Friday, October 18, 2013

Ho Hum -- Manila Airport Is the World's Worst. So What's New?

I recall reading a commentary that described the Clinton Administration’s technique for dealing with bad news as:
It’s not true
It’s not true
It’s not true
It’s old news
Others have done the same of course, so I’m not trying to pick on the Clintons. I was merely reminded of it by this news story from the Manila Bulletin, which reports that a travel website had rated Manila’s airport as the worst in the world. Again.
But a Malacañang official shrugged off the news as old hat while saying that government is moving to improve the facilities. 
“This is not the first time na may ganoong comment. This is not something new,” said Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. 
Efforts are already being made since the NAIA terminal 1 was tagged as the worst airport in the world in 2011, Lacierda said. 
“Things are being done to improve the facilities of NAIA 1,” Lacierda said, noting that multi-awarded furniture designer Kenneth Cobonque was among those experts tapped to innovate NAIA 1.
‘NAIA’ refers to the airport’s full name: Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Of course, attacking the news as old does nothing to address why two years of supposed changes have done nothing to improve the airport’s ratings from customers.
“When selecting an airport to declare as the “worst”, travelers were asked to consider the four C’s: comfort, conveniences, cleanliness and customer service,” the website said. 
NAIA was rated the worst for comfort, amenities, and ‘overall experience’.

Here are what the survey said are the world’s ten worst airports:

  • Manila NAIA (Terminal 1)
  • Bergamo (Milan)
  • Calcutta
  • Islamabad
  • Paris Beauvais
  • Chennai
  • Frankfurt Hahn
  • Mumbai
  • Rome Fiumicino
  • Los Angeles

Other than Manila, I’ve also been in Chennai (this is the Indian city once known as Madras, in case you’re having a hard time identifying it; I did, the first time I traveled there: “You want me to go to Chennai? Never heard of it”) and of course LAX. Both are terrible, but I would agree that NAIA is worse than either.

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