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NAIA terminal designations for airlines – reshuffle
Airport authorities in Manila announced that airline designations at NAIA’s four terminals would be reshuffled. I took this photo of the announcement on a tarp at the corner of NAIA Road and Ninoy Aquino Avenue as we left NAIA Terminal 1.
While there seems to be no major concern for the international airlines mentioned in the tarp, there will be a major inconvenience for Philippine Airlines passengers. For most its flights including international ones, transfers were easier and more convenient since international and domestic flights shared the same Terminal 2. There was no need to travel from or to another terminal unless the transfer involved another airline. From June 16, 2023, all its international flights will be via Terminal 1 so there will be a need to transit between T1 and T2 for connecting flights. Cebu Pacific will still enjoy this convenience for most of its flights as international and most domestic flights are via Terminal 3.
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Crowded NAIA Terminal 2
Before the pandemic, NAIA’s airport terminals were already very crowded. Recently, I’ve been to both Terminals 2 and 3, and I can say that they are practically back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of their being crowded or congested. There are the long lines at the check-in counters and travelers and well-wishers ‘encamped’ or circulating around the terminals.
The area just after the final security check does not seem to be crowded. People don’t usually congregate or linger in the area.
The empty seats belie a crowded Terminal 2. That white wall eventually turned out to be the area for where arriving international passengers have to have their e-arrival QR codes scanned.
This is what is behind the white wall in the previous photo.
Arriving passengers (right) queue towards the e-arrival scans. Those finished with their e-arrival scans (left) proceed to the immigration counters via the other end of the terminal.
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On a canceled trip due to a typhoon
I was supposed to be traveling with my family to Singapore over the Undas long weekend. That did not push through due to the circumstances brought about by Typhoon Paeng. What could have been our daughter’s first travel abroad did not materialize and we were left with sunk costs from the tickets we had already bought online for Universal Studios and the Singapore Zoo. We also had to cancel meet-ups with friends in Singapore.
This Cathay Pacific plane landed safely before noon and later departed for Hong Kong without incident.
An earlier ANA flight arrived and departed without incident. This one arrived mid afternoon but was similarly grounded due to the typhoon.
The airport announced all flights were canceled just before 6:30 PM. This was a late announcement that some airlines were waiting for. Cebu Pacific apparently had advance information as they canceled all their international flights one after the other around 6:00PM (probably to manage the crowds that would file out of the departure area to reclaim their luggage). We were disappointed that Singapore Airlines did not act immediately and decisively on the matter. We were expecting at least an announcement of when we could expect to be on the next flight. For an airline of their stature, I was also expecting that they could have made arrangements for accommodations due to the great inconvenience brought upon passengers. That was the least they could do if they intended to put us in the next available flight (planes were cleared to operate at 10:00PM that night). Apparently, the typhoon (and its implied acts of nature/acts of God aspect) was also a convenient excuse for the airline (and others, too) to practically abandon their passengers. [Note: A pilot friend intimated that these decisions and behavior by airlines are partly due to policies and actions of the previous administration/government of the Philippines where all the blame was put on airlines for cancellations and they were penalized for acting independently or ahead of government announcements.]
Of course, we later received a series of emails from the airline informing us that we were rebooked to flights the following day. I say ‘flights’ here because these the first email informed us of a flight at 10:00AM. A subsequent email then said we were to be in a 12:00 flight. A third then said that we were to be on a 2:00 PM flight. We got to read these emails around 7:00 AM the following day as they were sent overnight when we were already occupied in finding accommodations during inclement weather. Flabbergasted, we decided to request a refund instead of re-booking and rescheduling our trip. It was already difficult to reschedule as there weren’t any weekends long enough remaining this 2022 and this Undas was the ideal time for a getaway. We’ll try again another time.
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NAIA Parking Rates as of April 2022
Here’s a quick share of information about the parking rates at the NAIA airport terminals:
The infographic is from the DOTr Facebook Page and should be useful for those picking up people at the airport or who would be leaving their vehicles there as they travel again with the easing of restrictions due to the pandemic.
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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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NAIA terminal transfer guide
I was able to get the following photos of a couple of pages from the Philippine Airlines (PAL) inflight magazine Mabuhay. The photos show an airport terminal transfer guide for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which has 4 terminals. Since I get a lot of traffic and questions about terminal transfers in this blog, I thought it practical and informative to just post these here for everyone’s benefit.
I hope these are helpful!
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NAIA Expressway – T2 to T3
This is a continuation of yesterday’s post on the NAIA Expressway. This time, I am posting on the trip back from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. It cost us 45 pesos, which is the same toll fee we paid for the reverse direction. Here are photos I took of NAIA X with some comments on the sections and signs.
Vehicles coming from Terminals 1 and 2 would have to take the on-ramp after the intersection of NAIA Road and the Paranaque-Sucat Road (Ninoy Aquino Avenue) and just before the intersection with the Domestic Airport Road.
That’s the Park’N Fly building that is located at the corner of the NAIA Road-Domestic Road intersection.
Vehicles bound for Terminal 3 and the Skyway should keep right.
Traffic will merge with those coming from Macapagal Boulevard.
Speed limit and signs for merging traffic
The three lanes include the merging lane at right.
Noticeable along the NAIA X is the lack of shoulders. Although the lanes appear to be wide, drivers may become uncomfortable when two vehicles are side by side due to the perception of constricted space.
There are lots of reflectors installed on the media barriers. There are also a lot of ad space with tarps installed on each lamp post along the expressway.
Sign informing travelers of the toll plaza coming up ahead.
Directional sign guiding vehicles bound for the Skyway or Terminal 3. My colleagues and I agree that instead of just stating “Skyway”, the sign should state “Skyway/C5/Nichols”. Travelers who are not heading south and unfamiliar with the NAIA X off-ramps would likely take the Terminal 3 exit and end up passing through T3. There is actually another off-ramp leading to Andrews Avenue and eventually Sales Road (formerly Nichols) so you don’t have to pass through T3. We made that mistake and ended up going through T3.
Toll plaza prior to the T3 exit ramp
Section just after the toll plaza
Off ramp
Standing vehicles right next to the off-ramp with their drivers likely waiting to fetch arriving passengers. It is practically impossible to make a hard left to avoid going into T3 so you have no choice but to go through the terminal via the departure level (elevated) or the arrival level (ground).
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NAIA Expressway – T3 to T2/T1
Last Friday was our first time to use the NAIA Expressway. This was one of the major projects under the last administration and under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program and became operational last year after being delayed (It was not operational during the APEC summit in 2015.) for some time. I also commented on the need for NAIA X in one post before as I preferred to have a transit system instead. NAIA X is basically and mostly beneficial to cars and not necessarily for public transport. It also practically limits if not eliminates the possibility of having elevated transit (e.g., monorail or AGT) to connect the 4 terminals among them as well as to areas outside the airport zone (BGC, Makati, etc.).
I thought this post would be a useful one for travelers especially those coming in and out of the airports at this time of the year. A lot of people are departing or arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which is a main gateway to Metro Manila and adjacent regions. It can get congested along the roads between the four terminals of the airport and since there is not internal transport system linking them, travelers would need to travel along public roads. It cost 45 pesos (less than 1 USD) for the stretch from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 (same if you’re headed for Terminal 1), and I thought it was well worth it considering it can really be quite congested between the 4 terminals. That congestion has already victimized a lot of people before with many missing their flights. But then perhaps one major cause of that congestion was the construction of the NAIA Expressway?
Entry ramp across from Terminal 3 and before the Sta. Clara church at Newport City
Toll plaza where travelers pay upon entry to the tollway
Just before the toll plaza where most booths are for mixed ETC/cash transactions
Upon exiting the toll plaza, travelers have to deal with multiple lanes merging into two
Two-lane section with neither shoulders nor “elbow room”
Directional sign providing guidance especially for vehicles headed to Terminals 1 &2
Directional signs for vehicles bound for Cavite and Macapagal Blvd (left) and Terminals 1 or 2 (right)
The tollway section goes underneath the section headed towards Macapagal Boulevard and the Coastal Road
The lane from Terminal 3 merges with another from the Coastal Road
Signs showing which side to stay along towards either Terminal 2 or 1
Fork in the road – the tollway branches our to either Terminal 2 or Terminal 1
Off ramp towards Terminal 2
Next: Terminal 2 to Terminal 3
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Transit Lounge at NAIA Terminal 3
While waiting for the wife to arrive at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), I decided to go around the terminal again. It had been a while since I had explored the terminal and the delayed arrival of the plane meant I had a lot of time to burn. It seemed too lazy an option to just sit down and have some food and drink at a cafe or restaurant when you can exercise by taking a walk around the terminal.
At the fringes of Level 4 where most of the shops, cafes and restaurants are located, I stumbled upon a newly opened transit lounge. The Wings Transit Lounge is dubbed as the Philippines’ first airport lounge. It opened last May and offers travelers and even well-wishers facilities similar to that of hotels. It is actually a hotel within the airport that gives people the option of a more comfortable rest or sleeping area (accommodations). This can be a good option for people in between flights (transfer passengers) especially those arriving late at night and with long layovers before their connecting flights at the same airport terminal or the other terminals of NAIA.
The Wings Transit Lounge opened last May at NAIA Terminal 3
Dining or work area
Pantry and dining area – the bright lights in the background is from the area across the corridor from the transit lounge that has a great view of the tarmac and runway; parts of NAIA Terminal 3 that have yet to be occupied (and which are prime areas for restaurants or cafes).
Lounge chairs for napping, waiting, a massage or a manicure/pedicure
Double deck beds at the family room – note also the personal reading lights for each bed.
Another photo of the double deck beds at a family room. I wasn’t able to get photos of their twin and bunk rooms as these were occupied when I went around the transit lounge.
Common toilets and showers for those wanting to freshen up before or after a flight.
Capsules include blinds for some privacy
Here’s one capsule unit with a safety deposit box and reading light.
Room and lounge rates plus rates for other services offered by Wings Transit Lounge
The rates appear to be expensive at first glance but should be considered in the context of convenience. The transit lounge provides services (mainly accommodations) that, although hotels in the area can also provide, are offered right there at the terminal itself. You can google the airport hotels to compare rates. The nearest ones to NAIA Terminal 3 are the Marriott Hotel, Maxim’s Hotel and Remington Hotel.
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On delayed flights in the Philippines
I participated in a conference held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan last November and both my flights to and from Puerto Princesa were delayed. The first one was delayed by 1 hour. We boarded on time and there were no announcements of delays. However, we sat inside the plane for about an hour including taxiing towards the runway and then waiting in queue before we were cleared for take-off. The pilot was constantly on the PA system though, informing passengers about the cause of the delay, which was airport congestion. This was a reference to the many take-offs and landings (departing and arriving aircraft) being handled by the airport at the time. It seems air traffic control could not cope with the number of aircraft departing and arriving at NAIA even considering the airport had two runways that were operational (We took off using the secondary runway.).
Aircraft taxiing towards NAIA’s main runway in preparation for take-off
I won’t mention specific airlines as I think domestic flights by all airlines have been incurring significant delays and not just recently but among the main possible reasons for delays that can be charged to the airline are the following:
1. Airport congestion – This can refer to either the runway or the passenger terminal. However, for the latter case you can have examples of very congested or crowded terminals of airports that have planes taking off and landing on time. Tagbilaran and Roxas Airports are like that, and Mactan (Cebu) and Bacolod-Silay have passenger terminals that are becoming if not already congested. Thus, airport congestion as a reason for delays must be due to runway operations. A single runway airport will handle fewer flights compared to those with multiple runways. Airport runway design and configuration are influenced by many factors but given any single runway in a major airport like NAIA it is already assumed that these factors are already considered in operation and on a typical day under normal or even favorable conditions, the only other significant factor for runway operations is air traffic control. Air traffic controllers would be responsible for guiding arriving flights and clearing planes for take-off. The number of take-offs and landings will also be significantly affected by how air traffic control “queues” planes in the air and on the ground.
2. Too many flights – Airlines tend to maximize the use of their aircraft and seem to be scheduling more flights that they can handle. This results in the very common “late arrival of turnaround aircraft” reason that airlines announce as the reason for delayed flights. Granted, in many cases this is ultimately due to reason #1, it seems that other airlines that have lesser flights also have less problems of this kind. In fact, I have observed that in many if not most instances, international carriers do not incur as much delays as local carriers and among local carriers there seem to be a unanimous observation on which “planes are always late” these days.
It seems at first that the main issue is not necessarily airlines overbooking their flights since air traffic control and the number of runways can be major factors influencing the number of aircraft that can take-off and land during a particular period. However, one particular airline has a knack for offering a lot of flights that they obviously cannot handle with all the delays and cancellations they have been incurring to the consternation of a lot of travelers. Though I myself use the airline often due to the convenience of their schedules and frequencies, I too have been victimized many times of these delays including one flight to Singapore a couple of years ago when, instead of arriving in time for dinner I ended up arriving home just after midnight.
Recently, there have been calls for the airline and others performing like it to be penalized in order for them to realize how much inconvenience they have brought on to their passengers. I think this is right in order to send a clear message to airlines that safety and service come first before profit. Too many flights, no matter how convenient to the passengers in terms of schedule, is not a substitute for good quality service. Being a budget airline also does not excuse it from what a lot of people have branded as crappy service. This mentality of airlines reminds me only of similar mentality among bus and jeepney operators (land transport) but that’s another story.
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Caught (up) in traffic 