Manila Airline Crew Layover Guide
Reviewed by Captain AL
Crew car rental deal ↓Hotel deals ↓
The MNL crew card
| Fastest into town | Coupon taxi, priced before you get in at the rates the LTFRB prescribes: PHP 330.00 to the Ayala Center side of Makati (Glorietta, Greenbelt Park, Legaspi Village), PHP 440.00 to Malate in Manila and to Fort Bonifacio (BGC, Market-Market), PHP 530.00 to Ermita and Intramuros |
|---|---|
| Night option | Rail stops early. The last weekday MRT-3 trains go from North Avenue at 21:30 and Taft Avenue at 22:11, first trains at 04:36 and 05:18. Saturday last trains are 21:30 and 22:08, Sunday 21:30 and 22:09. Miss those and MRT-3 is shut until morning |
| Payments | One card, the whole rail network. The blue or white beep card costs PHP 30.00 with a PHP 14.00 minimum load, reloads as often as you like, and is accepted at every LRT Line 1, LRT Line 2, and MRT-3 station |
| Tap water | Officially safe. At its meeting of 23 July 2026 the Metro Manila Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee declared the Manila Water and Maynilad supply fully compliant with the 2017 Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water, on the June 2026 monitoring |
| Emergency | 911 (911 is the national emergency hotline; 1342 is the 24/7 hotline of the LTFRB, the board that prescribes the coupon taxi rates) |
| Solo & at night | Official taxi and Grab pickup points sit on the arrival curbside of every terminal. NAIA personnel hand taxi passengers a dispatch slip with the numbers to call if the trip goes wrong. Keep that slip. It does not go to the driver |
| Crew knows | The meter counts minutes. The coupon does not. A regular metered taxi adds PHP 2.00 a minute on top of PHP 13.50 a kilometer, so an hour in Metro Manila traffic is PHP 120.00 in time charges alone. Your coupon to Makati was already priced at PHP 330.00 or PHP 440.00 before you got in |
| Crew deals | Verified car rental and hotel rates for airline staff: on this page, right below this guide. |
airlinecrewdiscount.net · MNL crew card · Checked Aug 2026 · Next check Nov 2026 · Screenshot this card for offline
Every number on this page comes from an official source. Where no official source gives a number, we say so instead of guessing.
Flying into MNL again? Add this page to your home screen (or Ctrl+D / Cmd+D), and skip working this out at 23:40 next time.
Getting from NAIA into Makati and central Manila on a coupon taxi, Grab, or the Airport Loop shuttle
No train leaves this airport. The operator’s transport page lists no rail station at the terminals, so everything into Metro Manila begins on the arrival curbside: fixed-rate coupon taxis, metered taxis, Grab, point-to-point buses, and car rental. Rail starts one bus ride away, because the Airport Loop shuttle links Terminal 3 to the Pasay City MRT station. Connecting passengers get their own free shuttle between the NAIA terminals.
👉 Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Mode | Time | Cost | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airport taxis (coupon, yellow metered, regular metered) | Coupon taxi: fixed rate by destination, PHP 150.00 to PHP 990.00 across the Metro Manila table. Yellow metered taxi: PHP 75.00 flag-down for the first 500 meters, then PHP 4.00 per 300 meters and PHP 4.00 per 2 minutes of waiting. Regular metered taxi: PHP 45.00 flag-down, then PHP 13.50 per kilometer and PHP 2.00 per minute | Three services, three ranks, and you want the right one. Coupon: Terminal 1 arrival curbside and arrival extension, Terminal 2 arrival curbside near Bay 11, Terminal 3 arrival curbside across Bay 6. Yellow: Terminal 1 arrival curbside and arrival extension, Terminal 2 near Bay 14, Terminal 3 across Bay 8. Regular: Terminal 1 arrival curbside, Terminal 2 near Bay 23, Terminal 3 across Bay 13. Airport staff issue a dispatch slip with the complaint numbers on it, and that slip stays with the passenger. Filipino senior citizens, persons with disability, and students ride coupon and yellow taxis at a 20 percent discount. | |
| Grab (ride-hailing) | Grab Taxi runs on the meter at LTFRB rates plus a booking fee shown in the app. Grab Airport to Anywhere is priced upfront and the fare stays fixed however long the trip takes | Two products, two sets of bays, so read the sign before you queue. The Grab Taxi points are Terminal 1 arrival curbside, Terminal 2 arrival curbside Bay 20, and Terminal 3 departure curbside across Gate 7. Airport to Anywhere runs a dedicated accredited fleet from Terminal 1 arrival curbside, Terminal 2 arrival curbside near Bay 6, and Terminal 3 arrival curbside across Bay 4. | |
| UBE Express point-to-point bus | The airport bus. Per the airport operator it runs daily from Terminal 3 to Robinson’s Mall Manila, Ayala Malls South Park, the Victory Liner bus station in Pasay City and One Ayala Makati, then back to Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4, plus a PITX and NAIA terminals loop. Pickup is Terminal 2 arrival curbside Bay 5 and Terminal 3 arrival curbside Bay 12. On schedules, rates and payment options the operator points to ubeexpress.com, whose fare page we could not read. So ask the price at the counter. | ||
| Airport Loop shuttle bus | PHP 40.00 regular fare | The cheap way onto the rail network. The Airport Loop shuttles to the Pasay City MRT station and to NAIA Terminal 3, picking up at Terminal 3 arrival curbside across Bay 10. | |
| MRT-3 (rail along EDSA) | Regular fare matrix PHP 13.00 minimum to PHP 28.00 maximum on a single journey ticket. Taft Avenue to Ayala is PHP 13.00, Taft Avenue to Buendia is PHP 16.00, Taft Avenue to North Avenue is PHP 28.00 | Thirteen stations, Taft Avenue in Pasay up to North Avenue in Quezon City, with Ayala and Buendia for Makati. Weekday first trains go 04:36 from North Avenue and 05:18 from Taft Avenue, the last at 21:30 and 22:11; weekend times shift by a few minutes. A stored value card costs PHP 30.00 to issue, plus a load of anything from PHP 13.00 to PHP 10,000.00. Students, senior citizens, and persons with disability ride on a separate discounted fare matrix. Two house rules cost real money: leave the system within 2 hours of entry or pay PHP 28.00 for overstaying, and tapping in and out at the same station carries a PHP 13.00 boarding fee. |
Best Areas for Crew Stays in Manila, from Makati and Bonifacio Global City out to the Malate bayside
Makati (Ayala Center): The business core, and the shortest fixed-rate taxi run from the airport. Hotels sit in the same walkable grid as the malls and the restaurants.
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig: Newer and quieter, laid out on a planned grid. Pick it on the layover where you would rather walk than argue with traffic.
Malate and Ermita, Manila: The old hotel belt on Manila Bay, close to Intramuros and the museums. This is the side of town for crew who want history instead of shopping.
Pasay Bay Area: Closest district to the terminals, built on the bay reclamation. Convention center, arenas, big-box malls.
Intramuros: The walled Spanish colonial core. Small enough to cover on foot in an afternoon.
What to Do on a Layover in Manila, whether you have a five-hour sit at NAIA or a full day in the city
Under 5 hours: Stay inside. Free Wi-Fi reaches the check-in counters, the gates, and both lobbies; Terminal 3 has a transit lounge with sleeping facilities, and there is a medical clinic in every terminal. Connecting from another terminal, you have the free inter-terminal shuttle around the clock.
5 to 9 hours: Makati or the Pasay Bay Area, on a fixed-rate coupon taxi so the meter never joins the conversation in either direction. Then make the return buffer bigger than feels reasonable. No official source publishes road journey times, and this is Metro Manila traffic.
9 hours plus: Now a real day works. Intramuros with the Manila Bay side, or Makati plus Bonifacio Global City. Going by rail means the Airport Loop shuttle from Terminal 3 to the Pasay City MRT station, and it means planning the evening around the last MRT-3 departures.
Crew Tips for Manila and NAIA: the dispatch slip, the SIM you cannot use yet, and the eTravel form that names crew
Public transport payments: Buy the card, skip the ticket queue. The standard stored value card is the blue or white beep card: PHP 30.00 to buy, a PHP 14.00 minimum load, reloadable, and accepted at every LRT Line 1, LRT Line 2, and MRT-3 station. Tap it at the turnstile going in, tap it again going out.
SIM cards are not plug and play: Buy a local SIM here and it will not work yet. The SIM Registration Act rules have every SIM sold deactivated until it is registered, and a foreign visitor on a tourist visa registers with a passport bio-page and visa page, proof of a Philippine address such as a hotel booking, and a return ticket showing the date and time of departure. The registration itself is free, and the tourist SIM then runs 30 days before it deactivates automatically. On a short layover, sort your connectivity before you land.
Taxi safety and complaints: Every ride type has its own official pickup point on the arrival curbside: coupon, yellow metered, regular metered, and Grab. Take a coupon, yellow, or regular metered taxi and NAIA personnel hand you a dispatch slip with the numbers to call if the trip goes wrong; the operator states that the slip stays with you and does not go to the driver. In a coupon taxi the LTFRB fixed rate for your destination is the price, so there is nothing to negotiate.
eTravel registration includes crew: Crew are not exempt here. The airport operator states that all arriving passengers, Filipino and foreign, crew members included, must register or update their eTravel information, and that this is done within 72 hours before leaving the country of origin at etravel.gov.ph. Departing passengers skip it, apart from a short diplomatic list.
Luggage storage: Baggage storage exists, run by concessionaires rather than the airport: Orbit Air Systems at Terminal 1, Luggage and More at the arrival level of Terminal 3. The airport publishes contact details for both and not one rate. Agree the price and the maximum storage time on the spot, before the bag goes behind the counter.
Free Wi-Fi is capped per day: Three free networks run in every NAIA terminal, each on its own daily clock: NAIA Free Go Wi-Fi from Globe for 3 hours per day, Smart for 1 hour per day, and Converge for 2 hours per day. They reach the check-in counters, pre-boarding gates, arrival lobby, and departure lobby. Chain them when a connection drags.
Emergency Numbers for Manila and the Philippines
👉 Swipe sideways if the numbers do not fit
| National Emergency Hotline | 911 |
| Philippine National Police emergency hotline | 117 |
| Red Cross hotline | 143 |
| LTFRB 24/7 hotline (land transport franchising regulator) | 1342 |
| New NAIA airport hotline | +632 8877 1111 |
| Philippines country code (calling from abroad) | +63 |
Save these before you fly; numbers work from any phone.
How do I get from Manila airport to the city?
By road, every option. A coupon taxi charges the fixed LTFRB rate for your destination: PHP 330.00 to the Ayala Center side of Makati, PHP 440.00 to Malate or Fort Bonifacio, PHP 530.00 to Ermita and Intramuros. On the meter you start at PHP 75.00 flag-down in a yellow airport taxi and PHP 45.00 in a regular white one. Grab picks up from marked bays at all three terminals. For the bus, UBE Express point-to-point serves Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, while the Airport Loop shuttle reaches the Pasay City MRT station for PHP 40.00.
How much is a taxi from NAIA to Makati?
Depends which Makati you mean, because the coupon taxi table splits it into two bands. Area 1 costs PHP 330.00 and covers Glorietta, Greenbelt Park, Legaspi Village, Magallanes, Dasmariñas Village, and Forbes Park (South). Area 2 costs PHP 440.00 and covers Rockwell, Bel-Air, Makati City Hall, Urdaneta Village, Guadalupe, plus the remaining listed destinations. On the meter instead: a yellow airport taxi starts at PHP 75.00 for the first 500 meters and adds PHP 4.00 per 300 meters, while a regular metered taxi starts at PHP 45.00 and adds PHP 13.50 per kilometer plus PHP 2.00 per minute.
Is there a train from Manila airport to the city?
Not from the terminals. NAIA has no rail station of its own, according to the airport operator. Rail begins with the Airport Loop shuttle bus, which connects Terminal 3 with the Pasay City MRT station for PHP 40.00, and from there MRT-3 runs up EDSA through Ayala and Buendia to North Avenue. Published regular fares sit between PHP 13.00 and PHP 28.00: Taft Avenue to Ayala is PHP 13.00, Taft Avenue to North Avenue is PHP 28.00. Weekday last trains leave North Avenue at 21:30 and Taft Avenue at 22:11.
Can you drink the tap water in Manila?
Officially, yes. At its meeting of 23 July 2026 the Metro Manila Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee declared the Manila Water and Maynilad supply fully compliant with the 2017 Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water, with the June 2026 supply 100 percent free from thermotolerant coliforms. Read where the samples come from, though: treatment works, service reservoirs, and designated sampling points in the distribution network. That says nothing about the pipes and storage tanks of the building you are standing in.
Do I need to register a SIM card in the Philippines?
Yes, and the SIM stays dead until you do. A visitor on a tourist visa needs a passport bio-page and visa page, proof of a Philippine address such as a hotel booking, and a return ticket showing the date and time of departure. Registration costs nothing. The tourist SIM is then valid for 30 days before it deactivates automatically.
Spotted a change? Tell us and we fix it for the next crew.
Crew Discounts in Manila: verified car rental and hotel rates for airline staff sit right below this guide. Bookmark this page before you walk out to the arrivals curbside. Next Manila rotation you open the rates, not a search box.
