Last December, our family went out of the country for a much deserved (albeit, short) vacation to the land of sushi, Hentai Anime, and… umm… Toyota. Yup, you guessed that right, Japan.

Being the geek that I am, imagine the joy in my heart to learn that we will be flying to Tokyo (NRT) in a Boeing 777! Philippine Airlines just received its first 777-300ER this November. It’s not even a month old with that distinct new plane smell. The 777 is Boeing’s latest, most fuel-efficient jetliner. It is capable to comfortably accommodate 368 passengers for more than 14,000 Kms in one full tank, on just two engines. Even planes are going green nowadays. How cool is that?

Besides the spacious 3-4-3 seating, futuristic cabin layout, and granny-old flight attendants, another thing that caught my attention was the unbelievable in-flight entertainment system.

To describe it in one word: Awesome. And this is only an economy seat.

Once seated, the first thing you will notice is the bright, color-rich touch screen LCD display. Unlike those installed on a 747 (compared to the 747 that flew us back to Manila), this one is brighter, the display has more depth and is not easily washed out by the overhead cabin lights.

The front side of the controller features the usual attendant-call button, reading lights, etc.

But if you flip the same controller to its other face, you will be greeted with a qwerty keyboard along with game controls on each side.

You will also notice the credit card slot under the LCD, nobody really knows what its for. I wouldn’t try swiping my card there. There are also Ethernet and USB ports. I haven’t tried the USB if its live; my iPod charger is conveniently stored in the luggage. And even though we had a laptop with us, we didn’t think we would need an Ethernet cable.

Quoted from Leslie’s blog:

“…I grabbed my Ethernet cable only to find that the port is just a gaping hole. Nothing is in there. There is active USB, but, mine did not work and plugging my iPhone into my neighbors USB port left my phone constantly jumping into and leaving charging mode. It was so rampant (every few seconds) I decided to unplug it to play it safe.”

I’m not sure if the same is true with our version.

After the so-so meal, I watched the movie UP while killing time, and played Bejeweled afterwards to kill some more time.

In-flight entertainment surely helps passengers endure the medium to long haul flights. I remembered flying to Vancouver (YVR) non-stop from Manila (MNL) in an AirBus A340 – my only companion is an MP3 player, and an Indian professor seating beside me, insistently teaching me Yoga meditation. You get the picture.

Have you tried PAL’s new 777? How was it for you? Is the Ethernet and USB ports working?

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