OskiBear

Hi All -

I'm hoping for some perspective/feedback from the group - and great wisdom as always!

I need to book a trip for my parents from Taipei to Singapore and back. They want to go to Singapore for a quick holiday while they are in Taipei for an extended visit with family.

I've flown JetStar in the past (it was perfectly fine) and I have an upcoming trip on TigerAir (so I'll get to experience that). I've never flown Scoot.

The prices seem fairly comparable. Is there any one that you would recommend over the other two? My parents are in their early-mid 70's. They speak English and Mandarin.

I think they are fairly competent travelers, but me being a nervous son, I don't like having anything left to chance when I'm not accompanying them.

Many thanks for any insight you can offer!

lcpteck

I've flown on both Jetstar and Scoot and found both to be fine.

adampenrith

Flown Scoot from Sydney to Singapore - for a LCC its pretty good - bigger plane 777 so maybe more comfortable than a Jetstar A320

AddictedTraveller

Haven't flown Scoot as yet, but I prefer Jetstar over Tigerir personally.

OskiBear

Thanks all - I'm going to have my TigerAir data point later this month and will advise parents.

Sounds like there isn't a massive difference between the three.

AddictedTraveller

Glad we could help, let us know your thoughts.

lcpteck

As far as planes go Jetstar and Tiger are mainly on A320s (3-3 configuration) while Scoot currently uses B772s (3-4-3).

In terms of pricing I still say Tiger do have some awesome promos. Scoot recently started adding in fuel surcharges on their promo fares which I've not seen before last year hence making the price a bit more expensive than previously. In terms of hardware Scoot is still newer.

bluegreentravel

Scoot is quite comfortable if you pre-pay for one of the yellow seats in the no-children cabin. Jetstar is a good option too. I find Tiger seats to be as hard as a rock, and leg space non-existent (but usually cheap).

Cathay & Philippine Airlines usually have a promo fare for this route, which is not much more expensive than the budget options if you factor in paying for baggage allowance etc. But of course there's the added hassle of a layover, but HKG and MNL (T2) are not so bad.

nanyang

Based on my experience, all 3 options would be perfectly fine.

I would recommend checking ScootBiz (bigger seats), which is likely to have a relatively low price point.

I would gladly pay a premium for that product (vs. Tiger, Jetstar Asia).

Guy Betsy

My advice : Avoid the LCCs for anything longer than an hour and a half ! I've just gotten off a Jetstar flight from PEN to SIN and those seats are squishy and tight. I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it will be for anything longer than 1.5 hours !!

The only thing I really hate about these LCCs are the fees they tag on for everything.. including so called 'credit card' charges per sector !!

You know, I just did , out of curiousity, compare between Jetstar and CX and you might want to try looking on CX's website for country Taiwan, and you might be pleasantly surprised at how affordable they are.

I just randomly took a date in March for travel within 2 weeks, and the lowest fare came to around TWD $ 10,100 which is around US$333 per person. Jetstar was already coming in at over TWD $11,050 and that was before the additional creditcard surcharge they tagged on !

CX doesn't charge extra for anything including cc fees when purchased online (just make sure your creditcard has security features eg Verify by Visa and Mastercard Secure, so that your parents do not need to produce the creditcard used to purchase the ticket.

You may ask for Meet and Assist , wheelchair assistance. And of course I need not remind you that meals are free on board and cabin crew will definitely speak Chinese. And even with the connection in HKG, it will overall be a much more pleasant experience than any LCC.

After all, they are your parents and you'd want the best for them , don't you?
(Yes, guilt trip there...)

You could also just redeem a couple of J tickets on CX for them too seeing you're AA EXP.

OskiBear

HaHa - thanks for the advice. They're already heading to TPE and back in J thanks to my miles.

I am somewhat reluctant to have them transit HKG again for what is 4-hour flight.

I will take a look at the Taiwan site for booking though - will the price be lower for all the airlines that way? I think China Airlines, EVA, and Singapore operate the route nonstop in addition to the LCC's?

I flew Jetstar a couple of years ago on an overnight from SIN-HKG and it wasn't too terrible and I'm 6'2"

bhomburg

Just a "beware" when it comes to Scoot. They currently have a quite nice product with decently-spacious-for-an-LCC seating even in their standard economy cabin.
BUT their current fleet of 772s will get phased out soon and replaced by 787s which will see world-record density levels. They will cram almost the same number of passengers that currently fit into their 772s into the much smaller 789. 3-3-3-seating and super-tight pitch, ouch!

Guy Betsy

Direct flights will always be more expensive than thru the airline's hub.

SQ would probably be cheaper than CI/BR because they are the country's airlines. But CX would still be cheaper and PR would be even cheaper.

hco

All of them are comparable according to me.

Too much travel

Jetstar and Scoot are fine. Tiger is an ultra-LCC: you get what you pay for (or, given experience of its cancellation record, you eventually get what you pay for).