Transit At Laguindingan Airport (CGY)

I just finished the first leg of my three-legged air-travel. This time, I was transiting in CGY. You know what that means, why and where, right? If you still don't.., go review!

I think I said in the previous story, or previous other stories, that this was a first time I transited at CGY, in modern recorded history! OMG I did not?! So I'm saying it now!

At ano nanaman iyang history-history na yan? Well, in the past, I think even as late as the '90s, CGY was already a mini-hub (meaning it had flights to many destinations), so we could transit at that airport. An example would be: MNL-CGY-DVO, two flights.

But unlike now, none of the flights I took before were recorded via pics or videos, as digicams & cellphones weren't yet around! Camera film was still too expensive then.

At walang pang blog noon! So, therefore wherefore, nothing was really recorded - as far as I was concerned! And, all those were at Lumbia, so this was really a first time.

O sya, let's start recording...

Transit / Transfer Procedure at Laguindingan Airport

After baggage claim, I walked a different route. I knew beforehand on where to go!

I turned left to that door - the connecting passage between arrivals and departures. It is not widely known to the public. No need to know if you're not transiting anyway!

But in my case today, I needed to know that, so I didn't have to go all the way out to the arrivals curbside, just to turn left and re-enter the terminal at departure check-in.

How did I know all those? Ah, I asked some friends, colleagues and acquaintances who know that airport. I even also asked PAL, long before I embarked on this travel.

There is no Transfer Desk at this small airport like you would see in CEB or MNL T1 and T2. Unless your check-in baggage have been tagged to your final destination, you have got to retrieve them here, then push or pull your way to departure check-in!

Not really an issue, since CGY is (still) such a small airport. A transfer desk is only a must at big airports, like MNL T3. But the Cebu Pacific Transfer Desk there, is a fake!

A transfer desk is not just an information counter! So CebuPac at T3 should rename their counter after baggage-claim to Information Counter since that's what it only is.

Anyway, here at CGY, there is no such counter. Weh, mabuti nang wala kesa fake, so passengers' expectations aren't dampened. The process here is very similar to DVO.

Very similar to DVO, including of course PAL's only 2 boarding passes can be issued to those with connecting flights! I was already carrying my CGY-CEB boarding pass, but I opted to pass by the PAL counter for my CEB-CRK boarding pass issued na rin!

PAL are the blue counters at left. If you're wondering that my pic seem to have been taken from above, it was. I took it from the escalator going up to pre-departure area!

Why Some Philippine Airports Look Similar

Hey if you're observant, you will have noticed that the airports of BCD, DVO, ILO and CGY have similar departure layouts: check-in at ground level, boarding at 2nd level.

Napansin nyo ba yan?

It is because, these airports (and some others including TAC) were conceived and designed by JICA decades ago -- maybe the 1990s, since I already said this in 2011.

Anyway, my observation of their check-in counters... lahat maigsi! Science was very obviously applied without considering our local culture. That passengers, especially in these provinces, do not come to check-in at exactly 2 or even 3 hours before ETD.

Hasus, many of them (sometimes including me) appear only at about 1 hour BETD. Karamihan will only come to check-in, pag narinig nilang lumalanding na si airplane!

Wherefore, once an airplane lands... expect a long twisting line at those counters! At lahat nagmamadali, ang susungit pa. And they will say two hours na ako nakapila!

Ganun yun hahaha!

Yes I've been observing you my fellow passengers - for many years na! 'Kala nyo ha!

Hep hep hep, lumiko nanaman ang usapan. I am so..! Back to my transit story! This:

I also took that picture from the escalator. Where those people beside the store are facing, that is the arrival area where I came from. The connecting door I said above.

And there's an elevator beside the mop and trashcan - if you can't ride the escalator!

Upon reaching the 2nd Floor, this is what you see looking down to the other side.

That's the arrival lobby. You see the island-counter at right? That's the tourism desk, that (as I expected) is unmanned at 1:56PM, where there's an active (arriving) flight!

Left side of the pic, is the CAAP Assistance Desk. I think that's a duh or even dumb signage. It does nothing but confuse arriving passengers - especially the foreigners.

Philippine Airports Have So Many Useless Assistance Deks

Ano ba kasi ang CAAP? Kahit Pinoy iilan lang ang nakakaalam nyan eh! Halata tuloy na umi-EPAL lang! What assistance does it give? Why not just Information Counter?

Or even just Help Desk - without the CAAP abbreviation that confuses passengers!

Take this as an example: pasahero ka, kinukutongan ka ng isang airport employee, saan ka dudulog? That Tourism Desk? The Police Assistance Desk? (it's that other end of those desks, can you see it?) or the CAAP Assistance Desk? Saan ka? Aber?!

At most airports on earth, all you see is the word Information. It's often even just an ℹ or 🛈 symbol. You get all kinds of assistance or help from their Information Desks.

But in our airports.., sa atin? Ah, samu't sari ang "assistance desk"! But the effect is rather one and the same: iba-volleybal ka rin. Yes, ipapasa ka sa tamang kinauukulan!

Eto, I got this from the gov.ph website just now. It says The CAAP:
...is responsible for implementing policies on civil aviation in order to ensure safe, economical, and efficient air travel. As an independent regulatory body with quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative powers, the CAAP is mandated to set comprehensive, clear and impartial rules and regulations for the Philippine aviation industry.

Read that again, and then reflect... kung pasahero ka nga, what would be a situation upon your arrival, where you will need that CAAP Assistance Desk, ever? Aber nga?!

Me reklamo ka? O eh, then that should be called a "Complaints Desk"!

Haiszt! Sige na, walang basagan ng trip. Sila kasi ang me-ari ng airport!

PAL Mabuhay Lounge at Laguindingan Airport

And then... I went to the PAL Mabuhay Lounge at CGY Laguindingan Airport.

That is all I looked at in this Mabuhay Lounge. They all look the same anyway, right?

I particularly had silent-fun looking and poking inside that microwave oven. That is a real branded ceramic dinner-plate they placed inside, in lieu of a rotating glass plate!

I didn't ask, I just guessed that the rotating plate was broken. I didn't know it can be replaced with a dinner plate! Sorry, I rarely touch that kind of gadget, takot ako hehe!

Now.., I wanted to roam the pre-departure area, but I had to talk business to some folks. They can access any part of this airport and agreed to meet me at the lounge.

Thus, my short transit time was more on busy balitaktakan! Less time to roam :(

At 16:05H, I was asked to board my flight to CEB, so I did. I was on my way to Clark, remember? So, I was flying again, and.., transit nanaman, this time at Mactan Cebu!

But let's talk about that, next!

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