Business Class Flights to Manila

Philippine Airlines flies Manila nonstop from New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu and Guam, with a lie-flat 1-2-1 business cabin on its 777-300ERs and A350-900s and a new A350-1000 arriving on the New York route; some A330s have a 2-2-2 layout, so we confirm the aircraft. United flies Polaris nonstop from San Francisco. One-stops are competitive from cities without a nonstop: EVA Air and Starlux via Taipei (two hours to Manila), Korean Air via Seoul (four), ANA and Japan Airlines via Tokyo (four and a half, with First on the Pacific leg), Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong (two), and Qatar Airways or Emirates via the Gulf from the East Coast. No airline flies First Class into Manila.

Ninoy Aquino's terminals are spread out — Philippine Airlines uses Terminals 1 and 2, foreign carriers mostly Terminal 3 — and Manila's traffic is the variable in any transfer; allow an hour to Makati or Bonifacio Global City, and more at rush hour. The new terminal operator has improved the arrival since 2024. Domestic connections are the point of most trips: Cebu is 75 minutes, Boracay (via Caticlan) an hour, Palawan's Puerto Princesa 75 minutes and El Nido (via Lio) 80, Siargao two and a half hours; we book them on the same ticket where the fare allows, and Cebu also has direct flights from Los Angeles on Philippine Airlines.

December is the month. Balikbayan traffic — Filipino-Americans flying home for Christmas — fills every premium cabin on the New York and West Coast nonstops from mid-December to early January, with fares at their highest of the year; book by September. January and February are the pleasantest months, cool and dry. March to May is hot, dry and good for the islands. June through November is the rainy and typhoon season, with the lowest premium fares — often well below our $3,500 starting price from San Francisco — and usually fine weather in Palawan and the Visayas between storms.