Photo: Rachel Chia/BusinessInsider.sg
Buy a boarding pass at Changi Airport in Singapore to send off your significant other or simply to pass the time in arguably the most beautiful airport in the world, and you risk burning a hole in your wallet with a fine or even some serious jail time. Or both.
Last week, the Singapore Police Force issued an advisory on social media for those who want to buy boarding passes for the airport’s terminals but have no intention of actually boarding a plane to fly out: just don’t do it. They also use the example of a 27-year-old man who did it some days prior, because he wanted to walk his wife to the gate so they could say goodbye right before she left.
After determining that the man had “no intention” of flying out of Singapore, he was arrested. He became the 33rd person to get caught doing this in 2019.
“The Police would like to remind all passengers that the transit areas of Changi Airport are gazetted as Protected Places. Passengers who enter the transit areas with a boarding pass should only be there for the purpose of traveling to their next destinations,” the Singapore Police Force says, urging people not to “misuse” their boarding passes.
This might sound funny, but transit area are considered Protected Spaces in Singapore, under the Infrastructure Protection Act. Those caught on the wrong side of the law are looking at fines of up to S$20,000 (US $14,350) or a maximum of 2 years in jail, or both.
Changi Airport is considered one of the most beautiful airports in the world. It has anything from the world’s largest indoor waterfall, a Canopy Park with a suspension bridge, topiary and mazes, one of Asia’s larges indoor gardens with trees and shrubs, a 4-story slide and an on-site butterfly dome, as CNN points.
Being such an amazing place to spend time in, doing so often proves an irresistible temptation, as the 33 arrests this year prove. And this goes further back: in 2016, for example, one man spent 18 days inside the airport, forging boarding passes so he could gain access to 9 airport lounges, the same media outlet notes.
After determining that the man had “no intention” of flying out of Singapore, he was arrested. He became the 33rd person to get caught doing this in 2019.
“The Police would like to remind all passengers that the transit areas of Changi Airport are gazetted as Protected Places. Passengers who enter the transit areas with a boarding pass should only be there for the purpose of traveling to their next destinations,” the Singapore Police Force says, urging people not to “misuse” their boarding passes.
This might sound funny, but transit area are considered Protected Spaces in Singapore, under the Infrastructure Protection Act. Those caught on the wrong side of the law are looking at fines of up to S$20,000 (US $14,350) or a maximum of 2 years in jail, or both.
Changi Airport is considered one of the most beautiful airports in the world. It has anything from the world’s largest indoor waterfall, a Canopy Park with a suspension bridge, topiary and mazes, one of Asia’s larges indoor gardens with trees and shrubs, a 4-story slide and an on-site butterfly dome, as CNN points.
Being such an amazing place to spend time in, doing so often proves an irresistible temptation, as the 33 arrests this year prove. And this goes further back: in 2016, for example, one man spent 18 days inside the airport, forging boarding passes so he could gain access to 9 airport lounges, the same media outlet notes.
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