Tourist stranded for 3 days at Changi Airport as Singapore’s Scoot cancels flights amid Middle East crisis
TikTok user @umarhanif1122 on Feb. 28 uploaded a video depicting what he called the “Singapore airport situation” following flight cancellations linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and related airspace closures, Singapore news site Stomp reported.
The footage shows passengers sitting and lying on the floor near a Scoot departure gate.
The clip has since garnered more than 1.3 million views and over 150 comments.
A total of 26 flights operated by Singapore Airlines and Scoot were canceled between Feb. 28 and March 7 following U.S.-Israel airstrikes and Iran’s retaliation, The Straits Times reported.
In a subsequent post on March 2, the tourist shared a video of passengers queuing at a Saudia departure gate, saying he had finally secured a flight to Jeddah after being stuck for three days.
“Finally got my flight to Jeddah from Singapore after being stuck for three days due to the airstrike situation,” he wrote on his TikTok video.
He thanked Saudia Airlines for operating the flight and helping passengers continue their journeys, but said his experience with Scoot was “very disappointing”, adding that flights to Jeddah had been canceled twice, leaving passengers “stranded and stressed.”
He advised travelers to review flight reliability carefully before booking and expressed hope that conditions for travel to the Middle East would stabilize.
While many netizens expressed sympathy for the affected passengers, others remarked that Singapore Changi Airport is arguably the “best airport” to be stranded in.
“Consider yourself lucky, look at the bright side. Stranded at Changi is quite an experience,” a netizen wrote.
Others pointed out that there are many things to do in Changi Airport.
“I was there for an eight-hour layover yesterday, went for a swim in the pool, walked around a butterfly garden, there was so much to do without having to go through immigration,” one commenter said.
A representative of Scoot said the cancellations were due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
According to Flightradar24, some 21,300 flights have been canceled at seven major airports including Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi since the strikes started.
The turmoil also narrows an already-slim flight corridor for long-haul flights between Europe and Asia, complicating operations for global air carriers, Reuters reported.
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