Don’t be fooled by the advertising that Scoot is part of the Singapore Airlines Group. While technically correct (they are wholly owned by Singapore Airlines), the only commonality is that both airline names start with a capital “S”, they allow passengers to accrue KrisFlyer Miles and their pricing is on the high side compared to their peers.
Scoot in particular does NOT offer:
- Reliable services (neither flight plan nor baggage handling can be relied on)
- Friendly staff assisted check-in (passengers and baggage – all is DIY)
- Comfortable travel experiences
- Orderly and well managed security checks and boarding processes
- Consistent delivery of paid check in baggage on the same flight as the traveller
- Any form of useful customer service (only standard useless AI type phrases)
Scoot offers:
- Poorly maintained and filthy planes
- On the positive, they fly to some interesting destinations that are unfortunately not served by more reliable operators (SIN-Manado is one of them)
My most recent experience with this dismal airline was in OCT, flying point to point SIN – Manado:
The security-check and boarding processes at the gate in Changi were chaotic and very poorly managed; more akin to what is expected from a third world airport facility than from the highly acclaimed Changi airport. It seemed like the staff were astonished (and annoyed at the same time) that so many passengers had actually shown up.
The state of the aircraft was poor to say the least, it had clearly seen better days. The maintenance seemed to be more like applying band aids again and again instead of doing proper maintenance. Not as bad as some of Scoot's 787’s but still questionable. It could also benefit from a proper cleaning (but that would be asking too much of this cheapo airline).
Flight itself merits no special comment (which for Scoot is already good news), simply a cramped and uncomfortable LCC A320 layout. Disaster struck upon arrival when I noticed via my AirTag that the baggage (which was pre-booked and pre-paid) was still in Changi T1.
It turned out that Scoot, after onloading our baggage, had quietly offloaded it again (as they did with the baggage of at least another 20 pax). We were not informed of this at any stage until I started questioning friendly, but poorly trained agents in Manado, who quoted some weight issue of the plane (seems Scoot might have decided to take some higher paying cargo load instead of delivering for their passengers …). After much back and forth I eventually managed to get a Property Irregularity Report.
The same evening, I initiated a chat with Scoot via their App (BTW to date NOBODY at Scoot along the route has actually tried to actively reach out and provide information or to properly apologize). The agent was useless and apart from pre-recorded statements (“if your baggage is still not located after the 14-day tracing period…”) had nothing to offer to the situation. Long story short, we were re-united with our baggage 24+hours after arrival in Manado on account of the help of our resort staff (again Scoot staff were not helpful at all - they just pushed the issue away).
The replies from Scoot to my subsequent complaints have fallen short of even the lowest expectations - not a single proper apology or explanation for their poor performance.
My honest recommendation is to stay well clear of this airline unless there is no other choice. Many of their planes are in a terrible state, they frequently offload baggage (as has also been reported in the press) and their customer support is quasi non-existent. Especially in Asia there are so many other LCCs that offer a far better performance and are also cheaper.
Also do not be fooled by the beautiful awards they showcase on their website – as the saying goes: Don’t believe an award you haven’t paid for yourself 😊.