Tips on things to do at Airports during a long transit, please? :)
 

Hey!

I just got ahold of my tickets from to Australia. I'm travelling with SIA and will be landing in Frankfurt and Singapore. Both transits will leave me 5-7 hours of spare time. Now, i figured since many on this forum are veterans in the flying-industry, what is there to do at these two airports to get the time running?

Welcome to Flyertalk, 777fanatic. I believe you will find many useful suggestions on the Flyertalk Singapore Airlines Forum. Therefore, I am moving your thread to that Forum.
Good luck.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

While there is plenty to do, in terms of the butterfly garden, xbox consoles, cinemas, etc, I would recommend taking the complimentary city tours if those are available (depends on timing I think).

Ask at the information counter after you get off the plane (but before immigration).

In Singapore if you have a 5 hour transit I would go down into the city which is about 20 minute by cab. Go grab a bite to eat, do some shopping and then head back to the airport, there is a subway or MRT line then connects to the airport.

Check this out:

http://www.changiairport.com/in-tran...er-experiences

That sounds great but is it going to be a problem with immigration? Because m leaving the airport and then when I come back how will they solve that?

I know that they will give me the information there but I thought if sme of you knew exactly how it works and could tell me beforehand so that I can plan my trip.

Thank you all!!

I don't think it should really matter if you leave the airport on transit. As long as you have the boarding pass and your passport, I don't see any problem getting back in. Unless you need special visas and such that we might not know about.

Singapore:
5-7 hours is a lot time.

I've read of post where people who live in Singapore would go home and unpack their dirty clothes, and do their laundry and make it back in time for their connection.

That said you can go downtown and shop.

FRA:
I've take a train to the city to have a meal before, but that transit was a little more than 7 hours.

Think the train took less than 30 minutes (travel time) to downtown. It was a matter of walking around and finding the best thing to eat

But alot depends on your arrival time for both airports. i.e:If you arrive at 5 am and leave at noon it maybe pointless.

There is a free city tour in Singapore available from the airport, designed especially for transit passengers. I've never done it myself but ask an information person about it.

I had a fantastic meal at one of the food places in the airport a couple of years ago. It's a great airport.

There will be no problem with immigration. You just fill out your arrival card (will be handed out on board of the aircraft), proceed to immigration (usually no queues there) and you are out of the airport in no time. On return proceed to the immigration (also no queues here) and you are back. No one will aks questions (you just recieve your arrival stamp and when back departure stamp). Just be sure that you have your boarding passes with you.

I would just head to the Esplande enjoy the skyline there (you could visit the sky terrace at the Marina Bay Resort) and have a drink or food there and than head back to the airport.

Another option would be East Coast Park. At the McDonalds (every cab driver knows the location) there are a number of food and/or beverage outlets offering from pub-food to Indian cusine. A have stroll at the beach or just relax.

Go straight to Orchard road, where you can kill 2 birds with one stone, shop and eat. Sight seeing, meh, I dont see anything interesting, most of old Singapore has been torn down, besides, Chinatown and Little India. If you must then the free city tour may be a good option.

SIN - it's very well organized here. I'd recommend the transit tour offered by SIA if you want the most bang for the buck.

If you want to shop - then I'd head to the intersection of Scotts Rd and Orchard Road (Singapore Marriott anchors this corner) and spend several hours shopping. Deals here are not what they were in the early 1980's.

I'd leave 45 minutes transit if you plan to use the MRT (subway) to return to the airport from Orchard Road to be on the safe side.

FRA - you get into town here, you need to take the train in the basement of the airport. They run every 10-15 minutes I believe depending on the time of day. Not known for shopping and I didn't see many great food options. Mostly scenery here.

You arrive at the train station which is about 10 minutes walk into town.

When I was there on a sunday, there was not much happening in town. Most stores were closed, but nice to see some European architecture and Platz's.

Thank you again for all the answers!

I see that some of you have mentioned the Singapore transit tour. I was thinking about that but what do you get to do on that sightseeing trip and for how long is it?

I would like to maybe get out of a tourbus and actually Walk around in the city for a while, is that possible with that tour?

http://www.changiairport.com/at-chan...singapore-tour

In two hours there will be not much time to walk around.

So basically you'll just sit on a tourbus for 2 hours?
I notices that your nick is the same flightnumber as the one I'm having, so I just wanted to ask, what did you think about the flight?

There will be stops (1 or 2) but time to walk around is limited. Ive done such a Free Tour many years ago (on my very first trip via SIN), it was really more like a brief glance of the city.
But it has changened since then, so my experience may be a bit outdated.

Oh, you are flying in on SQ325. I usually take that flight for the product (i love SQ and the B777300ER has the latest Y/C/F product, same as on the A380) and schedule (Arrival in SIN in the late afternoon suits me most). If you are flying mid-week and in Y, there is a good chance that the seat next to you remains empty, sometimes you can even fetch an entire row for yourself which adds to the comfort. The B777300ER in Y is 3-3-3 configuration (one seat less than competitors), in C 1-2-1 with the widest C-seat on this planet.
I love SQs service (which some here on FT claim to be robotic) and its still above standard provided by European Carriers. The IFE is superb and offers a wide selection of movies, music and games (it was always top-notch in terms of selection but in the meantime there may be competitors which closed the gap).

Thank you for some very interesting information!

I will be flying on the 25th of December from FRA, do you reckon it will be crowded or kind of empty? Keeping n mind that it's christmas and so on..

Is the sq325 solely 777-300er or do they fly that route with any other aircraft?