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• Skytrax’s World Airport Awards were announced on Wednesday.
• Singapore Changi won again, but Qatar’s Hamad International withdrew due to the Iran war.
• These are the top 10 airports, as rated by the passengers who traveled through them.

Singapore Changi Airport has been named the world’s best once again in a survey of travellers.

The Skytrax World Airport Awards were announced in London on Wednesday.

The accolades are based on questionnaires completed by airport customers of over 100 nationalities, between August 2025 and February 2026.

However, there is one notable absence this year. Qatar’s Hamad International withdrew from the awards due to the Iran war, which has upended air travel in the region. “The safety and well-being of our passengers, our staff, and their families is, and remains, our absolute priority,” it said. The Doha hub ranked second in the world in 2025, and first the year before.

Even so, Asian airports still reign supreme. There are five in the top 10, compared to four European airports and one from North America.

This year has also seen two new entries into the top 10 compared to last year: Vancouver and Istanbul Airport. No US airport made the top 20.

10. Vancouver

Airport code: YVR

Country: Canada

Annual passengers: 26.9 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 13

Other awards: Best airport in North America

9. Munich

Airport code: MUC

Country: Germany

Annual passengers: 43.4 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 9

Other awards: Best airport staff in Europe

8. Istanbul

Airport code: IST

Country: Turkey

Annual passengers: 84.5 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 14

7. Rome Fiumicino

Airport code: FCO

Country: Italy

Annual passengers: 51 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 8

Other awards: Cleanest airport in Europe

6. Paris Charles de Gaulle

Airport code: CDG

Country: France

Annual passengers: 72 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 7

Other awards: Best airport in Europe

5. Tokyo Narita

Airport code: NRT

Country: Japan

Annual passengers: 42.3 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 5

Other awards: World’s best airport staff

4. Hong Kong

Airport code: HKG

Country: Special administrative region of China

Annual passengers: 61 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 6

Other awards: World’s best airport washrooms, World’s best airport security processing

3. Tokyo Haneda

Airport code: HND

Country: Japan

Annual passengers: 91 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 3

Other awards: World’s cleanest major airport, World’s best domestic airport, World’s best accessible facilities

2. Seoul Incheon

Airport code: ICN

Country: South Korea

Annual passengers: 74 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 4

Other awards: World’s most family-friendly airport

1. Singapore Changi

Airport code: SIN

Country: Singapore

Annual passengers: 70 million

2025 Skytrax ranking: 1

Other awards: World’s best airport dining experience, World’s best airport immigration service

• I love traveling, but as a single woman in my 30s, my days of trips with friends feel behind me.
• Many of my friends are married — some with kids — and it’s hard to coordinate schedules and budgets.
• As great as my solo travel experiences have been, I wish they weren’t my only option.

I’ve spent a long weekend in Paris, watching the Eiffel Tower light show with my best friend. I’ve traveled around China and Hong Kong for a fortnight as part of a school exchange trip. I even once jetted to Ibiza for a week of sun, sea, and shots with a colleague.

Alongside the fridge magnets, I’ve collected shared memories that I’ll reminisce about forever. I’ve always enjoyed seeing the world with loved ones, but as a single woman in my 30s, it feels like those days are behind me.

The older I get, and the more single I remain, the harder it feels to find anyone to travel with. If I want to see the world, traveling alone isn’t just a choice — it’s a necessity.

Things started to shift after my college graduation

All of a sudden, after graduating from college in 2014, I seemed to be the only single person in my friendship group.

Friends were moving in with partners or getting married, and seemingly more eager to spend their time — and money — on romantic getaways, rather than trips with me. Then, they started having kids, and family summer holidays became the priority.

There were still people who wanted to travel with me, but I usually had to compromise, paying more than I could afford or going for less time than I’d have liked.

I often felt like I had to prioritize their availability over my own schedule and budget, or become a third, fifth, or even seventh wheel on a couples group trip. That would usually mean a single room and, therefore, a higher cost for me — unless there was a sofa bed.

I started solo traveling out of necessity

In 2019, I decided I was done waiting. I wanted to travel without being the uncomfortable single friend, so I booked a flight to New York and a hotel room for one.

This was a bucket-list destination for me, but I was worried I’d be lonely. How would I handle eating at a restaurant with nobody to talk to, and would the nights feel too long while I was in a different time zone?

To ease myself in, I planned to visit during a week that I knew a friend would be in the city with her family. We met up a couple of times out there, and I also grabbed a drink with an old colleague who relocated. Knowing there were people I could call on definitely helped.

I was nervous eating my first meal alone, but I quickly realized that nobody was paying attention to me. I caught up on my reading and watched the chefs at work.

After just a couple of days, I was a pro at dining solo. In fact, I started enjoying the freedom to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

My New York getaway proved to me that I don’t need a companion to have fun. In the years since, I’ve gone to Toronto, Lisbon, Scotland, and back to New York alone, and also traveled to Brighton, Margate, Wiltshire, and Harrogate within my native UK.

As much as I enjoy solo travel, there are downsides, too

I’ve loved booking a flight on a whim or nabbing the last single bar seat at a hyped restaurant. However, there are moments when I wish I were sharing these experiences with somebody.

These memories are mine alone, never becoming shared jokes or anecdotes. There’s nobody else to take over navigating a new city when I want a break from being independent, and I often spend evenings in my hotel room — cocktail bars aren’t exactly set up for women drinking alone.

Holidays are also more expensive as a single traveler, without anyone to split the cost of taxis, meals, and a hotel room.

Then, there’s the awkwardness of asking strangers to take my picture. As much as I love a snapshot of my paella, I also want to look back and see myself smiling in the sunshine and be able to share those pictures.

I love solo travel, but I want a balance between total freedom and shared memories. Above all, the choice to travel alone would feel so much sweeter if it were purely that: a choice.

• Twenty US airports outsource their security process to private companies.
• The companies are still regulated and overseen by the TSA, but they hire their own agents.
• Unlike their TSA counterparts, private screeners’ pay is not paused during government shutdowns.

Hours-long security lines have snarled airports from New York to Texas as unpaid TSA agents call out en masse during the partial government shutdown — but some are largely insulated from the chaos.

Twenty airports across the US participate in the Transportation Security Administration’s Screening Partnership Program (SPP), created in 2004, that uses contract screeners rather than federally employed TSA agents.

Airports like San Francisco’s SFO that rely on private screeners are showing themselves to be more insulated from the government shutdowns that have staggered travel in the US for the second time in four months.

Travelers may not notice the difference at the checkpoint, but contract security officers follow the same training, procedures, and oversight as the roughly 50,000 agents employed by the TSA.

And, unlike their TSA counterparts, contract screener pay isn’t paused during the partial shutdown because it is pre-funded via federal contracts.

TSA agents received their first $0 paycheck over the weekend and won’t be paid until Congress reaches a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security. DHS funding lapsed on February 14 amid a political impasse over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

More than 300 TSA agents have left the agency since the shutdown started; others have simply stopped showing up for work. Airports like New Orleans, Houston Hobby, Atlanta, and New York-JFK have seen TSA lines up to 3 hours amid mass call-outs.

“Private security is really beneficial, especially at smaller airports where it’s easy for TSA agents to get overwhelmed if just one calls out sick when there were only two to begin with,” Sally French, a travel analyst at NerdWallet, told Business Insider.

Here’s the list of US airports with private security where travelers shouldn’t have to worry about staffing-related security delays:

• Atlantic City International Airport (New Jersey)
• Charles M. Schulz—Sonoma County Airport (California)
• Dawson Community Airport (Montana)
• Great Falls International Airport (Montana)
• Glacier Park International Airport (Montana)
• Greater Rochester International Airport (New York)
• Havre City-County Airport (Montana)
• Kansas City International Airport (Missouri)
• L. M. Clayton Airport (Montana)
• Orlando Sanford International Airport (Florida)
• Portsmouth International Airport (New Hampshire)
• Punta Gorda Airport (Florida)
• Roswell International Air Center (New Mexico)
• San Francisco International Airport (California)
• Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (Florida)
• Sidney-Richland Municipal Airport (Montana)
• Sioux Falls Regional Airport (South Dakota)
• Tupelo Regional Airport (Mississippi)
• Wokal Field/Glasgow International Airport (Montana)
• Yellowstone Airport (Montana)

While most SPP airports are tiny with limited commercial operations, two on the list — San Francisco (SFO) and Kansas City (MCI) — host several airlines and screen thousands of passengers a day.

Security wait times at SFO — the largest program participant — remain normal thanks to private screeners from Covenant Aviation Security, one of the 27 TSA-approved contract security companies.

“We have not seen any excessive line waits during this period,” an airport spokesperson told Business Insider.

Kansas City airport contracts a security company called VMD Corp.

A spokesperson told Business Insider the company cannot contractually discuss efficiency data, but said operations at all of the airports it manages are “business as usual” despite the shutdown. VMD also operates in Orlando Sanford, Rochester, Atlantic City, and across Montana.

Orlando International Airport — where TSA agents are performing the same duties as private screeners at nearby Orlando Sanford but aren’t being paid — has seen longer-than-usual security lines due to TSA call-outs during peak spring break travel to attractions like Disney World and Universal Studios.

BOS Security, another TSA-approved contractor, said in a July 2025 post that private screening is advantageous for airports and travelers because it’s cheaper, more efficient, and has lower turnover than federal screening, saving taxpayer dollars.

The company added that airports in Canada and most European countries use private screeners.

However, TSA union officials warned in a May 2025 blog post that switching security agents from federal to private could erode their pay and job protections and weaken security standards.

They also said that contracting several companies could create inconsistencies across airports, and that competition for contracts could pressure private operators to cut costs in areas such as training and staffing.

• A TSA official said some airports, “particularly smaller ones,” may close due to the shutdown.
• Smaller airports handle less traffic, but even limited closures would ripple across the system.
• Mass call-outs by TSA staff have led to security wait times of over 3 hours at some airports.

Airport security is unraveling at some US airports as TSA agents call out en masse — but officials say it could get even worse.

Adam Stahl, the acting deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, said Tuesday on Fox News’ “FOX & Friends” morning show that some airports may close as the partial shutdown drags into its 5th week.

“Frankly, there’s not much else we can do,” he said. “As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones.”

Stahl added that the National Deployment Office, which has sent relief staff to airports to help overwhelmed agents, is “fully depleted.”

It’s unclear which airports would close, how that decision would be made, and whether TSA staff at those airports would stay home or be deployed to busier locations.

The more than 50,000 agents who screen passengers and luggage at roughly 450 airports across the country have received only one partial payment since DHS funding lapsed on February 14.

Smaller airports typically handle fewer flights and have less connecting traffic than larger hubs, but even limited closures would ripple across the system — adding costs and time for both travelers and airlines.

The possibility of airport closures comes on top of an already extremely busy spring break travel period. The US Travel Association estimates a record 171 million people will fly in the US in March and April.

Still, the chaos seems random so far. This author flew through Las Vegas and Los Angeles over the weekend and saw short lines; other major airports like Miami and Boston haven’t felt much impact either.

The TSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

TSA agents, deemed “essential” employees and working without pay during the shutdown, received their first $0 paycheck over the weekend.

In a joint letter on Sunday, airline CEOs from carriers like Delta, Southwest, and FedEx urged Congress to pass legislation protecting TSA, customs, and air traffic control workers from being affected by government shutdowns.

Roughly 21% of the security staff at Atlanta — the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic — as well as at New York-JFK and Houston Hobby Airport have called out in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security said.

That has led to checkpoint wait times exceeding 3 hours, with lines snaking out the doors, into parking garages, and onto airport sidewalks. The average nationwide call-out rate before the shutdown was less than 2%, per the DHS.

That has more than doubled since the shutdown began. The agency added that 366 transportation security officers have left the TSA between the start of the shutdown and Monday.

“These numbers illustrate the severe operational strain caused by the shutdown, underscoring the urgent need for resolution to restore stability, morale, and security at America’s airports,” the DHS said in a statement. “TSA funding must be restored immediately.”

• The prediction market Polymarket has few guardrails on what people can bet on.
• An Israeli journalist said Polymarket users tried to bribe and threaten him into changing a story.
• The $9 billion company condemned the threats and said it removed accounts linked to them.

An Israeli journalist said Polymarket users tried to bribe him and threatened to kill him after he reported that an Iranian missile had struck Israel earlier this month.

Polymarket later condemned the harassment and said the conduct violated its rules.

“We’ve banned the accounts for all involved & will pass their info to the relevant authorities,” the company wrote on X.

Emanuel Fabian, a military correspondent for The Times of Israel, wrote this week that the harassment began with emails pressing him to revise a blog post saying a missile hit an area roughly 500 meters from homes in Beit Shemesh, a small city in central Israel.

The initial outreach, written in Hebrew, was polite, Fabian wrote. “Regarding your Times of Israel report that described today’s launch as an ‘impact’ — Beit Shemesh Municipality and MDA (Magen David Adom) later corrected their reports to clarify that what fell was an interceptor fragment, not a full missile,” the first email said, referring to an Israeli emergency-response service.

Follow-up messages from others were more insistent. “I have an urgent request regarding the accuracy of your report on the missile attack on March 10. I would really appreciate a response if possible,” read one.

Fabian wrote that he stood by the reporting, citing Israeli military information and video of a large explosion that, in his view, was inconsistent with interceptor debris.

What followed, he said, was a pressure campaign that spilled across email, X, Discord, WhatsApp, and backchannel outreach through another journalist.

Fabian described repeated requests to change the wording of his report, which he believed was intended to influence the resolution of a Polymarket market tied to whether Iran struck Israel on that date. He said some messages — which didn’t explicitly mention Polymarket, but came from Polymarket users or seemed bizarrely hung up on his blog post — escalated into explicit threats.

“If you do not correct this by 01:00 Israel time today, March 15, you are bringing upon yourself damage you have never imagined you would suffer,” read one.

Fabian wrote that he went to the police and provided evidence.

Polymarklet didn’t answer questions from the Times of Israel about the details of the investigation. Representatives for Polymarket didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Advocates for prediction markets have said they encourage honesty by requiring users to put their money where their mouth is. Shayne Coplan, Polymarket’s founder, has said that people in the Middle East can use military-strike markets to decide whether they want to sleep near a bomb shelter.

The nitty-gritty details of contracts and how they are resolved can lead to contentious arguments. People on Polymarket who wagered on whether Iran would strike Israel by March 10 still haven’t gotten paid, as the contract appears to remain in dispute. Polymarket, which is legally based in Panama, uses a complex, crypto-based process to resolve disagreements.

Fabian isn’t the first person to say they were targeted by prediction market users. The NCAA has cited concerns with prediction markets, reporting that 36% of Division I men’s basketball players said they had been harassed by “someone with a betting interest.”

In January, the organization called for a pause on college sports-related betting prediction market betting until the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the platforms, “implements appropriate regulations.”

Polymarket was valued at $9 billion last year and is seeking a $20 billion valuation in talks with investors, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. The company and its competitor, Kalshi, have poured millions of dollars into marketing online, on TV, and in real life, even giving people free groceries in New York City.

The largest chunk of activity on both platforms is betting on sports in a manner that competes with companies like DraftKings, BetMGM, and other traditional sportsbooks. The second-biggest category is speculating on cryptocurrency prices.

Business Insider has previously reported that Polymarket has drawn scrutiny from US lawmakers over concerns about manipulation, insider trading, and the difficulty of investigating crypto-based bets.

Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Greg Casar announced Tuesday that they will introduce the “Bets Off Act,” which would ban certain prediction market trades, including terrorism, war, and assassinations.

The attacks on Iran are only one of several geopolitical flashpoints that have been accompanied by concern about the prospect of people with insider information cashing in. One Polymarket user made several hundred thousand dollars correctly betting on the US operation to remove Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro.

• Sen. Chris Murphy and Rep. Greg Casar introduced the “BETS OFF Act” to regulate prediction markets.
• It includes a ban on trades on events where insiders have control or knowledge about the outcome.
• That applies not just to government actions, but also to things like the Oscars.

If two lawmakers on Capitol Hill get their way, making prediction market bets on the Oscars or the Super Bowl halftime show would be illegal.

“If you bet on who’s performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and lose your money to someone who controlled the answer, you’re getting ripped off,” said Democratic Rep. Greg Casar of Texas.

“Wouldn’t the government protect consumers from markets that were transparently rigged?” said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “The people who benefit in these markets are always the powerful.”

Murphy and Casar introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban a slew of prediction markets currently offered by platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.

Dubbed the Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act, the bill would ban prediction market trading on the following:

• terrorism, assassination, and war;
• non-financial government actions in general;
• events where individuals know or can control the outcome.

At a press conference on Tuesday, both Murphy and Casar largely focused on what they described as the perils of allowing prediction market trading on government actions, including the war in Iran.

“It is frankly stunning to people that it is legal, that it is allowed, for these prediction markets to allow for bets to be made on such consequential questions like war and peace,” Murphy said.

Yet trading on events like awards shows and other cultural events has only grown in popularity. According to Kalshi, traders bet more than $105 million on the Oscars this year, up from roughly $30 million last year.

Despite that growing popularity, both lawmakers told Business Insider that they weren’t concerned about ending up on the wrong side of public opinion, given their belief that those markets are susceptible to corruption and rigging.

“When people get on their phone and see these prediction markets, they expect that there are rules to make sure the game isn’t rigged against them,” Casar said. “I think that voters would clearly stand with us, saying we want to make sure that you aren’t betting on a rigged poker game.”

As prediction markets have come under greater scrutiny, Kalshi has emphasized that its rules forbid insider trading, and the company recently said it took action against a MrBeast video editor for insider trading.

Polymarket has generally taken a more lax approach, and because it’s an international platform that hasn’t yet fully rolled out its US markets, American regulations don’t always apply.

Murphy and Casar’s bill aims to change that, including by amending existing laws to block payments to offshore prediction market platforms and imposing criminal penalties on people who promote them domestically.

Here’s the full text of the “BETS OFF Act”: