Singapore Changi is almost universally praised as the world’s best airport. And it is! There’s great food and great shopping. Outside of terminal 4, you’ve got security at each gate so there’s never a line. You get off of a flight, and walk around the airport, go straight to a lounge with ease.
There’s a movie theater, butterfly garden, and more attractions than you can imagine. Not to mention pretty good food, and Singapore’s The Private Room lounge and the Jetquay terminal are quite nice.
However the airport plays host to travelers from all over the world, with varying budgets. One man missed his flight and wound up living in 9 different Priority Pass lounges for 3 weeks before being arrested.
And here are dozens of travelers camped out overnight on floors, wrapped in thin blankets, resting against walls and luggage. The video caption explains it succinctly: “Hotels charging $400/night during F1 weekend, so why not sleep here?” over the October 3-5 period.
A couple returning from nearby Bintan around 9 p.m. refused to pay these inflated rates. After exploring Changi’s Jewel complex (grabbing coffee at Starbucks, browsing Adidas and Uniqlo), they eventually joined approximately 30 other travelers already resting in Terminal 1’s public landside area known as the “Arrival Garden.”
The woman reported getting about 4-5 hours of sleep; her partner said he woke up hourly. Changi’s rules state clearly that “overnight stayers are not allowed” in landside public areas, yet promotes 24-hour airside snooze lounges. In practice, enforcement is uneven. Ticketed travelers resting quietly are often tolerated, but security may rustle sleepers and check for boarding passes.
@sheridan.tate8 Changi Airport — We already spent a pretty penny this trip between Singapore and Indonesia. We arrived back in Singapore around 9pm (from Indonesia) before our 10:30am flight & F1 has caused MAJOR price hikes…we decided to stay at the airport to save money!
@sheridan.tate8 Changi Airport, Singapore — We slept at the renowned Changi Airport to save a little money! Necessary? No. Economical? Yes. Now we head back to India.
To be sure, “who hasn’t slept in an airport?” That’s pretty much a global standard. And airports don’t mind if you’re a passenger, but try to get rid of you if you’re homeless. These are probably mostly cheap travelers looking to save a buck. Not even all coach flyers, necessarily! Plenty of people redeem points for business and first class and stay in hostels, and if passengers are landside they probably couldn’t check in for their flight yet so lounge access isn’t an option.
During major events, hotel prices spike, and you’re likely to get more people sleeping in airports. Add in the fact that Changi is a downright pleasant airport with plenty to do, it’s a better place to sleep than most!
On the other hand, images of travelers sprawled across terminal floors is somewhat inapposite the airport’s image. And the best airports strive to be more than beautifully designed, reaching for resilience, humanity, and preparedness for every scenario.
(HT: @crucker)
These people look like idiots.
I have slept on the floor at Changi two times because my flights had long layovers in exchange for significantly lower prices. No one bothered me because I found a place a bit out of the way. I found a place serving very tasty Chinese food at very reasonable prices. I got food when they opened a bit after 4am. Later, when I wanted to go back for more, there was an extremely long line, so I ended up going elsewhere.
There is a business opportunity there. Sleeping pods behind the security checkpoints. That way homeless would not have access, maybe even need a boarding pass to check in ( you can only book for the time between flights) Make them fixed rate and affordable . It could be a model for airports worldwide that face similar challenges
@Ron — Security at SIN has been at the gates for a while, so I think you meant after entering the ‘ticketed/in-transit’ part of the airport, regardless, I agree, pods or hotel airside would be welcome.
@1990 – Changi’s newest terminal (4) has centralized security screening. In my opinion, security at each gate in the other terminals is undoubtedly one of the worst features of the airport. Once you go into the gate area, you are effectively trapped in that human accumulator until you board.
@Mike Hunt — Oh, good catch. @Ron, if you were only referring to T4 (which you didn’t specify), please, accept my sincerest apologies. However, most folks travel Terminals 1, 2, or 3, (Singapore Airlines, Scoot, etc.) which are connected as I described above. As for T4, I thought they only opened since the pandemic, and it’s quite limited in terms of carriers (Air Asia, Cathay, etc.), but, perhaps that’s expanding (Lion?)