MANILA - The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 was once again voted the worst airport in the world by the travel website Sleeping In Airports, two years after it first gained the notorious distinction.
Sleeping In Airports on Tuesday released the results of its Best and Worst Airports for 2013. Last year, the website named NAIA 1 as worst airport in Asia.
The results are based entirely on user votes in our site polls and surveys between the period September 2012 to August 2013, it said.
On Wednesday, Malacanan brushed aside the poll results, with Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda saying this isn't the first time NAIA 1 got the distinction.
Lacierda maintained that there are efforts by the Department of Transportation and Communications to improve NAIA 1, noting the involvement of designers like Kennet Cobonpue to provide innovations.
NAIA is named after President Benigno Aquino III's own father who died in the airport'starmac in 1983.
Unlike in previous years, the website merely gave a list of the best and worst airports without citing reasons.
Last year, for instance, it noted that "travellers continue to complain about the long and numerous queues that begin outside the terminal. Once inside, there will be no time for naps and certainly no place for quiet rest and enjoyment as you'll be busy going through various queues for the next few hours as you proceed to your gate."
But some of the recent comments about NAIA 1 from the site’s users included charges of discrimination and theft.
“After processing and confirming our boarding passes for the connecting flights , we were immediately directed to the adjacent detention area with collapsing ceiling , smelly sofas and poor ventilation. I termed it detention area as everyone's passports and boarding passes were confiscated while movements were restricted and monitored with NAIA airport staff guarding the only entrance,” wrote c.young1010 last August 31. “We were convinced that the NAIA airport staff selectively detained Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese as Westerners from USA/Canada/Europe/Australia though with Chinese and Taiwanese spouses were immediately release and ask to leave the premises.”
Meanwhile, user Atiya complained about “stealing and dishonest airport staffs (sic) who would lie in your face.”
The website, however, acknowledged that NAIA Terminal 3 receives “much better reviews and feedback” than NAIA 1.
Singapore’s Changi airport has once again been voted as the SleepingInAirports Best Airport for the 17th year in a row.
Here is Sleeping In Airports' list of worst airports in the world for 2013.
1. Manila NAIA (Terminal 1)
2. Bergamo
3. Calcutta
4. Islamabad
5. Paris Beauvais
6. Chennai
7. Frankfurt Hahn
8. Mumbai
9. Rome Fiumicino
10. Los Angeles
From
ABS-CBN News
