SQ @ Manila Airport Terminal 3 and Lounge One Fourteen

[yflyer]

On 1 September 2014, SQ moved from Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

Terminal 1 was opened in 1982 and still operates at way over max capacity for many of the international airlines still flying to Manila. Most SQ travellers to Manila would be intimately familiar with T1 because it really has not changed much over the years.

SQ, NH and a few other international airlines have now moved to T3, a much newer terminal partially opened in 2008, and fully opened since August this year.

Earlier in September, I flew into and out of T3 on SQ. Here are my impressions of the terminal, and the temporary SQ lounge named Lounge One Fourteen. Unusual name for a lounge? Yes, and for reasons which will become clear later in this TR...

[yflyer]

I landed in Manila just before 6pm in the evening on the afternoon SQ flight. We arrived at our gate alongside a Cebu Pacific A330. Indeed Cebu Pacific was a major user of this terminal, with many of their aircraft parked at this terminal.



I was sitting in the first row of Y, and was among the first to deplane.

First impressions, a modern terminal...bright and spacious.



It was just a short walk to the immigration counters. A much more spacious immigration area compared to T1. As luck would have it, the counters were empty, so there was minimal queuing involved before getting my passport stamped.



The baggage claim area was also bright and airy.



I had no checked luggage, so I headed straight out to the landside arrival area, which was quite busy.



A lot of security at the driveway, although the dogs they employ at their K-9 unit look way more adorable than the dogs I have seen in other countries...



I had arranged a hotel airport transfer to whisk me to my hotel. An added bonus for T3 is that it is quite a bit nearer to Makati than T1 was. The drive to the hotel took less than 20-25 minutes.



Overall arrival experience? Very good, and very quick. There may have been an element of luck involved, as no other flights were arriving at the time. It would be interesting to see if T3 copes with peak periods better than T1. But the shorter driving distance to Makati is a very real benefit.

[yflyer]

The day I was scheduled to depart from Manila was not an ordinary day. The day before, heavy rains had pounded the city, and the rain continued into the morning.

In fact in the morning, flood waters in some of the rivers near the city had passed the danger mark, and many workers were advised not to come to work.

To add to that, several flights were cancelled or delayed that morning due to weather/storm activity, including the morning SQ flight which was delayed by a couple of hours.



I arrived as rains were starting to lighten, but it would continue to rain intermittently during the afternoon.



The check-in area was quite spacious, but at peak hours, it could get quite busy.



When I arrived, there were long queues for all classes as there was some amount of flight disruption that day. The customer service counter was also busy for pax wanting to waitlist themselves as standby pax for an earlier flight than the one they had booked.



As flights were quite full that day (it was the end of the week), not many people were able to fly standby, and most of the days' flights went out full or overbooked. The ground staff were unfailingly polite and did their best to assist, and most pax took the situation in their stride, and did not kick up a fuss. No-one can control the weather, after all.

This was a picture of the SQ check-in area after the crowd had largely cleared...

[yflyer]

I wandered around the terminal before my flight.

There were a few shops, selling both brand name items and souvenirs...



There were two convenience stores (one of them a 7-Eleven)....

There were spa's both airside and landside...



And quite a good selection of F&B outlets both landside and airside...

Landside outlets included Kenny Rogers Roasters, Coffee Bean, Seattle Coffee, Asian rice & noodles and an upmarket cafe...





I decided to try that Filipino fast food favourite: Jollibee...



The restaurant was very crowded. There may have been an air-conditioning problem that day, because the restaurant was quite hot and stuffy...but that did not deter customers (A good mix of locals, tourists and airport staff...), who must really like the food here...



I had the fried chicken set, which came with rice and a cream soup.



The chicken was quite delicious...with crisp skin and good flavour. It tasted fresher and tastier to me than KFC.

I also ordered a burger...



This was fairly mediocre, with a patty that tasted quite processed, with very little beef flavour compared burgers to other fast food outlets.

So thumbs down for the burger, but thumbs up for the fried chicken!

[yflyer]

There were queues at departure and security (and don't forget to set aside PHP 550 for the airport departure tax)...but it wasn't the chaotic scene that you would find at the old T1 -- things were a little more organised here, with more space and capacity.

I was in the airside area within minutes.



I headed to Lounge One Fourteen, which is a temporary lounge until SQ's new lounge is ready.



The reason for the name became clear when I arrived at the entrance. It was literally departure gate area 114 partitioned and repurposed as a lounge!



There is a small buffet setup...



And seats / sofas and tables...



And that was about it really. One drawback of the lounge location was that the restrooms were located quite a distance away.

[yflyer]

Beverage selection was fine...





I thought the food selection was a little basic...



There was soup available, and several hot dishes...







I thought the presentation of the dishes was quite drab. I was glad that I ate at Jollibee rather than in the lounge.

No sense comparing a temporary lounge with a proper lounge. Even the old T1 SQ lounge was better than this place. I have high hopes for the new lounge that SQ will open in future. I hope they do it up in the style of the other new lounges, like in SYD.

[yflyer]

SQ isn't the only one having to make do with temporary arrangements.

NH has cut a deal with one of the F&B outlets near the departure gate, and has turned the entire outlet into the NH lounge...



I watched the NH flight push back in the rain and taxi off towards the runway. I thought to myself..."always good to see a Dreamliner depart on schedule..."



I spoke too soon...about 20-30 min later, from the SQ lounge, I saw the same Dreamliner return to the gate....





Thankfully, after some time, it pushed back again after the issue (whatever it was) was resolved...

[yflyer]

Thankfully, after a morning plagued by delays, the afternoon and evening SQ flights were all on schedule.



My inbound aircraft arrived on time, and we left for Singapore on schedule...



Overall impressions? The move from T1 to T3, represents an improvement all around to SQ's operations in Manila. I hope SQ goes all out to make the upcoming lounge a stunning one as well, which would really be icing on the cake.

Thanks for reading!

[CarbonMan]

yflyer, you're truly the most prolific TR writer on this forum!

[chisquared]

Thanks for the TR. I won't be flying out of MNL until January; hopefully the new SQ lounge will be open by then.

That being said, the food at lounge one-fourteen looks to be the same as in the old T1 SKL...

[yflyer]

yflyer, you're truly the most prolific TR writer on this forum!

Haha...yes I seem to be posting a lot these days, don't I, CarbonMan! Still a long way to go compared to some of the Old Guard !

[yflyer]

Thanks for the TR. I won't be flying out of MNL until January; hopefully the new SQ lounge will be open by then.

That being said, the food at lounge one-fourteen looks to be the same as in the old T1 SKL...

Thanks, chisquared! The SQ press release said "early 2015" for the opening of the new lounge. If it's not open yet, there's always Jollibee ...

[chisquared]

Thanks, chisquared! The SQ press release said "early 2015" for the opening of the new lounge. If it's not open yet, there's always Jollibee ...

Somehow I doubt January 2015 counts as "early 2015", but we'll see.

On the other hand, I do miss Jollibee.