Pretty much, we got off of the plane, walked for about 5 minutes before going through another baggage check. Then back to the terminal to sit and wait. It is then that you get the chance to wander to a shop or comfort room.
I would head for the pub but there won't be one will there This is going to be a bigger pain on the way over, the old flight was great you arrived in the morning they served breakfast over Hong Kong at about 7:30am Manila time and you were on the ground by 9am and had the whole day ahead of you. I usually slept pretty well before I landed, UK body clock time was about 3am by the time I got to the house to see the kids. This new one you are going to be arriving in Manila around 2pm UK body clock time, probably doing this musical chairs lark at Taiwan round about 10am UK body clock time. Arriving late at night in Manila but still wide awake UK time is going to be harder than my previous pattern, so the next few days jet lag will probably be worse Ah well there's not a lot of choice is there.
The new KLM schedule: o Depart Amsterdam at 20:45, o Visit Taipae at 14:45 o Arrive in Manila at 19:25 The morning arrival (old schedule) was excellent for connecting flights within the Philippines, this new schedule means that it is too late to travel further on the same day.
It's not quite as bleak as you say. I was unable to check Zest Air (site down, situation normal) but I did check the schedules of Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirPhils Express: [TABLE="class: grid, width: 750, align: left"] [TR] [TD]Airline [/TD] [TD]Flight Number [/TD] [TD]From[/TD] [TD]Departs[/TD] [TD]To[/TD] [TD]Arrives[/TD] [TD]Frequency[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]PAL[/TD] [TD]PR879[/TD] [TD]Manila T2[/TD] [TD]22:10[/TD] [TD]Cebu[/TD] [TD]23:30[/TD] [TD]Daily[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Cebu Pacific[/TD] [TD]5J579[/TD] [TD]Manila T3[/TD] [TD]22:05[/TD] [TD]Cebu[/TD] [TD]23.15[/TD] [TD]TU/TH/SA/SU[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] -- ditto --[/TD] [TD]5J577[/TD] [TD]Manila T3[/TD] [TD]22:40[/TD] [TD]Cebu[/TD] [TD]23:55[/TD] [TD]Daily (Nov ->)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] -- ditto --[/TD] [TD]5J355[/TD] [TD]Manila T3[/TD] [TD]22:05[/TD] [TD]Kalibo[/TD] [TD]23:05[/TD] [TD]MO/WE/FR[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] I agree that you are limited on choice but you do have just enough time to connect to any of those flights. Good news if you want to end up in Cebu or Borocay
PAL is also one of the more expensive options with poor standard of service, uninspiring menu, and unfriendly departure time from Manila. When PAL inaugurated this service, it used newly-delivered Boeing 777s which were comfortable and had seatback entertainment throughout. No any more. The 777s have been redeployed on the Australian and American routes and replaced with ageing A330s originally acquired for services to the Gulf and Japan. These have no seatback entertainment, are uncomfortable and noisy.
In 2012 when I posted my reply to the other poster, Philippine Airlines were still banned from European airspace Yes it is the fastest if you live in the south and can get to Heathrow easily but as Markham says it is not a great route and has poor in flight service and isn't particularly cheap. If you live in Scotland or the north of England you still won't have any direct non-stop route.
KLM covers many of the UK's regional airports, including LBA which takes me 15 minutes by taxi. Qatar Airways, after recent abysmal customer service related to their cancellation of my KUL-DOH-LXR-DOH-MNL flight, I never ever want to hear from the idiots again. As soon as I get my money back I will set my spam filters to bounce back all their offensive marketing junk.