The airports that make you pray for a delay

"You can check out anytime you like/ but you can never leave..." Suppose you found yourself, as in The Eagles' "Hotel California", lost in transit. These are the optimum airports in which to face an indefinite delay.

Singapore

Charge up my credit card, and leave me to roam the world's favourite airport. The hub that puts the "Changi" in changing planes is one of very few places that you are always pleased to see in your schedule. Should you be facing an indeterminate future, at least you can choose from 160 shops, 300 free internet terminals, and eat your way around the world from Sudan to Japan – not forgetting the rooftop sunflower garden. Keep your swimsuit handy: on the roof of Terminal 1 you can walk through a cactus garden, drink at an open-air bar and take a swim. Oh, and I suppose you could catch a plane. About the one thing you can't do in the airport city known as SIN is, well, sin.

Gibraltar

The only problem with the airport in the shadow of the Rock is that the connection opportunities are limited; the 15-minute hop to Tangier in Morocco has been shelved. In terms of scenic and geo-political interest, nowhere can match Gibraltar: the runway slots itself on the isthmus between Spain and the heart of this British territory, and is converted to the main road twixt the two between flights.

Dubai

The planet's most ambitious airport – all six runways of it – is being constructed in the desert. The world's biggest order of the world's biggest plane, the Airbus A380, is destined for Emirates – the airline soon to become people-carrier par excellence. Meanwhile, Dubai's existing airport is increasingly frantic. But as babies just arrived from Buenos Aires mix with biddies bound for Bangalore, you can usually find a corner to bed down or a curry to devour. Possibly the most proletarian that any airport this side of Havana can become.

Easter Island

"Transit", points one sign as you step off the plane at the world's most isolated airport. "Easter Island", instructs the other sign. In fact, this remarkable fragment erupting from the South Pacific is basically one big transit lounge. Between arriving from Tahiti and connecting to Santiago, you could stay in the bar devouring good Chilean coffee and/or wine. Or you could break free of the airport perimeter – which abuts the main town – and explore this land of mysterious stone heads and startling scenery.

Amsterdam

It used to claim to be "London's third airport"; now Schiphol has to settle for being the third airport of Paris, following KLM's takeover by Air France. Nonetheless, the Dutch capital's terminus has far more of a sense of occasion than many of its rivals – most notably in the annexe of the Rijksmuseum close to pier E, where transit travellers aware that the Golden Age of travel is over can immerse themselves in the Golden Age of 17th- and 18th-century Old Masters.

Heathrow Terminal 5

When the sole tenant of a new terminal feels obliged to take out advertisements saying that only one in 10 of its flights is more than 15 minutes late, you know it has issues. But in the unlikely event that you find yourself lost in transit at Heathrow, try to make it inside this £4bn-plus public relations disaster. You can expect breathtaking views across Europe's busiest airport, classy shopping and the sense of space from a terminal operating at 50 per cent capacity.