Singapore is hit with another system glitch, this time caused by issues with the immigration system, which appear to have mostly subsided, but lines are persisting inside the check-in areas.
Departure automated lanes at all four Changi Airport terminals are affected and travellers are being redirected to the manual lanes for immigration clearance, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in a Facebook update at about 2pm.
Some automated lanes at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints are also affected, said ICA, adding that there is no disruption to immigration clearance at coastal checkpoints.
The authority said that it has recalled off-duty officers to provide additional support and to “ensure law and order” amid the delays.
Snaking lines were seen in the morning at the departure areas. At about 11.30am, ICA said there was “intermittent slowness” of its immigration clearance system across all checkpoints.
The agency said about half an hour later that it was experiencing “system slowness” at some passenger clearance checkpoints.
“Delays are expected and travellers are advised to postpone all non-essential travel, where applicable,” ICA said.
In an update at about 1.30pm, Changi Airport advised travellers to head to the airport earlier because of the disruption.
When CNA arrived at the departure hall of Terminal 1 departure hall at around 1.20pm, things looked relatively calm and orderly, with normal length queues at most of the check-in rows.
However, lines stretched out within the check-in area as passengers were directed to manned immigration clearance counters, rather than using the automatic clearance gates.
There were about 30 passengers in each queue. “Immigration clearance for all departing passengers is delayed due to technical reasons. We apologise for the inconvenience,” an announcement over the PA system said.
A woman at Terminal 3, who declined to be named, told CNA at 1.50pm that her loved one had been queuing at the immigration counters for around 20 minutes, and they were still in the middle of the queue.
Their flight was at 2.25pm and she said they did not know about the long queues before arriving at the airport.
Also at Terminal 3 was another woman sending off her mother. The woman, who did not want to be named, told CNA that she and her father arrived at Terminal 3 at about 11am and noticed that queues were already forming.
By 12.20pm, there was “a super long queue” extending from the immigration gates to Row 10 in the terminal, she said. The gates are located between Rows 5 and 6.
Her mother queued for 15 minutes from about 1.40pm before clearing immigration. All nine lanes had around 20 passengers waiting to clear immigration manually.
The automated clearance lanes at Terminal 3 were empty. There was also a sign instructing foreign air crew members to “proceed to counter for clearance”.
