things to know about yangon international airport (rgn)

RGN.

As Myanmar continues to open up to the world, I am certain that it will attract many more visitors. This is not surprising. I found the country beautiful, the people were friendly, and the food was tasty. A perfect trifecta.

But first, what should a traveler expect when arriving at/departing from Yangon International Airport (RGN)?

The below is accurate as of my visit in November 2015.


Immigration
I thought it was fairly easy to go through immigration both for arrival and departure. We fell in line, which was long (although nowhere as long as those I've been in at the LAX immigration line) but moved quickly.

Customs
We had to fill out a form where we had to declare things we were bringing in to the country. This included jewelry, electronics, etc. we were bringing in, and to hang on to the form if we were declaring such items. But, the authorities took my form despite me trying to explain what I've declared. It turned out fine in the end. There were no issues when we were departing.

ATM/Money Changeers
I have previously written about finding Money Changers and an ATM at the airport HERE.

Taxi Stand
After picking up our luggage and taking out money at the ATM, we walked out of the secure area and immediately to our left was a Taxi booth. There, we asked for a voucher for a taxi to our hotel. We did not pay at the booth. Instead, the staffer told us the fare amount and gave the voucher to the taxi driver, who was standing next to the stand. The driver then helped us with our bags and guided us outside the airport to his waiting car. We paid the driver directly once we arrived at our destination.

The Taxi Stand just outside the arrival area.

Left Luggage
We flew in from Bagan earlier in the day and had a few hours before we had to fly out of the country. We did not want to just hang out at the airport but we also did not want to lug around our luggage if we left the airport. Luckily, we found a Left Luggage area located in the international terminal. Granted, the area did not have lockers or secure enclosures. It was basically a kiosk by the information booth and airport personnel watched the bags. We asked for a claim ticket, which I got the feeling was not automatically given unless someone asked for one. We took a chance on it and left our bags, which contained dirty laundry. We did NOT leave bags with valuables, such as cameras, iPads, etc.

Left Luggage Booth.

The bags were stored behind the booth.

Domestic Airport
For those who plan on traveling to other parts of the country by plane, you need to be aware of a few quirky things about the domestic airport (located about a five minute walk to the international terminal).

I was surprised to find out that there was no online check in. Basically, we checked in when we arrived at the airport. Interestingly, while I showed the airline staff our receipt/itinerary, they did not check our ID's! I don't know if that was an anomaly but I found it so weird. They also issued manually written boarding passes that did not include our name; it did include our flight and seat number though. They also stapled luggage tags (a ticket) to the boarding pass. We had to surrender the tags to the person giving us our bags at our destination. Finally, they gave us a small sticker, which had the name/logo of the airline, that we had to place on a visible area of our clothing. I did not initially understand the purpose of this sticker but I later found out why.

Domestic boarding pass.

Once we went through security (we did not have to take off our shoes - yay!), the confusion started and the stickers made sense. Many foreigners, with stickers on their clothes, did not know what was going on. Locals, who knew what was going on, did not have stickers on their clothes. While a TV screen showed flight information, there was no general announcement when flights boarded. Instead, an airline personnel walked around with a sign to indicate that a particular flight was boarding. For our particular flight, we did not hear an announcement; instead, an airline personnel saw our sticker and told us to board a bus, which took us to a waiting plane. And, that was how they knew we were supposed to board. I suppose the sticker and placard system made sense where airline staff did not speak a variety of foreign languages (we saw a lot of French, Dutch, German, and other European tourists, as well as Korean tour groups).

Domestic Flight Status.

Boarding sign.

The chaos at the domestic airport soon made sense and all was well. The international airport was fairly stress free and easy to maneuver. I do not know how things will change in the future, but, if the airport personnel will continue to do what they are doing now (but on a bigger scale), I think it will remain fairly smooth going as I found it to be.



What international airports have you found hassle free?