Singapore's Budget Terminal is Disappointing

I hated the so called Budget Terminal. I heard so many good things about Singapore's huge airport terminals so I expected to see it. But I didn't know that if you flew Cebu Pacific you would land and depart in Singapore's Budget Terminal. I didn't even know that there's such a terminal in Singapore. The word budget says everything. I don't know about the other terminals, but there are no baggage checkpoints in the budget terminal. The waiting area is small and for food there you have only two choices, one of which is McDonald's.

Cebu Pacific Air at Singapore Budget Terminal

We wanted to shop at the huge terminal's duty free so we decided to go there earlier, but the counter for our flight at the budget terminal won't open until 3 hours before our flight. So it was a waste of our valuable time. But even if we had time, we could not shop at Terminal 1 and 2's duty free. Duty Free area is always located after immigration, so even if you had the time to go to terminal 2 and 1, you still can't shop there because you have no boarding pass at that terminal. There are however regular malls in the other terminals and the airport offers free shuttle services to the other terminals. But with less than 3 hours after checking in your baggage, I doubt anyone would decide to still go to the other terminals.

Singapore Budget Terminal Dining Area

Singapore Budget Terminal Shopping Area

The Duty Free in the Budget Terminal is small and you don't actually have that much choices. So if you're flying at the budget terminal and going to buy gifts for family and friends, I suggest buy them before going to the airport.

But we did get a cheap flight. So who am I to complain right? I still enjoyed my trip. Next time I'll fly PAL(Philippine Airlines). This just serves as a reminder that to check what terminal you would be landing.

TAKE NOTE: Not all airports have budget terminals. This is only reason why I was disappointed. This was my first experience in one. But with the cheap flight, I AM NOT COMPLAINING.

More about our One Week Trip to Singapore

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: i guess you've expected too much...; August 21, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Unknown said...: It's not that I expected too much. I just expected to land at Singapore airport which I heard was really nice. But I landed on the budget terminal.:) haha Next time I go there I'm sure to fly Philippine Airlines(PAL).:p; August 21, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Anonymous said...: You flew in a budget plane & expected something than that. Obviously it doesn't make sense. Plus, they do have a duty free just that it is smaller -.-"; September 20, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Unknown said...: Most countries, even if you fly on a budget plane, you still land on their regular airports or at least still have access to facilities that regular fare planes have access to. Which was my point.

Yes the duty free was small at the budget terminal which I also stated above..:); September 20, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Closure of Budget Terminal

UPDATE> With the closure of the Budget Terminal (BT) at Singapore Changi Airport on 25 September 2012, airlines currently operating at the terminal – Berjaya Air, Cebu Pacific, Firefly, Mandala Airlines, South East Asian Airlines and Tiger Airways – will move their operations to Terminal 2 on that day.

Resource: http://www.changiairport.com/at-changi/our-terminals/closure-of-budget-terminal;jsessionid=6B29AFE7F9E9AC8044BFD69E75F8FE60; September 14, 2012 at 9:16 AM
Unknown said...: This is nice to hear.. Thanks for the update!^_^; October 11, 2012 at 8:14 AM