Traveling the world is famously and wildly fun – that’s why there are countless movies, blogs, and Instagram photos to highlight it.
But there has never been any glitz or excitement surrounding the actual flight to your destination.
Until now.
When you get on a plane for your family vacation, you are bombarded with endless questions from the children while they try and touch every imaginable surface.
As your head is spinning like Beetlejuice (and you have the hair to match so you wouldn’t miss your 7am flight), passengers are reaching over you with their armpits in your face trying to put their luggage in the overhead compartments.
Does this scenario sound more fun than actually staying at a warm and sunny resort? I doubt it!
But for a cooped-up Singapore citizen,it’s the perfect afternoon.
Let me explain.
Singapore’s famous Changi Airport is marketing flights “to nowhere” where passengers can endure the grueling check-in and boarding process – just to fly in a giant circle and land right back at the airport, reports Daily Mail.
These 3-hour flights are set to take off by the end of October and seats are surprisingly filling up.
But the hometown fun doesn’t end there.
Packages offered by the airlines will include hotel stays, shopping vouchers, and limousine ferry rides.
All-in-all, it is the most elaborate staycation ever heard of to date.
Taipei’s downtown Songshan Airport did something similar, but the aircraft never left the tarmac, as Proud American Traveler has previously reported.
This version included check-in, passport control, security, and boarding– after which you just walked off the plane and went back to your home (where the walls must’ve been closing in on you for a trip like this to sound fun)!
It is no secret that the airline industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Singapore Airline Group announced they are cutting 4,300 jobs, adding to the 20 percent reduction in workforce for the industry giant, reports the Daily Mail.
Recovery will be “long and fraught with uncertainty,” the company laments.
But many airlines empathize with these losses and are taking drastic measures to stay afloat themselves, such as eliminating the middle seat and improving sanitation protocols.
Once these“flights to nowhere” are underway, it should help boost revenue and provide a somehow desirable experience for the passengers who are willing to pay $288 a ticket, according to a survey by Singapore Air Charter.
Stefan Wood, director at Singapore Air Charter, is aware the novelty will only last so long, but says, “when bundled with a staycation, limo transfers and airport shopping experiences, people will lap it up,”reports Aviation Pros.
Japan has already sold tickets for a similar experience next to Taiwan’s successful airport vacation campaign, so this will oddly work as well.
Flying around with no intended purpose seems only beneficial for pilots and perhaps those with flight phobia trying their hand at immersion therapy.
But all of our ideal vacations may look different.
You may enjoy packing a suitcase just to lug it around with your family while breathing recycled air, but I would prefer a nice cabin on the lake.
However, there is no contest which would make for a better photo album.
