Hello and welcom to my Scoot review, the Low Cost Little Sister of Singapore Airlines. Beginning operations out of Singapore Changi Airport in 2012, Scoot now have a fleet of 57 aircraft (at time of writing) aircraft. They operate on both long and short haul routes, serving more budget-oriented routes and markets where the premium Singapore Airlines doesn’t make sense. Whilst budget airlines are great at democratising travel for everyone, part of me suspects by offering a lacklustre budget airline, more people will be tempted to upgrade to Singapore Airlines. In this review, I’ll explore if that’s true.
We booked this flight from Hanoi to Singapore through Singapore Airlines as part of a larger London to Hanoi return ticket. I reviewed the previous Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Hanoi in an Airbus A350 here. To put it simply, it was much much better and a whole world above Scoot. Though it’s worth mentioning one perk of booking Scoot through the Singapore Airlines website is that a meal and baggage are included for free. Usually you would have to pay extra for this on Scoot. Also, please check out my Youtube review too!
Hanoi Airport
Hanoi Nội Bài International Airport is Vietnam’s 2nd busiest airport after Saigon, serving about 30 million passengers a year. International flights are operated out of the new Terminal 2, which opened in 2014. There’s not really much else to say about Hanoi Noi Bai Airport’s International Terminal. It’s functional and has a few shops and restaurants. Also, helpfully the gate for today’s flight was right next to the runway. This meant only about a minute of taxiing, which I suppose isn’t significant in the grand scheme of things. I just find long taxi times really boring and the delay is annoying. Below is a view from Google Earth showing the newer international terminal on the left. Then the (slightly) older domestic terminal on the right. From what I saw the top runway is used for landings, whilst the lower runway is used for takeoffs:
The Plane & Seat
Scoot operate a fleet of just two aircraft types: The Airbus A320 for short haul routes and the Boeing 787 for long haul routes. Our plane was a 4.3 year old Airbus A320neo (registered 9V-TNB). Each aircraft also has an amusing name, today’s plane being called “Go Go Tamago” (Tamago is egg in Japanese).
The seat meanwhile is pretty bad. You can see the full seat map in my Youtube video above, or check it out on Seat Guru here. At 28″ of seat pitch and 18″ wide it’s about as small as any seat you can find on any airline. For comparison, Vietnam Airlines have 32″ of seat pitch, allowing for 4″ extra legroom. I reviewed their excellent A321 Economy Class here if you want to see more. The seats are also uncomfortable, hard leather means any more than a few hours will start to hurt your butt. And if you’re tall you’ll stuggle to find a comfortable position to sit. There’s also no seat back pocket to store your personal belongings which is just annoying. Again, compared to Singapore Airlines A350 Economy which we took to Hanoi, this is so much worse.
Food
As this flight was booked through Singapore Airlines, a meal was included for free. However, strangely there was no choice (despite them having a large menu). We were given the Oriental Treasure Rice which Scoot describe as “Succulent oven-baked chicken, chestnut, oriental sausage and mushrooms served on a bed of savoury fragrant rice.” In reality it tasted like Chinese medicine. Which if you’ve had before you’d know is a very unique, and not very tasty flavour.
The meal also came with a bottle of water and these Blueberry and Vanilla cookies. The cookies where fine and the water is always nice to have. Overall a very average meal service. Perhaps some other main meals are tasty, but the Oriental Treasure Rice is definitely an acquired taste. Though I can’t really complain as the meal was free.
Final Thoughts
To sum up my Scoot review, it is just like any other budget airline. They don’t really do anything to differentiate themselves from budget airlines around the world. Whether you’re flying Ryanair in Europe, Spirit in USA or Scoot in South East Asia, you’ll have pretty much the same experience. The seat is cramped, you’ll have to pay for any extras, service is lacklustre etc. If you’re fine with that and want to travel for as cheap and no thrills as possible then Scoot could be for you. If you want anything better than the bare minimum I would look elseware.
So my advice… if given the choice, definitely choose Singapore Airlines over Scoot. Whilst the individual flight might be much more expensive, if you book a connecting flight the price is likely to be the same. For example, this return flight from London to Hanoi via Singapore cost £1,300 on a flexible fare. The price would have been the same regardless of this Hanoi to Singapore leg being on Scoot or Singapore Airlines. We just chose Scoot as it allowed for a much short layover.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- Singapore Airlines Fantastic Regional Business – Saigon to Singapore on a 787-10
- Singapore Airlines Economy from London to Singapore – As Good as People Say?
- Vietnam Airlines Economy Refreshing Airbus A321 Trip Report
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- The Platinum Card – You Receive 65,000 Membership Reward points and a £200 travel credit after spending £6,000 in the first 6 months (for a limited time until June 2023): https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 8,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEG42lN?CPID=100503089