Kingston 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.

ADD YOUR COMMENTS BELOW

IMPORTANT NOTE

Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We do not guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.

ADD A COMMENT

If you want to make a comment about this Airport, please use the box below. This is only published if your name is supplied.