In a series of posts on Oct. 9, X user Neflorious complained that passengers had to arrive early because, in her view, the airport made every step of the journey unnecessarily difficult, before taking aim at its carpeted floors, AsiaOne reported.
“Make sure you leave early when flying out because they’ll make life difficult for you every step of the way,” she wrote.
Her harsh criticism quickly gained traction online, prompting Singaporeans to weigh in and defend the airport.
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Passengers wait at a terminal inside Changi Airport in Singapore. Photo by Reuters |
On Oct. 12, KinMun Theodore Lee, a prominent Singaporean satirist and podcaster better known as Mrbrown or the “Blogfather of Singapore,” weighed in on the tourist’s complaint about the carpet floors.
“To answer her first question, it’s because of noise. Nobody wants to hear thousands of suitcases being wheeled around,” he wrote, adding that passengers who struggle to move their luggage can use the airport’s free trolleys.
Several netizens agreed with his explanation.
A netizen said: “I want a quiet airport without the sound of luggage wheels scraping the floor.”
Others were baffled by the tourist’s aversion to the flooring.
This is not the first time Changi Airport’s carpeted floors have sparked online debate.
In September last year, a tourist shared a photo of the airport’s carpeted flooring on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, drawing a flurry of comments from netizens, Singapore news site 8days reported.
While many praised the carpets for their appearance and comfort, others questioned their cleanliness, particularly after seeing photos of travelers lying on the floor.
According to the 2026 World Airport Awards by London-based aviation consultancy Skytrax, Changi Airport was voted the world’s best overall, an honor it has held repeatedly over the past decade.
However, the airport has lost its crown as the world’s best airport this year to Turkey’s Istanbul in another vote by 800,000 readers in this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards of British travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller.