Philippine Airlines has released a statement regarding the advised five-hour lead time passengers need when departing from NAIA.
“This is only for international flights,” PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna told airport reporters. “At present, we are experiencing increased volume of passengers, and we anticipate a further increase as Holy Week approaches, particularly from April 8 to April 12,”
Considering that passengers need to undergo security measures, check-in procedures and immigration processing, Villaluna said the five-hour lead time is just PAL’s way to ensure their clients will not miss their flights.
He also noted that the request only serves as a “safety net” to ensure passengers make it to their flights.
“Once the Holy Week is over and the Immigration counter concern is resolved, we will go back to the three-hour lead time before our international flights,” Villaluna added.
Many Immigration officers have filed a leave of absence, apparently to protest the removal of their overtime pay and allowance. The reduced number of officers manning the immigration counters resulted to longer queues at the airport.
