Not too long ago, Changi Airport ranked 10th in the world’s most family-friendly airports list, which really got us scratching our heads – after all, it’s chock full of food and shopping options, as well as kid-friendly attractions like indoor playgrounds, a butterfly garden, and a giant multi-storey slide. What's not to love? Turns out, our pride and joy in the east lost out to other countries’ airports due to the sole factor of not providing unlimited free WiFi – though if you ask us, no one really needs to be glued to their devices when there’s more than enough there to keep you occupied for hours.
With that behind us, it’s heartening to see that Changi Airport is ranking quite a few notches higher on a recently-released list of the most luxurious airports in the world, coming in at fifth place in a tie with Sydney International Airport. Dubai International Airport takes the top spot with a total Luxury Score of 83 out of 100, followed closely by London Heathrow Airport (82 out of 100), Qatar’s Hamad International Airport (73 out of 100), and Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport (66 out of 100).
Singapore’s Changi Airport scores 61 out of 100 – which isn’t too dismal, yet isn’t particularly amazing. Surely the 12-time winner of the title of world’s best airport deserves better?
Let’s dive deeper into the scoring criteria of this ranking list, created by AllClear Travel Insurance from the UK; Over 1,800 airports across the globe were analysed before 69 of them were shortlisted based on their number of passenger lounges, which had to be a minimum of 10. Then, each airport was scored based on the following factors: presence of luxury stores, four- and five-star hotels in the vicinity, as well as champagne bars and caviar houses.
It’s easy to see where Singapore loses out: the hotels portion, for which we only scored three points, compared to the 12 to 30 points that the airports in the first four spots bagged.
While there’s indeed a limited number of high-end hotels near Changi Airport, it’s only because we’re a small island city, with a bulk of our swankiest accommodation options instead clustered within our town area. And travelling from the airport to any of these centrally-located hotels via cab would take around 30 minutes, tops. Some examples include Raffles Hotel – voted the 17th best hotel in the world – as well as The Ritz-Carlton, Conrad Singapore Orchard, and new entrant, The Singapore Edition, among plenty others.
For what it’s worth, we’d say that Changi Airport is pretty darn cushy indeed, and should you find yourself stuck there with a flight delay with no ideas on what to do, just look to our ultimate guide to Jewel Changi – the airport’s connected mega mall – and time will fly before you know it.
Check out AllClear Travel Insurance’s full report on the world’s most luxurious airports with a detailed ranking on the top 20 here.
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