Changi Airport

IMAX movies coming to Hong Kong Airport

Entertainment, Movies, , , ,

Here’s a great idea: movies at airports.

Changi Airport – which has a butterfly garden, free Wi-Fi, a giant indoor slide, lounge chairs with built in alarm clocks and pretty must everything a traveler on a long layover could want – also has free movies theaters on site.

Open 24 hours, the movie screening area in Terminal 2 features movies available on the Fox Movies Premium website. The theater in Terminal 3 shows six different movies throughout the day. The line up right now includes Captain America, the Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ice Age, Johnny English Reborn and Kung Fu Panda 2.

Coming soon: an IMAX theater at Hong Kong International Airport.

Scheduled to open this spring, this will be the first IMAX theater at an airport.

Admission will not be free. However, “Cinema-goers will be fulfilled by the extraordinary enjoyment when watching 2D or 3D movies,” the airport announced on Facebook.

Rate the bathroom at Singapore’s Changi Airport

Bathrooms, ,

Some of the world’s best airport restrooms are at Singapore’s Changi Airport.

This restroom not only has these lovely pedestal sinks, it has a separate ‘powder room’ area where women can freshen up and apply the cosmetics they’ve purchased in the store just outside.

There’s even a digital feedback screen, asking travelers to rate the restroom.

In the few moments I hung around taking pictures, a half dozen women stepped up to the screen, smiled, pressed excellent and were on their way.

And, yes, the woman in the picture was there on duty keeping the restroom neat and tidy.

Earth Hour at the airport

Airports, Environment, Events, , , , ,

This Saturday, March 26, 2011, lights will go out in homes, buildings, towns and cities around the world as part of a coordinated effort to raise public awareness of climate change and the need for energy conservation.

Several airports are joining the effort.

 

At LAX, the 100-foot-tall LAX Gateway pylons that illuminate the entrance to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), will light solid green for one hour before Earth Hour. During Earth Hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., the pylons will be turned off and then resume their color-changing display at 9:30 p.m.

Toronto Pearson International Airport will also be marking Earth Hour this year by reducing lighting in terminals, parking garages and support buildings, turning off or reducing HVAC systems, turning off high-speed moving walkways in Terminal 1 and taking other energy-saving measures.

Singapore’s Changi Airport will switch off all decorative lights, dim non-critical operational lights in much of the airport.and give out battery-less flashlights to travelers who take a simple energy quiz.

London Luton Airport will be switching off lights in many parts of the airport, including its illuminated logo on the front of the terminal building.

And at the Budapest airport they’ll switch off the entire airstrip for Earth Hour. According to Earth Hour organizers, “We have been assured that airport staff are well prepared for the temporary black-out, which will take place under strict national and international control to ensure the utmost passenger and aviation safety.”

Let’s hope so!

Samba at Singapore’s Changi Airport

Air Travel, Airlines, Airports, Entertainment, Exhibits, family travel, Festivals, Free Stuff, , , ,

This sounds like fun:

To celebrate Singapore Airlines’ new direct service from Singapore to Sao Paolo, Brazil, Changi Airport isn’t just having a kick-off party; it’s staging a month-long “Fly to Brazil” carnival, complete with exhibits, attractions and prizes throughout the airport.

The celebration will include booths offering a chance to play Brazilian games, opportunities to get photographed wearing Brazilian party clothes, and regular performances of Brazilian music and dance, with instructors on hand to teach samba and other Brazilian dance moves.

And anyone who spends S$10 in the airport shops and restaurants  will get an entry in a “Fly to Brazil” ticket raffle.

Changi’s “Fly to Brazil” carnival runs through March 27th, in the Departure Hall of Terminal 3 and the Departure Transit Mall of Terminals 2 and 3.

Free drinks at Changi; free shades at LGA

Airport shops, Free Stuff, , ,

It’s got the largest slide in an airport, a butterfly garden, free karaoke and movie theaters. Now there’s one more reason to love Singapore’s Changi Airport: free drinks!

Changi Sinagpore Free Drinks

Photo courtesy: Changi Airport Group

“The Mix-it Bar” inside DFS Liquor & Tobacco shops at Terminals 1, 2 and 3 offers complimentary liquor and mixed cocktail drinks. “The brand of liquor featured changes bi-monthly,” says an airport spokesperson, “But over the past few month brands of liquor featured recently included Bacardi, Bombay Gin and Belverdere vodka.”

Worried you’ll have one too many? You may need to wear your sunglasses at the airport.

Sunglass Hut and the Food and Shops at New York’s LaGuardia Airport are hosting a Twitter sunglass contest.

They’ll be giving away two pair of Ray Bay Sunglasses each Friday through March 25.  Here are the rules.

Changi Airport offers free rides on the super slide

family travel, Fun Stuff, Kids, Kids travel, Layover, , , ,

October 1st is Children’s Day in Singapore and to celebrate Changi Airport is offering everyone – kids and adults – free rides on the world’s tallest slide in an airport.

Changi Airport Slide

Rides on the one-and-a-half story preview, or kiddie, slide are always free.

But tokens for rides on the four-story Slide @T3 usually require a receipt showing you’ve spent at least $30 in a single airport shop.

From October 1st through 3rd, though, no proof of purchase will be required: all rides will be free.

Hooray!

And here’s some good news: the rules for sliding will change once the Children’s Day free ride promotion is over.

Changi Airport giant slide

Beginning on October 4, 2010, tokens for rides on the big slide will be handed out to anyone spending just $10 at the airport.

You’ll find the entrance to the big slide in Terminal 3, Arrival Hall (Level 1), in the public area.

The entrance to the preview, 1½-story slide is in the Basement 2 area of the airport.

Both slides are open daily from noon until 10:30pm.

Happy Children’s Day!

Vintage postcard kids

(Thank-you Graphics  Fairy)

Changi Airport celebrates Deepavali with flowers

Art, Events, Exhibits, Festivals, Fun Stuff, ,

Deepavali – or The Festival of Lights – is celebrated by Hindus worldwide to mark the victory of good over evil.

To commemorate the holiday, you’ll find more than a dozen live garden displays and floral sculptures throughout Singapore’s Changi Airport through October 25th.

Here’s a sample of the installations:

Changi - Indian 1

Changi - Indian flowers 2

There are seven displays in the Departure Transit Malls and five in the Departure Hall Public Areas .

Here’s one more:

P1060614

What’s faster? A car or an airplane? Changi Airport to find out.

Transportation, , ,

Well, what is faster?  A car or an airplane?

No brainer, right?  Well, they’re going to test it out at Singapore Changi Airport.

To prep for the Changi GP Festival, on September 5th the airport is hosting the Changi Airport Race.

They’re billing it as the first-ever jetliner versus car race in Asia and it will pit a Porsche Carrera Cup race car against a Boeing 747 Jett8 aircraft.

Here’s a fast, fun promotional video for the contest:

Want to be there? Anyone who spends $30 (in one purchase) in the public areas of Terminals 1, 2 or 3 from now through August 23rd will be entered into a raffle to win one of 200 grandstand tickets. Another 500 people will win tickets to see the race live on a big screen in Terminal 3.

Sounds fun – and a little strange – but I’m curious to see what happens.