Norman Manley Kingston International Airport, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, but there is nothing about the customer service or layout of this airport that is capital worthy. To find anyone who knows what they are doing or anyone who can help you with the self check-in machines that are never working, is almost impossible. The line ups to check-in are soooo long and like I said before, good luck with finding someone who wants to assist you. My most recent trip to Jamaica was in August of 2014 and we left the island from Kingston airport, when we asked a worker to help us with the check in “situation”, she shrugged and plainly said “I have no idea” and kept on walking. She didn’t even try! There was a picture of the employee who won best customer service award, and my mother and I had to chuckle and say “can you imagine how bad at customer service the people who didn’t win were?” As Jamaicans say “sometimes yuh haf fi tek bad tings and mek laugh” (sometimes you have to take bad situations and laugh about them [to ease the stress or pain]).  Finally we checked in! My sister and I said bye to my mother (she would remain in Jamaica for a couple of extra days) and we headed to security. This part was surprisingly very fast and not unpleasant.

Once we got to the gates and all the eating areas, I was pleasantly surprised. It was very nice, enough eating spots (mainly fast food.. but that is most airports), and the space felt quite spacious and airy. HOWEVER, do not think this airport is like most airports where even by your gate there will be bathrooms. In order to get to your gate there is another mini security checkpoint travellers have to go through. All it is are a bunch of airport workers or security guards who check your passport and boarding pass again. This was my first time at Kingston airport, so I didn’t follow my sister's advice to use the bathroom in the cafeteria section. I assumed there would be more washrooms and eating options by the gates. BOY WAS I WRONG. As I made my way down a long isolated and bare walk way to the gates with every step I took I quickly realized that my flight back to Toronto was going to be a hungry one and I was going to have to use the bathroom on the plane. All it was were departure gates, no washrooms, not even a vending machine to buy a pack of chips! And you can’t go back out to use the washroom or get something from the restaurants.


So to anyone traveling out of Kingston airport, please use the washroom and buy your food right when you see the eating places and the washroom signs. DO NOT WAIT until you get to your departure gate.

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