Manila Airport

✅ Trip Verified | I would support all other comments about how dreadful Terminal 2 is from the security queue to entering the building to the lack of information about where to go. It may be helpful though to add a comment about how to transfer landside between terminals. I was staying in hotel near Terminal 3. I was told that there was a free bus and went to a bus bay that was so labelled. I got on a small and rather shabby minibus. I was later asked for a small fare in pesos but I did not have any local money. Fortunately, a kind local paid this for me. It got me there in quite good time. I later discovered that the free coach service runs only once an hour. When returning to Terminal 2 it makes pick-ups at many of the hotels near Terminal 3 and I was warned this could take a long time. I returned to Terminal 2 by taxi which I was advised to hail in the street and which worked very well.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport is dysfunctional in multiple ways. The security screening before you can reach the check-in counters simply does not make sense as you need to take off your watch, belt etc. and no tag is applied to your luggage. Absolutely an unnecessary mess. The biggest complaint is, however, the food. It is basically not possible to get a decent meal that is not noodles, fast food or microwaved spaghetti in the simplest terms. Manila airport you really need to relook at the food options you want to offer your guest.

✅ Trip Verified | Some travellers and agencies rate this airport as the worst airport in the world, really? For me Terminal 1 is average, there are trolleys available for free, WiFi services, toilets are available at standard cleanliness. Although its not as big as Hong Kong or Singapore, the facilities are up to standards. Just don't look somewhere to sleep because it's not an airport hotel for you to offer mattress. However, this time the efficiency is really noticeable.

❎ Not Verified | I have travelled many times, and seen many airports! But I have never hated an airport the way I hated Manila Terminal 2! I don’t understand why there are 3 terminals in one city in different places. I landed in terminal 1, didn’t get to stay too much in it as I went out to have lunch, after lunch I went to terminal 2 and I was around 8hrs early as I read a lot about traffic in Manila! I thought spending 8hrs would be fine as it is an 'airport' so there must be things to do, right? Wrong! Let me tell you what you should know, in coffee shops you can pay in dollars but you will get Phillipino pesos as a change. There is nothing to do! The airport is basically one hallway maybe 2 but that’s about it! So when I was bored of sitting in those chairs I walked the airport and it took me 3mins to be done! It is so unorganized and they have maybe 3 very small screens which shows flights. Toilets are dirty, the one closest to gate 1 is cleaner. But the other one horrible. You also can use wifi for free for 2hrs only. If you want to charge your phone, you may be happy to see some empty charging spots! Don’t get too excited 99% of those don’t work. If you’re going to be in that airport I wish you luck from the bottom of my heart.

✅ Trip Verified | Jan 24, 2018, at approximately 5:0pm Manila time I was in route to catch a transfer to Terminal 1, from Terminal 3. I was told by transfer desk that I had missed my transfer bus and the next wouldn't be there for 45 minutes which would make me late for my flight, the only option takes a cab. I was directed to an airport support for direction to a cab, one of the employees directed me to go catch a cab on the same side as transfer area, he said it would be cheap and inexpensive. Once I arrived I was greeted by very looking professional airport staff who assisted me in catching a cab, it would seem for the moment nothing to be unusual until I got in the cab, the airport member assisting me to catch the cab got in at the same time I did which seemed unusual, once we pulled away not even 50 feet from the airport I was given prices for cab fair by the airport cab employee, he said it would cost 4700.00 pesos to transport less than 15 minutes to Terminal 1. I told them I didn't have that kind of money, he then insisted on me stopping at an ATM and getting the funds to pay them, once again I told I didn't have the funds, I only was carrying 1000.00 pesos which is what they ended up collecting for my needed transfer to Terminal 1. This type of money gauging on foreign Tourist gives this type of Airport a bad name, especially when cab employees and airport employees are involved in this type of transaction.

❎ Not Verified | Terminal 3. Clean, well signposted. Adequate toilets. No queue at immigration, processed efficiently. bag arrived within 5 minutes of my arrival at carousel. Opportunity to buy a SIM card and load. No hustlers seen. All in all a huge improvement on Terminal 1.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport ever. On the day we were travelling back to Switzerland we were 6 hours early for our departure. We were there so at 12.00pm, I had been lining up paying my travel tax for an hour and half before I reached the counter where they told me they had to evaluate it first and then pay. While evaluating me they asked me if I had checked in already, I said not yet so the travel tax employee said I had to check in and that I didn't have to line up again, just to go to the payment counter. Me and my family waited 30 minutes until the check-in counter opened, after we checked in I went back to the travel tax counter, I didn’t line up as the employee told me, where unfortunately two men were arguing with me to line up again. The worst airport, the system is not organized. It is crowded. The airport is so stressful.

✅ Trip Verified | Manila Terminal 2 is perhaps the most boring and stressful airport where passenger services are very inadequate. With the traffic jam in Manila, one has no choice but to go to the airport earlier and then you are forced to wait in a decrepit terminal. Airside, there is nothing good to expect. Food stalls all offer substandard food, all are food kiosks so there is no proper sit-down restaurant nor cafe. Passenger seats are arranged in a cramped way making one feel squeezed in like cattle. There is no space to at least put your food, or a laptop, or at the very least take a nap. The terminal is very small so during peak hours expect very dense surroundings. Announcements are endless, one can even hear announcements for arrivals even when at the departure area. There is no adequate entertainment. Fine, they have installed televisions but all play the same basketball game which nobody watches. I wonder if airport management consults passengers what services are needed because it seems they have no idea how to make this terminal truly passenger-friendly.

✅ Trip Verified | Although every terminal of Ninoy Aquino International Airport is poor, Terminal 1 is especially the worst in terms of service and facilities. I have arrived to, departed from, and transitted through more than 30 airports and to be fair, I have been to really bad ones. But nothing beats NAIA in being the worst. As a Filipino, I am required to pay 34USD Travel Tax whenever I travel abroad for tourism, and you’d expect that they would at least help fund the airport’s improvements from all the taxes they collect from the many Filipinos who travel abroad as tourists. It is really sad to see how bad my hometown’s airport’s situation is. I hope to be proud of MNL someday, but for now, I would recommend against transiting through MNL unless you really have to or if the Philippines is your destination.

✅ Trip Verified | I was unfortunate to transit through NAIA Terminal 2 on my way to and back home from Bangkok this month. I did this 10 years ago via terminal 1 with a 10 and 12 hour layover. I thought "This time should be better because we'll only be there for 4-5 hours and we don't have to go through customs / immigration, get our luggage and wait forever for the next flight." I couldn't have been more wrong. This was by far my worst airline / airport experience ever. Outbound to BKK from Guam, I had planned on exchanging about $40 US to PHP once my family arrived. However, even though the airport map shows several currency exchange / ATMs, there are none on the gate side of security. I would have had to clear customs / immigration in order to withdraw money from an ATM or use a currency exchange. I have never been in an international terminal without an ATM available. I would have been willing to spend a $10 fee to use it! There is no sit-down restaurant, not a single "healthy food option" available, the A/C is temporary plugged in units which is only functional in some areas. The seating is limited and uncomfortable, and the PAL staff kicked my family out of our seats when they established a "holding area" that required a document check for another flight. As for the "holding area," I understand the concept, but our carry ons were screened again, even though they were screened when we went through the transit area, and we were not allowed to have bottled water that we purchased in the terminal. The even more ridiculous thing is that this process wasn't used when we flew from MNL to BKK. Our passports and boarding passes were checked no less that 4 times throughout this entire process. What makes all of this even worse is that terminal 2 is supposed to be for Philippine Airlines only, their flagship airline, the "Heart of the Filipino" as they call themselves. This was a truly sad attempt to build a world class airline terminal. The inanity of this airport is on full display by the two tobacco stores in the terminal while the terminal has no smoking area. Rip out the tobacco stores and put in a decent restaurant! Lastly, free Wi-Fi is limited to 2 hours, this is the only airport that I've seen this limit. The only reason this review gets a 1/10 is because all of the staff we dealt with were friendly. Our experience in 2007 with Terminal 1 was even worse. Avoid any transit through this airport.