Of the four airplane rides I’ve had in my lifetime (such a puny number, I know), three of those were via Philippine Airlines (PAL). The first two trips were paid for by my siblings and I think they chose PAL because it was the cheapest. The last and most recent one, was a domestic flight to Cebu. This time, I paid for my ticket, and it’s sure as hell wasn’t because it’s the cheapest.

The first reason was because of the Mabuhay Miles points. I was a member way back when it was still called PALSmiles. Not that I ever racked up any points for that card. Anyway, I figured this is a good starting point for earning my miles.

The second reason was the airport. PAL has an exclusive airport for their international and domestic flights, the Centennial Terminal of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). It may not be as awesome as Singapore’s Changi Airport, but it sure beats having to use the NAIA Terminal I and the domestic airport.

I can’t remember if the plane was late on my trip to Jakarta or even to Singapore. However, it was right on schedule when I went to Cebu. The funny thing is, when I looked at the board displaying the flight status, the Cebu Pacific flight that was scheduled to arrive at 6:10am haven’t arrived yet. My PAL flight arrived 5 minutes earlier than Cebu Pacific’s ETA, though it was supposed to arrive at 6:15am.

Late or not, I’m sticking with Philippine Airlines this year. As the advert say, sayang ang miles.