Some airlines hit by 3-hour self-service check-in kiosk ‘global disruption’ at Changi Airport - The Straits Times

The disruption persisted for at least two-and-a-half hours.

SINGAPORE – Some self-service check-in kiosks at Changi Airport experienced a temporary disruption on the morning of Nov 2, leaving terminals unable to process self check-in or print boarding passes.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the issue arose at around 8.30am “due to a global disruption in Advance Passenger Processing systems”.

As a result, some airlines had to manage check-in procedures manually.

“Other airports were similarly affected,” CAG added.

The disruption persisted for at least 2½ hours, with check-in processes for all affected airlines returning to normal at around 11am.

A self-service kiosk that is out of service at Changi Airport Terminal 4 on Nov 2.

“During this period, Changi Airport ground staff assisted airlines and passengers on the ground,” CAG said.

When ST visited Changi Airport at 10am, some self-service check-in kiosks at multiple terminals appeared to be out of operation.

At Terminal 3, the automated check-in kiosks at Garuda Indonesia’s counters appeared to be blacked out.

Passengers taking flight GA829 to Jakarta, scheduled for 11.45am, were seen being ushered into a separate queue for an accelerated bag check.

Several travellers said they were told that the system was down.

Alvin Ng, 53, said at 10.15am that he was not sure if he would make it for his flight that was scheduled to depart in 1½ hours, with the queue moving slowly.

The project manager was flying to the Indonesian capital for a work trip, and this was the first time he had encountered a system outage despite flying with Garuda Indonesia multiple times.

Ng added that it was lucky that his flight would arrive the day before his meetings, so any potential flight delay was unlikely to affect his plans. A check later showed that flight GA829 departed as scheduled.

On the airport’s flight information page, no other flights appeared to be delayed as a result of the disruption.

Meanwhile, kiosks at Singapore Airlines’ check-in counters at Terminal 3 appeared to be functioning normally.

At Terminal 4, self-service check-in kiosks at Korean Air and Cathay Pacific’s designated rows appeared to be down as at 10.30am, with the words “taking a break” seen on the screens.

The kiosks at Sun PhuQuoc Airways also appeared out of service. Around 10 groups of passengers could be seen queuing at manual check-in counters at 11.25am.

Passengers of Garuda Indonesia queuing up to check in for their flight, with black screens seen on the self-service kiosks, at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on Nov 2.

When ST visited Terminal 1 at around 12.30pm – after the time CAG said the issue had been resolved – most self-service check-in kiosks appeared to be operating normally.

However, they remained down for a few airlines, including China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Queues at the manned check-in counters for China Southern Airlines were moving smoothly, with eight counters open and available to passengers.

In contrast, the line of passengers waiting to check in and drop off their baggage at Xiamen Airlines’ counters moved at a slower pace.

Passengers of Xiamen Airlines forming a long queue to check in for their flight at Changi Airport Terminal 1 on Nov 2.

From 12.45pm, the queue grew to a snaking line with around 50 passengers, stretching all the way to the entrance of the terminal’s drop-off point. It was being serviced by four to five manned counters for regular customers and two additional counters dedicated to SkyPriority passengers.

Among those in line were Carina Ong, 58, and her family, who were waiting patiently.

As the retired administrative executive’s flight to Fuzhou via Xiamen Airlines was scheduled to depart at 3.30pm – about three hours later – she was confident that she could catch her flight in good time.

Ong and her family ended up waiting 35 minutes at the check-in counter.

Scoot, another affected airline at Terminal 1, said in response to media queries that it experienced disruptions to check-in processes for around 45 minutes on the morning of Nov 2 due to technical issues.

The airline had activated additional staff at manned check-in counters to aid customers.

Check-in operations have since resumed, and self-service check-in kiosks have been restored, Scoot added.

Over at Terminal 2, it was back to business as usual when ST visited at around 1.30pm, with most of the automated check-in kiosks in operation.

Staff from SITA troubleshooting affected self-service kiosks at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Nov 2.

ST observed staff donning polo shirts branded with SITA’s logo carrying out troubleshooting works on some of the self-service check-in kiosks at Terminals 1 and 2.

SITA is a global IT infrastructure provider that provides technology, data network and communication services to airlines.

ST has contacted CAG for more information.