Check-in Area of Caticlan Airport Terminal
It was time for us to go back to to Manila. We are catching a flight back to the big city after several days here in the Boracay. The Henann Group of Resorts has an airport shuttle service and it brings you straight to the Caticlan Airport Terminal. The Caticlan Airport Terminal isn’t the largest terminal in the country. But you could think that it would be one of the busiest. The terminal is tiny considering all the traffic that passes through here. There are multiple flights from here every hour and I think it deserves a much larger terminal. Outside the terminal there is a queue for departing passengers. This is the security check which is basically just throwing your bags into the scanning machine and of course there would be standard pat-down.
Parked Caticlan Airport Terminal
Once you get through security. You would have queue up to check in your stuff. These days, you can check in online, so if you do not have any luggage to check in you just head straight to the departure waiting area. We had some luggage to check in so we needed to queue up for this. The check in area is cramped and full of people. This is only because the terminal is just that small. I don’t understand why a new terminal hasn’t been built to accomodate the massive traffic that passes through Caticlan. The queues were orderly and everyone is patient, but that doesn’t mean everybody has to put up with the tiny airport terminal.
The departure area has a few stalls which sell food. I wasn’t really hungry since we just had a big breakfast at our hotel. There is also a stall which sells souvenir items just in case you forgot to get one. The waiting area is actually much more specious than the check-in area. At least you won’t be as stressed out waiting for your flight. Now, getting on the plane is another matter. The planes don’t actually park at the departure area but it is actually somewhere else.
Newport Mall at Resorts World Manila
To get on the plane, you need to board a shuttle which will take you to the plane. This is not something out of the ordinary since I have seen this in other countries. You are assigned a bus to board and make sure you get on it. The passengers are counted and if the numbers don’t match, there will be a hunt for the missing passenger. I got separated from the others and I got assigned to a different bus. My bus took long to leave the terminal, it was like they were waiting or looking for someone. There is no road to the plane either. The buses wait until the coast is clear and get on the runway and make a run for our planes. I thought it was rather hilarious but at the same time sad that they didn’t bother building a dedicated road for the buses to use. Ultimately, we all got on the bus and the missing passenger was located. The flight back to Manila was uneventful and soon we were back and that was the end of our Boracay trip.
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