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Kingston Airport Passenger Reviews and Kingston Airport Traveller Reports
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Kingston Norman Manley Airport customer review : 21 March 2013 by D Stanley (UK) |
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Rating : 9/10 |  |
Queuing |  |
Cleanliness |  |
Facilities |  |
Recommended |  |
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A very good experience arriving and departing. The airport is modern, clean and efficient. No delays or
problems arriving. Queuing at immigration did not take too long and bags had already arrived after that.
Departure is also very good. No immigration formalities for departure, so you get into the departure lounge
quite quickly. I used the business lounge which was very comfortable, with good wireless internet and a
reasonable food selection.
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Kingston Norman Manley Airport customer review : 15 September 2010 by S Nixon
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Customer Rating : 3/5 |  |
Norman Manley (KIN) is an airport of two halves! Arrivals is a bit shambolic. We arrived on a
747 and 400 people had to be ferried in a variety of minibuses and coaches to the arrivals
hall. Following that queuing for immigration took over an hour even with most of the desks
open. The arrivals area is shabby but will be updated shortly. The baggage collection is also
a novelty with cases pilled up and scattered across the arrivals hall near customs. Departures
is totally different. A modern, light and attractive area with well marked check in desks and
orderly waiting. Beyond the fairly efficient security checks is a relaxing lounge with many
retail outlets of both Jamaican and international food and goods.
Kingston Norman Manley Airport by Andre Souza
30 April 2009 Customer Rating : 
Small airport, check in was fast, lots of fast foods joints after the security check! The only
negative part is the boarding - you have to walk a lot to get to your gate.
Kingston Airport by N Clark
18 September 2007 Customer Rating : 
Norman Manley International Airport (KIN) has apparently been under construction continuously ever
since my first visit to it in 1987. More recently I go through KIN several times each year. I must
rate KIN as "poor" for now -- bordering on "very poor" --- especially compared to other Caribbean
airports. It is shamefully inadequate as the international airport for a capital city in one of the
most important countries in the region. Each time I go through KIN I notice that the renovations and
expansion have made a little more progress. It is a major project and is beginning to produce
results. The terminal no longer has the shabby, mildewed atmosphere. I see signs that, when the
expansion is complete, KIN might deserve three or four stars; but there are some problems that will
probably take longer to solve: There are more jetways than before but many of them don't work. As I
learned during my most recent arrival on American Airlines, just because your plane pulls up to a
jetway does not mean that you will deplane through it. Immigration simply does not have enough space
to handle the peak times. Even with every desk staffed and a typical transaction time of less than
two minutes, waiting times of one hour or more are frequent, especially in the early afternoon, for
Jamaicans and visitors alike. Baggage delivery is totally unpredictable. KIN has the fastest and the
slowest baggage delivery in the Caribbean. Sometimes the first bags off the plane are lined up in
neat rows, sometimes they are all piled in a small heap. Air Jamaica and Delta seem to do better than
American in this category, but all are somewhat unpredictable. The whole inbound process, plane to
taxi, has taken me as long as 90 minutes and as short as 10 minutes. The times to avoid are in the
late morning and early afternoon. Late afternoon seems to be better.Outbound travel is challenging.
Arrive at least two hours before flight time. Unless you are a premium traveler, check-in can take a
half hour or more. One exception seems to be Air Jamaica, who appear to do much better at moving
people. Air Jamaica has a pleasant lounge upstairs, quiet, usually uncrowded, with good WI-FI access
and a respectable, but not lavish, offering of snacks. The security screening area would be
inadequate in an airport with one-fifth of KIN's traffic. In a terminal the size of NMIA, it is a
disaster. Security is the most disagreeable part of the KIN experience. There are only two screening
machines feeding directly into the outbound immigration desks. Conditions are crowded, and the
outbound immigration line often backs up through the machines. Expect very long waits during peak
outbound travel times. The majority of the security staff, who try to be helpful and are professional
in their bearing, are hampered by a very few colleagues who are the most disagreeable security
personnel I have ever met anywhere in the region. Some of them do not appear to be well trained and
sometimes try to confiscate items that clearly are permissible in carry-on baggage. This small
minority are rude, unsmiling, and are obviously the only people in Jamaica who have never learned the
words "please" and "thank you." Requests to speak to a supervisor are often ignored. Where to they
find these people? They seem to be unique in all of Jamaica. The airport has recently completed very
nice departure gate areas upstairs, but passengers are not allowed to use them. Instead, you must
still wait in a small, crowded, noisy lounge area where seats have been crowded around T-shirt and
souvenir stands. The only positive note are the interesting small shops around the perimeter of the
lounge. People appear to be an afterthought in the waiting area. There often are no seats available.
When your flight is called for boarding, only then may you go upstairs (there is only one elevator)
and directly to your gate, where you must board the plane immediately. If you do not have to enter
Jamaica via KIN, use Montego Bay instead, especially if your destination is anywhere on the north
coast. Montego Bay is often as crowded as KIN, but better laid out and a little more efficient. If
you must use KIN, try to avoid the peak inbound and outbound times - and pray for a swift completion
of the project.
Kingston Airport by Jean-Louis Vergaert
20 April 2007 Customer Rating : n/a
Get ready for some long periods of misery at Kingston Airport which is
now under renovation. One hour queues at immigration upon arrival.
Check-in system down at departure, long queues at security (tip: take
the utmost right security gate which will bring you directly to
immigration, passing the queue of the other security gates). The fun
factor was at arrival, the baggage handlers remove all the bags of the
carrousels, and stack them together in one corner (although there is
plenty of space in the luggage hall), without any space to move around,
making it quite acrobatic to remove your bag from the pile. Some
organization is required here.
Kingston Airport by I Maciver
15 June 2005
Norman Manley Airport - originally Palisadoes Airport is an old military
field that like MBJ has grown. As most tourist arrivals are via MBJ, KIN gets overlooked when
improvements are in the works. Indeed an old tired airport with crowding a problem both inside &
outside the buildings. There is an improvement programme underway for the airside facilities with
pax facilities coming in second place. Walking to/from the plane is interesting but the smell of
jet fuel can be nauseating. Like MBJ the approach provides interesting views - Kingston and
surrounds, notably the hills above town. The drive in from the airport is a beautiful ride along
the peninsula though if going into town will be through some rough spots. Recent hurricane damage
has been repaired for the most part. Overall a far below MBJ in all aspects - but workable.
Kingston Airport by kerry john
15 July 2004
I enjoy my visits thoroughly but the airport is quite tacky
and very small. The fact that you have to walk across the tarmac from the aircraft can be a pain for
those who have a disability or are travelling with children etc but it makes for an authentic touch.
They have recently added a Burger King but the shops are very limited and if you are on a night
flight all shops are closed. The staff need to improve their customer service skills as they rarely
smile and appear quite serious and some can be quite abrupt.
They need to some how stop the hustlers from crowding the visitors as they exit the airport trying
to make a quick buck as it can be quite intimidating for first timers to the country but once you
get through all this you almost instantly forget and enjoy your vacation surroundings.
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