TWO fans of popular singer-actor Jay Chou bought air tickets to catch their idol at the Changi Airport - and landed themselves in trouble.

Sin Teck Wee, 33, and Jocelyn Soh Chia Ling, 28, entered the departure hall with their boarding passes at about 11 am on July 30 last year but had no intention of flying to Kuala Lumpur - except to meet the Taiwanese pop star up close.

For that, they were fined the maximum of $1,000 on Tuesday for entering a protected place.

After getting the boarding passes for their flight, they entered the departure hall where a notice states 'No entry except for passengers with boarding passes and proceeding to their next destination'.

The two telemarketers did not proceed to board their flight, but instead went to meet a celebrity idol who was arriving the same day.

Although the statement of facts in court did not say who the idol was, it was known that Jay Chou flew in from Hong Kong that day for a two-day whirlwind trip to promote his directorial debut 'Secret'.

The two were later detained by an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer and the police were called.

Sin and Soh admitted that they had bought airline tickets to meet their celebrity idol at the departure hall.

Under the Protected Area and Protected Places Act, they could have been fined and jailed for up to two years each.