Nothing New at Terminal 3 Changi

Everybody in Singapore seemed drawn by the newest hub at Changi, Terminal 3 which been open at 9th January 2008. Including me of course. So I was exciting when my flight to Heathrow depart from T3, expecting I will see many great views coherent with sort of mayhem being the best Airport in the region.

I was flying in the evening with Singapore Airlines on 24th January. We did the online check in (actually I have to phone them to link flight booking to reference on Krisflyer since we booked through corporate agent), came two hours before boarding, sit back and relax.

I noticed that SIA had put more machine of self check-in near the counters. They’ve also supplied with own weighting luggage. That’s it actually. I haven’t seen anything particularly new about services.

Intrigue by the architecture design of T3, specially the ceiling on the butterfly roof, it's appear to be sort of hanging with cable control on it. As heirloom says :
“The roof will limit the amount of direct sunlight into the building through the use of louvres suspended above and below the skylights, filling Terminal 3 with diffused, ambient light during the day. At night, artificial light bounced off the ceiling creates a soothing and comfortable environment for passengers”


Is it works? I don’t know. It is remind me with Stansted Airport in London designed by Sir Norman Foster. Back many years ago I was there in the evening as well and realized something missing. The light. Yes, it was quite dark at night. I read that the design supposed to encourage usage of natural resources (ie sun). But hey…that’s in London, famous with unpredictable weather.

I think the idea was great and Changi try to adopt it. But they failed to recognize the common problem. The light in the night time. I found so unpleasant in Stansted during that period. Indeed Changi T3 was enough artificial light, but Stansted not that good. Anyway, I regarded the idea for being ‘green’ but I did not see the numbers. Say, it will save electricity few percents or something more convincing like it will give more significant amount of light in the day and night time.

Oh did I mention about more shops? Ah yes Changi is always lots shops and shops make you want to spend money. T3 got more outlets and restaurants, including the famous Brewerkz and Hard Rock Café. But I am sorry that I missed the opportunity to try because we prefer free food at the SIA Lounge.

The Lounge was decent one. Though quite small, but indeed has appeal. Wifi Internet connection was easy, food was excellent (chicken masala and biryani) and outside toilets which hardly still on the decorative stage.

As a call for boarding my flight, I passed many gates and shops. I felt nothing new, nothing special. Just another Changi Terminal.