Filipino-American communities in the Midwest no longer need to connect through the West Coast. Philippine Airlines has launched its first nonstop service between Chicago O'Hare and Manila, adding a fifth mainland US city to a network that already includes Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Seattle — plus Guam, Honolulu and Saipan.

The route runs three times a week, departing both cities on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and is planned year-round. The timing works well in both directions: flights leave Manila at 4:40 PM and reach Chicago at 4:55 PM the same day, while the return departs O'Hare at 10:45 PM and lands in Manila at 5:25 AM two days later. That early morning arrival is deliberate — it lines up neatly with onward flights across the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia, which is exactly the connection traffic the airline is chasing. The westbound leg back to Manila is the brutal one: just over 16 and a half hours of block time, thanks to strong transpacific headwinds.

All flights are operated by the Airbus A350-900 in a 295-seat, three-class layout — 30 business seats, 24 in premium economy, and 241 in economy arranged nine-abreast. That's the more generous version of the A350; the airline's larger -1000 variant squeezes in ten seats per row, so if cabin width matters to you, this is the plane you want. When bookings opened, Philippine Airlines dangled limited-time round-trip basic economy fares from $667, a sharp price for a route of this length.

For travellers, the appeal is straightforward. Chicago is one of America's biggest hub airports, so passengers across the Midwest — and a large Filipino diaspora spread through states like Illinois, Michigan and Ohio — can now reach Manila without a West Coast layover. In the other direction, the Manila hub opens up easy one-ticket access to Philippine domestic points like Cebu, Davao and Boracay, plus regional Asian destinations.

It's also worth noting how far the airline has pushed into the US market. With eight American cities served across Philippine Airlines and its regional brand PAL Express, the carrier now has one of the broader US footprints of any Asian airline — useful knowledge if you're pricing out transpacific options from cities beyond the usual gateways. Plan for the ultra-long-haul reality, though: nearly 17 hours eastbound means picking your seat, booking the premium economy if budget allows, and mentally preparing for a very long night.

Reported by Simple Flying.