With effect from August, five international carriers - Cathay, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, KLM and Delta, will transfer to the more modern Terminal Three at NAIA, With effect from October, the airport fee of P550 will no longer be collected in cash but will be included in the ticket price. The Travel Tax of P1,650 per head for Filipinos will still be collected, however. http://www.rappler.com/nation/60266-naia-terminal-fees?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral
Does anyone know why Filipinos get charged more for leaving the Philippines than for us foreigners? I've always found this to be a bit weird..
Is terminal 3 the new one round the corner that basically deals with domestic flights? The past month or so they've really upped the renovations to a snails pace now. When you arrive there are new immigration booths that have not one but two officals in them for each line. Baggage collection is still very slow though is it seems it as in affect you in theory get thorugh immigration twice as fast now on arrival. But this removal of the airport fee is a good thing. One less queue to be in in an airport designed for queues!! Departures is still a mess and disgrace as is the manila club lounge upstairs but for 650php you get a comfy seat and I hammer the white wine and smb's!!!
Yeah Stu, I've been in it once, it does deal with international flights too, Ana left to go to Korea from there.
They don't! The reason why foreigners, who visit the country for less than a year, don't get charged is that the tax is already included by the airline when you buy the ticket. However Philippine Travel Tax is not yet included when you buy tickets here. So all Filipinos - and foreigners who've been here a year or more - must pay this tax separately on departure.
I like the Club Manila lounge, although I am not fond of the recent changes, the old version was fine, air-conditioned, comfy seats, wi-fi, beer, and some fairly lousy food. I usually only get an hour or so there but I too hammer the San Mig lite's and catch up on the internet, never had time to try their white wine.
Hopefully will see new airline lounges of an international standard. The Cathay lounge is appaling, and I think Emirates was using Club Manila or Pagsog? Anyway, good to see progress, this was all supposed to happen 5 years ago .
Terminal Three was built by a German consortium during the adminsirtation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and it was intended as the new International Terminal, but after the elections when Aquino came to power the Government said that there were "irregularities" in the contract pricing and cancelled the remainder of the contract, leaving the terminal unfinished. It has been used for domestic flights, but as you travel through the terminal you will notice the unused Immigration and security facilities, showing that it was intended for international flights. I strongly suspect that the five named airlines are paying for some completion of the works.
Last I was there (a week ago) it was fairly full. The aircon wasnt really working, they've removed one of the fridges, there are that many people in there its hard to get on the poor wi-fi, the beer is warm because of the one fridge and the wine is cheap and gave my bad gut ache but you're right about the crap food. Though, touch wood, its not given my any adverse effects yet! Still it beats sitting on one of only 60 or so metal seats in departures. The emirates lounges is a shared lounge down the right hand side of the terminal. Not managedto get in there yet as I don't have a gold card yet
I must admit that I have rarely seen Club Manila anywhere near busy never mind full, I preferred it when it had the aquarium on the wall nicer layout back then, I think the air-con thing was maybe the whole airport. Back in the old days when I was KLM platinum level, I could have used the KLM lounge but it was horrible, tried it once when flying business and thought never again, your description above would have been perfect for it, also tried PAGStop lounge next to Club Manila and it really was nothing to write home about either, always much preferred Club Manila.
The air-conditioning system in Terminal 1 keeps breaking-down and is barely working at the best of times. The move by international airlines to Terminal 3 has been on the cards for a while now. But there's a problem. Terminal 1 has a double air-bridge at one of the gates which is used by Boeing 777s, including that flown by KLM, and 747s and speeds-up embarkation and disembarkation. There are no double air-bridges at Terminal 3. There is also a shortage of X-Ray machines and the baggage-handling system on T3's international side is unfinished. I suspect we may see a re-run of the opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 here in Manila!
Stu, this is where I'm on a winner with Qantas Gold, get access to all of the Oneworld lounges but also Emirates due to the tie up. Also SEMN fares on Qantas are in the Economy Fully Flex bucket so max miles/tier credits. Not sure how good it is for flying with other o/w carriers in terms of status credits, but I've gone from from Zero to Gold in 12 months with mostly economy flights.
Lucky for some!! We get offshore tickets which is below seamans, if that was possible!! Our tickets depending on airline give quarter to half airmiles. We've got guys how have been flying BA down here for 3 yrs and only got a bronze card!! I've manageda silver card with Emirates so far, I tihkn I'll just miss out on the gold
There is another paid lounge down the right hand terminal that you go up to in a lift. That used to pretty good 6 yrs ago or so I think. We went in last year and its real grim and musty. Not nice at all. I did manage to get us inot the KLM lounge a few years ago and as you say it wasnt very good at all.
I am sure you are right, but when we went to Hong Kong from Clark on tickets bought in the Philippines Kay was made to pay it for herself and the sprog but I was exempted. Presumably a mistake.
My reasoning is that I'd rather carry my lightweight trainers than my shoes! Anyway you get a comfy chair and some attention, which is more than you get in any of the "lounges"!
Ah I see. Well these days once I've got everythnig I need on the rig I travel fast and light. One small rucksack hand carry and thats me.
