Man used fake boarding passes to live in SQ & CX lounges for 18 days!

[cscs1956]

Since they already bought tickets, why didn't they just fly to KUL (or wherever else they bought tickets to) and do a turn-around?

Most likely they just buy a 1 way cheap ticket and do a turn around within departure/arrival hall after purchasing what they want to save GST (and may be lucky draw!).

Seem this is a security holes including the last case of passengers staying in airport for 18 days without been tracked for departure.

Security issue I guess. Departing details/information are not linked with passengers who enter the secured area.

[cowie]

Are the discounts within Changi seriously worth all that hassle for Singaporeans to want to go to these lengths?

I bought my current camera there at quite a good price, only as it was a new release and didn't have time to wait for it to be sent to Australia before flying to Europe, but I could have got an equally good deal from a regular Singapore seller and had it shipped to me if time hadn't been a factor.

Is it because foreigners don't pay local sales tax so therefore we are effectively getting the same price, whether at Changi or by mail order?

I think it was mentioned somewhere (either in the linked article or elsewhere) that the motivation was to skip the queues. The 10 per cent GST savings would be the icing on the cake. Apple products are price controlled so the only savings would be from the tax.

[SQ228]

Are the discounts within Changi seriously worth all that hassle for Singaporeans to want to go to these lengths?

I bought my current camera there at quite a good price, only as it was a new release and didn't have time to wait for it to be sent to Australia before flying to Europe, but I could have got an equally good deal from a regular Singapore seller and had it shipped to me if time hadn't been a factor.

Is it because foreigners don't pay local sales tax so therefore we are effectively getting the same price, whether at Changi or by mail order?

[CarbonMan]

I think it is too easy to fake a BP and use it to get into airside. There's no verification apart from checking the names on the BP and passport match.

However with increased security checks at Changi, Immigration will know that you went in and out on the same day, though I'm not certain if anyone will be pulled up if that happen. A few years ago I did just that with less than 30mins airside because I had to make a dash home to get my drivers license. No problem at all.

There's a serious gap here.

[Pinkfloyd]

BP has no relevance as long as you are offloaded before flight closure (usually 10-20 minutes prior). Your ticket can still be refunded based on fare rule.

Didn't realise that. Thanks for the clarification!

[TerryK]

Don't think it's possible to refund a ticket once the BP has been issued........

BP has no relevance as long as you are offloaded before flight closure (usually 10-20 minutes prior). Your ticket can still be refunded based on fare rule.

[Pinkfloyd]

They might have cancelled and refunded the tickets. I'm not sure how it works though -- can you really do that after checking in? But apparently that's how previous lounge-crashers around the world do it. (Buy refundable first class ticket, check in, eat in the lounge, cancel ticket, leaves, rinse, repeat.)

Don't think it's possible to refund a ticket once the BP has been issued... probably you will only be able to refund back the return sector... I may be wrong though...

[alian]

Since they already bought tickets, why didn't they just fly to KUL (or wherever else they bought tickets to) and do a turn-around?

Agreed but I think they were too excited and wanted to bring the phone back to charge and use ... haha

[ek&sq]

Both these incidents remind me of the Chinese man who used his fully refundable F ticket to eat in the lounge for a year..

http://nypost.com/2014/01/29/man-use...ee-for-a-year/

[cowie]

Since they already bought tickets, why didn't they just fly to KUL (or wherever else they bought tickets to) and do a turn-around?

They might have cancelled and refunded the tickets. I'm not sure how it works though -- can you really do that after checking in? But apparently that's how previous lounge-crashers around the world do it. (Buy refundable first class ticket, check in, eat in the lounge, cancel ticket, leaves, rinse, repeat.)

[SQ380]

Since they already bought tickets, why didn't they just fly to KUL (or wherever else they bought tickets to) and do a turn-around?

Because they are not AVGeeks like us, and a flight would be ultimately dreadful in their point of view..... ?

[Pinkfloyd]

They just arrested another two people for booking a ticket without the intention of taking the flight just to get into the transit area to buy iPhones. Interesting stories coming out of Changi this week...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...tml?cid=twtcna

Since they already bought tickets, why didn't they just fly to KUL (or wherever else they bought tickets to) and do a turn-around?

[cowie]

They just arrested another two people for booking a ticket without the intention of taking the flight just to get into the transit area to buy iPhones. Interesting stories coming out of Changi this week...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...tml?cid=twtcna

[SQ228]

I think I would rather go home than live in the lounges for 18 days, no matter how good they are!

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/guy-used-f...035412400.html

Agreed. I find it amusing that the article features a photo of the KF Gold lounge, which doesn't even provide toilets. The concept of "living" in it does not appeal...

[alian]

Guess silly people do silly things ... and eventually they get caught