Some NAIA passengers miss flight due to immigration queues

Reiniel Pawid, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Travelers wait for their flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City on January 5, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/01/05/20230105-naia-travelers-terminal-jc-1.jpg"/><figcaption>Travelers wait for their flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City on January 5, 2023. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Some departing passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 were not able to board their flights due to long queues at the immigration area Wednesday afternoon.</p><p>Elsa Aquino, one of the passengers who did not make it to her scheduled flight at 3:55 p.m., complained about waiting for two hours in line.</p><p>Aquino, together with her two children, were set to fly to Dubai to celebrate her 60th birthday next week.</p><p>&quot;Parang nagsisi ako. Meron pa ngang nahilo. Ako nga, may fracture kaya ngawit na ngawit ako. Dapat mayroon silang priority lane sa mga seniors at may mga iniinda,&quot; she said.</p><p>The Aquino family had to re-book their tickets to a Thursday morning flight and opted to stay overnight at the airport&#x27;s lobby.</p><p>&quot;Diyos ko, naka-rebook na kami, kaya lang wala na sanang delay sa immigration,&quot; she said.</p><p>Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that &quot;all agencies involved in airport operations must work together to resolve airport lines.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/09/23/high-time-to-privatize-naia-following-new-year-airspace-fiasco-poe">&#x27;High time&#x27; to privatize NAIA following New Year airspace fiasco</a></li></ul><p>Tansingco explained that immigration counters at the airport have reached the maximum capacity, even after assigning two to four immigration officers to counters in certain terminals.</p><p>&quot;All counters were manned, but the lines remained long. It’s already a space problem. We can add so many officers, but if the space is limited, then there will still be lines,&quot; he said.</p><p>Tansingco called for the cooperation of airline companies by regulating the influx of travelers through proper scheduling. </p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2408000" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Some departing passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 were not able to board their flights due to long queues at the immigration area Wednesday afternoon.

Some NAIA passengers miss flight due to immigration queues | ABS-CBN

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Some NAIA passengers miss flight due to immigration queues

Some NAIA passengers miss flight due to immigration queues

Reiniel Pawid,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 12, 2023 12:48 AM PHT

|

Updated Jan 12, 2023 01:09 AM PHT

Read More:

immigration queues

NAIA

terminal 3

cancelled flights

Bureau of Immigration

BI

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