local one and rent a car. The first thing I do is buy a SIM card:
Airport toilet, I’ve been wanting to go there for a long time. The pattern of the walls is something in the spirit of a Western:
There was also a free shower:
Then I found stands with various car rental brands:
Unfortunately, only two companies had cars in stock, and at not very attractive prices prices. But there was nowhere to go, no way without a car, since the purpose of my trip is not so much Brisbane as the Gold Coast, a city almost a hundred km from the capital of Queensland.
Having completed the contract and received the keys, I head to the parking lot:
This concludes the review.
In summary, I would like to highlight the following points:
- Manila International Airport, in particular Terminal 1. Not impressed. First of all, it's cramped. It would seem that the registration area is quite extensive, but in the clean area people rub shoulder to shoulder. Secondly, some... I don’t even know how to say it... when the interior is not renovated for a long time, it becomes worn out and dirty. This is what the terminal building looked like. Thirdly, catering for passengers. The existing food courts cannot be called such, but rather catering. It seems not expensive, but the level is the same as in provincial canteens. Wi-Fi is available, quite strong, easy to connect.
- Philippine airlines is a quite tolerable brand, a solid five, even taking into account the fact that it is a national carrier that must meet the highest standards. This was my second flight with this airline and for the first time, when the flight was delayed by three hours, a full dinner of my choice was provided. This time, the food on board was 5 points, and they were fed twice.
The condition of the aircraft, at least visually, the interior, was 5 points. During a long flight, the airline installed a board with a multimedia system (during another, shorter flight on the same board, A-321, the seat backs were without it).
Please excuse me for the sparse review of the arrival airport, or rather the international terminal. I am planning a review of departures from this airport, but this will be a domestic airline terminal.
Thank you to everyone who has read it, and see you on new routes!
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