Use Avios to Book Philippine Airlines Business Class

Recently, Philippine Airlines began allowing redemptions through Qatar Airways Avios. Admittedly, Qatar’s latest changes have taken some of the wind out of my sails, but Philippine Airlines really is a great redemption option.

Even if the Philippines isn’t high on your travel wish list, more ways to cross the Pacific with points are always a good thing.

As a reminder, you can transfer your Avios at a 1:1 ratio freely between British Airways, Finnair Avios, Qatar Airways, and more, making it very easy to book Philippine Airlines. The best way to earn (British Airways) Avios in Canada is transferring Amex Membership Rewards (MR) or RBC Avion points, both at a 1:1 ratio.

Philippine Airlines Flies to Toronto, Vancouver

Philippine Airlines has a strong route network, with Vancouver and Toronto of particular interest to Canadians.

Philippine Airlines route network

Its other North American ports include New York JFK, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Honolulu.

Searching on the Qatar Airways website, redemptions between Manila and Vancouver cost 110,000 Avios one-way in business class.

MNL-YVR costs 110,000 Avios one-way in business class

Flying from Toronto costs a much higher 154,000 Avios due to the longer distance.

MNL-YYZ costs 154,000 Avios one-way in business class

What is nice to see is that Philippine Airlines releases up to 3 business class seats per flight, making it a viable option to book your entire family across the Pacific in business class. (It’s possible there are more than 3 seats, but my account is limited to searching for 3.)

Fly your entire family in business class

There are fuel surcharges levied, so the total comes to around $250 CAD one-way per person.

Mix Philippine Airlines and Qatar Airways, Pay Fewer Points

While searching, I came across redemptions combining both Philippine Airlines and Qatar Airways. Flying from Manila to Doha on Philippine Airlines, followed by a flight to Toronto on Qatar Qsuites, costs just 100,000 Avios — quite a better value than flying Philippine Airlines direct, in my opinion.

Fly MNL-DOH-YYZ on PR, then QR for 100,000 Avios one-way in business class

The flight from Manila to Doha is almost 10 hours, which is plenty of time to try out the product before taking a 13.5-hour flight on Qsuites. I’m sure Philippine Airlines offers a decent business class; Qsuites is hard to beat, especially with Starlink, so this offers the best of both worlds, not to mention costing 35% fewer points.

Try both business class products, pay 35% fewer points

Paying 154,000 Avios one-way for a flight to the East Coast is more expensive than I like, but acceptable with a transfer bonus. With the RBC’s current 30% transfer bonus to Avios, this costs 119,000 Avion points.

Philippines Airlines Domestic Network

Of course, you can redeem Avios for Qatar Airways flights around Asia, but redeeming Qatar Avios on other airlines like Cathay Pacific tends to be cheaper. What’s more interesting is redeeming Avios on Philippine Airlines’ domestic network. This unlocks destinations like Cebu, Boracay, and Palawan, known for scuba diving, white-sand beaches, and limestone cliffs that surround blue lagoons.

Redeem 9,000 Avios for domestic flights

Having visited twice in the past few years, I can confirm all of the above and also express my sadness that this partnership didn’t come to fruition sooner, for it would’ve saved me many flights on low-cost carriers, Air Asia and Cebu Pacific.

Award availability can be fickle, though, as Cebu–Busuanga (Coron, Palawan) has no seats in the entire calendar.

What’s Philippine Airlines Business Class Like?

The best business class offered by Philippine Airlines is on its brand new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, flying to New York JFK and Toronto. It’s a reverse-herringbone seat with sliding doors in a 1-2-1 configuration.

Philippine Airlines A350-1000 business class

If you’ve flown British Airways Club Suites, this is essentially the same seat, which in itself is similar to the Air Canada Signature Class suite, just with sliding doors added.

For most other flights to North America, Philippine Airlines mostly operates the Boeing 777-300ER and the Airbus A350-900. The latter offers a significantly better staggered 1-2-1 business class product.

Philippine Airlines A350-900 business class

While I’ve never flown Philippine Airlines, I actually flew this exact seat from Munich to Vancouver when Lufthansa acquired four A350-900s originally intended for Philippine Airlines. This same seat is on some A330-300s, while other A330s have a 2-2-2 product.

Vancouver gets the better version of Boeing 777-300ER business class product, also in a 1-2-1 configuration.

Philippine Airlines B777 business class

Philippine Airlines does operate other 777s in a 2-3-2 configuration with angle-flat seats, which are definitely best avoided.

Takeaway

Philippine Airlines won’t suddenly become the best way to cross the Pacific on points, but it does add another valuable option, especially for Canadians. The ability to book multiple business class seats on the same flight is particularly noteworthy at a time when many airlines are restricting premium cabin award availability, making Philippine Airlines a viable choice for families travelling together.

What’s especially interesting is the flexibility. You can fly Philippine Airlines nonstop between North America and Manila, but you can also combine Philippine Airlines and Qatar Airways on the same itinerary and pay even fewer Avios. Using Avios to island-hop throughout the Philippines also suddenly became much more viable.

The best part is that Toronto receives the brand-new A350-1000 featuring Philippine Airlines’ best business class product!

Featured Image Credit: Philippine Airlines