Stuck In An Airport During The Holidays | The World's Best Airport: Changi | Spark

this time holiday season tests the airport to its limits a natural disaster threatens to disrupt its famously smooth operations not functioning so i'm sort of stranded a brand new terminal is under construction this project is one of the iconic project in singapore at this moment and a passenger hits the jackpot in terminal one this is singapore where the old world meets new metropolis at its heart is this shaggy airport singapore's jewel in the crown with unprecedented access we go inside changi voted world's best airport to find out what makes it tick it's lightning in right now for passengers it's an oasis of peace and calm but for the 40 000 staff who keep it that way it can be anything but if an aircraft were to land short of the runway they'll carry out firefighting and rescue out at sea they have to be here by four o'clock they're gonna miss the flight i can't even see where's the arrival now [Music] singapore's changi airport is one of southeast asia's busiest hubs the lure of lands that lie close to the equator bring millions of extra visitors looking for adventure and hoping for the best holiday ever but mount rinjani has erupted and the airport for the super popular holiday destination bali is closed there have been no flights to the island for 24 hours and changi is bearing the brunt with stranded passengers well the airport's not functioning so i'm sort of stranded and i've got no money i've been running around the airport all day to try and find a charger cable i haven't slept in two days i haven't showered i feel disgusting brothers kirsch and mike have come to asia for an excellent surfing adventure in bali they are a long way from home and will not be catching any waves for a while a volcano like you know of all things to stop our bali trip yeah i would have liked to be on the plane though while it was happening just in the middle of the ash clouds just like epic visuals that would be nice now they must hatch an escape plan hopefully the flights in the morning i will just be try and guess them hopefully hopefully the situation will improve i want to get some waves i know that's what we came here for like so if we can't make the dream now mike what we're going to do we'll have to try and get the sumatra i think i'll just try and snag some waves over there in the meantime yeah or some bower no way look at that we're just stuck here man [Laughter] [Music] meanwhile this airport has weather challenges of its own i think it's going to be a rough day today peak season comes hand in hand with monsoon and the danger of lightning on the tarmac sats are working and a storm is coming so later just for our drive fully singapore is one of the serious place for lightning strikes i have sometimes phobias about lightning because i've gone through a lightning strike and if it's a bad weather or if there's a lightning warning i'm always sometimes very cautious to not be under the aircraft keep myself safe onto a place that i would not be striked by lightning with the southeast asian monsoons come frequent thunderstorms and planes on the tarmac act as a conductor for electricity the tail is the highest point on the uh on the ground so the lightning will go through the tail and then come down i'm the end point that will go through me and then go down to the ground edward won't be sheltering under a plane when this storm hits and it's close the pushback team must get as many planes as they can as fast as they can in the air we hope to get the aircraft out as soon as possible before the weather changed to a worse signal in their world every second counts when the lightning hits these teams will have to get off the tarmac to safety rinjani is still releasing ash bali airport is still closed and changi passengers aren't going anywhere [Music] these newlyweds had planned to spend their honeymoon on a balinese beach but it's not to be the idea was to end our honeymoon in a very special way in bali relaxing in the beach now what we find out is that a volcano does not allow us to go to bali and we cannot go to thailand and anywhere because we don't have beef so the only visa we have is indonesia and the only places they they are asking to go is charles jakarta the airline hasn't given them many options they have come a long way and they don't know the region it's but it has some places that are like shopping is jakarta nice very congested decision time for this couple sats are no longer on the tarmac control tower are handling air traffic in low visibility conditions many pilots won't land in this weather air traffic controllers will have to space the aircraft further apart to ensure safe operations during bad weather you can really you know you can hardly make up where is the aircraft like i can't even see where it's arrival now [Music] if visibility diminishes further many pilots will decide to either stay in the air or stay on the tarmac there's an aircraft that's supposed to land but he has just aborted the landing and just pull up again there's a lot of challenges now to make a safe landing but aircraft are still waiting to come in to try it out but she's having trouble getting cash to buy a new ticket so agent mabuba is playing mum has your card been activated for international use no no because since it's mastercard's like no you have to call your bank and tell them to activate it for your international use i think we go to the info counter and sit there hey i want to see my mom because she did not make it for the my graduation so i just wanna go and see she kind of squatted me like how could you miss your flight grown up mabuba isn't scalding but she does need to take care of this young passenger the next step is to see if her card works online it's not going through most likely the flight is fully booked it's not going through the one on 21. yeah it's taking a lot of time you see i can't say i can't fly today i have so much hope i can fly today will barley passengers remain stranded in the airport i'll have to just wait around airports until they open up bali i guess will this couple get to have a honeymoon what's four hundred dollars and what will happen when terminal one's main attraction stops working i won't feel good if the system is down [Music] the hypnotic kinetic reign first in the world outside germany where it was made has won the hearts of many the raindrops dance non-stop for passengers in terminal 1 every day but today it has come to a standstill [Music] over 1200 drops are not sinking they have to be serviced and it's a big job for suresh the engineer in charge of this display i won't feel good if the system is down so i used to eat so i don't want to disappoint any passengers suresh has taken care of changi's most iconic display for the last four years i am unable to start the system because our slave 0 is unable to restart slave 0 is code name for one of the panels the one that's out of sync with the rest but the technology has to be remotely accessed by the makers in germany who are still asleep i will try my best to reset if not i will because usually there is a seven hours difference between germany and singapore right so the guy will be back to office around 1 pm singapore time this means that terminal 1's main attraction will not be working properly for the rest of the day [Music] this stranded student has missed her flight to johannesburg she can't buy a new one as websites are jammed and her bank card is locked she's stuck so agent mabuba is using her personal mobile to phone this student's bank it's an international call it's very expensive okay i'm going to transfer you to the customer service for the bank when you talk to them tell them that you're stuck in singapore you're in process of buying tickets this little girl lost has played her cards right i need you to activate this card hello so i'm stuck in singapore and i need to like to use my cards to buy my ticket so can you activate my card thank you so much so is it done yes finally i'm going home she gets to go home to see her mom on time [Music] peak season brings more holidaymakers to singapore changi airport the more travellers the more work for the staff enjoy singapore is entering the holiday period so we can expect a high traffic of passengers normally changi can handle the heaviest of traffic but even it can't handle the forces of nature mount rinjani has erupted in indonesia and thousands of passengers are stranded you have one many can't afford a hotel it's gone and so are staying in the airport until the ash clears i'll have to just wait around airports until they open up barley i guess and luckily i've met a friendly fellow who said he'll even lend me the money to pay for my visa into bali there is always helping a brother around him that's it he's a good bloke this one i know from his face i strongly believe that if i was in this situation i'd like someone to come to my rescue and i'd you know it's out of your control you know that kind of thing and you get to meet good people along the way that's it that's it that's it these two good people from argentina booked a honeymoon in bali at a bad time [Music] the airline has offered to fly them to other places they don't want to go but they've now decided to stay in singapore and want a cash refund for their indefinitely cancelled flight if we stay here they are giving us a refund voucher for the flight but the refund voucher is only good for air asia airlines that's america that airline doesn't fly in south america so the voucher is good to us as toilet paper basically with a voucher they cannot use and extra costs to cover the unavoidable change in plans this couple will have to economize what's four hundred dollars to an airline to us it means ending our honeymoon in a very good way to them it's nothing it's just change if only i could get the money back from the flight ticket at least i could use that money to stay in singapore which is a city i like i mean i really think i was going to be somewhere else with the summer landscape with a smile like this in my face now i have a little smile on the tarmac one storm at least has cleared and flights are back to normal this is good now looks like the storm dissipated the airport can now resume work on its brand new terminal terminal 4 for 16 million new passengers this massive operation has an equally massive workforce who get up early building this terminal is hard work it's the job of these men to construct an ambitious terminal with boulevards of live indoor trees green walls and giant lanterns on this project every marble floor new roof or last truss is celebrated and sanctified by visiting vips but the datelines are tough and the pressure is felt by every member of this enormous team terminal 4 cost a billion dollars and all eyes are on site managers like robin changi airport terminal 4 project i think we are being looked at by all people from all over the world yeah so if we fail to achieve the schedule and the opening date of the terminal for many people will be looking not say looking down but they will be disappointed that we have claimed that we can achieve but we fail to deliver project manager leslie's challenge is to build a bridge across airport boulevard the only road into changi airport in a two-hour time frame so the delays to airport traffic are minimal this pier is going to support a beam that spans across the highway this is going to be a closure whereby traffic will be diverted out of the airport yeah it's simple [Music] meanwhile grounded barley passengers are looking for some entertainment sweet if nothing else fails beers brothers mike and kirsh are going to bali at least that was the plan for a surfing holiday of a lifetime but rinjani has put pay to that they are weighing up the options basically the options are we either stay here the night and just kind of cut a lot losses and just hope that a flight comes up tomorrow no we'll be they'll be regular flights to jakarta all the time yeah yeah yeah but or flight to jakarta park meet jakarta tomorrow i mean sorry tonight and then just get a hostel for the night it's too much fun in the boat though oh pretty much effort or yeah like for turning up late and doing everything late and dark and everything it's an hour's fight though should we have luck just to see then when the flights are i feel like now yeah and it won't be so bad their problem is that no one knows when bali airport will open so they either stay in changi and hope the dust clears by morning or carry on traveling kirsch wants to stay in a hostel in jakarta no chance mike wants to camp out here at the airport just bum around have a bit of a drink in terminal 1 suresh from the mechanical engineering team has a problem with his main display the airport's iconic kinetic rain it has developed a fault and he has been waiting for a remote reset from the makers in germany see please wait okay all system back you can proceed servicing remember to load the show before you start next time it's all good all that needs to happen now is to buff up each and every drop to a [Music] shine [Music] time to raise the display and start or not the reset of panel slave zero has worked but now a single pesky drop is dangling will mike and kirsch get a flight to bali not being able to get in the safe is just horrible will the terminal 4 team build an airport bridge in two hours we are going to run into a couple of hundred thousand dollars of loss if everything were to fail and how will horticulture fill the holes in their giant noble fir tree mountain rinjani in indonesia is still spewing ash and all flights to bali from changi are still cancelled the airport is a free hotel for many passengers tonight and wave chasers mike and kirsch are looking for somewhere to sleep probably gonna be in the same predicament it's definitely first time to asia yeah so uh it's a new experience pretty much but uh yeah because i can't wait to get to bali you know that's the only reason why we're here for the weaves yeah and uh yeah yeah not being able to get them to see if it's just horrible yeah yeah they've decided to join the crowds of others take their chances with the morning flights from this airport and bed down for the night i can't believe we traveled halfway around the world to sleep in singapore airport while passengers sleep christmas comes to changi the horticulture department have ordered a giant noble fir tree from the usa i'm just praying that it'll be a perfect tree she needs it to be perfect because it's changi airport and it's terminal 2's holiday season centerpiece [Music] but it's not to be [Music] the tree hasn't traveled well don't be so rougher not only are the branches broken there are giant holes for selfie this is a horticultural mini [Music] crisis she's not the only one dealing with problems tonight terminal 1's kinetic rain system is not working a rogue drop has a fault [Music] suresh is working late to solve the problem there's some error it can't align with the rest of the drops so now try to fix it why why why the drop is not responding to remote alignment it's not a human brain noise automation system uh i think so mission is not so powerful than a human brain sometimes mission may misbehave since all his machines are misbehaving suresh sends his men into terminal one's roof to try to manually align this drop do you feel the pressure [Applause] yes i won't say in my face but instead yes agent genevieve is taking care of a new zealand national his mother has passed away and the funeral is in two days time he has flown from new zealand to singapore to get on an urgent flight to india he's not able to go on a flight today because he doesn't have a visa to go to india there's no way the ground handler is going to take the risk and get the boarding pass for him i had to travel not such a hurry that i would attend funeral but now it is difficult it's living now do you have any business or employment visa can i take a look at your passport i'm looking at his itinerary his icu hospitalization certificate and also the deaf certificate there's nothing much i can do now because all this is actually all up to the indian immigration although i'm actually from originally from india in india yeah genevieve hasn't given up let me see if india has transit visa so that you are you just look like you are transiting in india instead of staying over there he looks really calm he looks like he's handling this situation really well but then i can feel that he's really going through a lot of turmoil inside i mean it's it's not i'm not distressed i am but i'm helpless that is case here i am sorry sir from the internet it says that it takes about three to five days for the process yeah so transit reset is not applicable in this case genevieve has one last piece of information for him it will give him a chance one option is you wait till tomorrow you head down to india embassy and apply for the emergency visa yeah just just let me write thank you for your opinion i'm so sorry about this changi airport is building a new terminal for 16 million new passengers tonight is the night that the terminal 4 team have to erect a 200 ton airport bridge over one of the roads that carries passengers to changi's terminals very stressful because we have a timeline for this leaf we are only given certain hours to close this road they need to close four lanes in one direction to lift the concrete girders into place these two 100 ton blocks will arrive shortly it's two o'clock in the morning quiet time the enemy of the operation is tailback on the live road too much and passengers won't make their flight so the operation will be called off we have sleepless nights because this project is a very tight schedule 25 months and a very big project sum of 1 billion no we didn't even do this we didn't even do this right if there's any disruption we have to pull off the whole operation and that involves a lot of manpower we will lose weight if we deal to deliver they will also lose money we are going to run into a couple of hundred thousand dollars of loss if everything were to fail now the beams have arrived before the scheduled road closure [Music] the team's sudden start ahead of schedule is under more pressure because as feared there is instant gridlock [Music] basically other than the traffic itself there's also the taxi queues that is coming in for the passengers but it's hard to move fast and safely with a hundred tons of concrete any swinging or booming uh in the correct improper position will actually jeopardize the whole retail vision time to lift [Music] for speed this team is doing a tandem lift using two 750 ton cranes to get these concrete girders in place in such a tiny window [Music] a missing person has been reported in terminal somebody's granny has vanished into thin air her relatives have reported to agent alicia that she boarded the flight which has arrived and there is one unclaimed suitcase on the belt you saw this passenger already the relatives i think the daughter is waiting outside but i don't see it yeah she arrived at b2 if she approached us let me know the passenger has been missing for two hours if alicia can't find her the police will have to get involved the passenger's back is still at the carousel in arrival so with two confirmations of the immigration and the back hundred percent or 94 the passenger is still in transit i'm going down now to check to find a daughter okay thank you as the night draws to a close the terminal 4 team have kept the airport bridge operation on track [Music] by doing a tandem lift using two massive cranes to get the giant girders into place fast they have combated too much queuing traffic and are about to complete [Music] nothing is going to stop leslie from making memories do you feel slightly emotional about it or not no you shouldn't get emotional with work no come on agent alicia has been looking for a missing grandma for over two hours and was about to inform the police but the relatives have news the itinerary is supposed to be um sq833 okay there's also another update as in updated itinerary as in she's supposed to go on sq 835 instead after two hours of searching the information turns out to be wrong grandma is on a later flight and the suitcase belongs to someone else [Music] seem cool thank you welcome breakfast is decision time for the stranded and now bonded for life yeah cool man take it easy catch you after all the best pretty uh wow bali airport is still closed it looks like jakarta is on epic so that means one step closer to bali can't fall back now actually some some positive news yes cheers thanks sweet let's get this groove on back on the road at last gotta keep it fresh [Music] this holiday season changi airport is being invaded star wars has come to town overnight terminal 3 has been transformed changi's event teams have been out in force my favorite character is r2d2 darth vader obi-wan hanzo [Music] he's the biggest fan we're going to the event and after that we don't have plans so we're really really here for that it's a chance for changi to spread the christmas magic and give its beloved passengers a star wars experience before the film's release and the airport gets a little limelight too when my son met the stormtrooper he really loved it [Applause] [Music] he really needed to touch them by his hand we always see them in movies and read them in comic books or you collect them as collectibles you see life-size is just i have you know words to describe how i feel actually as a fan star wars if you can't beat them join them horticulture are decorating the tree with some star wars plush toys there are exposed areas that we need to cover up they are filling the trees holes with them but the team are unsure about the colours against the green you hear the colour you see brown green black [Music] we're going to add in more of the gold hopefully that will bring out the color it's had a shaky start but as the centerpiece for terminal 2 selfie is under pressure to make sure this tree has the wow factor bali airport is now open but the disruption is not over after 48 hours of closure flights are overbooked and changi's agents are picking up the pieces the gate number is f54 the gate opens at 5 20. this passenger has spent three days of a seven day holiday in singapore trying to get to bali she can't get a ticket it was seven days but it's only five days if i don't fly today it will be three days or four days where did you originally come from she's a long way from home for a short vacation and it's been impossible to reach the airline on the phone i cannot fly how many days have you been waiting three days i believe there's a lot of passengers on the same flight that's facing the same problem so they might be having a lot of call also from other information cards i believe i paid a lot of money there i picked the hotels everything i cannot stay there it's my vacation this passenger has only four days left of her holiday and it looks like she's facing yet another day's wait in singapore who will win a million dollars i'm voting for my auntie to win will this passenger salvage the rest of her holiday and will it rain again in terminal one in terminal 1 the changi peak season mayhem continues someone is about to get very rich [Music] happy shoppers that spend over thirty dollars in the airport's malls get a chance to enter its legendary annual grand draw changi millionaire corny that's right seven lucky passengers have won a place in this year's final one of them will be smiling all the way to the bank the prize is one million singapore dollars this is me yes i believe in in luck or karma when you do good to others it you'll fall back on you at a later stage these hopefuls are about to play a game of chance i'm just hoping for miracles to have fun all part of the season's entertainment i've got my lucky celtic fairy on for my mum i've got my lucky niece with me i think you've always believed in luck but probably a bit more so now that we're in singapore and everything's quite exciting i have a good feeling about today [Music] this passenger is not having a good time in terminal one her holiday has been ruined by a volcano and she's been waiting for three days to get on a flight her airline have called to say she's booked on a flight to kuala lumpur and she can get to bali that way but that flight too has been cancelled but they didn't inform you that uh the flight to uh from kl to bali is cancelled if they talk to the hotel manager she can come now it should be no problem i can't promise you yet but uh but because we have early morning flight singapore airlines they're actually flying direct to bali so let me see whether we can check with the airline when they can put you in the next fight agent jasmine has been trying these swamped airline representatives for hours can you just give her a flight to from singapore to bali instead like no transit flights because she's already frustrated then you can just walk there okay with only four days left of her holiday this passenger is in danger of not having one i spoke to the reservations and then she said she can book to hook her to other flights by garuda airlines jakarta jakarta to dempassa even with her new flight she now has a 12 hour journey with one stop to bali agent jasmine has managed to get her a three-day holiday before going home are you happy yeah i'm happy i'm happy i don't believe that before i enter the plane thank you thank you okay bye-bye six contestants are about to try and win a million dollars carys has traveled from the united kingdom with her aunt linda i'm voting for my auntie to winter are playing knockout in this game they have to know how much things weigh we're packed for the trip but we had a bit of an issue with waste but hopefully this time out most of the contestants are struggling with this one this is the end of the journey for you time for some to step down from the stage unfortunately i underestimate the weight of the books and uh aunt linda is through to the next round horticulture's christmas tree in terminal 2 is finished salvi's boss ashraf has come to check it it's wonderful after we've set it up you decorate you can patch up the holes and all that it looks just fine no i'm just so amazed every year we bring the tree and then we are able to make something different out of it you know and this with the star wars flush turret it's it's just such a fun mix off yeah isn't it it's fun some of those uh flash stars look like they are picking up the tree you can hold this and take a picture you don't want to stand together okay ashraf is happy perseverance has paid off this year's tree is bigger brighter and better it's just so wonderful thank you so much [Music] back in terminal three more contestants have been knocked out when i got onto the final four i already got it but and linda is in the final with another brit tracy loyal family members are at the front on opposing teams they have to pick the matching boarding pass stub to win a million singapore dollars linda is going to try and fit this he's a party [Applause] almost almost almost cinderella on the wall please number four please stand right here tracy here is your boarding pass stub how does it feel in your hands right now but it's already very easy given the price is a million dollars again oh linda has handed over to niece carys to pick a number she feels like it's gonna be three she will get a major treat uh perhaps a holiday if it is really three okay all right fingers crossed okay number three three [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i've got to send a photo now to the family to be like oh my god this feels amazing it's incredible i love singing thank you suresh from the mechanical engineering team is also hoping to be victorious the kinetic reign has been out of action for two days three hours and 47 minutes it doesn't work really i'm going to cry man it's the moment of truth [Music] the kinetic rain sculpture is in sync again finally tangy rains again suresh has done his job 1216 magic drops are once again working together and all is as it should be at changi

Channel: Spark

Views: 517,610

Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, Learning, How To, education, documentary, factual, mind blown, construction, building, full documentary, space documentary, bbc documentary, Science documentary, the world's best airport, changi

Id: 2OEA7r6JHjo

Length: 44min 59sec (2699 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2020