Had a 6am Saturday 8 April flight from NAIA Terminal 1, did not open check in until 3am and people started queuing at 2:15. I waited slightly more comfortable in a chair until 4:30 and stood in line for 10 minutes to check my bag. Several immigration lanes were open, was 4th in line so took about 5 minutes. Return flight arrived NAIA Terminal 1 at 12:30am Thursday 20 April, made it to immigration and was about 5th in line. Would have been less than 5 minutes this time but I asked for 59 day Tourist Visa as I was handing over my passport. 15 minutes later I had a 59 day Visa, cost just under p3,000, immigration queue was empty by then, walked over to the carousel and quickly found my luggage as there was only 6 or so other pieces besides mine. Leaving and returning through NAIA Terminal 1 I found no issues at all with immigration. Only real irritation was waiting for the airline to open check in to check my bag and the resulting herd of passengers swarming the queue (didn't mention airline as they were all doing the same thing). Onward ticket to Hong Kong in 54 days was again purchased on Expedia at my return flight originating airport (in this case Saint Louis, Missouri) before checking in. A couple hours later, layover in Chicago, Illinois), I canceled the ticket (taking advantage of Expedia's free cancellation within 24 hours policy) after clearing 'docs check' at the gate for the Beijing portion of my trip. In Manila immigration only asked me about my departure date because I asked for a 59 day Visa. Apparently I answered '54 days' fast enough they didn't even verify by asking to see the ticket (I would have showed the booked email, not the cancellation email of course).
