But what is less known is that the website www. sleepinginairports.net, which gave the NAIA a failing mark in its survey whose results was published last Oct. 15, also had a listing of the 30 best airports in Asia.
And the very good news is that three provincial airports in the Philippines landed in the top 15 of the 30 best airports not only in Asia, but in the entire world, at least for 2016.
“In our survey, we asked travellers to rate airports in Asia based on their overall airport experience,” the website said in its post dated last Oct. 15.
The list of best airports included the Iloilo International Airport in the 12th place, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the 14th, and the Clark International Airport here in the 15th.
The website stressed that “once again, the best airports in Asia are typically dually ranked as the best in the world.
It noted that the respondents based their ranking on comfort provided by rest zones and gate seating; services, facilities and things to do; food options; immigration and security; customer service; and cleanliness.
The airports which ranked higher included Changi in Singapore at the top, followed by Incheon in Seoul, Haneda in Tokyo, Taoyuan in Taiwan, Kansai in Osaka, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Narita in Tokyo, Chatrapati Shivaji in Mumbai, New Delhi, and Lukou in Nanjing. Between Iloilo and Mactan-Cebu airports was Rajiv Ghandi in Hyderabad.
The website also said that “if we were to pick a theme that unifies the Worst Airports in Asia, it would certainly be the appalling condition of the bathrooms. In these terminals, voters often say that the toilets are best avoided since they are frequently dysfunctional, dirty or full of smokers.”
“More broadly, many of these terminals also have notoriously unhelpful staff , who do little in the way of encouraging organization amidst the mass of travellers packed into tiny and chair-free spaces. Instead, the focus is too often on collecting bribes or executing crafty scams. Long and unruly queues also do little to enhance the user experience,” the website said.
It listed the top 10 worst airports as Tashkent International Airport in Uzbekistan, the Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal (KTM) , the Peshawar Bacha Khan International Airport in Pakistan (PEW), the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan (KBL).
In ranking NAIA as fifth, the website quoted a respondent as saying that “transferring to NAIA Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 will take you hours because of traffic and not enough public transportation to take you there.”
“It was another tough year for this airport, resulting in a lot of colourful criticism from travellers participating in this year’s survey. After showing signs of improvement following a series of renovations, Manila NAIA climbed a few spots on this year’s list of Worst Airports in Asia,” the website said.
It also noted that “once again, survey respondents were quick to let us know when things were not going well. Major complaints include a bullet-planting scam, frequent power outages, lapses in air conditioning, uncomfortable (and insuffi cient) seating and complicated terminal transfers. While some travellers report improvements to the airport structure and facilities since 2011, survey responses this year indicate cleaner bathrooms, more chairs and some general organization of taxis in front of the terminal would help to make life here a lot more manageable.”
