Singapore > A Day at the Airport

Singapore - After almost six hours of delay on our way to Istanbul

It is already past midnight when we can board flight TK1954. Yesterday, more than seven hundred flights were canceled. It is almost a miracle that our flight is still departing. It also seems that our flight is one of the last to leave today. The airport is deserted. Yet this is no guarantee of a smooth departure. For unclear reasons, we remain at the gate for a long time. Only at 12:45 a.m. does the plane start moving. We taxi to the runway and take off just before 1:00 a.m. The flight to Istanbul is only three hours. I try to get some sleep. Due to all the uncertainties and changing updates about the flight, I notice that I am tired. Yet I manage only a few short naps at most. When we land in Istanbul, it is already six o’clock in the morning. In Turkey, it is two hours later. Because it was not possible at Schiphol to print our boarding passes for the connecting flight, we first look for a check-in counter. Istanbul Airport is very large, with many shops and restaurants, but we cannot find any signs pointing to a check-in desk. At an information kiosk, we speak with an attendant. She explains that we need to go to the Turkish Airlines counter at Pier A. Here too, there is a line—probably mostly passengers who have just arrived from Amsterdam. The boarding passes are printed. Due to the delay, we are offered a city tour or a hotel room. However, the hotel is in the city center, more than an hour’s drive each way, and you would still need to be back in time for the flight. We decide not to take this option. We find two free seats in the “nap zone” and take a short rest. After midday, we walk across the airport from one far end of Pier A to the far end of Pier F.

Singapore - A long waiting time at Istanbul Airport

Along the way, we stop for a cappuccino. On the phone, we receive a new message from Turkish Airlines: the flight to Singapore is also delayed by about two hours. It seems nothing is going smoothly on this trip. We wait resignedly. Because of the delay, we are eligible for a voucher to get something to eat. In the food court, we order a sandwich at Subway. Meanwhile, I calculate that we will be traveling for more than forty hours in total to reach Singapore. When we are waiting at the departure gate, it is announced that the flight is overbooked. Volunteers are requested to take a flight five hours later; they will receive compensation of 600 euros. A few, mostly younger passengers immediately volunteer. While we are waiting, the expected departure time is pushed back again. Eventually, we take off toward Singapore with a three-hour delay.