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Another look at NAIA Terminal 4 departure
Here’s another set of photos care of a good friend who recently went through NAIA’s Terminal 4 en route to Palawan. Terminal 4 was what many people used to call the Manila Domestic Terminal. This was because it used to be the terminal for all domestic flights via Manila.
The concierge’s desk greets travelers as they enter the terminal.
The terminal’s airline check-in area appears to be very spacious.
It was an early morning flight for my friend and that’s probably why, she says, it was much less crowded at the time she checked-in for her flight.
Passengers waiting for their boarding calls – the concessionaires are visible to the back in the photo.
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A quick look at the Puerto Princesa airport terminal – departure
I asked a good friend to take a few photos of the airports she used in her recent trip to Palawan. Here is the first batch consisting of pictures of the pre-departure area of Puerto Princesa airport. It’s been a while since my last travel to Palawan and that was through its old airport terminal.
Here’s a look at the pre-departure area of the terminal. It is obviously a significant upgrade from the old terminal.
Here’s another look at the spacious are for passengers as they await their boarding calls.
Here are some of the food concessionaires at the terminal.
Passengers have a lot of choices for food and drinks as they wait for their flights.
I hope to be back in Palawan in the near future for some R&R and perhaps take more photos of this terminal for another article.
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Another look at Suvarnabhumi Airport – departure, Part 3
Here are the rest of the photos for this series on Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Here’s another look at some of the shops inside the terminal
Here is a view of the grand display at the departure concourse after you clear immigration.
For those who did their shopping in Thailand, VAT refund is available at the airport. Just make sure you kept your receipts.
King Power duty free shops
Information boards
I like to say that a highlight of my recent travel to Bangkok was enjoying mango with sticky rice at the airport. Bangkok is famous for its street food and this is comfort food for me.
More shops greet you on the way to the boarding gates. These are actually the last ones prior to the boarding gates and present the last chance for some shopping.
A view of one of the piers (there are 6) of the airport terminal.
Moving walkways help passengers get to the boarding gates along the long piers emanating from the main terminal building. But if you want to have some exercise and increase your step count then you might opt to do some brisk or relaxed walking.
There is always these cultural-religious elements inside this modern terminal that remind you that you are in Thailand.
I enjoyed my mango with sticky rice while waiting for my boarding call.
Ramp to the pre-boarding lounge before the gate
I’m looking forward to traveling to Cebu soon. Although the new terminal is for international flights, I hope to get some photos from the tarmac. And who knows if there is a chance to take a few opportunistic shots of the interior?
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Another look at Suvarnabhumi Airport – departure, Part 2
Previously, I posted on my arrival at the airport prior to my return to Manila. Here’s a continuation with more photos of the terminal at the departure level of Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Display depicting a temple greeting people as they enter the terminal
Travelers check the information board for their designated airline check-in counters
Direction signs and luggage wrapping services at the airport
Somebody said it is easy to get lost in a terminal this spacious.
Just follow the signs and the information boards
Here’s a closer look at one of the information boards showing departing flight information such as the status of outbound flights and the designated check-in counters.
Among my favourites at Suvarnabhumi Airport are these sentinel-like figures “watching over” the busy airport.
Thai Airways check-in counters designated for my flight back to Manila – there were no queues as there were more than enough counters and staff to handle passengers as of the time I checked-in. It helped that I checked-in online so I went directly to the bag-drop counters for my luggage and my boarding pass.
Going up the escalator for the final airport security check and the immigration counters, I took this photo of the spacious terminal.
Here’s another shot just before I placed my phone in my backpack prior to the security check.
Upon clearing immigration, one is greeted by yet another display. I already featured this in previous (old) posts on the airport where I showed some close-ups.
The ways to the boarding gates are lined up with shops.
Here are more shops along the way.
There are the usual souvenir shops, boutiques, and the cafes and restaurants for those who need refreshments.
More photos in the last instalment of this series!
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Another look at Suvarnabhumi Airport – departure, Part 1
My recent trip to Bangkok allowed me to take more photos of Suvarnabhumi Airport. I already posted on my arrival at the airport and this time, I am posting on my departure. The following photos were taken as we approached the airport and upon my entry to the terminal.
On the elevated expressway link to the international airport. The signs are obviously in Thai.
A view of the control tower
The taxi driver proceeds towards the departure level driveway to the left of the expressway link. The exit ramp to the right is for vehicles heading towards the arrival level driveway.
Speed limit for this section is 40 kph.
The airport terminal is at left and at the foreground is the multi-level parking facility
After alighting from the taxi, I took this photo of the luggage carts neatly filed and ready to be taken to the terminal.
Taxis unloading passengers and their luggage along the driveway designated for public transport.
Airport departure level driveway with a view of the control tower and the multi-level parking building
A properly and conspicuously marked pedestrian crossing at the airport
The driveway designated for private vehicles is more crowded
Sign for the national flag carrier whose hub airport is Suvarnabhumi.
More photos next time!
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Duty free shop expansion at NAIA Terminal 3
Here’s some lighter stuff after the heavy rains that inundated much of Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces. I was at NAIA Terminal 3 recently to fetch a friend arriving from Bacolod. I braved the rains and the potential flooding along my way to and from the airport as it was an early flight she was arriving on. I arrived early to discover the flight arrival was delayed so I decided to go around the terminal to see if there was something new. There was, and that’s the expansion of what was a small (compared to other international airports) duty free shop at NAIA’s largest of 4 terminals.
A peek at the expansion of the duty free shop at Terminal 3 shows people still working on the stocks and display for liquor/wines and cigarettes/tobacco.
Here’s a view from the Lacoste shop looking towards the corridor leading to/from the multi-level parking facility
The shop space now looks quite spacious though I’m not sure if it will attract as many people as other airports’ duty free shops as well as the larger Duty Free Philippines standalone store near Terminal 1. It is very convenient though for the usual p
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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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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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Caught (up) in traffic 