Air Travel From Bacolod

Here is my ordinary traveler's observations as I traveled by air from Bacolod to Manila.

The airport is no longer situated in Bacolod City. It has been moved to Silay City, two cities up north. That's after Talisay City. Thus it is now named the New Bacolod-Silay Airport. You can get there by car, taxi, shuttle service or jeepney-to-Silay-City-proper-and-shuttle-to-airport link.

If you get there by car, parking spaces right in front of the departure and arrival areas cost PhP40.00 so if you want to save up on that, park a few hundred feet away near Bong-Bong's Pasalubong Center after dropping all your luggage in the lobby entrance of the pre-departure area.

Show your e-ticket to the guard after bidding goodbye to all your loved ones at the entrance. Shove everything you carry into the x-ray machine and proceed to the check-in counter. If you fly Cebu Pacific, make sure your check-in baggage is only up to 15kg (I pre-weighed all my luggage using a bathroom scale and they still matched the airport scales at a total of 28kg for me and my daughter). Although the hand carry limit is 7kg, they can allow a little more than that as they don't bother to weigh them anymore, a quick look and they can already estimate what 7kg looks like on you.

Then take the escalator up to the second floor pre-departure area where you can find pasalubong stands for that last-minute purchases of Bacolod delicacies. After paying the PhP200 terminal fee, go through another x-ray door again, this time taking your shoes off. The paging system will then announce the proper boarding sequence starting from infants, small children, senior citizens and lastly middle aged adults.

You will be led to your seat as pre-selected (if purchased online with the seat selector option {not recommended; click here to know why}) or as assigned at the check-in counter.

During the flight, the only freebies now available are prizes for three give-me-what-i-want games (have your passport, sim card, and turned off cell phone ready). If you did not win and want to have exclusive airline merchandise, you can buy them from the friendly cabin crew. There are no more free snacks on board as everything is now being offered for sale.

After about an hour, you have already arrived in Manila either at the Centennial Airport or at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Mabuhay!