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Category Archives: Airports
On immigration lines at NAIA Terminal 1 – again
Much has been said and written about the congestion at the immigration area at the Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. My most recent experience was a mix of good and bad as the lines were quite long prior to my departure for Bangkok.
A very crowded immigration area when I joined the line. Note how far I was to the immigration booths and the meandering arrangement to maximise the space for queued travellers. I reckon that it took me almost an hour to get to a booth. Perhaps the airport can place some signs indicating how much time is estimated for one in line to get to the front? I wrote about this back in 2014 and proposed something similar to what I saw at airports like Narita and Incheon.
Meanwhile, the lines were shorter and faster upon my arrival a week later as shown in the following photo:
Believe me these lines are shorter and faster moving. There were many immigration personnel the night of my arrival including an old friend from high school. Only, there were only 2 plane loads of passengers so it will definitely be worse during the peak hours when larger aircraft with more passengers arrive at the terminal.
It is a good thing that the airport is installing machines for express lanes soon. That will surely expedite processing for, at least, Filipinos returning from abroad. I think the departures would be quite tricky since there are many requirements particularly for workers leaving for their overseas assignments as well as government employees who require travel authority (TA) for them to travel abroad for whatever purpose. I think its Terminal 1 that is more notorious for the long queues as I didn’t have similar experience when using Terminals 2 or 3. Airport and immigration officials should exert more effort to ensure such congestion is minimised especially as the country targets more passenger traffic through its international airports.
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Another look at Suvarnabhumi Airport – arrival, part 2
Here are more photos taken when I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in early July.
Duty free shop at the baggage claim area
Exit through customs
Travelers and their companions meet-up right after passengers exit the arrival area
It can get quite crowded at some areas of the concourse especially near the airport/tourist information and the currency exchange booths where people usually congregate.
Another photo taken on my way to the escalators to get to the taxi stand at the lower level of the airport
Escalator to the lower level of the airport where one can get a taxi to the city centre.
A view of the ground level where there are seats for people waiting for arriving passengers or passengers biding their time before taking a taxi.
The area is much less crowded than the upper levels
Here is another photo showing the spacious area with few people.
Entry to the taxi stands – note the distinction among regular taxi (middle), large taxi (right)
Typical regular taxis at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The large taxis are generally AUVs.
Travelers are issued this ticket showing the lane where the taxi is parked, the name of the driver, car type and license plate number. You can also get a receipt from your driver upon arrival at destination and payment.
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Another look at Suvarnabhumi Airport – arrival, part 1
Here are photos of Suvarnabhumi Airport upon my arrival in Bangkok earlier this month. Here’s the first set of photos taken upon my arrival at the international terminal.
Moving walkway/ Walkalator
Artwork along the way to immigrations
Directional signs are quite important for an airport of this size
More directions and a map
Another artwork
Digital/electronic information board
Information board on aircraft arrivals and departures
Entry to the immigrations area where photographs and video are not allowed. I dare not be caught violating this rule in a foreign country.
Baggage claim area
Information on which carousel to go to pick-up your luggage are on this board. There are so many arrivals at the airport and so many carousels so its important to look it up for reference and direction.
More artwork, this time at the baggage claim area
Luggage going around on the carousel
Here are more artworks – I think this is a good idea to showcase the country’s artists at its main gateway. Perhaps Philippine airports should also make a similar effort? I recall Mactan Cebu International Airport featuring a local artist Boy Kiamko’s work at the terminal.
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Back in Bangkok
I am back in one of my favourite countries to visit – Thailand. I was a frequent visitor between 2002 and 2008. After that, I have been to the Kingdom only twice – in 2012 and in 2013.
Suvarnabhumi Airport is the main gateway to the Kingdom of Thailand. I was among the early users of this airport when it replaced the old Don Muang Airport that was closer to the Bangkok city center.
I was witness to the development of their transportation infrastructure including the construction of two links to Suvarnabhumi Airport – the express railway and the expressway. Shown above is a welcome sign as you leave the airport. In my case, I decided to use a taxi to get to my hotel as I had some luggage with me.
I will be posting about Bangkok in the next few days. I just need some time and the opportunity to take some nice photos to show here.
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On the old overnight parking rates at NAIA
I found a couple of old parking tickets from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Both are for overnight parking, which shows how cheaper overnight rates were before. The amounts to be paid then were also simpler to calculate since an overnight is automatically computed as either 40 or 300 pesos. Note that the 40-peso overnight fee was for the open parking lots of NAIA T2 and T3. The 300-peso fee was for the multi-level building of T3. I’ll just put these photos here for reference and those throwback moments.
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Siargao Airport
My brother recently sent me the following photos from a recent trip to Siargao. I share the photos here:
The terminal as it appears to arriving passengers
Passengers walk towards the terminal. Yes, that’s the control tower in the background.
Entrance to the arrival area
Entrance to the terminal’s departure area
Security check for departing passengers’ baggage
Check-in counters
Entrance to the pre-departure lounge
Cramped pre-departure lounge
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On the Tacloban airport terminal expansion
Tacloban’s Daniel Romualdez Airport terminal’s expansion has been completed and it now has ample space to accommodate passengers. I took the following photos a couple of weeks ago.
There is more space for the two inspection machines but only one was functioning when we were there. Nevertheless, the terminal now has a more spacious check-in lobby.
The check-in frontage remains the same with the same number of counters for each of the carriers. However, there is more space now for queueing so it is not as crowded as before. Shown are the counters for Philippine Airlines (PAL).
Here is the counter for Cebu Pacific (CebPac); again showing the same counter frontage but with more space for queueing.
There is a perceivable wide area now available in the terminal. That’s the TIEZA booth as well as others for quarantine.
Air Asia Philippines’ check-in counters
The pre-departure lounge is basically “divided” among PAL, CebPac and Air Asia. This is the scene of what you would have seen prior to the completion of the expansion.
Now, there is more space so its not as crowded.
There is a play area for kids as well as a room for nursing mothers (i.e., for breastfeeding or changing diapers). A welcome sight are the refurbished toilets.
The old food stands are gone with the exception of Dunkin’ Donuts. There’s a Goldilocks stand but not one with local goods or delicacies like ‘moron’ for souvenirs/pasalubong.
Another look at the passenger lounge area near the gates.
Here is the expansion area with additional seats and spaces for people with (a lot of) carry-on baggage.
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Amsterdam Schipol Airport railway station
My recent trip to Europe had me traveling from my entry point at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport to Enschede in Twente. I took the Intercity train to my destination city but not before taking photos around Schipol Airport and its underground train station.
This was my first look at the train station at Amsterdam Schipol Airport
Directional signs for arriving passengers
Ticket counters for various destinations from Schipol – one can purchase tickets for domestic or international destinations at the airport, which is a major gateway for Europe.
Cafes and shops at Schipol
Passengers checking their documents or verifying directions
Information booth at the airport
Travelers at Schipol airport
At the platform
Passengers boarding or waiting at the platform of Schipol station
Double decker car of an Intercity train headed for Venlo
My Intercity train ticket to Enschede
Back of the ticket
I like these clocks at railway stations and airports. They give me an opportunity to synchronise my watch with the clocks and the time at the country and city where I am at.
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Transfer at Dubai International Airport
Arriving at Dubai en route to The Netherlands, we deplaned to be transported by bus to the airport terminal. Those of us bound for Europe boarded a different bus that took us to the terminal for what I assumed were for Europe-bound flights. This was good as we didn’t have to figure out the maze that was Dubai airport including passing through security and figuring out how to go to our designated boarding gate. Following are photos I took at Terminal A.
Upon arrival at the terminal we proceeded towards the security clearance prior to our transfer gate.
Information on the boarding gates were already posted when we arrived. The airline already issued my boarding pass for the Dubai-Amsterdam leg of my travel but it didn’t have info on the boarding gate yet.
There were directional signs including those for people transferring to another terminal/wing using the transporter.
Many friends have said that Dubai airport is practically a mall. My first look and impression was that it is with all the shopping options there.
I decided to walk around first in order to have some exercise after the 8-hour flight from Manila. More shops and cafes greeted me everywhere I turned. It was quite tempting to go shopping but for a personal rule I have to never shop when just beginning a trip.
It was early morning (4:30 AM Dubai time) when we arrived at the terminal so there were still few people around.
One thing I regretted later was not purchasing a model airplane (I collect these.) from the Emirates show near our gate. I thought I would have enough time to do so upon my return.
This was our boarding gate at about 5:00 AM. Notice it was still dark outside.
This is the area near our boarding gate, which turned out to be a pre-departure area of sorts. Notice that there were already a lot of passengers at the time I took the photo (7:00 AM). That was understandable as we were to board an A380 to Schipol.
Here is our plane docked at the airport.
After we cleared the gate, we ended up at another lounge prior to boarding the plane. Its good though that the airline staff were able to manage the boarding sequence well and most passengers followed instructions. That was not to be on the trip back.
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Airport airside congestion in London
My wife sent me this photo prior to taking off from London Heathrow on her way home.
That’s a very long queue of planes waiting to take off!
This reminded me of the articles that came out about a multi-billion peso plan to expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with a giant terminal forming out of connecting Terminals 1, 2 and 4. Even with a huge terminal building with a much higher passenger capacity, NAIA still would’t be able to solve its congestion woes with only 2 (intersecting) runways. Take it from the capital city airports in the region including Singapore’s Changi that has multiple parallel runways that allow for almost simultaneous take-offs and landings. Such allows the airport to handle more flights – plain and simple.
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Caught (up) in traffic 