Scoot 787-9 Economy Class Review (Singapore-Sydney)

Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, has been a mainstay in Australian skies for over a decade now. It currently operates flights from Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast to Singapore. From there, you can connect to various destinations in Asia or even through to Europe. Note that the Gold Coast service is being discontinued from 17 July 2023.

I needed to fly home after hopping through Southeast Asia for a few weeks, and Scoot were less than half the price of the next-best non-stop option. I did splurge on some add-ons to enhance my Scoot Economy experience, including a “Scoot-in-Silence” seat.

So, how comfortable is Scoot’s Economy Class service on its Singapore to Sydney flight? Find out as I review flight TR2.

(First, a little bit of trivia: Singapore – Sydney was Scoot’s first route in 2012, originally served by ex-Singapore Airlines 777-200ER aircraft. As such, this could be considered their flagship route, although the flight numbers are TR2 and TR3, which is confusing…)

Flight Details

Flight number	TR2
Route	Singapore (SIN) to Sydney (SYD)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-9
Class of travel	Economy
Seat number	9A
On-time performance	We arrived 10min early
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

For the base fare, I paid SGD228.28 (~AU$256) for a one-way Scoot Economy ticket on this flight. I also purchased several add-ons:

• Priority boarding (“Board me first”) for SGD6 (~AU$7)
• Quiet zone extra-legroom seat (“Scoot-in-Silence”) for SGD40 (~AU$45)
• Onboard meal for SGD18.50 (~AU$21)

This brought the total to SGD292.78 (~AU$328).

You can technically use KrisFlyer miles on Scoot, although this represents poor value because the redemption rates are tied to the cost of the flight. You can also earn KrisFlyer miles at a ratio of 1 KrisFlyer mile per Singapore Dollar spent on Scoot flights.

It’s worth noting that Scoot will attempt to force its own dynamic currency conversion when booking on the Scoot website. To avoid this and the extra costs, change to the currency of the point of origin when booking.

Airport Experience

Changi Airport Terminal 1 was busy at 10pm when I arrived, with fairly long queues at the bag drop and manual check-in counters.

However, there are dozens of self-serve kiosks surrounding the check-in counter.

As I only had a carry-on (Scoot offer a generous 10kg carry on allowance), I was able to print my boarding pass from the kiosk and head straight into the departures area.

Most Scoot passengers, including those with KrisFlyer status, do not get complimentary lounge access. Only Solitaire PPS club members are eligible for lounge access on Scoot, at Changi Terminal 2 and other ports where there is a SilverKris lounge. But if you have Priority Pass, you can access one of three lounges at Changi Terminal 1.

For those without lounge access, there are lots of shops and food options open even late at night. Also, there are plentiful charging ports and usb outlets built directly into benches.

Changi Airport does security screening at the gate, although the line was non-existent. There were water refill stations scattered within the gate lounge, but no toilets.

Boarding commenced slightly later than advertised, with boarding groups strictly enforced.

The Hard Product

Scoot offers an extremely dense 787-9 configuration, with 340 economy seats arranged in a 3-3-3 layout. There are also 35 “ScootPlus” recliner seats in a 2-3-2 layout at the front of the aircraft.

The “Scoot-in-Silence” zone sits right behind the ScootPlus cabin for a total of 45 seats, in a sort of mini cabin.

Only travellers aged 12+ can select seats here in order to maintain this quiet zone. However, there is nothing stopping younger children from being in ScootPlus, of which I heard at least two on this flight.

The seat was on the narrow side, but had very good legroom at around 34 inches of seat pitch, allowing me to sit easily without my knees touching the seat in front. For what it’s worth, the standard Scoot Economy seat has around 31 inches of pitch.

The seat was decently padded and had an adjustable headrest. The Scoot-in-Silence cabin was only around 50% full – another benefit of paying the extra money – and I had a spare middle seat next to me.

There was an entertaining moment when two people sat themselves down in some spare Scoot-in-Silence seats. The flight attendants promptly called them out and sent them to their assigned seats in the main Economy cabin.

A limited amount of mobile games and a flight map were accessible via a QR code. You could also browse duty-free and the in-flight menu.

Wi-FI, provided by Panasonic, was available with data caps at an exorbitant cost. For example, Scoot charges USD15 (~AU$22) for just 200MB of data if you purchase it before boarding the plane. The onboard price for 200MB is an even more ridiculous USD32.99 (~AU49).

Power outlets were available underneath each seat, although Scoot charges between SGD5-11 (~AU$5-12) for their use.

The Soft Product

The flight attendants, or “Scooties” as the airline calls them, were efficient and professional throughout the flight. I was woken up for the meal service which took place roughly four hours after take-off, as I pre-purchased a black pepper beef meal. This was accompanied with either a soft drink or water, and ice cream.

The meal tasted fine, although oily. It was a little tough to spoon the beef on to the rice in my sleepy state, but I managed.

My big complaint was the timing of the service. With a 2am departure time from Singapore, I don’t understand why it wasn’t done either at the start or the end of the flight.

I had slept about three hours prior to being woken up, but after the service it was very difficult to fall back asleep. The cabin was kept bright until the service concluded, and after this, the sun had risen enough to render the Dreamliner’s window dimmers ineffective.

Arrival Experience

The flight landed into Sydney at 10:45, 50 minutes early. Unfortunately, we were held on the taxiway for a gate until 11:25.

Immigration in Sydney was super fast, as most people go to the first set of e-passport kiosks available. The signage continues to be awful, but there are actually several more banks of kiosks right up to the “SmartGates”.

I did have to go through a customs check as I was in Indonesia in the last week. This check consisted of being asked if I had anything wet in my bag, and then being sent on my way.

Wilson McTaggart

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.