QF in Manila

[jpk]

Friends recently had a 3+ hour window to transfer between terminals and didn't make it - tried the bus which didn't move for half an hour, so switched to taxi and the traffic was so bad it took several hours to get around. Missed the QF flight and had to wait a couple days for the next flight. They had award J seats which they lost and had to buy Y seats to get home.

 

[JohnK]

Friends recently had a 3+ hour window to transfer between terminals and didn't make it - tried the bus which didn't move for half an hour, so switched to taxi and the traffic was so bad it took several hours to get around. Missed the QF flight and had to wait a couple days for the next flight. They had award J seats which they lost and had to buy Y seats to get home.

Ok. This is starting to scare me. I have ~4h 40m between flights if SQ flight on time and the QF flight is an award ticket. I am not going to miss the QF flight and I am not paying for new flights.

If traffic is sitting around ages not going anywhere then I should be able to walk.

 

[dajop]

Ok. This is starting to scare me. I have ~4h 40m between flights if SQ flight on time and the QF flight is an award ticket. I am not going to miss the QF flight and I am not paying for new flights.

If traffic is sitting around ages not going anywhere then I should be able to walk.

Maybe you should book a Cebu Pacific flight to somewhere nearby and take a PR flight back. That will get you to T2 which is only a relatively short walk from T1.

I just arrived at T3 this afternoon, and the trip from our office that last time took 1:15, just took 15 minutes today. So you never know.

 

[anat0l]

Alright a tinge bit more research and I think I have a bit more on all of this.

First, there is (more than likely) an internal shuttle bus between the terminals, or at least NAIA-3 and NAIA-2 (the latter is walkable from NAIA-1). The catch? You have to be flying Philippine Airlines. Damn!

The bad news - traffic. Yeah, you already knew that. Most sources certainly recommend at least 3 hours for the transit; on a good day that indicates arrival to onward departure. On a bad day, that might just cover your journey to the next terminal to make onward check-in.

The things which immediately have to come off the timer when considering feasibility of making it are:

• Arrival immigration. I don't know about NAIA-3, but I know that except for APEC diplomats and crew, there doesn't appear to be any fast track line. Balikbayan (Returning Filipinos) lines are supposed to be quicker, but that doesn't help you if you are not a Filipino(/a) or not related to one. NAIA-1 lines can be horrendous at times; hopefully NAIA-3 is faster.
• Security screening to get into the airport, i.e. the front door. I think this still exists at NAIA-1.
• Check-in, which usually closes 1 hour before departure, so that gets knocked off straight away from the timing, along with everything else.
• Payment of the airport tax (not sure if they are bundled in now) then outbound immigration and security screening. Immigration is the bottleneck here. If you don't make it out of here on time for your flight, the latter won't wait for you, period.

The shuttle which is available to people not flying PAL is supposed to come every 15-30 minutes, however there are reports indicating that the schedule is often way off (traffic, I guess), they often wait until the shuttle is full (or leave early if it fills up; some have bribed the driver to leave early). Many would rather just swallow it and go for a taxi, which would be more immediately available than the shuttle but can also be difficult to get, even if you avoid the already-illegal street taxis. Even then, one website reckons waiting to be able to score a taxi (coupon or yellow airport metered) could reach up to an hour (and the shuttle may not still have arrived yet).

The journey between NAIA-3 and NAIA-1, according to Google Maps, is 6.4 km by road. Google's estimate under "no traffic" conditions is that this journey would take about 30 minutes by vehicle. Another website I found gives a range of 30 minutes in good traffic, to 60 minutes in bad traffic. Driving between the terminals requires going through at least two roundabouts; you can imagine what these can be like. I used Street View to get an idea of the route, and it does appear that even though it's busy roads all the way, there is space to walk on the side of the roads, though not necessarily on both sides of the road (and the "walking side" can change from road to road or section to section), the amount of room can be quite limited, not necessarily smooth, and keep in mind that most of the road is "boulevard", i.e. there is an island in the middle dividing the two sets of lanes on the road, often there are tall plants or a fence which makes crossing the island impossible.

Also, entry into the grounds of NAIA-1 (maybe NAIA-3 too) requires passing through a manned security point. Basically they just have a quick look at the cars going through; not a demanding search by any means, unless you give off tell-tale signs. I imagine that people simply walking into NAIA-1 would be no problem, but worth noting.

 

[moa999]

First, there is (more than likely) an internal shuttle bus between the terminals, or at least NAIA-3 and NAIA-2 (the latter is walkable from NAIA-1). The catch? You have to be flying Philippine Airlines. Damn!

The shuttle which is available to people not flying PAL is supposed to come every 15-30 minutes, however there are reports indicating that the schedule is often way off (traffic, I guess), they often wait until the shuttle is full (or leave early if it fills up; some have bribed the driver to leave early). Many would rather just swallow it and go for a taxi, which would be more immediately available than the shuttle but can also be difficult to get, .

I would have thought the same method used to get the shuttle to leave early, might be used to get a seat on the internal shuttle.

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I was in the phillipines last october for a holiday. Gave myself 4.5 hours to transfer from T3 to T1 to join a QF flight. Inbound was a domestic PAL flight from caticlan airport (Boracay). Arrived into T3, followed the transfer bus signs after coming out of baggage claim into the main terminal. Takes you down into the depths of the airport where you pass for security again for some reason. Then the man asks you which terminal and what your next flight is. Ended up waiting 15-20 minutes for a shuttle and the bus took the internal airport roads and about 20 min from T3 to T1. Went via T4 and T2 before arriving at T1 and didn't cost us anything.....

 

[anat0l]

I would have thought the same method used to get the shuttle to leave early, might be used to get a seat on the internal shuttle.

None of the sites I researched mentioned that. Conceivable idea; you didn't hear it from me.

I was in the phillipines last october for a holiday. Gave myself 4.5 hours to transfer from T3 to T1 to join a QF flight. Inbound was a domestic PAL flight from caticlan airport (Boracay). Arrived into T3, followed the transfer bus signs after coming out of baggage claim into the main terminal. Takes you down into the depths of the airport where you pass for security again for some reason. Then the man asks you which terminal and what your next flight is. Ended up waiting 15-20 minutes for a shuttle and the bus took the internal airport roads and about 20 min from T3 to T1. Went via T4 and T2 before arriving at T1 and didn't cost us anything.....

Do you think flying PAL might have granted you access to the shuttle? Or it seems like there was nothing to it?

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I didn't feel that it did to be honest. No one asked for my PAL boarding pass or anything of that sort in the T3 dungeons

None of the sites I researched mentioned that. Conceivable idea; you didn't hear it from me.



Do you think flying PAL might have granted you access to the shuttle? Or it seems like there was nothing to it?

 

[tea&coffee]

I just flew MNl-SYD on QF this week
in summary:
1. 45 mins drive from Makati for QF20 - arrived just over 2 hours before the flight
2. Took less than one minute to get into the terminal
3. No queue for J check-in
4. No queue for either security or immigration

The only negative experience is the QF lounge which is the worst I've ever been in - not enough seats, terrible food, lack of drinks (didn't even have enough wine glasses). Considering a lot of people get to MNL early it's the worst lounge experience.

 

[ShrinkWrapped]

I just flew MNl-SYD on QF this week
in summary:
1. 45 mins drive from Makati for QF20 - arrived just over 2 hours before the flight
2. Took less than one minute to get into the terminal
3. No queue for J check-in
4. No queue for either security or immigration

The only negative experience is the QF lounge which is the worst I've ever been in - not enough seats, terrible food, lack of drinks (didn't even have enough wine glasses). Considering a lot of people get to MNL early it's the worst lounge experience.

I think calling it a lounge is a great overstatement. My partner called it a glorified broom closet with one toilet....

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I just flew MNl-SYD on QF this week

t&c flt was on 332 was it not? Was it refitted bird or old cabin?

 

[tea&coffee]

A333 both ways.
New fit on the way up (qf19) and Skybed on the way back.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

A333 both ways.
New fit on the way up (qf19) and Skybed on the way back.

Ok tks - I never fly QF but have a AA rdpt mid May - it will be interesting.

 

[JohnK]

t&c flt was on 332 was it not? Was it refitted bird or old cabin?

Mine was a 333 until 2 weeks ago. Now a 332.

 

[whughes3]

The only negative experience is the QF lounge which is the worst I've ever been in - not enough seats, terrible food, lack of drinks (didn't even have enough wine glasses). Considering a lot of people get to MNL early it's the worst lounge experience.

I hate to break the news to you but the QF lounge is actually one of the better lounges at MNL T1: I have been in most of them at one time or another. Blame the terminal, not Qantas.

 

[JohnK]

Waiting 10 minutes for free transfer bus. Not sure how long the wait is going to be.

Luggage was tagged through BKK-SIN-MNL-SYD but had a sign with my name on it when we disembarked that I had to collect luggage and check in again at Terminal 1.

 

[tea&coffee]

I hate to break the news to you but the QF lounge is actually one of the better lounges at MNL T1: I have been in most of them at one time or another. Blame the terminal, not Qantas.

No I blame Qantas - no glasses, dirty bathrooms, no food and no move to the newer terminal with better facilities. This is all in their control.

 

[JohnK]

There is apparently a free shuttle that loops around the four terminals at NAIA. It's hard to find info on it online. The frequency doesn't seem to be high although it has long running hours. There is also a paid shuttle which presumably is more frequent, but otherwise is the same as the free shuttle. Even if you take the free shuttle, you'd better not take a chance and schlep everything yourself and don't give any employee any ideas that they are doing you a favour, if you want to avoid handing over PHP 20 or so.

This is correct. Takes ~15m-20m to get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 via Terminal 4. It operates on the roads inside the airport until close to Terminal 1 where it uses public road.

Landed ~3:25pm, collected luggage, through immigration, go to free shuttle then check in and arrive in QF lounge ~4:55pm. Not bad and huge improvement on what's been reported in this thread. Looks to be quite well organised.

Qantas lounge looks ordinary. Tiny little room with ~50 seats.

What's the Qatar lounge like next door? Can we use that lounge instead?

 

[hutch]

No I blame Qantas - no glasses, dirty bathrooms, no food and no move to the newer terminal with better facilities. This is all in their control.

Why are you so sure about that?

 

[anat0l]

What's the Qatar lounge like next door? Can we use that lounge instead?

According to the oneworld website on MNL, Qatar, Malaysia Airlines, Dragonair and Qantas all use airport contracted lounges. They might be different lounges but otherwise they are not owned and/or operated by any of those or other airlines. (Malaysia Airlines appears to be using a lounge which is a different owner to the others aforementioned).

In fact, the oneworld website appears to (erroneously) report that Qatar, Dragonair and Qantas all use the same contracted lounge.

You could always try going to those other lounges, but don't be surprised if they send you back to the Qantas-assigned one.

There is apparently a Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge in MNL T1, viz. the oneworld website implies that they own and operate the lounge. This means you should be able to go in, however that will be subject to their being open (they are only open until the final departure of Japan Airlines flights). Photos of the Sakura Lounge indicate a similarly small space to all the other lounges.