Singapore Airlines Changi Airport lounges: Is Terminal 2 or 3 better?

Singapore Airlines operates out of Changi Airport Terminals 2 and 3, and while two-terminal operations can often cause confusion, that’s the way things will have to be until Terminal 5 comes around in the mid-2030s.

Two-terminal operations also means two sets of lounges, with the SilverKris First Class Lounge, SilverKris Business Class Lounge and KrisFlyer Gold Lounge all having T2 and T3 versions.

✈️ SIA Lounges at Changi Airport
Terminal 2	Terminal 3
No equivalent	The Private Room Review
SKL First Class  Review	SKL First Class Review
SKL Business Class  Review	SKL Business Class  Review
KrisFlyer Gold Review	KrisFlyer Gold Review

But just because you’re flying out of T2 doesn’t mean you must use the T2 lounges. Your entitlement is determined by elite status and cabin class, not the terminal you’re flying from.

So which lounges should you visit? Is it as simple as newer = better, or are there other things to consider?

Singapore Airlines lounge access rules

First, a brief recap of Singapore Airlines’ lounge access rules when departing from Changi Airport.

For context, the overall hierarchy (from top to bottom) is:

• The Private Room
• SilverKris First Class Lounge
• SilverKris Business Class Lounge
• KrisFlyer Gold Lounge

A passenger with access to a higher tier lounge can visit a lower tier if they wish. 

Departing on Singapore Airlines flight

Departing on Star Alliance flight

Departing on Scoot flight

Which terminal does your Singapore Airlines flight depart from?

SIA flights to Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Japan (except SQ12) and South Korea operate from T2. All other flights operate from T3.

However, you’re free to check-in at either T2 or T3.

The only caveat is that if you want to check-in at the “wrong” terminal and are checking baggage, you must do so at least 90 minutes before departure. Otherwise, you’ll be sent to the “correct” terminal (the concern is that your bags won’t make it to the plane in time).

Why would you go to the lounge in the “wrong” terminal? Because SIA’s Changi lounges are not all made equal. 

The Private Room (T3 only)

Since the focus of this article is the differences between the T2 and T3 lounges, I won’t talk too much about The Private Room, which is a T3 exclusive. 

But in short, if you’re flying First Class on Singapore Airlines, you should check-in at T3, period, or else you won’t get the full-fat experience. The Private Room offers an unmatched level of privacy and service, a dining room with an a la carte menu and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, private mini-hotel rooms with beds, and oversized shower suites boasting COMO Shambhala bath amenities.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a 90-minute hop to Jakarta or a marathon voyage to Los Angeles, you get access all the same. It’s one of the quintessential experiences of your virgin (and hopefully subsequent!) First Class flight, so come early to enjoy it.

A first-timer’s guide to Singapore Airlines Suites & First Class

SilverKris First Class Lounge (T2 & T3)

Given that SIA’s First Class passengers have access to The Private Room, the SilverKris First Class Lounge is really more for Solitaire PPS Club members, or First Class passengers departing on Star Alliance carriers.

The T3 facility has slightly over double the capacity of the one in T2, and is of course a lot more modern, having hatched from a 2022 renovation. Throughout the lounge you’ll find design flourishes like crystal lighting and brass accents, paired with stylish furniture and soothing lighting. 

In contrast, the T2 lounge feels like a glorified waiting room, with little seating variety beyond dining and armchairs. And even though this lounge has windows and natural light, it speaks volumes about what design can do that it actually feels like the darker of the two. 

On paper, the F&B options are the same, with both lounges having a buffet, live cooking station, manned bar and barista service. But in practice there are big differences. For one, the buffet selection in T3 has, by my guesstimation, maybe 30% more options to choose from.

The bigger kitchen in T3 also allows for more items at the live cooking station, and you’ll regularly see up to eight options here, versus just two in T2.

There’s big differences in terms of showers too. At T3, there are six private shower suites, each with their own Grohe Sensia Arena toilet.

In T2, the male and female bathrooms each have four shower cubicles, which are considerably smaller and lack attached toilets. It’s considerably less private, and feels more like a locker room setup.

Other T3-only features include productivity pods, which allow you to catch up with some work before your flight…

…and four day rooms with beds and writing desks, which can be booked for two-hour slots via the reception desk.

SilverKris Business Class Lounge

When it comes to the SilverKris Business Class Lounge, it’s a very similar story. 

The T3 lounge underwent a major renovation and reopened in 2022, expanding its capacity to a whopping 1,150 passengers, versus just 246 in T2. The design language is refreshingly modern, and the lounge makes full use of T3’s natural light, with an open design that makes it feel bright and airy. Its size also allows for proper segmentation of activities- whether you’re working, dining, socialising, relaxing or napping, you’ll find a space that’s best suited for it. 

Contrast that to T2, where things are dark and somber. There’s no windows or natural light here at all, and the lounge is basically two sections: a dining area, and a seating area where the main question is “which one of these identical-looking armchairs do I want?” Truth be told, it gets old very fast, and feels little different from a contract lounge.

Where dining is concerned, the T3 lounge has several different concepts depending on how much time you have. At one end of the lounge is a café style area with sandwiches, finger food (popcorn chicken, potato wedges, spring rolls), and other grab-and-go fare. 

Then there’s the bar, which has barista service in the mornings and cocktails in the evenings (it’s annoying that you can’t get a cocktail at 12 p.m, because if there were ever a place which met the definition of “5 O’clock somewhere, you’d think it’d be the airport). 

For serious dining, head over to the dining hall which offers a hot buffet line with numerous options that rotate throughout the day, plus chilled displays with maki rolls, salad bar, soba noodles, cheese, pastries and desserts. There’s also two live cooking stations, serving up options like laksa, prawn noodles and pasta. 

Dining is a much simpler affair in T2, where there’s just a single buffet line. There’s no room here for a bar, nor live cooking stations, so what you see is what you get. Naturally, given the space constraints, you won’t find as many options as the T3 lounge either.

Just like the First Class lounge, the shower experience will be very different in T3 vs T2. In T3, there are 15 private shower suites with attached electric bidet toilets. 

In T2, there are four shower rooms each in the men’s and women’s restroom, which are rather cramped and unglamorous. There’s no attached toilet, the toiletries come in an ugly white plastic wall-mounted dispenser, and it’s not very pleasant overall.

If you’re looking to do some work, only the T3 lounge has productivity pods, which can be found in several places throughout the lounge. These come with built-in wireless charging and power outlets. 

T2, on the other hand, has surprisingly poor work credentials, as its business centre has been stripped out and replaced with more seating. Unless you’re able to find a dining table, you’ll really be putting the “lap” in laptop to good use.

For those who want to rest, the T3 lounge is the only place where you’ll find slumberettes. There’s a total of 14, for which reservations are not needed (nor accepted). 

Other T3-only facilities include a six-person meeting room, complete with whiteboard and TV screen for presenting.

KrisFlyer Gold Lounge

The KrisFlyer Gold Lounge is the “specially-designated” facility for Economy and Premium Economy Class passengers with elite status (apart from Singapore Airlines’ own PPS members, who are guaranteed at least the Business Class section of the SilverKris Lounge).

That’s rather euphemistic, and while there’s no denying the quality gap between the SilverKris Lounges and the KrisFlyer Gold Lounges, at least the T3 facility has dramatically improved since its 2022 renovation. It’s now more elegant and modern, with increased capacity and new-look furnishings. While not quite as lux as the SilverKris Lounge, you’ll still have a dedicated dining space, and numerous seating areas including some tucked away in nooks that provide extra privacy or noise isolation.

The T2 lounge, on the other hand, is probably the worst Singapore Airlines lounge in the entire network. It doesn’t even have a separate dining area, so I hope you like eating on armchairs and having to turn sideways every time you want to pick up your plate. There’s also almost no privacy here, since it’s basically one large rectangular room with no partitioned-off areas. You can see from one end to the other when standing up.

In terms of dining, I didn’t do an exact inventory, but I think the F&B selection is roughly the same across T2 and T3.  At most you could say that the T3 lounge has more room to maneuver, because the hot food has its own area, separate from the cold food and drinks. 

In T2 it’s a lot more cramped because the layout forces most food and drinks to be squeezed on a single long table at the far end of the lounge. To drive home the lack of space, some additional items are also places on two makeshift tables perpendicular to the main buffet line. 

When it comes to showers and toilets, the T3 lounge has three shower rooms (plus one more accessible unit), though none of them has an attached toilet. If you want to pee, you’ll need to visit the separate men’s or women’s room.

But hey, that’s still better than T2, which has no showers or toilets. If you want to answer the call of nature, you’ll need to exit the lounge, U-turn down a corridor and visit the public facilities in the terminal. 

As for getting work done, the T3 lounge is obviously superior because of its more varied seating choices, including long communal tables with wireless charging pads built into the table top and charging outlets below, plus eight desk positions.

In T2, it’s almost entirely lounge chair and side tables, unless you’re lucky enough to grab one of two work desks at the very rear of the lounge.

Which lounges should you go to?

For most people, there’s very little competition between the T3 and T2 lounges. The T3 lounges are newer. They have more capacity, nicer décor, better facilities, and larger F&B selections. If this is your first-ever Business Class experience, you owe it to yourself to experience the T3 lounge, and if you’re in First Class, you must go to The Private Room in T3, no arguments.

But it’s not always a case of newer = better. The T3 lounges are bigger, but they can get very crowded, especially during the peak hours of early morning and evening. In the SilverKris Business Class and KrisFlyer Gold lounges especially, it can be standing room only at some times, with all the associated noise and claustrophobia.

It’s for this reason that some veterans will head to the T2 lounges just for peace and quiet, even if it means an objectively worse hard product. I’ve always thought that the naturally dark interior of the T2 lounges would make them ideal spots to wind down before a red-eye flight anyway, rather than the overstimulating T3 environment.

I also want to point out that it’s not that inconvenient to go to the lounge in the “wrong” terminal- it really boils down to which gate your flight is leaving from. 

For example, if your flight departs from the F Gates in T2, you could make an equally strong case to visit the T3 lounge instead, since the west Skytrain between T3 and T2 will deposit you directly at the F gates. In contrast, if you were to visit the T2 lounge, you’d need to double back across the T2 concourse. 

That argument can of course be made in reverse too, in that someone flying from the B Gates in T3 might visit the T2 lounge instead, since the east Skytrain between T2 and T3 will deposit you directly at the B gates (though given the quality gap between the T2 and T3 lounges, I don’t think many people would opt to do this!).

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines’ dual-terminal operations require it to have lounges across Terminals 2 and 3, and it should be little surprise that the T3 lounges have the better hard product, simply because of the additional space and recent renovation.

I’m quite certain there must be a refurbishment plan in the works for T2, because I don’t think these lounges can last till the mid-2030s when T5 finally arrives. But until then they’re only suited for those who dislike crowds, or who have already experienced the T3 lounges enough times that all they want now is some peace and quiet.

SIA passengers: T2 or T3 lounge for you?