NAIA Terminal 3 - Covered Parking

The opening of Ninoy Aquino International Airport  (NAIA) Terminal 3's covered parking is a welcome development in the operations of T3. Suddenly, T3 seems to have spread itself wider. In fact, upon my recent arrival from Davao, I noticed a much longer walk to get to the baggage claim. Think KLIA2's long walk to the immigration.

Why would anyone use the open air parking in front of the terminal when you have a more convenient parking area that's probably cheaper - and safer, for that matter. There's ample space and it's way way easier to maneuver your vehicles here. Moreover, you only have to walk a few steps to get to the arrival/departure area because the building is essentially contiguous to the airport terminal.

The spacing of cars/vehicles are quite uneven though. There's more-than-enough space at the sides (really wide space to open your doors), but spaces elsewhere are quite tight. The parking building has 5 levels. The top 2 levels (4 and 5) are allegedly reserved for the officials and employees of the airport, but this is yet to be verified.

TROLLEYS

Trolleys aren't allowed here. If you're coming from the arrival hall, you can take a trolley into the parking building but you'd have to leave it at the corner space provided (left of the doors, see photo #7, blue arrow). The concourse are mostly one way. Two moving vehicles hardly fit the main driveways.

FEES

Entrance fee is PhP40 which gives you 23 hours to stay in the building. After the 23rd hour, you'll be tasked to pay PhP300 (talk about exponential raise). If you lose the ticket, you'd have to shell out PhP400. This means that if you clock in at 11 PM today, you may stay as long as 10:59 PM the next day without paying additional tariff. Recently, they've increased the rate for lost tickets to P500.

OVERNIGHT AND EXTENDED PARKING

For those who plan to leave their vehicle in the covered parking overnight or for several days, no prior permission needed. Just go straight to the parking building. Inform parking authorities (security guard/cashier) about your extended parking, get their names (for reference), keep your parking stub (given upon entry) and expect to pay PhP300 per night (per 24 hours) plus PhP15 per succeeding hour. That means, If you're planning to park your car for 5 days, then expect to pay PhP1,500 plus PhP15 per succeeding hour. If you have further questions, call (63-2) 877-7888 and ask to be connected to Collection Department, the department that answers queries about the multi-level, covered parking.

NO MOTORCYCLES and BIKES

I asked the Collection Department about this. No, they do not have space for motorcycles and bikes - and do not allow them in the covered parking. There's an open parking in front of the terminal for that.

SHUTTLE BUS TO OTHER TERMINALS

If you're planning on parking your car at Terminal 3 even though you're flying out from, say Terminal 4, there is a Shuttle Service that parks at the Arrival Bay 8. this shuttle ride is free of charge for ticketed passengers. It will charge a minimum fee of PhP20 for nonticketed guests. The ride has a 24-hour service (though I honestly doubt if it really runs 24/7 specially during wee hours). Make sure you allott enough time to cover the usually-moderate-to-heavy traffic characteristic of the roads between terminals. this shuttle ride provides an option aside from the taxi ride.

NO CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS

The covered parking does not accept credit card as payment, and all payment transactions will be on a strictly cash payment basis.

MEDIA

This was asked by one of the readers so I asked the Collection Department about their policy concerning media practitioners. Media people who do not have tickets are NOT allowed to enter the departure hall unless they have prior permit from the management. This has to be arranged prior to the visit and is subject to requirements. The "no ticket, no entry" policy at the departure hall is strictly implemented.

AVOID MARY GRACE CAFE

And just so you avoid delays, if you're taking a meal or snack at the Food Court, we feel we need this special mention. Avoid Mary Grace Cafe. The place is messy, the servers take forever to serve you and they forget orders.

SECURITY

There are security guards who are quick to tell off drivers who double park (and there are a number). Vehicles HAVE to park to load/unload... unless you feel quite special not to park.

Parking at 1st level leads you straight to the arrival hall of the terminal. There's a security and an X-ray check upon entry into the terminal. Place your coins, wallet, keys and cellular phones on a canister and allow them to pass through the X-ray. If you're meeting an arriving passenger, then you'd have to walk a few meters to the greeting area. Very convenient. If you're parked at the 2nd or 3rd level, you may use the elevator situated at the extreme end of the main terminal, just before exiting to the parking building. Take note though: The elevator buttons are marked LA, LB, LC, LD, LE instead of numbers (photos # 8 and 9). This is means LA is level 1; LB is level 2, and so on. (Sigh! That was hard.)

This is the Eye in the Sky!

Entrance to the covered parking building from the ground level entrance (arrival level).

Some have generous space while others are a tight squeeze.

Red arrow points to the main hallway of T3 (this one's the arrival hall). Blue arrow points to where you should leave the trolley. Green X is part of the parking building.

4 elevators servicing the terminal.

Elevator buttons aren't marked with numbers but letters., thus Levels A to E.

The departure hallway area just before heading towards the parking building exit (to the left).

Hallway directly leading to the parking building. There's an X-ray machine there for incoming guests from the parking building.

Straight out of the plane, you walk into the building and before going down the escalator on your way to the baggage conveyors, you see the Well-Wisher's Area above which is mostly empty. Most greeters wait at the exit hall of arrival level, instead of here because you'd have to walk your way back to the arrival hall to meet them anyway. Unless you're extremely excited to see your arriving guest, that is. 

Two payment booths at the exit. Pay PhP40 within 23 hours of stay.

Upon exit, you head straight out facing Resorts World's parking building (below) and out into the highway (going right).