Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Metro Manila Philippines (NAIA)

...give it its proper name Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( Code MNL) was to look at the sea and watch for the change of colour from a brilliant blue to a dark brown. Unfortunately, that indeed was one indicator I did notice as the coast became nearer.

Once the plane got lower my immediate impression was that the airport was actually very close to built up areas but in some ways this proved to be an illusion as the majority of places ...
...away.

On landing, I was struck by how quiet the airport was, there were relatively few planes docked at the piers and only one other plane taxi-ing to the runway, this was about 4pm on a Friday afternoon. Leaving the plane was quick and I was glad to see relatively clear signs telling me which way to go ( always a good bonus in an airport ). The route from the plane to immigration was about 600m or so with no working travelators which ... more

I was told that one of the first ways to know you are nearing Manila Airport or to give it its proper name Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( Code MNL) was to look at the sea and watch for the change of colour from a brilliant blue to a dark brown. Unfortunately, that indeed was one indicator I did notice as the coast became nearer.

Once the plane got lower my immediate impression was that the airport was actually very close to built up areas but in some ways this proved to be an illusion as the majority of places people will want to go to are still over 10k away.

On landing, I was struck by how quiet the airport was, there were relatively few planes docked at the piers and only one other plane taxi-ing to the runway, this was about 4pm on a Friday afternoon. Leaving the plane was quick and I was glad to see relatively clear signs telling me which way to go ( always a good bonus in an airport ). The route from the plane to immigration was about 600m or so with no working travelators which could prove to be a difficult if you have trouble walking. On the way there, you pass what seems to be a new trend in airports – the arrival duty free shop. This one stocked only the major brands of cigarettes, liquors and sweets so I wasn’t really interested. The immigration booths were well manned and I was through in 5 minutes, next stage was baggage reclaim which you can see while standing in line for immigration.

This is where the building starts to show its age. The passenger area up until then is relatively clean and modern – albeit still not really looked after, there still were signs up about SARS for example that should have been taken down a year ago. Once in the baggage reclaim area it becomes more spartan and utilitarian. The toilets although clean are in need of refurbishment and specifically locks on the doors of the cubicles! After getting your bag it’s a short ( 40m ) journey to the green or red channels for customs and thereafter into the arrivals hall.

The arrivals hall itself is actually quite small with a couple of ATMs to your left, a couple of Tourist Information and hotel places to your right. There were no shops that I could see to buy some soft drinks or a little snack to keep you going until your hotel. The first trick you have to do is look as though you know where you are going – otherwise you will be approached by the hotel / tourist information touts. Now by touts I mean they are offering overpriced services you can get on your own at a much cheaper price. It is nothing to do with whether they are working for the “Official Tourist Agency” or not. In many countries that organisation is just designed to suck as much money out of people as possible. In the space of 30 yards I was approached by no less than 4 different people asking the same stupid questions
“Would I like a hotel/taxi?”
“No”

Why is it that in tourist places, that these touts don’t use their brain or at least their eyes to think “oh, they just said no to someone else, I will leave them alone”? No, it’s always, “they just said no, if I ask them again, they might say yes!”

Anyway, if you stay on the ground floor, your transport options to and from the airport - unless you are being picked up - are very few. There is no direct bus service or railway station to the airport. If you fancy a 300m walk down the exit ramp, you can get a passing bus, or a jeepney into town. ( A jeepney is basically an extended minibus colourfully painted with no windows or rear doors. Its one of the main forms of transportation in the Philippines ) I would not recommend this for the first timer though. The main option is to get the “Official Airport Taxi” For this, the fares are set in advance and are displayed on a board beside the rank 30m outside the exit doors. The fare is paid in advance and you are given a receipt and no further money should be paid. For the area I was going to ( Ermita ) the fare was 380 Pesos which is almost 4 times what it costs to get back to the airport.

Another alternative is ( after you have checked the departure board for the airport fares ) to make your way up to the 1st floor ( departure level ) and exit the building that way. After this, flag down a taxi dropping off passengers and ask him to put the meter on and off you go. Officially, though, you and they are not supposed to do this. If you do have to negotiate a fare, you have the board fare to base the fairness of what you are offered. Normally, the more confident you are – even if you are bluffing – the better the fare. If you get to about 40% of the board fare, that is an OK deal, not great but OK. Fortunately, I was being met by someone so didn’t have to put up with that particular hassle.

Leaving the airport you are then put into the lap of the gods that is known as Manila road traffic – but that’s another review.

My return flight was at 11.15 on a Thursday evening and I had been warned about leaving enough time to get through the airport. Coming back from Ermita, I left my hotel at just before 8 in the evening and flagged down the first taxi I saw but he didn’t want to take me to the airport, nor did the second or the third. The fourth initially tried to get a fixed fare of 200P then dropped it to 150P before finally relenting and turning on the meter with wails of “its too far, petrol is expensive, wouldn’t get a return fare and so on”. He even tried to say that the meter fare would be more expensive than the “special fare” he was offering. After a quick 20 minute journey, the fare turned out to be 97 Pesos, a nice little bonus he tried to get. And just as I got out the taxi, a Korean gentleman immediately hired him back into the city.

Now the procedure to enter the airport and fly out of the country is nightmare from start to finish. Even before getting dropped off, the taxi had to stop at a checkpoint and the boot opened and checked. To get into the airport building itself, you must have a passport and ticket for a flight leaving that day. If you don’t have that, you don’t get in. Kiss your friends and family away at the front door. 1st check. Immediately on entering the building you have your bags x-rayed and you walk through a metal detector and are frisk searched. 2nd check. You then move to a counter in between you and the check in queues, all your bags are opened and searched and tickets and passport checked, 3rd check. You then join the check in queue and halfway round that, your tickets and passport checked again, 4th check. Then further round the queue, the main bags are weighed and tickets and passport checked again 5th check. Then finally you check in, where guess what, your tickets and passports are checked again. 6th check.

After checking in, I had a look round the ground side of the departure building and there is absolutely nothing to do. There are no shops, no snack areas, nothing except a currency exchange ( which you may need ! ) The only thing ground side are the check in desks. Because of this I went into the departure area, and queued up to pay what to some people may come as a surprise - the departure tax which must be paid in cash, no cheques or credit cards allowed. Remember to keep that 550 Pesos otherwise its back to the ATM for you! (They do take US$ as well though), departing Immigration is just behind and after another 25 minutes queuing up to clear, I was finally into the departure lounge.

At this point it was around 10.20pm on a Wednesday night and I assumed that quite a few of the Duty Free shops would still be open so I could buy those last minute gifts and of course use the last chance to get rid of the last of the Pesos. Wrong. Infact, only one of the smaller shops was still open with 2 other gift shops. There was also only one small bar with vastly overpriced snack foods and one soft drinks bar still open. For example, a standard can of coke outside the airport may cost 12-15 Pesos, but inside I was charged 50 Pesos.

About 20 minutes later the flight was called and I went to the pier entrance. There I had my hand luggage x-rayed again, a footwear x-ray and a body frisk. 7th check. They actually had a sign said Final Security Check but they lied, it wasn’t. At the departure gate lounge there was one more manual inspection of the hand luggage, tickets, passport and another body frisk. 8th check.

This is one airport that you definitely do need to allow 3 hours to get through. I reckon that adding it all up, I had 10 – 15 spare minutes on being in the airport 2 hrs 50 minutes. And this was on a weekday evening, so heaven only knows what it is like on a busy Friday evening or Saturday afternoon.

Now, one other very important factor to take into account is what airline you fly with. Any other airline apart from Philippines Airlines will use Terminal 1 as the national airline has its own entirely separate Terminal 2 for all international and domestic flights. The two terminals are about a 15 minute taxi ride away from each other, so if you are transferring airlines for a domestic onward/return flight, you must allow plenty of time to change terminals.

Do I recommend it is always a question I hate answering as you cant really recommend an airport as usually there are no altenatives if you want to go to that city or country. If I had the choice I would say no, but if you want to fly to Manila you have to use it whether it was recommended or not. 

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