#FLYPAL75: PAL CELEBRATES 75 YEARS WITH NEW ROUTES + FREE FLIGHTS AND BAMBOO + SOME BONUS HISTORY

We all love PAL, that's a no-brainer.

So how to make this interesting? How about some history + trivia?

When my grandpa (my papahoney) was still alive, one of my most favorite things in the world to do was to sit down with him over merienda and listen to his stories about the war,  his childhood, his ancestors, etc. 

He kinda reminded me of the dad in Big Fish, except his weren't tall tales.

One afternoon while sitting in the den, I decided to ask him about a black and white photo that I've always been curious about. It was a picture of  several people posing in front of a plane with palm trees in the background...

The plane looked like this...

Turns out, that was my great grandfather, his wife and a few friends in Hawaii.

SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? WHY AM I SHARING THIS WITH YOU?

The big deal is that he flew that plane himself while his wife catered the food.

Yup, my great grandfather, Rodolfo O. Tirona was the first Filipino pilot of PAL and his wife, my pretty Mama Clara (as she was fondly called by our family), was the first caterer for PAL.

They would prepare sandwiches wrapped in tissue that were served to passengers from a basket. The same kind of sandwiches we enjoyed during family trips. That's how passengers were treated, like family.

Fast forward 75 years....

Although PAL has come a long way since then, with more airplanes and flights than ever, their service hasn't changed.

Whenever I travel, I feel safest and most at home when I fly PAL, don't you?

I remember this one time when I was flying back to Manila alone from Singapore, a big bag of tears, one of their senior flight attendants talked me through the flight. Gave me extra goodies and also a bit of advice at no extra charge. (:P Mind you, I was flying economy.)

And it's not just me, I've heard many similar stories from friends. So you know, there really is much to celebrate. It's not everyday that we can boast "A BEST" from our country but I really, really think that our flagship airline is one of the best in the industry.

PAL is definitely a true embodiment of the Filipino heart and spirit, effectively trumpeting to the world what Filipinos are made of.

So to celebrate this milestone and new routes, PAL had a party at REVEL where they gave away free flights + a BAMBOO mini concert!

Bamboo sang all our favorites from his Rivermaya days along with his own hits like Much Has Been Said (gush). He ended his set with a live performance of PAL's newest TVC:



And guess what?



It was his birthday too!



While that's cool and all, nothing could beat the raffles that night. Roundtrip flights for 2 to Guam, Japan, Singapore, Palawan, Saipan and London were given away to lucky guests.

To join the raffle, we just had to post our answers to this question on our social media accounts.



I posted one on Instagram...



And maybe 20 on Twitter? Hahaha...



Well it all paid off cause guess who won 2 roundtrip tickets to Saipan??? ME! ♡ Thank you PAL! It's going to be my first time there so any recos on what to, where to go and where to stay will be most welcome!



All that being said, I'd like to end this post with a quote from PAL's Vice President for Marketing Ria C. Domingo: “As you journey through life in the years to come, we commit to bringing the best of the Philippines and the best of the Filipino to you — the friendliness of our people and our waterproof spirit, the beauty of our islands, the splendor of our sunsets, the wonderful variety of our delicious cuisines, the richness of our history and culture and the fun in our everyday life. Philippine Airlines  has excelled and succeeded because we have the Heart of the Filipino that al-ways shines through,”

Enjoy the smoothest flights with PAL now flying direct FROM CEBU TO LOS ANGELES, Manila to Saipan and more coming soon!

for more info, visit www.philippineairlines.com and follow the hashtags #flyPAL75 #heartofthefilipino