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Singapore Airline's fully owned medium/long-haul low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, had launched its flights for slightly more than a month since. Apart from the initial destinations of Sydney and Gold Coast, it had also started flights to Bangkok in July, with Tianjin, Taipei and Tokyo coming up soon. With the 1x daily BKK flights launched to capture the lucrative Oz-Thailand market, it offered me a chance to try out this new kid on the block on a short-haul sector for a weekend jaunt. Prices were offered from $78 all-in one-way in economy, which was rather attractive, considering the tickets were booked barely 2 weeks before the flight. However the return was booked on Jetstar as it offered the lowest fares on my return date.
Scoot only offered a single daily flight, departing at 1725hrs to Bangkok. This allowed me to work for half a day prior to my flight. Scoot utilizes Terminal 2, which offers a far more pleasant airport experience than Budget Terminal. However from late Sept, all the airlines in Budget terminal are also going to move to T2, which I foresee T2 becoming really busy!
Checking in for the flight. No online check-in is available. 4 counters were opened and the queue moved fast. I only had a hand-carry baggage and it was weighed and tagged as a cabin bag. Scoot is really serious about weight and size of carry-ons!
Proceeded through the efficient immigration and went up to the Sunflower to catch a glimpse of the Scoot aircraft. Most planes on the tarmac were SQs and MIs, with the lone yellow Scoot parked all the way at the end at Gate F42.
Scoot with its big brothers. 9V-OTA (ex 9V-SQA) would be operating the flight today! I flew on this exact plane on its 5th day into service with SQ on SIN-PEN in 1997!
Scoot issues proper boarding passes, but it was all in black and white.
More plane spotting from the terminal. Other than SQ A333s, the next common plane was SQ B772s.
Finally an interesting arrival! Lufthansa A380 arriving from Frankfurt!
Departures from T2. All seemed to be regional flights.
After having a light bite at a cafe, I proceeded to the far end of the pier to the gate at F42.
12 July 2012
Scoot
TZ 302
Singapore (SIN) - Bangkok (BKK)
B777-200
9V-OTA "Barry"
Economy Class
Proceeded into the very big gatehold room, which was apparently A380-ready. With Scoot's B772s seating up to 400 pax, the gatehold room filled up rather quickly. It would prove to be a rather full flight with mainly Singaporeans on short weekend trips!
9V-OTA hidden behind the boarding bridges.
Boarding was soon announced, starting from ScootBiz, followed by rows from the rear of the plane. Even though no staff was seen enforcing the boarding by rows, passengers apparently cooperated with the announcements and boarded only when rows were called. Was welcomed aboard and directed down the aisle to me seat at 60A. The refurbished cabin looked fresh and clean, with no signs that this is actually a 15-yr old plane! However the aisles are really tiny! Guess the width of the aisles have to be sacrificed in order to fit in 10-abreast. Normal seats were in blue while "Super" or "Stretch" seats with more legroom were in yellow.
Friendly crew were welcoming us passengers onboard but they were not too proactive in assisting with hand-carry luggage. However no problems here as most pax were on the start of the trip and thus not much luggage too. Settled into my seat at 60A. First impression, seat pitch seemed not bad for a supposedly 31" pitch. Width was tight, but felt slightly wider than KLM's seats on their B773ERs (see my previous report). There was a cupholder on the tray table and a really tiny seat pocket. No headrest, footrest and of course no PTVs.
Items in the seat pocket. Inflight mag "Scoot", safety card, BOB menu "EAT", duty free "Scootalogue" and iPad IFE guide "ScooTV".
Scoot only offered a single daily flight, departing at 1725hrs to Bangkok. This allowed me to work for half a day prior to my flight. Scoot utilizes Terminal 2, which offers a far more pleasant airport experience than Budget Terminal. However from late Sept, all the airlines in Budget terminal are also going to move to T2, which I foresee T2 becoming really busy!
Checking in for the flight. No online check-in is available. 4 counters were opened and the queue moved fast. I only had a hand-carry baggage and it was weighed and tagged as a cabin bag. Scoot is really serious about weight and size of carry-ons!
Proceeded through the efficient immigration and went up to the Sunflower to catch a glimpse of the Scoot aircraft. Most planes on the tarmac were SQs and MIs, with the lone yellow Scoot parked all the way at the end at Gate F42.
Scoot with its big brothers. 9V-OTA (ex 9V-SQA) would be operating the flight today! I flew on this exact plane on its 5th day into service with SQ on SIN-PEN in 1997!
Scoot issues proper boarding passes, but it was all in black and white.
More plane spotting from the terminal. Other than SQ A333s, the next common plane was SQ B772s.
Finally an interesting arrival! Lufthansa A380 arriving from Frankfurt!
Departures from T2. All seemed to be regional flights.
After having a light bite at a cafe, I proceeded to the far end of the pier to the gate at F42.
12 July 2012
Scoot
TZ 302
Singapore (SIN) - Bangkok (BKK)
B777-200
9V-OTA "Barry"
Economy Class
Proceeded into the very big gatehold room, which was apparently A380-ready. With Scoot's B772s seating up to 400 pax, the gatehold room filled up rather quickly. It would prove to be a rather full flight with mainly Singaporeans on short weekend trips!
9V-OTA hidden behind the boarding bridges.
Boarding was soon announced, starting from ScootBiz, followed by rows from the rear of the plane. Even though no staff was seen enforcing the boarding by rows, passengers apparently cooperated with the announcements and boarded only when rows were called. Was welcomed aboard and directed down the aisle to me seat at 60A. The refurbished cabin looked fresh and clean, with no signs that this is actually a 15-yr old plane! However the aisles are really tiny! Guess the width of the aisles have to be sacrificed in order to fit in 10-abreast. Normal seats were in blue while "Super" or "Stretch" seats with more legroom were in yellow.
Friendly crew were welcoming us passengers onboard but they were not too proactive in assisting with hand-carry luggage. However no problems here as most pax were on the start of the trip and thus not much luggage too. Settled into my seat at 60A. First impression, seat pitch seemed not bad for a supposedly 31" pitch. Width was tight, but felt slightly wider than KLM's seats on their B773ERs (see my previous report). There was a cupholder on the tray table and a really tiny seat pocket. No headrest, footrest and of course no PTVs.
Items in the seat pocket. Inflight mag "Scoot", safety card, BOB menu "EAT", duty free "Scootalogue" and iPad IFE guide "ScooTV".
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