Going the extra smile

VIENNA – Leaving Manila for this Austrian capital late Monday night, I was pleased to notice improvements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The toilets were cleaner. Starting from the immigration area, there were large photos of top Philippine tourist destinations (Boracay, the Banawe Rice Terraces, Vigan) displayed on walls. A warning against assaulting or verbally abusing NAIA personnel ended with the words: “At NAIA, we go the extra smile!”

But these days travelers get the extra smile not only at the NAIA but also at Dubai International Airport, where Filipinos account for probably 80 percent of the personnel.

Flying from the NAIA to Dubai International is like leaping from the 20th to the 21st century, from the developing to the developed world.

It’s probably unfair to compare the rate of development between the Philippines and an emirate fueled by petrodollars. But I couldn’t help thinking about it, as the airport shuttle took nearly 10 minutes to drive us from the Emirates plane to the transfer area, Dubai International is that big.

Whatever P-Noy’s administration is planning to do to improve airport services, it should fast-track implementation. The extra smile is fine, but we need more than a pleasant attitude from airport personnel to endure the rigors of air travel.

Flying between the Philippines and Europe in particular has become increasingly difficult, as European carriers one by one pulled out their direct flights because of taxes, fees and other Philippine aviation policies they didn’t like. The last holdout, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, ends its direct service to Manila in April next year.

Flights with connections are not only more expensive but also, obviously, add more hours to already grueling long hauls. For many years I had avoided taking Emirates Airlines after a racist encounter in Singapore with one of its executives, whose name, if I remember correctly, is Thomas Puttjer. But this time, because of a long layover in Amsterdam if I took KLM, I took Emirates. Flying time to Dubai was more than eight hours; layover was five – the shortest I could find. The flight to Vienna took six hours. That’s nearly a day of travel. Only about a decade ago I could fly direct to Europe for an average of less than 14 hours.

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Arriving in this city on Tuesday afternoon, the efficiency again made me wonder when the Philippines would attain prosperity and enter the 21st century.

I cleared immigration in five minutes, went down one level and took the City Airport Train or CAT. It was a smooth, comfortable 16-minute ride to the city center about 16 kilometers away. From the train station I took a CAT CAB, which brought me to my hotel in the heart of the city. Everything was on time. The train and cab ride I booked and paid for online in Manila.

Rush hour traffic was awful on Wednesday night. But Vienna, like many other cities, is full of trains and buses that follow set schedules for arrival and departure. It has an efficient subway system. The city is also a nice place to walk around.

Other Asian countries that used to trail the Philippines in terms of development have attained the same level of prosperity and modernity. Why can’t we do the same?

I made sure I sampled the world’s most famous chocolate cake, the Sacher Torte, in its birthplace, the Hotel Sacher near the famed Opera. The kindest thing I can say about the torte is that hype can work miracles in this world. I’ve tasted moist, luscious chocolate cake using top-quality chocolate in Manila and other places. The Sacher Torte was so dry it reminded me of a raisin that has shriveled and dried after being forgotten for months in the back of the refrigerator. A slice of Sacher Torte costs nearly five euros (about P300), plus one euro extra for the mandatory coat check.

The torte has been the only major disappointment so far in my visit here (a minor one was the non-stop rain on Wednesday). Viennese coffee, on the other hand, lived up to expectations (although the Italians will probably turn up their noses). The Turks first brought coffee to Austria in 1683 and left it behind upon their departure.

Austria’s affable Ambassador Wilhelm Donko described Viennese coffee culture to me so poetically I was looking forward to my “mélange” (espresso with shots of milk and cream) at Café Sacher long before I got here. Pure water from the Alps, the ambassador said, made Viennese coffee preparations special.

The Austrians are proud of the quality of their water; a sign that greeted me at the airport boasted that water from taps all over the country is clean and safe for drinking. In this aspect we’re again a long way from catching up with the advanced economies.

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Many Filipinos no longer bother to catch up. Instead they leave the Philippines and experience life in prosperous nations.

Ambassador Donko has no exact figures for the number of Filipino residents here. He told me that in the 1970s up to the early ’80s, Filipina nurses came here, married locals and now hold Austrian passports. About 12,000 Austrian passport holders visit the Philippines annually as tourists, but the embassy doesn’t keep track of how many are native Filipinos.

From 5,000 to 7,000 Philippine passport holders are staying here, many of them working for United Nations agencies or as maids of diplomatic personnel. Many sailors on Danube cruise ships are also Filipinos.

When applying for a Schengen visa, processing takes time because Filipinos need clearance from all the other Schengen countries. This is not because we are a risk group for crime or terrorism, but because many Filipinos tend to overstay their visa.

Another European ambassador thinks the requirement is a silly inconvenience imposed on Filipinos. But suggestions to lift the requirement has been consistently opposed, I was told, by one European country.

This sort of treatment is a reflection of our standing in the world. Changing the situation will take more than an extra smile.