Dreadful Trip

Here we go again ...

I just arrived from Singapore. On the flight back , PR512, I had what I would probably consider as my worst Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight by far ...

This is what happened:

About half an hour after take-off, we were served dinner. The flight attendant, GINA DREYFUS asked: "We have beef and fish. Would you prefer beef caldereta or fish escabeche?"

Since I only eat escabeche if it comes from my kitchen, I went for the beef caldereta.

For those who are not familiar or for those who have not noticed, the Fiesta Class (Economy) food tray that they give typically consists of a salad, a bread, a slice of postre, a cup and your plastic eating utensils sealed in a plastic bag. This is standard; the entree plate is added to your tray, depending on your selection. What many people do not know (as I also did not know until it was explained to me by a Flight Purser), passengers seated on window seats are asked (as to their choice of entree) first.

Anyways, going back to my story ...

I received my food tray and as I opened the plastic wrap that contained the bread, I noticed that the plastic had water droplets. That would have been tolerable but guess what ... the bread inside was wet! Que ba, who in the world eats moisture-soaked bread?!

Never mind, I thought. I will start-off with the salad en vez. As I was opening the cover, I noticed the person beside me actually pounding on the salad! Oi lo que es esto?! The salad, which is actually macaroni with pesto, was frozen solid. As in ... frozen solid! How in the world can you eat such stuff?

When I opened my entree tray, lo and behold, the beef caldereta turned out to be, as the puñetera flight purser later told me, chicken afritada. Porvida! Didn't I make my selection clear?

I pressed the attendant call button but after waiting for exactly 48 minutes, I gave up and pressed the call button again to turn it off. The attendant would surely come to me come clear-up time, di ba?

And so this Gina Dreyfus eventually came to ask for the tray and this is when I told the tonta of the hideous food that was given to us! Her response, which came in the form of a question, was very typical: "Do you want a complaint form?".

I glared at her and replied with a curt "Yes!". During the remainder of the flight, the Flight Purser, ROSARIO RODRIGUEZ approached me with a wad of documents and explained why they were not able to give my preference. Even before the attendant reached our row, she says, my selection has been finished off. Oh yeah? So how come the passenger right behind me, including his companion were talking about how gross the beef caldereta tasted? Obviously, she lied! What a mentirosa de primera marca, this Flight Purser is! I have flown before with this Rosario Rodriguez (I think they call her Didi Rodriguez) on a long-haul flight and although I did not have any notable bad experience with her, there was nothing exemplary with her either. Now, I categorize her along with the likes of Flight Purser BETH LOPEZ and the rest of those hideous and menopausal Flight Pursers that PAL seems to cherish and behold. Para lo que, yo no sé!

This particular flight had all the wrong elements in it together: bad service, the worse food I have encountered by far and a combination of moron cabin crew. No thanks to ROSARIO RODRIGUEZ, GINA DREYFUS and another cabin crew by the name of MARK CESAR LEDESMA (who was so antipatiko and haughty you would think HE was the passenger).

Por favor Philippine Airlines, when will all these be addressed?