ONE year ago, my friend Mary Mae and her family from Escolta, Manila, visited Bacolod for the first time.
After their return to Manila four days later, Mary Mae told me how she and her family had enjoyed their vacation in Bacolod – the food, the sights, the attractions, and the nice, warm and hospital people.
However, she told me one problem about visiting Bacolod is the airport. By airport, she was referring to Bacolod-Silay Airport, saying that it was hot in the pre-departure area, the toilet facilities were not well-maintained as it was not clean, and that the trolleys were not enough for all passengers who had luggage.
I dismissed Mary Mae’s comment about the Bacolod-Silay Airport, as it was just one of the feedbacks, the positives having greatly outweighed the only negative feedback from her.
After all, as a Negrensé and Bacolodnon, I have been used to helping promote our province and city in my own little way.
I would always tell my friends in Bacolod and Negros Occidental to put our best face and foot forward to the public in the promotion of our province and city to the country and the world.
Yesterday I went to Manila for a business meeting in Bonifacio Global City. The PAL flight was delayed, so I had experienced for myself the hot pre-departure area while waiting for my flight.
Normally I checked in online and would arrive at the airport terminal 10 minutes before the boarding time.
But yesterday was different. I was at the pre-departure area for more than an hour.
Indeed, it was hot in the pre-departure area, the air-conditioning system was not functioning, only industrial fans. One lady sitting beside me said her hair was always blown away by the strong wind from a nearby industrial fan, and her skin was getting dry.
The elderly gentleman who was sitting in front of me said the pre-departure area felt like a sauna, with the industrial fans blowing hot air.
I went to the comfort room, and true enough, it was not cleaned, even the toilet bowl was yellowish. There I heard a passenger complaining, why the toilet was poorly maintained when he had paid P200 terminal fee and asked rhetorically where his terminal fee went.
On my return flight back to Bacolod from Manila, with other passengers, I waited for my checked-in baggage at the carousel area.
I noticed that there were only a few trolleys, not enough for passengers who need it, to their disappointments.
Then I remember my friend Mary Mae’s lament about the Bacolod-Silay Airport a year ago. Yes, it had been a year, yet passengers now had the same feedback.
The airports are the gateway to the host cities, where travellers’ first impressions of the place are formed, but the Bacolod Silay Airport is found wanting.
This column is, therefore, a frank feedback to improve Bacolod Silay Airport’s facilities, especially its air-conditioning in the pre-departure area, its lack of trolleys, and its comfort room facilities.
Times are always changing, and it is now time to change the way the Bacolod-Silay Airport is run and managed, which reflect on its facilities, and creating bad impressions on the travellers and visitors to our city and province.
(For feedbacks and comments, please e-mail eligat_ph@yahoo.com)