Robbery at the airport

Now, I know why they call the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) I the world’s worst airport.

Last Friday night, my wife Menchu and I went to the notorious terminal to check in for our flight to Hong Kong on Dragon Air. We were excited to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary in an out-of-town honeymoon. Our round-trip tickets were awarded free of charge via the recent HSBC promotion where flights were given away for every P10,000 swipe of your credit card. It was about 6:15 p.m. and the terminal was packed with passengers. Right smack in the middle of the terminal was a kilometric queue of passengers – you’ll never see that in any other airport the world over.

After paying our terminal fees, we were shocked to see a snake-like cordon of passengers waiting to clear immigration. There must have been at least five “coils” or layers of passengers, easily about 200 people. We noticed that the immigration counters weren’t all manned – several booths were empty. It must’ve been break time. A few minutes later, an immigration officer entered one of the empty booths probably after finding out the line was getting too long.

Finally, we were done with immigration and the security checks. Since we had no access to airline lounges as we were economy class passengers and not elite card holders, we walked around aimlessly. It was too early to sit by the waiting area near our departure gate as our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:45 p.m. We paid P650 each to enter the pay lounge which was dank, dusty and dirty. Chairs were not of the same design and the place looked like a storeroom of discarded furniture. The food was decent, though, but not exciting, certainly not worth P650 even if you fill up your plate thrice over. We vowed never to go to that lounge again.

At 8:15 p.m., we gathered our belongings to go to the departure gate but were advised of a delay. The lounge staff said we would be told when to go to the gate. At 9:15 p.m., a Dragon Air representative frantically went to us and said we were the only passengers not on board. We were surprised that we weren’t advised as promised by the lounge staff.

* * *

When we arrived in Hong Kong, our bags were among the last to roll out onto the carousel. We picked up our two bags, one each, and immediately noticed our colored straps were gone. The straps were wrapped around each bag through the handles so they couldn’t have been lost in transit unless they were deliberately taken.

After settling into our hotel room in Hong Kong, we unpacked our bags. Menchu noticed that the clothes and other things in her luggage were in disarray, like someone rummaged through them. Then, to her dismay, she discovered that her Canon Ixus gold camera – my birthday gift to her two years ago – was gone. The case was in the bag but not the camera. It wasn’t just the loss of the sentimental gift that hurt but also the loss of the memory card that had priceless photos stored from months back. How can you recreate those moments immortalized in the photos?

I suspect the bags went through some kind of X-ray machine at the airport and some thief spotted the camera, took out the bag and rummaged through “inconsequential” things to pry out the camera which was near the bottom of the luggage under a lot of clothes. The strap had to be taken out to make it easy to unzip the bag. The thief, of course, didn’t bother to strap it back. He or she left the case presumably because it would be easier to slip the camera into a pocket. The case would’ve made it bulky and harder to hide from inspectors.

Obviously, the thief has no conscience. But if even with a little sense of decency, he or she might want to send the memory card to The Philippine Star office in my name.

* * *

On the flight back home, we were greeted by a video on TV monitors announcing NAIA’s slogan “We Go the Extra Smile.” But we didn’t see too many immigration officers smiling as they went over passports of passengers in long queues. Believe it or not, when we cleared immigration, we were shocked to find out there were no baggage carts left. What happened to them? A porter said they were all carted away but why couldn’t anyone bring them back?

There was no TV monitor showing which carousel would bring out our bags. I asked a tall lady inside a large information counter and she didn’t know either. Here was an information staffer who had no information to share. A porter overheard us and pointed to a carousel with a sign saying it was for bags from New Delhi. There was no sign showing the carousel was also for bags from Hong Kong. But several minutes later, our bags came through on the carousel with a New Delhi sign.

 Corruption, poor facilities, mismanagement and indifference are the trademarks of NAIA I. Menchu and I are victims of a NAIA thief and witnesses to a shameful display of gross inefficiency in NAIA I. This harrowing experience will be difficult to forget.