Flying to the Phils, I've used Emirates (which was good), Cathay Pacific (superb apart from the VERY long leg Europe to Hong Kong) and China Southern (ditto). As a pensioner, price is important to me and I've been able to choose flights where the stopovers aren't too bad. The first leg is usually Manchester to Paris (Air France) or Amsterdam (KLM), then onwards to Guangzhou (where I agree the immigration people seem to be very stern) and finally Manila.

I flew China Southern again this time and apart from the long leg to Guangzhou I couldn't fault the service or food.

Not done Etihad to the Phils (although did that to Malaysia and they were superb) and never done Qatar, so can't comment. My preference would be Cathay Pacific but price usually wins out for me.

Alan