I am typing this from Terminal 2 in Shanghai Pudong airport where I will catch a flight to Singapore in 30 minutes. This is the first time I depart from the new Terminal 2, so far all of my flights over the past week were out of Terminal 1.
I am not particularly fond of Terminal 1, it feels cold, the shops are crappy and there is nothing to do. Terminal 2 is a lot better. It’s brighter than Terminal 1 and it feels warmer, probably because of the carpets on the floor. The new terminal looks very similar to Hong Kong airport actually, even the signs for the gates seem to be the same. There are actually some decent shops, although there is no comparison with the shopping experience at Hong Kong airport.
At Terminal 1 I normally go to one of the lounges, either the KLM one (thanks to my frequent flyer card) or to the China Mobile one (that gave me a VIP card years ago already, thanks to my higher-than-average mobile phone bills). But at Terminal 2 I didn’t know where these lounges are located and I was not in the mood to find them, so I decided to just walk around a bit to check out the place. I ended up at Burger King (take the escalator up at gate D75), not for food, but just for a coffee. It turned out they have a great deal on coffee, for just RMB 8 (EUR 0.80) you get a large one! I am quite sure this is the cheapest coffee on the whole airport, and quite drinkable as well. Just as a comparison I went into the coffee bar next to gate D77 to check their prices. This shop charges RMB 48 for a regular coffee (150 ml), six times as much and for a much smaller cup!
And the best thing is that when you sit at Burger King you have a full free wifi connection. Just go to the “spia-guest” network, it is unprotected but not very fast (but being in China you are probably used to that). This made my day! I walked around a bit on the airport with my laptop, and it seems this network is available all over the place.
If you’re not into coffee or shopping there seem to be a lot of other things to do as well. I noticed signs showing the direction to among others a cinema, meeting rooms, an internet cafe, a hairdresser and even a gym. I do not have time to check them out (my flight is boarding in a few minutes), but next time that I fly from here I will certainly pay them a visit (and likely blog about it).
Hi Sir,
I am from Singapore and I will be flying to Shanghai very soon. I am not a subscriber to anychina internet providers.
I would appreciate you could advise me where are the free WIFI hotspots at Pudong airport and how can I hook up to the WIFI from my personal laptop.
1)Do I need to register and hook up the WIFI with an ID and password?
2)Or I can jus open my laptop and surf right away?
I have tried to enquire the airport authority on the above, but to no avail… they are unable to provide me with any definitive reply.
Appreciate your swift reply. Thanks!
Just open your laptop or phone, find the spia-guest netwerk and connect to it. No ID or password required. I assume the wifi is available all over the terminal, but if not you can find a hotspot around gate D75.
Thank you for your advice!
Actually, Terminal 1 also offers free wi-fi. Although it is not always very reliable. I typically pass through that terminal once or twice a week, and the internet seems to work about 50% of the time.
I’m glad to hear Terminal 2 offers free wifi, just like the HKG terminal does.
Now if they also have plenty of power outlets around, that’d be perfect.
At T1 I normally use the TP-LINK wifi, password is TP-LINK. This one is available close to gate 21. Usually this works quite well.
I have been at Terminal 2 this week and the free Wifi seems to be no longer there. A page in Chinese requests you to sign up with a telecom provider, fortunately not limited to the Chinese ones, but also a range of foreign providers.
Also, coffee now costs 10 RMB.
Hi I don’t know if you know the answer to this but I am hoping you could help.
I always have a long layovers at the Shanghai Pudong airport and my flights always arrive/depart from terminal 1. I’ve read many great things about terminal 2 and would like to visit it during my layover… but I don’t know if I enter the shopping/dining area for terminal 2 without a ticket to the terminal 2 gates… Do you know if it is possible for me to just enter through the custom inspection area over at terminal 2 even when I’m supposed to be at terminal 1?? This whole airport setting is so confusing.. thanks for your help.
T1 and T2 are not connected and you will have to go through immigration to get to T2 (assuming you are on an international flight). Very likely staff will check your boarding pass if you get to T2 and send you back to T1. If not, you’ll have to go through immigration there to get into T2, get out through immigration again to get out of T2 and then go through immigration again at T1. Not worth the hassle IMHO, if they allow you to do it anyway. For domestic it might be easier, I hardly ever fly domestic from Pudong (always from Hongqiao).