Review of Scoot Airlines

My review of Scoot Airlines gives you everything you need to know before you fly with Scoot, including short haul, long haul, economy and Scoot Plus.

Here I review Scoot airlines following a few flights taken in the last few weeks. This review is based on the following Scoot flights:

• Singapore to Phuket (plus return flight) in Economy
• Singapore to Sydney in Scoot Plus

When considering whether to fly Scoot airlines, bear in mind that it is a low cost airline and so you can’t compare it to full-service airlines such as Singapore Airlines or Qantas which have all the bells and whistles.

As with other budget airlines, the cost of your flight includes the bare minimum, allowing you to add and pay for the extras you want and need – eg. meals, check-in luggage, WiFi, extra leg room etc.

Read on for my honest review based on my personal experience with Scoot.

Scoot airlines review – Economy short haul

Flights: Singapore to Phuket (and Phuket to Singapore) onboard the Airbus A320.
Duration: approximately 1.5 hours.

The Seats

Seats on board this Scoot flight are pretty basic with an 18 inch seat width and 31 inch seat pitch. Honestly they’re not overly comfy, but it was fine for a short flight. I wouldn’t want to do a long haul flight in this seat.

Leg room was fine for me (I am around 5 feet 7 inches) but if you are tall, you would probably be better trying to upgrade to a Super Seat or Stretch Seat.

*Note that most long haul flights with Scoot are on board the Dreamliner 787 and have wider, more padded seats so they would be more comfortable. (see image below under Scoot Plus review)

There are no TV screens and no in-flight entertainment, so I recommend being organised and downloading any movies or TV shows you want to watch do your laptop, phone or iPad before you fly.

If you want more leg room you can choose to upgrade to a Super Seat (30% more legroom) or a Stretch Seat (bulk head seats with 50% more legroom).

If you get on board and decide you don’t have enough room, they were offering for people to upgrade to their roomier seats for $35 on my flight.

The Food

Scoot meals are based on local Singapore hawker food, with choices such as Nasi Lemak, Herbal Chicken with Mixed Brown Rice, and Ginger Teriyaki Chicken with Rice.

They also offer Cup Noodles and a random selection of snacks such as Truffle Chips, Grape Jelly, Crispy Seaweed with Almond Slices. Plus, of course, everyone’s favourite airline snack: Pringles.

There is the usual selection of soft drinks and tea/coffee. Alcoholic drinks are limited to a choice of three beers (Asahi Dry, Asahi Black and Tiger), red wine, white wine, Johnnie Walker black label whiskey and, randomly, Yuzu Sake Jelly Shots! (I’m still regretting not trying one of those.)

WiFi

WiFi is available on board all Dreamliner flights and some Airbus A320s.

There is a choice of three WiFi plans you can buy. You can pay for this onboard, but it costs 20% less if you pre-purchase this via ‘Manage my Booking’ on the Scoot website up to 4 hours before your fly.

• Tweet 20: 20MB of data, suitable for messaging and texting.
• Surf 80: 80MB of data, suitable for web browsing and social media.
• Indulge 200: 200MB of data, suitable for email, web browsing and music streaming.

I didn’t use the WiFi for this short haul flight, but I used my complementary allowance in ScootPlus when I flew Singapore to Sydney (see below).

Scoot Plus Review

• Flight: Singapore to Sydney onboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
• Duration: approximately 8 hours.

I chose to fly with Scoot from Singapore to Sydney, based not only on budget but based on the fact that I didn’t want to do an overnight flight.

Nearly all other airlines flying that leg were offering overnight flights (I believe Singapore Airlines had a day flight that day but the cost was more than triple that of Scoot).

I don’t sleep well on planes and that 8-hour flight while moving forward 3 hours in time can be brutal. So I decided that I would rather fly on a day flight with a budget airline than overnight in Economy on a non- low cost carrier.

I had originally booked an Economy ticket with Scoot but I was given the chance to bid to upgrade via email a couple of days before my flight. I bid the minimum amount ($195) and was successful. Hooray. So now I can review Scoot Plus for you too.

Top Tip: -While I scored my Scoot Plus ticket by using “Bid for ScootPlus”, it is definitely worth checking the price difference when booking your flight in the first place. When I booked mine, the additional cost was significant. But I know some people have only paid an extra $200.

Additionally, if Scoot Plus is not fully booked, the Scoot airlines cabin crew give people the opportunity to pay extra while on board to upgrade. The cost of this was $200 on my flight.

In my experience I would say that paying the extra money to upgrade to Scoot Plus for a long-haul flight is definitely worth it.

Scoot Economy vs Scoot Plus

So what do you get for your money if you upgrade to ScootPlus? There’s no business class on Scoot, instead they have Scoot Plus. It’s more like Premium Economy.

This is what you get in Scoot Plus vs Economy:

• Wide premium leather seat with double the legroom
• 30kg check-in baggage
• 15kg cabin bag allowance (vs 10kg in Economy)
• One hot meal/light meal of your choice during the flight
• 30MB Wi-Fi voucher (where available)
• In-seat power
• Board Me First – priority boarding

Flying Scoot Plus

Here I break down my experience on board Scoot Plus:

The Seat

Scoot Plus seats on board the Dreamliner are large comfy leather seats, 22 inches wide. They have double the legroom than Economy. For me, this seat was definitely worth the $200 upgrade for an 8-hour flight.

The seat reclines 6 inches and has a tray table that folds out from the arm rest. The seat also has power with an international socket so you can plug in any devices to charge while you fly. There is also has a small fold-out leg rest.

Top Tip: There are no TV screens and no in-flight entertainment, so be organised and download any movies or TV shows you want to watch do your laptop, phone or iPad before you fly.

Seats in the Scoot Plus cabin are in a 2-3-2 configuration, and with just five rows in the cabin, this meant there were 35 seats in this section, making it feel pretty exclusive.

The Food

Your Scoot Plus ticket includes your choice of hot food or a light meal, plus one complimentary drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic).

Scoot meals are based on local Singapore hawker food, with choices such as Nasi Lemak, Herbal Chicken with Mixed Brown Rice, and Ginger Teriyaki Chicken with Rice.

I opted to try the Dahl Curry with Basmati Rice. I’ll be honest – it didn’t look too appealing in its microwave-packaging and it was actually a little bland.

It reminded me of airline food twenty years ago. Never mind. It did come with a little packet of chocolate cookies, which was a bonus.

The rest of the menu is the same as in my Economy review above: ie. selection of soft drinks, limited alcoholic drinks and a random selection of snacks.

Top Tip: I would recommend bringing a few of your own snacks with you for a longer flight.

In-flight WiFi

Everyone in the Scoot Plus cabin was given a voucher for a free 30MB WiFi data session. This was fine to check emails or reply to WhatsApp messages, but it wasn’t enough to load any photos on Facebook or to load any web pages.

You can choose to pay for additional WiFi plans (see above for more details).

The Cabin Crew

With only 35 seats in our Scoot Plus cabin, we were lucky to have two dedicated flight attendants, meaning service was pretty slick.

I found the crew professional, efficient and friendly. They were also very flexible – I hadn’t pre-ordered my meal and I wasn’t ready to eat when we got on board.

The flight attendant was happy to take my order and bring it to me when I was ready. I also noticed them serving drinks to everyone efficiently.

And I take my hat off to the one crew member who had to deal with a very difficult passenger. This man was complaining extensively about something that as far as I could tell was all his own doing. He refused to let the matter lie to the point that everyone in the cabin was getting annoyed with him.

The cabin crew member was patient, polite and professional throughout the entire ordeal. Bravo.

Scoot destinations

Scoot fly both short haul around Asia (various cities in China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia among others) and long haul to countries such as Australia, Greece, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

They are always adding new destinations too.

Click here to see their full list of destinations.

Scoot flight schedule

Scoot operate daily flights between Singapore and Sydney, Perth, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Bali, Jakarta and many other cities. They offer multiple flights per week to many other destinations.

Click here to check their full flight schedule.

Top Tips for Flying Scoot

Based on my experience flying with Scoot, here are some top tips to help you get the most out of your flight:

• Download entertainment onto your device before you go as there is no in-flight entertainment.
• Bring a power bank to charge your devices as there is no USB charging provided.
• Scoot Plus seats do have power sockets so bring along your charging cable.
• Pack a few snacks. While officially outside food is not allowed, food and snack options on board are limited.
• Bring a blanket or pillow to make the flight more comfortable.
• Consider upgrading. Upgrade options include the Scoot Plus cabin, Super Seats and Stretch Seats in Economy and MaxYourSpace, where you can purchase up to two empty seats next to you.

FAQs