One of the best things about flying in a Oneworld airline’s premium cabin is that their lounges are very good. From Qantas to Cathay Pacific to Qatar Airways, many Oneworld member airlines are known for how exceptional their lounges are. This is especially true at major airports such as Singapore Changi Airport, where multiple airlines operate lounges at the terminal.
Generally, you can’t use an airline lounge if it’s not located in the terminal you’re flying out of. For example, Heathrow Airport has some wonderful Oneworld lounges, all located in Terminal 3. However, if you’re flying British Airways out of Heathrow’s Terminal 5, you can’t use these lounges, and are relegated to the airline’s own much more underwhelming “hub” lounges (thankfully these are getting a refresh next year).
Singapore Changi Airport has always been an exception to the rule, as passengers have historically been welcome to traverse terminals in order to sample different airline lounges (as well as for other means, such as shopping, etc.). Thankfully, the process is much more simplified compared to how it was like a few years ago. I’ll explain how it works, then I’ll detail a catch.
How To Use Lounges In A Different Part Of The Airport From Your Flight
Changi Airport has always allowed free movement between Terminals 1, 2 and 3, though they have historically been stricter with Terminal 4, as the terminal is further away and differently laid out. When the airport terminal first opened in 2017, passengers were fully restricted from moving between terminals unless they were transferring between flights, which is how it’s done at most airports.
From what I’ve seen in the couple of years immediately following that, Changi Airport recognised that Cathay Pacific passengers (particularly) were keen to use lounge facilities at their original terminal, and permitted some freedom of movement between terminals. However, you had to either get a stamp on your boarding pass in order to access the terminal you weren’t flying out of, or you had to clear immigration at “your” terminal before doing an airside transfer. This was true in about 2019-2021.
The status quo is that you can clear immigration in any terminal with your boarding pass. This aligns with the fact that Singapore exclusively uses e-gates (for both departure and arrival immigration, as long as you have a biometric passport), so you don’t even have to go through a manual boarding pass check. At Terminals 1, 2 and 3, security is at each individual gate, so you will literally enter “airside” within a matter of seconds.
It takes around 45 seconds from entering the terminal to here (assuming you can check in online)
For the record, I checked my bag at the Jewel’s “early check-in” facility, and printed a paper boarding pass just in case. It wasn’t even possible to get a stamp (in fact the staff mentioned I wouldn’t be able to get into T1, which was incorrect), but when I got through the immigration facility it simply scanned my face before letting me in, without me even having to scan my boarding pass.
Let me take the time to say that Singapore’s Oneworld lounge quality is outstanding, even if you don’t have Oneworld Emerald status. In fact, I think it might even be better than Hong Kong’s. The Qantas lounge is fantastic, and is huge, featuring lots of seating, a great cocktail bar, and good made-to-order food options, including their signature laksa and a specialty nuclear chicken dish from recently closed restaurant Fatty’s (which was a Qantas cabin crew favourite).
Qantas Lounge Singapore
Meanwhile the Qatar Airways lounge is a bit smaller, and features fantastic a-la-carte dining and cocktails (do note that you can only enter this lounge if flying business class, and not on frequent flyer status).
Qatar Airways Lounge Singapore
The British Airways lounge pales in comparison, with good seating (very similar to their Gatwick lounge) but average-at-best food and beverage, but at least it’s quiet and features shower suites.
British Airways Lounge Singapore
Once you get to T4, even the Cathay Pacific lounge is nice and features very comfortable seating. Food is great as always (there’s a noodle bar – I was so stuffed by the time I got here that I forewent eating anything), though there isn’t a tended bar here unlike at some of Cathay Pacific’s other outstation lounges. There also aren’t any showers at the Cathay Pacific lounge.
Cathay Pacific Lounge Singapore
Oneworld isn’t the only alliance where you can lounge hop at Changi Airport. Singapore Airlines has lounges in both Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, though historically it’s always been much more straightforward to transfer between those terminals, as it just involves taking a train. However, even the new bits of the Terminal 2 lounge are carbon copies of the lounge in Terminal 3 (except for a tended bar which is only open at certain hours of day anyway), so there’s much less of an incentive to lounge hop now.
There’s A Catch, However
While there’s free movement both landside and airside between Terminals 1, 2 and 3, unfortunately there is a catch when it comes to Terminal 4. The catch is that they check your boarding pass when you’re moving between terminals airside, and most likely they won’t let you through if you’re not departing from the terminal you’re travelling to.
Why? I guess this has to do with the fact that security is centralised at T4. Also, the bus moving between terminals isn’t very big, and has quite low capacity, so I assume they want to tighten up passengers using the shuttle bus as a joyride.
In this case that was a non-issue for me – I successfully got into Terminal 1, and my boarding pass was checked before I moved over to Terminal 4. However, I wouldn’t have been able to get back into Terminal 1, for example (at least without exiting immigration again and going landside).
The airside shuttle bus between terminals checks boarding passes
If you’re flying SriLankan Airlines or Malaysia Airlines out of Changi Airport in the morning, this is worth noting. The Qantas, British Airways and Qatar Airways lounges aren’t open at this time, so try and enter through Terminal 4 if you want to use the Cathay Pacific lounge (I haven’t personally tried this, but I assume it works, given my experience going the other direction), rather than trying to transfer airside.
Conclusion
Changi Airport has some spectacular Oneworld lounges, and you might want to check out some that operate from a terminal you’re not leaving from (especially if it’s Terminal 4). This is permitted, but make sure you’re entering airside through the terminal where the lounge is located, not the terminal where your flight is departing from (you won’t need a stamp to do this, unlike what you would’ve had to do a few years ago). If you do the latter, you may not be able to transfer airside, given that they check boarding passes.
Have you tried visiting a lounge in a different terminal at Changi Airport? How was your experience?
Any idea why SIN does security at every gate? I find it really frustrating to have to go through the security process all over again when I was scanned and whatnot before that.