I am so sorry that I will be posting things out of sequence but I had some power and compatibility problems in Hong Kong and so I could not use my lap top while I was there.  Anyway, we are back home now and I will try to post today's adventures and backfill the other experiences as I get a chance.

This morning we got up early, at 6AM to finish packing and to get the kids up and ready to go on time.  Our flight was scheduled to depart at 11AM and the hotel had us scheduled to be picked up for a ride to the airport at 8:20 AM.  It seemed cutting things a bit close to me, but I figured since they do this all the time it should not be a problem.

We went to breakfast at the Marco Polo Prince Deli as we have every day and ate our free breakfast and I through in a few extras such as a fruit bowl and fried noodles.  After breakfast we went back to the hotel and checked out of the rooms.  We then waited for our ride.  About 8:40 a chubby Chinese guy came through with a list and asked who needed a ride to the airport, but we were not on his list so he left.  A lady then came through with another list, but that was to visit the ocean park.  Then a guy came through and asked if any of us were from room 726.  That was us and he directed us to a bus, the chubby guy's bus.  It is now 8:55 AM and we still have a long way to get from Shim Sha Tsui to Lantau Island, so I was beginning to get a little worried.  We finally got to the Airport at 9:30 and Laila found the Philippine Air counter almost immediately.  I picked a line with only one family in it and I figured we would go right through with a minimum of trouble.  Well I was really wrong there.

The couple I got behind either had some illegal items in their carry on, or they were overweight.  They basically repacked all their stuff right there at the counter.  In the meantime I am watching our valuable time slipping away.  They finally got out of there at about 9:45 and then it was our turn.  I had already put everyone's paperwork together, customs forms, passports, and immigration stuff was all in order, for everyone but me.

They asked me where my ticket back to the United States was, and I told them, on the bedside table, in Manila.  They asked me why I did not have it with me, and I informed them I do not carry things with me that would be the object of theft or loss.  They then told me I could not go to the Philippines without that ticket on my person.  I was of course staring in disbelief.  I showed them my Yahoo Itinerary my frequent flyers club number and all that, and though they saw that I had reservations and a ticket they said I would have to buy a plane ticket to take with me, and I could cancel the ticket and get a refund when I get to the Philippines.  I asked if that was a full refund and was told that where would be a charge, and they gave me a Hong Kong dollar amount.  Needless to say I was angry at the stupidity of it all.  What if I would not have had the money to purchase this extra ticket?  I guess I would be in some illegal immigrant camp or something, just because I forgot my ticket.

Anyway, after this fine exchange with another group of Philippine Airlines ticket counter people I have decided it was time to take my business elsewhere.  I will take Japan Airlines with a transfer to Cathay Pacific in the future.  I have just had it with the incompetence that has been exhibited by these people at Philippine Air.  Why couldn't they print me a copy of my ticket, or better yet look at the stamps in my passport and see that I just entered the Philippines last week and still had up to 21 days if I wouldn't have left the Philippines.  Anyway the solution to this one were too numerous to count, especially in these days of computers and all.  I guess the piece of paper would have cost them too much.  Oh and by the way when I went through Immigration they only gave it a glance.  They sometimes don't even look at it.

Finally after getting Laila and the kids calmed down, as everyone thought this guy was a bonehead, I bought a ticket and off we went getting on the plane, on time and all.  The flight was fine until we started our descent which was a little choppy.  Laila wanted to buy a tax free item, but when she first asked, the seatbelt sign was on and after that went out she asked again, but he item she wanted was out of stock.

We landed and got to our debarkation site at 1PM.  About 1:15 the flight crew announced that leaving the plane would be slightly delayed because there was only one shuttle bus and it was late.  WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?

Here we are riding a daily scheduled flight from Hong Kong to Manila.  It is a 747-400 with a seating capacity of 433 souls, and these idiots are going to deplane using on shuttle bus.  Granted, the plane was not completely full.  There were 20 or so vacant seats but there were a huge amount of people to get off that plane. 

After the announcement I started shooting pictures with my digital camera just to get a sense of how much time it would take to get off the plane.  I got off the plane at 14:02 so basically we took a 1 hour 45 minute flight and it took us 1 hour and 2 minutes to get off the plane.

Taken by Laila at 13:30 21 Aug 2006

I took this one at 13:40 21 Aug 2006 while we were still waiting to get off the plane.

Hard to believe that in this day of superior technology and all that Philippine Airlines had to put it's passengers from Flight 301, 747-400 Hong Kong to Manila approximately 400 passengers on a bus to the terminal.  Taken 14:03 21 Aug 2006.

When we got off the plane everywhere we went Laila asked the people, who was responsible for the disaster?  Immigration didn't know, Customs didn't know, the Police didn't know, the Airline didn't know.  Even the baggage handlers didn't know.

Well after my past experiences with baggage and ticketing agents, and after today's fiasco I hold one of these two people responsible.  Lucio C. Tan Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Philippine Air or Jaime J. Bautista President & Chief Operating Officer of Philippine Air.

So I hold them responsible and I will not use this airline again, as I have looked for signs of improvement and have seen none.  Basically I have had it, due to their support staff, and hold nothing against the crews, who provide excellent service.  It is a shame that they are so professional, but all the people you have to deal with prior to boarding don't have a clue of what customer service really is.

So please, I warn you, if you are going to visit the Philippines go by boat, swim, raft, or fly.  But if you fly do not deal with Philippines Airlines unless you don't mind dealing with total incompetence from their supporting staff.

I will get the rest caught up over the next few days.