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It’s nothing fancy but it puts to good use some 402 square meters in NAIA Terminal 3’s pre-departure area.
Newly-opened Wings Transit Lounge on the fourth floor of the building’s general-access section has five lounge areas, 17 capsule rooms, 16 twin rooms, a family room, a “cute” business center, massage room, barbershop, plus a pantry and dining area.
MIAA spokesperson David De Castro says it is operated by Jipang Group, a Japanese company that manages Networld Hotels.
For stressed-out passengers, especially victims of delayed flights, it could be paradise. It is also open to non-passengers, so assigned manunundos of travelers on a delayed flight can also partake of the fun.
But don’t get the impression that you can just hang out here for free. While the lounge doesn’t charge an entrance fee, you’re only allowed inside if you’re availing of their products or services.
You could go as low as PHP170 which gets you a club sandwich and free WiFi, while PHP300 buys you two hours on a pleather lounge chair, WiFi and bottled water.
The lounge areas are divided by curtains, and one of them is a TV area that can accommodate six people.
Rooms can be rented in blocks of five and eight hours, and are inclusive of WiFi, electrical sockets, a light meal and bottled water. There are capsules (PHP880 & PHP1000), twin rooms (PHP1,600 & PHP1,800), bunk rooms for three people (PHP2,100 & PHP2,600) and family rooms (PHP2,600 & PHP3,200). All eight-hour stays get free use of the shower area; otherwise, that’s an extra PHP300 per head.
Certain elements of Wings reminds us of a hostel: there’s a spacious kitchen with the basics covered (read: cereal, coffee, iced tea and water), two computer units, a printer and bulletin board make at its business center. A couple of bulletin boards, with the occasional travel quote, seem to hark at people’s wanderlust.
But it’s the spa and the barbershop services that may offer the most relief. An hour-long massage goes for PHP675, while a basic haircut goes for PHP250.
Not bad at all. Our concern? How will the taller Caucasian travelers fit in the capsule and twin rooms? Because as you will see below, they look perfect for the bite-sized Asian! But, really, that’s not our problem.
Wings Transit Lounge, 4/F NAIA Terminal 3, Pasay City; +63 2 8869464, +63 2 8337299. Daily 24/7.
Photos: Tammy David
The TV lounge area, which is one of five lounge areas of Wings. You can rent a chair for two hours (PHP300).
The spacious pantry, where the basic grub (like cereal, pastries, and coffee) could be had.
That’s the computers of the business center, another lounge area behind the curtains and the stairs leading to the men’s capsule rooms.
The two-computer one-printer business center.
The bulletin boards across the computer, which really reminded us of hotels.
The ladies’ capsule room area. One capsule is PHP880 for five hours.
That’s how a capsule looks like. Can you dig it?
More lounge areas beneath the ladies capsule room area. As you can see, they really made use of every square meter available.
This is the massage room. An hour’s worth of massage is PHP675.
A look at a twin room. Perfect for bite-sized Asians, no? (PHP1,600/ five hours)
