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Best way to fly from Manila to BKK?


HeartThais

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Thai.

 

Thai and PAL both have a couple of daily flights, but I've found TG to use nicer aircraft (777 on the afternoon flight).

 

Big difference is between the terminals at MNL. Thai uses terminal 1 which has a nicer bar, internet, more duty free, things to keep you busy... Terminal 2 (PAL) is not much more than a holding area.

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I think Kuwait Air also flies this sector and has pretty cheap fares.

 

Used to, anyway.

 

They use Airbus A340's.

 

On a flight of about 2 hours, I'm more interested in price rather than type of aircraft.

 

Doesn't make much different to me, but the info from was-usvirgin about the terminals could sway my decision... gotta be there about 2 hours or more after all.

 

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MNL's TG terminal is shite! Worst airport in Asia that I visit. 2 hours of standing in lines every time you leave MNL, and normally 45 minutes in the immigration line when you arrive.

 

They had a brand new terminal (well, 3 years or so ago it was brand new) that has never been opened. Built by FraPort I believe, now in massive litigation between the government and the builders. Anyone know the story there?

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This from Wiki:

 

Terminal 3

 

The third terminal of the airport, the larger Terminal 3, is the newest terminal in the NAIA complex. Constructed starting 1997, the terminal is 98% complete as of 2006. It is one of the most controversial projects the Philippine government has gotten involved in, and in some cases is likened to a white elephant. Legal hurdles, including international arbitration cases in both the United States and Singapore as well as technical concerns prohibit its opening. However, the government hopes to open the terminal in 2008.

 

[edit] History

 

The original proposal for the construction of a third terminal was proposed by Asia's Emerging Dragon Corporation (AEDP). AEDP eventually lost the bid to PairCargo and its partner Fraport AG of Germany, who went on to begin construction of the terminal under the administration of Joseph Estrada.

 

Terminal 3 was approved for construction in 1997 and the structure was mostly completed several years ago and was originally schedule to open in 2002. The modern US$640 million, 189,000 square meter facility was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to have a capacity of 13 million passengers per year. However, a legal dispute between the government of the Philippines and the project's main contractor, PIATCO, over the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract, continues to delay final completion and opening of the terminal.

 

While the original agreement was one in which PairCargo and Fraport AG would operate the airport for several years after its construction, followed by a handing over of the terminal to the Philippine Government, the government offered to buy out Fraport AG for $400 million, to which Fraport agreed. However, before the terminal could be fully completed, then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, calling the contract "onerous," formed a committee to evaluate the agreement to buy out Fraport AG. It is this action that has sparked the most controversy. The Philippine supreme court eventually found the PIATCO contract "null and void."

 

The current administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo eventually abrogated PIATCO's BOT Contract for allegedly having been anomalous in certain important respects. In a subsequent decision, the Philippine Supreme Court upheld the Philippine Government's position on the matter and declared the BOT contract "null and void" for, among other things, having violated certain provisions of the BOT law. More specifically, the Court found that the original contract was revised to allow for a Philippine Government guarantee of PIATCO's obligations to its creditors, contractors and suppliers. The BOT law disallows the granting of such sovereign guarantees. PIATCO begs to differ and continues to maintain that the provisions cited by the Supreme Court do not amount to a prohibited sovereign guarantee by the Philippine Government.

 

On December 2004, the Philippine Government expropriated the terminal project from PIATCO through an order of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC). However, the court only allowed the Philippine Government to take over the terminal upon payment of an initial amount of PHP3 billion (approx. USD6 million) to PIATCO. The Philippine Government formally paid PIATCO the said amount on the second week of September 2006.

 

According to the Philippine Government, NAIA-3 is 98% complete and will require at least an additional USD6 million to complete. The government is in the process of negotiating a contract with the builder of the terminal, Takenaka of Japan. Another factor that continues to delay the terminal's opening is the ongoing investigation into the collapse of a 100 sqm. area of the terminal's ceiling. Proposed test runs for Terminal 3 have been postponed indefinitely pending the results of the investigation and the inspection of the airport terminal.

 

PIATCO (and its German partner Fraport) have instituted arbitration proceedings before different international bodies (Piatco in Singapore before the ICC and Fraport in Washington D.C. before the ICSID) to recover a fair settlement. Both cases remain under litigation. PIATCO, speaking through its lawyers, has recently stated in the local Philippine press that it remains open to reaching an amicable settlement with the Philippine Government.

 

The terminal is currently slated to open at the earliest in mid-2007, when it will take over all of the operations of Terminal 1 and the Manila Domestic Passenger Terminal. It has 28 airbridges, 20 contact and 8 non-contact, and can service 28 aircraft all at once.

 

[edit] Structure

 

Terminal 3 is built on a 63.5-hectare lot that sits on Villamor Air Base. The terminal building has a total floor area of 182,500 m2, having a total length of 1.2 kilometers. A 4-level shopping mall connects the terminal and parking buildings. The parking building has a capacity of 2,000 cars while the outdoor parking area has a capacity of 1,200 cars. The terminal is capable of servicing 33,000 passengers daily at peak or 6,000 passengers per hour.

 

Its apron area has a size of 147,400 m2, 34 air bridges, 20 contact gates with the ability of servicing 28 planes at any given time. The terminal has 70 flight information terminals, 314 display monitors, with 300 kilometers of fiber optic I.T. cabling. It also has 29 restroom blocks. The departure area has five entrances all equipped with X-ray machines with the final security check having 18 X-ray machines while its baggage claim has 7 large baggage carousels, each with its own flight display monitor.

 

International travelers opine that if the terminal 3 opens, more airlines are likely to fly to the Philippines thereby giving the economy a boost.

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  • 4 years later...

Recently flew Cebu Pacific $70 each way. Leaves early afternoon and arrives Bkk I think around 7.pm which is perfect timing. Departs from terminal 3 which is the new one I believe but get very crowded with long lines just to enter terminal through security screening.

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