Hi all!!

I am quite new to flyertalk, although I have been reading trip reports for quite a long while so I thought it would be a good idea to write one.

Firstly, I am a secondary school student from Singapore and I like to travel and take planes. As you all know, Singapore is a very well connected city with flights to almost anywhere. So yeap, a little introduction about myself and also hope you would enjoy the report! As it is my first one, I am not sure if it is good enough so do give comments!

This trip happened a long time ago so some details might not be up to date.

Date: 11 June 2013
Duration: Approximately 4 hours
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200 (ex SQ)
Registration: 9V-OTC (Goin Scootin)

Introduction

Scoot is a new low-cost no-frills airlines wholly owned by Singapore Airlines. I found the concept quite new and interesting. Moreover, after a comparison on SQ's website and theirs, I found that Scoot's Business Class (ScootBiz) is cheaper than SQ's Economy Class. Since I was planning to go Taipei with my family, I decided to give ScootBiz a try.

Booking

Booking was done through Scoot's website. The website is clean and easy to use. Being a low-cost carrier, they had many options which includes meals, amenity kits, baggage etc. However, since I was booking ScootBiz, meals, baggage, IFE are all included.

Pre-Flight

Scoot departs from Changi Airport Terminal 2. Check-in was a breeze as I am entitled to priority check-in. As it was the rush hour at Changi, security took quite long but other than that, the whole experience was quite good. Changi Airport is a fantastic airport, however the reflective glass panes made it very hard to take pictures of planes. Scoot uses a unrefurbished gate at Changi so the boarding room looks quite dated. Boarding was again, a breeze as I had priority boarding.

Landside @ Changi Airport T2

Thanks to ScootBiz, I had priority Check-In.

Two Silkairs and her big brother.

Etihad and Transasia (the reflective glass strikes again!)

The dated boarding lounge

On Board

I was greeted by a smile and brought to my seat, a plus point for Scoot! The seat was not the usual business class, rather a premium economy class. With 38 inch of seat pitch, the leather seats were quite comfortable. A plus point was the adjustable head-rests as I could adjust it to fit my posture. IFE was on a pre-loaded iPad but as it was a late night flight, I did not get a chance to use it. The crew were very friendly and the purser told me that she was formally from SQ! Well, I guess the standards can't differ too much as these crew were trained using the SQ method.

A peek behind into S-T-R-E-C-H seats

The view outside my window

ScootBiz Cabin Shots

Obligatory legroom shot!


Seatback details

Pushback & Scenes from the tarmac

Pushback was initiated just 1 minute after the scheduled departure time, we passed by many aircraft such as a JA 787, KE 772 and of course many MI and SQ planes. Unfortunately, the irritating reflection prevented me from taking any pictures of planes and the takeoff. After a short taxi to the runway, engines were spooled up and off we go, starting a 4 hour red-eye flight to Taipei.

Pushback commences

Ready to go!

IFE

Well, being a budget carrier, you can't expect much of an entertainment right? Fret not, ScootBiz ticket comes with complimentary ScooTV (Scoot's IFE) streamed onto your tablet or computers. Alternatively, you can rent a tablet from Scoot at a fee. Seatback contents are the normal ones you get, an airline magazine, Food and Beverage brochure, IFE guide, safety card and vomit bag.

Food (yay!)

The food that I got for this sector is pretty underwhelming as compared to even economy class food on SQ. However, doing justice to Scoot since it's a budget carrier, the food is one of the best I could fine on a LCC. There is 1 complimentary set meal for ScootBiz, and the set meal consist of a main dish, canned drink and a bottle of pringles. I chose the Braised Chicken Rice. The chicken was fine but the rice was a tad mushy. For the drinks, you can choose from the beverage menu so I chose a ginger tea (or something like that). One pet peeve that I have is that the plastic wrapping over the food was very hard to peel it off. I had to use the (plastic) knife to poke a hole through it to peel it off. However, a plus point is that you can choose the time that you want to have your meal, either after takeoff or before landing.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the food as I was too tired and hungry. Haha will post Scoot's food on the next trip report!

Landing & Disembarkation

We landed at Taipei on the dawn of 11 June. Landing was smooth and we soon taxi to our gate. Disembarkation was prompt as there was priority for business class. However, immigration took quite awhile as that was the peak period, with many flights arriving from China reaching Taoyuan International. After immigration, we finally stepped into Taiwan for the 2nd time in 6 months. Fun is about to start!

Conclusion

Scoot definitely didn't disappoint me. Being an arm of Singapore Airlines, it lived up to it's service standards. Given the cheap price even for their business class, I would most definitely fly on Scoot again in the near future.

Scores

Cabin & Ambience: 8/10 (clean and funky look)
Seat: 9/10 (very good for an economy class flyer)
Food: 6/10 (quite underwhelming, could be better)
Service: 8/10 (not bad)
IFE: 5/10 (no PTVs!!!!)

Overall: 7.2/10
Scootin off,
9VSWU

p.s. will post the return trip (with more photos) shortly