Scooting into SIN with Scoot

[fersea]

It's amazing to me that $70 each way for the best type of seats would be seen as "a lot" (or at least that's what's implied) when the fare is only $100 in the first place

I would argue that you are sometimes more price conscious of extras when seats are so cheap. Often it is a bit of an impulse buy so you are trying to keep the cost of your trip down.

But agree $100 to fly to Singapore is so cheap. Particularly as there are other LCCs who can take you further afield. If my trip in November goes well and they continue to have low fares, I can see myself doing it reasonably regularly.

 

[moa999]

But it depends - $70 is a 5* hotel in Asia. Many could put up with a little less legroom.

As a question for those who have flown - does scoot offer any departure upgrades or similar (eg optiontown with airasia)

 

[jetlagger]

As per a follow on from my previous posts..

I finally had the opportunity to sample the ScootBiz hard & soft product on a SIN/OOL flight yesterday..

I'll post this review whilst it is still fresh in my mind..

Apologies in advance I shall post it in 2 parts, as i'm a little busy today!

PART 1:

As this was my 7th international flight within 14 days on top of a busy schedule, I was somewhat reluctant to take this flight, as more time was to be enjoyed in Singapore & was enjoying the warm weather, great food & cold Tigers..

As my waitlisted flights back to OZ on SQ decidedly not to clear.. Sweet talk & status does not always hold precedence over commercial ticketing with SQ!

Anyway, as per a 'tight" booking option a day prior, I went online to book a ScootBiz seat for the SIN/OOL sector. The ticket costing was SGD 682 with taxes, extra baggage & various incidental charges.

At Changi airport T2 the check in was row 10, where I observed a long snaking queue for the said flight.. It appears somewhat disorganised, & I saw at the very end of the row a shorter line for the ScootBiz pax, a much faster & funkier option than the slow moving other line.

After check in, usual wonderful immigration control @ Changi with no waiting, & onto sometime for more shopping. IMO this terminal is always such a delight to spend time in, even after 200 odd times of T1,T2,T3 I never ever seem to get overly bored, & on this occasion no lounge visit - no loss, so it was off to the E27 boarding gate..

I recall on my boarding pass my seq. was #303, so I was assuming this must be quite a loaded flight.. Why on a WED, why to GC? I still only ponder that the low sale fares stimulated travel for many..

When I reached the gate... I was like a scene for some kind of giveaway option.. The long line of passengers shuffling their way into the 'holding pen" certainly held an amusing sight.. I realised at this point, that this flight must be a 'bulger" 400 pax?? on a
777-200... this was getting interesting..
There was an interesting mix of demographic here.. backpackers, mature aged couples, families with small children, & a smattering of asian travellers..

Security was working frantically in an attempt to rush everyone through security checks into the overly crowded holding 'pen"

The boarding procedure appeared quite disorganised, with many people scrambling to board the flight.. I don't recall any announcement for priority boarding for ScootBiz.. though I may have missed it! I usually sit back, relax & wait for the rush to end before I board, as I always remember: I have a boarding pass & an allocated seat :mrgreen:

I was seated in 12G second row in the forward section of this ex SQ 777-200 aircraft.

The seats for the ScootBiz is a 2-4-2 config. which on first impressions quite ok. The evident distinctive lilac SQ wall paneling is still in vogue , with an updated carpet & brand new seat configuration 'enhancement" in play on this new airline.

Flight: TZ6 SIN/OOL
Aircraft: 'Barry"
ETD: 2225
Actual: 2235

After a short taxi our Captain (evidently South African) announced our departure.

Nice take off slot window, as per experience can get rather congested at T2..

The standard safety issues & some kind of 'Let's Scoot on out of here" was announced by Racheal.

I was quite surprised as the trusty 777-200 with close to full power applied thrust up very quickly with the 390 pax aboard counting down the next 7hours 30mins to Gold Coast

I believe there were a total of 8 FA's to service the large number of Passengers on board..so it was interesting to observe the outcome.

Within the ScootBiz cabin, looks like 28 out of 30? seats were occupied, & I was very privledged to have 'scored" a vacant seat beside me.

The famous luminous Scoot blanket & comfort kit of a ridiculous eyeshade & some kind of neck pillow.. (think most of us have seen the pictures)
were distributed.. In a slow motion fashion.

As for the new seat design, I really have mixed feelings.. Comfort level around 8/10. It is new, so I guess this would deteriorate over time. It's head rest wing design is comfortable & the leather still has that very new feel about it.
The worst design about this seat is the lack of fold up armrests & the ridiculous pull out tray table, that is so wonky, not slidable & does not reach to the other armrest.. Shocking design for a new product.

The IFE. option on ScootBiz is the IPads that are distributed to passengers in exchange of ID. These are preloaded with a just adequate amount of entertainment categories.
The in ear headphones provided are the worst quality ever but ipad worked a treat with my own NCH.
It certainly was a balancing act with a comfortable viewing level modified iPads & I ended up borrowing my empty neighbors (also wonky) tray table.

The apparent 1 food & drink option is provided on ScootBiz as a preorder.. Which was checked off & delivered around 1hour 30 mins after departure.
My choice of Chicken Briyani & Tiger beer arrived..about 35 mins after I saw the first of meals being distributed. This F&B service was excruciating slow.. despite only 28pax with preorders.. to serve a tiny portion of less than hot (lukewarm) though tasty dish, with a less than cold Tiger beer.. & some fruit salad concoction that I saw most pax leave unopened on trays..

There is a menu provided for additional food/drink options at paid expense (fair deal & reasonable pricing)

From time to time the seat belt light came on, as per captain announcement of turbulence, as per standard inclement weather over the equatorial region.. & in our cabin most pax were compliant & cabin service still provided.. Surprisingly smooth flight, as at times I have encountered some very bumpy conditions enroute between SIN/OZ.

It was observed that most pax were making use of the provided blankets & eyeshades.. Though the cabin lights were not dimmed till around 3 hours after departure.. Long after trays had been cleared.. Small oversight of the crew.

The ridiculously designed seat flaw was most evident with the call button constantly going off with the audible sound becoming most annoying, & crew walking up & down the cabin realizing false alarms most of the time. This flaw also falsely activated the overhead light, as a result of ones legs bumping the switch.

I managed to catch a few hours sleep & was reasonably comfortable with the legroom & footrest, just enough recline without annoying the largish passenger behind me.

Around 40mins from arrival into OOL the Captain announced we are commencing descent shortly & lights came on.. Just enough time for me to take a stroll through the aircraft & have a look at how the rear cabin was faring.

Behind the yellow curtain separating the cabins, I was confronted with what appears like every seat occupied. The aisle was much narrower with 10 across & seats were much smaller in economy.. The passengers did not seem to be overly comfortable & recline was limited. It just seemed too crowded, with the exception of the exit row & the yellow 'stretch" seats seemed to have a bit more room..
On a positive note there is quite a decent amount of void space around the toilet areas, great for doing some stretching exercises.

The cabin was prepared for arrival & we had a flawless landing to a cloudy Gold Coast morning 15mins ahead of Schedule..

Of an observation, I was very dissatisfied with the final cabin check at top of descent. Crew were not being very thorough at all with seat back upright & checking of seat belts. The worst worrying factor was the amount of cabin baggage at the feet of passengers, not stowed under the seat. This was a major oversight of the crew, despite them walking through the cabin several times not saying or doing anything about it.

I have had some bumpy landings at OOL on several ocasssions, this could & should have been rectified.

Upon arrival, short taxi & open stairway to the apron arrival.

The deplaning of 390pax certainly takes time with only two steep stairways at rear & aft. The forward cabin ScootBiz pax get no priority, an annoyance & seem to take forever as the scramble ensued to disembark.

The OOL international terminal has never been on my favoured list, & this arrival was no exception.. Excluding smart gate, only two immigration booths open & only one for the others.. Damn ridiculous.. With the S.O.P. of 'supervisors" overseeing the impending long wait to be processed.

Luggage delivery on conveyor came out in around 35mins after arrivals, so reasonable.

Private limo transfer home within 30mins after exiting the terminal.. That was the best part.

The Verdict..

The Pros:
Scoot provides an alternate option for access OOL/SIN/OOL
Great ticket pricing
Excellent communication & updates provided by the Captain
Departure from T2 SIN

The Cons:
Seat flaw issues (tray tables & misplaced call & overhead light switches)
Inattentive & Inexperienced Crew - require more & realistic cabin training
Haphazard, disorderly & spasmodic service execution throughout flight
None of a smile by any crew member was ever recognized
Pax to crew ratio very high - 8 crew for 390 odd pax??
Very narrow aisles in economy cabin- first time ever I couldn't roll my small trolley bag!
unrestrained/unstowed cabin baggage - safety issues on landing
Lukewarm food & less than cold beer
Lack of priority disembarkation for ScootBiz pax.
No air bridges at OOL. Steep stairs & open air walk to terminal.

The Upset:
Someone souveniring my unopened 'world famous, limited addition" luminous yellow Scoot blanket whilst I went for a stroll..

Overall jetlagger rating:
6/10


Disclaimer:
This flight was a self funded option & the above review reflect the usual jetlagger check list criteria.
To be fair on Scoot as a new airline, I made no reference to any comparative measure with any other carrier on a similar sector or pricing level.
I also look forward with vested interest to other passenger/s experiences on Scoot & welcome additional reviews.

Cheers,
jl

 

[asdf]

Thanks jetlagger - appreciated the detailed write-up.

I am heading over and back with ScootBiz ex SYD in a couple of months... Sounds like I had better stock up on food (and drink) + NC headphones prior to boarding.

 

[Simo]

Great TR Mal,

I was suppose to be going to SIN at the end of next week and they would have got my business mainly due to price and the fact is it was going to be a last minute booking so cost would be low.

 

[Mal]

But it depends - $70 is a 5* hotel in Asia. Many could put up with a little less legroom.

As a question for those who have flown - does scoot offer any departure upgrades or similar (eg optiontown with airasia)

I've heard on another forum that you can ask at checkin. Not sure of the price.

 

[Simo]

Why do LCC take ages to turn or dim the lights in the flight.

Cebu Pacific takes a long time to dim the lights as well.

 

[fersea]

Thanks for the review. Sounds similar to the others - reasonably decent, new crew so a few things to learn and slow service and food that is nothing special.

But no show stoppers so for the price it is great value.

 

[zan5hin]

Here is a little report:

SIN-SYD 16th July 2012 Economy

I had a trip planned to the Cebu, Philippines and as there are no direct flights, I was looking for a cheap flight via SIN/KUL/HKG and snagged a sale Jetstar fare to Singapore for about $200 which was a good deal. I was already a member of the Scoot facebook promotions. Then I got a sale return fare on Cebu Pacific from Singapore so was happy with that. When Scoot finally launched their initial fare and it was the right timeframe for me, I was pretty happy to snag a flight for $88, even if I did have to fly Tiger back home to MEL because I don't live in SYD.

Anyway, left the city on the last train from Raffles place around 11:15pm, and got to Changi nice and early. Had a bite to eat then went to have a look at the check-in line, and it was a long mess. So I just sat on a seat nearby for an hour and watched my iPad, until 65 minutes before departure, when there were only a few people left waiting to checkin, so I did that in about 5 minutes.

Then I went through immigration and security, and then there was another huge snake for a second security screening, so I crashed on the floor, charged my iPad and waited again another half an hour until the line was much shorter.

Finally get on the plane, and to the seat I chose, 60K, which for some reason was supposed to be good for that model of plane, but it just seemed like a normal economy seat to me. I had two pax next to me.

Overall, the flight was uneventful, except for the lighting on the sides of the roof. It was too bright, and on for too long, especially for an overnight flight. Even when they said they were dimming the cabin lights, they only turned off the middle lights. I also noticed other pax discussing this and we got off the plane.

I didn't have any food because I brought some deluxe spicy pork jerky with me. Other people that got food, I heard one say it was ok, another said it was inedible. All I got was a tiny bottle of Evian water for SGD$4.

All up, a pretty normal economy flight.

One thing that puzzles me, some of the yellow "super" seats, seem to be just normal seats, no exit row or extra legroom? What's up with that? Also, $79 for a seat with extra legroom is pretty expensive for a LCC. I think a similar seat on AirAsia cost me $35 and Jetstar charge $45.

 

[fersea]

So no problems bringing your own food?

 

[Formal Hall]

There is a note in the in-flight magazine that outside food should not be brought on board, but unlikely to be enforced, especially when FAs have nearly 400 passengers to attend to.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Could be a cheap positioning flight to TPE to take advantage of any CX deals out of there.

 

[moa999]

Did a recon to Row J whilst waiting for JQ35 to open for check-in yesterday.

Sign up offering an upgrade to Biz for $99. (not inclusive of service fee - whatever that was).
Bunch of small print conditions including no additional baggage, and for economy fares only (promotional fares not eligible ) -- now has anyone bought a non-promo fare???

 

[Ansett]

Hi Moa

Mrs Ansett and I were on JQ35 Yesterday too doing an F Lounge Run.

Did JQ36 in the morning and surprised to see it was the same crew on JQ35.

Did a recon to Row J whilst waiting for JQ35 to open for check-in yesterday.

Sign up offering an upgrade to Biz for $99. (not inclusive of service fee - whatever that was).
Bunch of small print conditions including no additional baggage, and for economy fares only (promotional fares not eligible ) -- now has anyone bought a non-promo fare???

 

[JohnK]

With the demise of BMI Diamond Club recently I have left myself in a strange position of having to book economy flights ex-Australia in April and I do not like what I see. Flights are ridiculously priced and even though the return is outside of school holidays it is priced the same as the overpriced outbound flight. Now there is no way I am giving the airline this much money as the economy seat is simply not worth that much to me.

There is really only 1 solution and that is to start purchasing QF economy airfares ex-SIN and utilise either MH or CX airfares BKK-SIN.

So I need a one-way BNE/SYD-SIN in November on a Friday morning/afternoon and I will return on the Saturday night with my new bookings ex-SIN and a return BNE-SIN back in April 2013.

After looking at the airfares something tells me that Scoot is the way to go but have I really thought about everything?

- Will they still be flying in November?
- What are the chances they will not fly on that Friday and make me miss my connection in SIN the next evening?
- Would it be comfortable to sit in aisle seat in the 3rd-4th row of economy as it is only $4 extra to choose these seats?

The flight I am looking at is OOL-SIN and costs $217 one-way with an extra $4 to choose seat and $6.50 credit card surcharge. I don't think I need any food and I can do without alcohol for a few hours. Any thoughts?

 

[Simo]

With the demise of BMI Diamond Club recently I have left myself in a strange position of having to book economy flights ex-Australia in April and I do not like what I see. Flights are ridiculously priced and even though the return is outside of school holidays it is priced the same as the overpriced outbound flight. Now there is no way I am giving the airline this much money as the economy seat is simply not worth that much to me.

There is really only 1 solution and that is to start purchasing QF economy airfares ex-SIN and utilise either MH or CX airfares BKK-SIN.

So I need a one-way BNE/SYD-SIN in November on a Friday morning/afternoon and I will return on the Saturday night with my new bookings ex-SIN and a return BNE-SIN back in April 2013.

After looking at the airfares something tells me that Scoot is the way to go but have I really thought about everything?

- Will they still be flying in November?
- What are the chances they will not fly on that Friday and make me miss my connection in SIN the next evening?
- Would it be comfortable to sit in aisle seat in the 3rd-4th row of economy as it is only $4 extra to choose these seats?

The flight I am looking at is OOL-SIN and costs $217 one-way with an extra $4 to choose seat and $6.50 credit card surcharge. I don't think I need any food and I can do without alcohol for a few hours. Any thoughts?

Price is good.

Do it for the experience if nothing else.

 

[Simo]

Did a recon to Row J whilst waiting for JQ35 to open for check-in yesterday.

Sign up offering an upgrade to Biz for $99. (not inclusive of service fee - whatever that was).
Bunch of small print conditions including no additional baggage, and for economy fares only (promotional fares not eligible ) -- now has anyone bought a non-promo fare???

View attachment 8750

I thought they only did Promo fares.

 

[Ansett]

With the demise of BMI Diamond Club recently I have left myself in a strange position of having to book economy flights ex-Australia in April and I do not like what I see. Flights are ridiculously priced and even though the return is outside of school holidays it is priced the same as the overpriced outbound flight. Now there is no way I am giving the airline this much money as the economy seat is simply not worth that much to me.

There is really only 1 solution and that is to start purchasing QF economy airfares ex-SIN and utilise either MH or CX airfares BKK-SIN.

So I need a one-way BNE/SYD-SIN in November on a Friday morning/afternoon and I will return on the Saturday night with my new bookings ex-SIN and a return BNE-SIN back in April 2013.

After looking at the airfares something tells me that Scoot is the way to go but have I really thought about everything?

- Will they still be flying in November?
- What are the chances they will not fly on that Friday and make me miss my connection in SIN the next evening?
- Would it be comfortable to sit in aisle seat in the 3rd-4th row of economy as it is only $4 extra to choose these seats?

The flight I am looking at is OOL-SIN and costs $217 one-way with an extra $4 to choose seat and $6.50 credit card surcharge. I don't think I need any food and I can do without alcohol for a few hours. Any thoughts?

Then go for the $99 Business class Upgrade should make it more pleasant

 

[JohnK]

Then go for the $99 Business class Upgrade should make it more pleasant

Assuming I go ahead with flights and it is offered then i would not hesitate to partake in a $99 upgrade to business class!

 

[mannej]

Then go for the $99 Business class Upgrade should make it more pleasant

If you could call it that...