For my recent post-reopening trip to Japan, I opted to hop on a Scoot flight to Osaka Kansai. The main reason I chose this flight was because a good friend was part of the operating tech crew and had a two day layover in Kansai, so it was good opportunity to catch up and hang out. It’s also been quite awhile since I’d been on Scoot’s 787. The last time I’d flown Scoot’s 787 was on the inaugural service to Perth in 2015, and back to Singapore the next day. Back then, ScootPlus was called ScootBiz. Considering it’s been seven years, I thought it would be interesting to see what has changed, if anything.
Booking
For this flight, I bought a one-way ticket to Osaka for SGD502.70. I also added MultiFlex to my booking for SGD25, in case of any unforeseen events or if my friend had changes to his roster. While it was unnecessary in the end, I’m somewhat pleased to see Scoot offering flexibility, albeit at a cost. Considering I booked just over two weeks prior to departure and I was entering after Japan’s reopening, I thought this was was fair price to pay for ScootPlus.
ScootPlus comes with a hot meal, priority boarding, and 30kg of checked baggage plus 15kg of cabin baggage. Seat selection is free of charge as well. As a Krisflyer Elite Gold member, I also got an additional 5kg of checked baggage. Meal selection could be done as part of the booking flow. However when I tried to change my choice subsequently, the system constantly reverted to my original choice. After a few unsuccessful tries on both mobile and desktop, I gave up and resigned myself to my original meal choice.
Check-in and Boarding
My flight to Osaka, TR818, departed at a rather terrible 6.25am in the morning. I had departed for Tokyo-Narita on ANA at a similar timing back in February, and that had been torturous enough even with a flat-bed seat to rest during the flight. The drop-off outside Changi Terminal 1, where Scoot operates from, and the Scoot check-in area itself, were both jam-packed. This was not entirely unexpected, given Scoot has quite a number of early morning departures.
Fortunately the line moved quickly, A couple of staff enquire each passenger’s destination and perform a quick documentation, before the passenger is allowed into the check-in area. In my case, for Osaka I was only asked for a vaccination certificate. Being a low-cost carrier (LCC), check-in is mostly done at kiosks, except for certain destinations e.g. China, and for special checked luggage. Given the snaking queue, I had no intention or need to bother with a manned counter. There were plenty of available check-in and bag drop kiosks, so the whole process didn’t take more than a couple of minutes. The most time I spent was properly securing the bag tag. The last time I had to self-tag a bag, the bag didn’t get loaded. Admittedly that was United in the USA, but I’m convinced my butchered job of attaching the bag tag played a part.
There was no lines for the automated gates at immigration and for once the facial recognition was quick. Scoot doesn’t provide lounge access for ScootPlus or SIA KF status passengers, so I just killed time trying to find a breakfast joint that didn’t have a long line, which was impossible. I could have burned a Priority Pass visit on the SATS or Marhaba lounges in T1, but having used both previously, neither really appealed to me that morning.
As it turned out, I had a plenty of time to queue for breakfast ultimately. At 5.25am, my friend texted me that there would be an aircraft and hence gate change. That didn’t end up delaying us since nothing had been loaded on the original aircraft, but the atrocious weather led to halt of all loading activity. Boarding ended up being delayed to 6.35am, 10min after our scheduled departure time. Boarding started with elderly and families with young children, before ScootPlus and other passengers who purchased “BoardMeFirst”.
The passenger load was around 55%, so boarding was fairly quick. Cargo loading took a little than boarding in fact. We eventually pushed back at just past 7am in the morning, and after a long taxi to runway 20L we took off at 7.19am.
Onboard
ScootPlus Seat
My seat 3K was the window seat in the last row on the right side of the ScootPlus cabin. Waiting at my seat was a water cup. Originally 3H beside me was taken as well, however that passenger decided to move to the middle block to sit with his family. (I don’t get why they didn’t just select the three seats together initially?)
The ScootPlus cabin on this 787-8 was arranged in three rows of 2-3-2, for a total of 21 seats. ScootPlus seats are basically like full-service premium economy seats. The seats are 22in wide, with a pitch of 38in and recline of 6in
There’s nothing too fancy about the seat. It’s reasonably well-padded, with good recline and frankly quite comfortable, at least for a medium-haul daytime flight. There’s a couple of basic seat controls for the recline and footrest. With no in-seat IFE, there’s just buttons for the reading light and crew call.
In-seat power is available as well. It’s free for ScootPlus, however for Economy it costs extra to activate the in-seat power.
The bi-fold tray table is stored in the armrest. I didn’t test it out with my laptop, but it definitely didn’t feel sturdy enough for heavy typing.
Overall, the seat was adequate for this 6h or so daytime flight to Osaka. I have no intention of testing it, but I’d imagine a long haul to Athens or Berlin should be tolerable as well. Perhaps a footrest would be a nice addition, but otherwise it’s fairly comfortable for the price paid. I was able to get a couple hours of rest, and felt sufficiently energised for a half day in Osaka despite the early departure, so I guess the seat did its job.
Meal Service
ScootPlus comes with a meal, and after boarding a crew member came round to confirm my online order of nasi lemak. As mentioned earlier, I had tried several times to change this online, to no avail. The crew member informed me that meal service would be around 1030 to 11am Singapore time, or approximately 2.5h before landing. This was purportedly to allow passengers to rest first. Personally, I would have preferred meal service either at the start of the flight, or closer to landing. I’m sure closer to landing would be possible, since the meal service isn’t an elaborate multi-course service. 2.5h before landing is roughly midway through a 6h flight, which doesn’t allow for longer uninterrupted rest. If anything, meal service after takeoff would be better. It might also give rise to more ancillary revenue for Scoot, as passengers may get hungry/thirsty closer to landing and make purchases.
Meal service duly began around 1045am. Each meal was brought out individually from the galley. The crew started from the left side. Seated in 3K, I was the last passenger to be served. The meal comes with a choice of complimentary drink, and also a side of chocolate cookies.
The nasi lemak is a retort meal, so I wasn’t expecting much. Visually it didn’t look great, taste-wise the rice wasn’t lemak enough, but at least it was partially saved by the curry and sambal which were reasonably flavourful at least. Not an option I’d go for again though. Scoot does offer some cooked chilled items, as well as the a couple of the paper box items that SIA serves on short haul economy. I reckon those are probably better choices, and I would have gotten one of those if the system had saved my changes.
Entertainment, WiFi and Amenities
Scoot doesn’t offer inbuilt IFE, but it does offer a games on its inflight web portal ScootHub. Passengers can also browse the inflight catalogue on ScootHub, and view the flight map. The lack of flight map is one of my pet peeves when flying LCCs, so this was a nice feature.
ScootPlus also get 30MB of inflight WiFi allowance. A voucher with an access code was given out to passengers. However on this flight, the inflight WiFi was not working.
In terms of amenities, well none are provided. On medium and long haul flights, I would recommend bringing a jacket or blanket onboard. Blankets are not complimentary, even in ScootPlus. While the cabin wasn’t too cold, I’m one of those who sleeps more comfortably covered up, so this was one item I missed onboard.
Arrival
Despite departing Changi nearly an hour late, we touched down in Kansai only 5min late. Unfortunately, this put us behind a HK Express and Cathay Pacific flight from HKG. We landed on the newer runway 06L, which was a long 10min taxi to the gate in Terminal 1. I’ve detailed the arrival process in my earlier post on travelling to a reopened Japan, so I won’t repeat the details here. Suffice to say I was impressed by the level of staffing Kansai Airport had for processing of quarantine requirements and at immigration. To go from plane to bus in 25min is highly impressive. I will emphasise again though, do complete the MySOS/ Visit Japan Web submissions for quarantine Fast Track. It will save a lot of time. I will also encourage doing the electronic customs declaration, as this can be another time saver, especially if arriving at peak times.
Conclusion
I’ll admit I rarely fly LCC. That said, ScootPlus is reasonably comfortable way to travel, at least medium haul. Considering the price I paid is less than half of my SIA economy ticket for my upcoming Tokyo trip, this flight was not a bad deal at all. Ok the meals aren’t great, however the additional legroom and recline might be worth more. There’s no lounge access either, but that’s something that can be solved with the right credit cards anyway.
Has anything changed since the ScootBiz days? Other than branding, everything was pretty much the same. The seat is the same, meal service is still basic. There’s some improvements with the introduction of complimentary WiFi, ScootHub and frequent flyer perks for KF members, but those aren’t exclusive to ScootPlus. That’s not a criticism, Scoot is no-frills, and the product is clearly geared towards that.
At a similar price level, I would give serious consideration to ScootPlus over economy on a full service carrier. The soft product is admittedly very LCC, but the hard product is more comfortable than any economy.
Have you flown ScootPlus? How was your experience? Let me know in the comments!