Travel question: Will I be able to stretch my legs on a Singapore layover?

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The world’s tallest indoor waterfall is just one attraction at Changi airport (Reuters)

Q Do you know if there is an opportunity to stretch legs or take a shower in Singapore on BA16 SYD-LHR which only has a fuel stop?

Rick F

A British Airways’ once-extensive network between the UK and Australia – with frequent Boeing 747s serving Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne as well as Sydney – has now shrunk to a single daily round trip from London Heathrow to the nation’s biggest city, using a smaller Boeing 777. This is a reflection of the intense competition, especially from Asian and Gulf-based airlines.

The timing of the inbound service from Sydney, which you are taking, is reasonably attractive for anyone who wants to travel straight back. In the northern hemisphere summer, it leaves Sydney Kingsford-Smith airport at 2.50pm, with a 9.05pm arrival in Singapore. That means you have have dinner and perhaps a drink or two during the 3,900-mile flight, scheduled to take about eight hours.

You then have 90 minutes on the ground at one of the world’s finest airports, Singapore Changi. I checked with a British Airways spokesperson who told me: “Customers would have up to about 45 minutes in the terminal. Crew will advise customers when to be back at the gate area.”

Forty-five minutes is a good duration for some energetic exercise, with plenty of space to walk and, if you like, stairways to climb. You might just squeeze in a shower at terminal one’s Airport Wellness Oasis. But I fear you will be missing out on much that Changi airport has to offer. While I am not sure why it has a cinema, given that inflight entertainment is so ubiquitous, I do know the rooftop swimming pool is an absolute gem for refreshing the weary traveller. So I always try to build in a stopover long enough for a dip.

Better still, time your arrival for daytime, with a connecting time of at least five hours and 30 minutes, and you qualify for one of the seven daily free Singapore tours – taking you into the city to provide a taster to inspire your next visit, is the idea. Singapore Airlines, unsurprisingly, has plenty of options. Its 7.55am departure from Sydney gets you in at 2.15pm, in good time for the free tour, followed by some shopping if you wish, as well as a swim and dinner before the 11.30pm departure to Heathrow.

Back to your trip. The onward flight through the night, covering around 6,800 miles, is due to arrive at Heathrow at 5.05am. This has the benefit of almost never needing to hold before touchdown, because there are very few arrivals before 6am.

But for your next Australia-UK journey, I must say I prefer the Qantas timing, leaving Sydney just over an hour later than BA, allowing an extra 10 minutes in Singapore and arriving at the more sociable hour of 6.25am. Also, it is on an Airbus A380, which I prefer to the Boeing 777. But fares, in my experience, tend to be higher. It’s always good to have choice.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder