Travel to Japan via Manila Airport (Phillipine Airlines) My Own Experience

npnp on 26/04/2023 - 23:22

After being warned by many Ozbargainers regarding going to Japan via Manila Airport (with Phillipine Airlines), we (family of 4 including 2 young kids) were expecting dramas during the transfers.

To our utmost surprise, both our transfer experiences were among the best we've had in any airport, period. Let me explain in detail.

Our first transfer time between the flights was only 3 hours, and after hearing horror stories, we were worried that we won't make it to the departure gate on time. But guess what, It took us just 12 minutes from the arrival gate to departure gate (including going through security check along the way). Now that's a record low time in our whole airport transfer history. On our return transfer as well, it took only about 15 minutes.

I couldn't figure out what people were complaining about 'lack of signage' but for us everything was pretty obvious, we just followed the sign boards (there were even staff members in each junction to control those who can't read signs/ or don't pay attention).

I rate an airport experience not by number of lounges it has, whether it's super flashy or whether staff is super nice, bending over backwards to greet you etc, I simply want it to serve its basic purpose (that is to send the customer from point A to point B with least hurdles along the way at the shortest time possible). In that definition, Manila Airport is one of the best we've experienced so far.

For comparison's sake, we landed in Haneda (world no. 2 airport I believe) and we had to wait one and a half hours in immigration line (because they had only three officers to clear the entire crowd. That was beyond ridiculous for an airport of that magnitude). Signage was confusing (where to go out, where to find the train/bus/taxi, where to find something to eat etc). All in all, it took 3 hours for us to get out of Haneda airport. (For those who are now wondering, yes, we had already done all our custom, immigration and vaccination clearances online beforehand, above wait times are purely due to limited staff.)

Yes, Haneda is massive, it has many lounges, many eateries, staff is much nicer and will greet you everywhere, toilets are super clean.. BUT none of that really matters when you are a family with two young kids, extremely tired after a long flight, in need to go to the hotel ASAP to have a proper rest.

So yeah, long story short, I really liked the no frills but quick service of Manila Airport so much so that I'd rate it higher than both Singapore and Haneda airports for the 'purpose'. Ask me anything, I'm happy to explain or answer in detail. Hope this helps some prospective Ozbargainers.

PS: by the way, Phillipine airlines was fantastic as well. Food was great (catered on a nice platter with fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, cake/yoghurt in addition to the main hot meal), toothbrush/toothpaste/blanket all provuded, many movies - including ones for kids - to watch for free, even a couple of Wines in addition to variety of soft drinks). Now that's five star service from supposedly four star airline.

Travel

Comments

  • Muzeeb on 26/04/2023 - 23:29
    +3

    Nice job.

    • jv on 27/04/2023 - 01:11
      +1

      I thought it was for a holiday?

      • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 11:47

        LOL

  • Stopback on 26/04/2023 - 23:35
    +1

    To our utmost surprise, both our transfer experiences were among the best we've had in any airport.

    Depends sometimes you need to take a bus. Just got lucky.

    • npnp on 26/04/2023 - 23:55
      +1

      Once in Denpasar airport transfer we had to take a bus (got down from the flight middle of the airport lol). Taking the bus was okay as long as you don't have to wait for the bus to come etc. May be we got lucky in Manila (may be this smoothness for certain routes, don't know). But I thought I should share the experience, someone would benefit from it.

  • Ghost47 on 26/04/2023 - 23:48
    +3

    Thanks for the review OP.

  • Clear on 27/04/2023 - 00:10
    +1

    (because they had only three officers to clear the entire crowd.

    When I've gone through Narita I was impressed that they've done a dozen, while Melbourne always seem to have just 2 for several flights. I guess it always varies.

    • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 00:49
      +1

      This is true. And I guess I had high hopes for Haneda (being one of top rated airport) and low hopes for Manila. Probably this impacted my overall perspective after my own personal experience as well.

      • alphanumericbargains on 27/04/2023 - 02:47
        +1

        Manila is only really bad if you're transferring between terminals. Since you flew with PAL, it would have been a breeze since they're the only airline operating in terminal 2.

  • dahax77 on 27/04/2023 - 07:52
    +1

    It's nice you had a good personal experience but the experience of the majority is going to be more accurate.

    That being it's an average airport and an average airline.

    Manila airport is definitely not better than Singapore airport in any way.

  • Tiredman on 27/04/2023 - 07:55
    +2

    Been to many airports around the world but Melbourne airport always seem to be one of the most inefficient. Got shafted by them multiple times. The best ones for me is obviously Changi Airport and maybe Narita/Haneda. I'm a fan of efficiency.

    • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 09:23
      +1

      I didn't like the amount of walking involved in Chengi airport (obviously it's massive) other than that it's great. Haneda is a different story though. It seemed efficient for the most part but Japanese attitude towards ques is beyond ridiculous (it's almost a part of their culture. Nobody even tries to hurry things up as it's so normal to que over there.) Imagine sitting in a loo knowing there are five persons in que holding their 'essential duty' waiting in front of the door lol. You just can't even do your thing.. Jeez

  • boomramada on 27/04/2023 - 08:00
    +3

    were expecting dramas during the transfers

    That was the key to have a great transfer 😉

  • Ryanek on 27/04/2023 - 08:56
    +3

    Hey thanks for the write up. It's nice to read a positive post once in a while.

    • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 09:24

      Cheers

  • cashless on 27/04/2023 - 09:14
    +4

    Your experience in Manila was an airport transfer and the Haneda was an immigration arrival?
    Big difference between those two

    • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 09:27

      True. Still it was solely due to lack of staff. There were about 20 counters and only 3 of them working. I've heard Haneda is one of most efficient airports in the world, and if online part is done then it's about 15-20 minutes to go out of the airport. Unfortunately in our case it was 3 hours, there was a big difference between what I heard and reality.

  • payless69 on 27/04/2023 - 09:53
    +2

    Yeah sadly Japan is falling.
    Been thru Narita many times but the last time around 9 Months ago It was like robots sending you to a dead end hallway where somebody holds a sign saying the next terminal transfer is in 6hrs.
    Jetstar uses Terminal 3 under refurbishment, they never even heard of airbridges, the 2 stairs they have for boarding are: 1 old the other vintage. Food choices were limited and a sign said that the lounge in terminal 1 was open to all passengers. It is so gritty that nobody uses it.

    • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 12:13
      +1

      This was our first trip to Japan (a long overdue bucket list item), well, it didn't disappoint in many ways but in some ways though our experience wasn't the best. We hated the crowd and having to deal with massive queues for pretty much everything (from attractions, restaurants, transport, and even toilets). Went to both Disney Sea and Universal Studios, they both were hugely crowded and wait times for rides were crazy. We spent about 12 hours in each theme park and more than half of that time was spent in queues (both parks were great though so I'd still recommend them regardless). I just didn't like the 'queue' attitude of Japanese people. Towards the end of the holidays, we missed Australia so much…

      • payless69 on 27/04/2023 - 12:47
        +2

        We flew half price to Kansai with Jetstar, had a 3 week rail pass and it was just adventure every single day. Seen much of the 4 main islands, tried awesome food, visited shrines beyond imagination and apart from free upgrades to first (green) class we also got some free rides on Shikoku island where not all trains were part of the system. Chain hotels were affordable but Ryokan's do cost a bit. Walked up a few volcanoes and even managed to talk to A-bomb survivors. Probably the best trip of my life, came back to have my life long eye sight issue cured. Would not get anywhere near that Yankke crap. After all when I was in Hawaii they asked me to pay money to see how the Japanese sunk their boats in Pearl Harbour.
        Kyoto had some lines, we choose to walk instead, it was good for our health!

        • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 13:41

          That's some great coverage for a three weeks holiday. We spent just over two weeks and only stayed in the main island, still felt like we were rushing through things as there was so much to see…

      • dtc on 27/04/2023 - 15:16

        Haneda is notoriously a disaster at the moment; no reasons have been given but it seems completely understaffed and under managed. It never used to be like that and hopefully it will get back on track - I think they were surprised at how quickly tourism came back after re-opening and didnt have the planning in place.

        I never understand why people go to Universal Studios and Disneyland. I probably could wander around them for a few hours and just look at stuff, but lining up 2 hours for a ride or trying to navigate the priority pass systems, just a pointless nightmare

        Not sure why everything else had queues, unless it was mostly tourists or you were hanging around the cherry blossom areas. There are always places that are busy (eg parts of Kyoto) but most other places are generally fine

        • npnp on 27/04/2023 - 16:02
          +1

          As long as you are out of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto you are fine. But then again, first time tourists will most likely hang around those places anyways and they're mostly clueless of where to find things. All metro, subway trains between 7 to 9 AM and 5 to 9 PM are very crowded. Japan is known for its public transport and especially Tokyo and Osaka are notorious for self driving nightmares due to narrow roads, heavy traffic and colour lights in every 100 or so m etc (I rented out cars out side of major cities though) so using public transport almost always resulted in queues pretty much everywhere we go. Toilets in the station (especially female ones) are guaranteed to have a que, all 7 eleven or new day outlets in train stations always had a queue, to get into the train there's always a queue in front of all the carts (ridiculously so) and we never got a seat in metro or subway during this peak hours.. always hanging on those ropes/poles like bats between many people around with whinging kids who couldn't breathe in between strangers.. jeez, that wasn't funny at all.

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