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I don’t often write bad things on my blog. BUT I feel a little bit like I need to warn you all about how atrocious Scoot Airlines is. Mainly so that what happened to me, never happens to you.
I love you guys and want you to have only the best travelling experiences. With that said, here’s my Scoot Airlines review.
Scoot Airlines Review – My Awful Experience
Is Scoot a Good Airline?
Well, to answer your question quickly, NO, Scoot is not a good airline at all. I would go so far as to say that it is the worst airline I have ever used and, at a minimum, the worst airline in Asia.
Now, let me tell you all about my personal experience with Scoot and why I’m a little bit bitter. And don’t get me wrong, I know Scoot is a budget airline, I wasn’t expecting too much, trust me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqjZRZDjum4/
The Beginning
Have you ever booked a flight with a budget airline and after clicking “confirm”, thought that MAYBE you should have just paid a bit extra for a better known airline? No? Well, neither had I until I booked a flight from Sydney to Hong Kong (via Changi airport, Singapore) with Scoot Airlines.
I didn’t know it then, but I was about to have one of the worst flying experiences of my life. My fears were somewhat calmed when I discovered that Scoot is owned by Singapore Airlines. After all, Singapore are a decent airline! I thought, “I’ll be grand, Singapore couldn’t possibly run a dodgy budget airline”.
Sadly, I was about to be proven seriously wrong. Let me tell you EVERYTHING that made me believe that Scoot Airlines might possibly be the worst airline in Asia.
Scoot Flight Cancellation
My flight was scheduled for the 5th of April. However, at the start of March I received an email saying that my flight had been cancelled due to “operational constraints”.
LUCKILY for me, Scoot were so good as to automatically book me onto the next available flight. Never mind that it was two days later on the 7th of April. Oh and they were kind enough to mention that they did this all “free of charge”.
Eh what? OF COURSE it’s free of charge. Don’t phrase it like you’re doing me a favour. They also offered me the option of changing my flight to another day, free of charge (as it should be). Only catch being that the flight had to be within 7 days either side of my original flight. Then I was given the final option of just plain old cancelling and getting a refund……. in vouchers……. for another flight with Scoot. NO. THANK. YOU.
Scoot Flight Change
OK, so I needed to fly OUT of Hong Kong on the 7th of April, so no way was that change of flight suitable. I needed to change it to an earlier flight. Naturally, like any normal human, I went into “manage my booking”.
Imagine my dismay when there was not a SINGLE option for me to change my flight. NOTHING. Are you for REAL, Scoot Airlines?! Why does Scoot not allow you to change your flight online?! If you’re reading this, I highly recommend getting that fixed.
Now, when I have a problem with a flight, I usually jump straight on Twitter. I find that the official Twitter accounts of airlines are always very responsive and help get things sorted VERY quickly. Well, with the exception of Scoot Airlines APPARENTLY. I tweeted them on SEVERAL occasions, no response.
I think you’re starting to get the picture of how this Scoot Airline review ends, AND I HAVEN’T EVEN GOTTEN ON THE PLANE YET! At this stage I was getting quite stressed.
I was travelling in New Zealand and didn’t have great access to internet or phone signal. But it seemed that phoning Scoot Airlines was the only option I had left (because apparently they don’t DO the internet). I could feel my phone bill wincing at the thought. Not exactly ideal for travellers.
FINALLY I managed to change my flight to the 3rd of April. Now, this is where the fun really begins.
Delayed Flight
OK, so on the 3rd of April I boarded my flight to Hong Kong via Changi. Not exactly looking forward to it (for some reason), but hey, I needed to get to Hong Kong.
The flight was actually fine. The problems started when I landed in Singapore. I went to the transfer desk only to be told that my flight to Hong Kong was delayed by more than 6hrs. Which meant that I had just under 12 hours to wait in Singapore airport.
The only silver lining is that Changi is one of the best airports in the world. See, I can still see the good in things! But yeah, Scoot Airlines are still, by a long shot, the worst airline in Asia. So far Scoot sucks for flight cancellations, flight changes and flight delays.
Scoot, Bring Your Own Food (Or NOT)
BUT HAVE NO FEAR! The one good thing about flight delays is that you usually get some decent compensation.
I was given a food voucher for dinner. How generous. Oh wait…. no…. it was ONE, £5, food voucher…….. in an AIRPORT. Yeah, seems reasonable. And it could only be spent in one place. SO, needless to say, I threw that out and got some pizza.
Also, while we’re talking about food. Scoot Airlines had the CHEEK to text me before the flight to remind me that NO outside food or drink was allowed on their flights. I have flown many a budget airline in my life and not ONCE, have I ever heard of anything like this. You know they don’t like it, but they never tell you that it’s not allowed.
First of all, what is Scoot, a cinema?! How in the hell do they plan on actually policing that RIDICULOUS policy? Second of all, I hope they plan on providing free water on their flights if they’re not allowing people to bring their own. Forcing someone to pay for water on a flight shows a bit of a disregard for the health, safety and comfort of the passengers (in my opinion).
Needless to say, I lined my bag with outside food and drink and ate/drank it proudly on the plane. Not a single thing was said to me. So I reckon Scoot Airlines could save themselves the cost of the text, because it’s not stopping anyone. If anything, it made me MORE determined not to purchase a single thing on board.
Other Irritating Things
The other thing that really irritated me about my trip with Scoot was that I had to PAY extra to have my bags checked all the way through from Sydney to Hong Kong. Even though I was flying with the same airline the whole way through.
They call it “Scoot Thru”. New levels of budget. OH, I almost forgot. When I got home Scoot Airlines emailed me a voucher for $50 (Singapore), which is £25, off my next flight with Scoot. Presumably to make up for the inconvenience. Hmmm, thanks, but no thanks. I don’t think I’ll ever be flying Scoot again.
Any Upside?
Hmmm, not really. I did GET to Hong Kong, so I guess that’s a good thing. The staff had nice uniforms. That’s about it.
Final Thoughts
Well, that concludes my Scoot Airlines review. Sooo I hope my bad experience will save you guys some trouble in the future. Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, it really is worth paying a bit extra for a much more reliable and comfortable experience.
If you want to read more about some much less disappointing budget airlines, check out my reviews of Ryanair & WOW Air.
What’s the worst airline you’ve ever flown with?
Yikes! Flying sucks no matter what. But having all that extra hassel? No thanks. Glad you made it through all right.
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I’ve never even heard of SCOOT but will give them a wide birth I think. I hate Ryan Air too, but had a great experience with WOW!
Ahh Ryanair are grand nowadays. Way better than they used to be. But yeah, it really is worth paying extra most of the time.
Oh no! I’ve booked a flight with scoot for this summer – the same route as yours but in reverse. Wish me luck! (I’ll certainly be taking plenty of my own food and drink on the plane, what a ridiculous policy)
Oh Gosh, well, hopefully you have a better experience than me!!
Yeah I flew with a bunch of ones I’d never heard of, but they were all fine, apart from Scoot :-/
I had the same experience with Scoot airline. They offered me a voucher (no refund) but they dont have an option on their App booking to use the voucher and their website is done! Worst airline ever.
I fly regularly to even to places with 1 or 2 flights a day on propeller planes.
And like you, I rarely complain.
At Changi, there’s this self service kiosk. I was wanna know if I can hand carry my luggage which borders 10kg even though I purchased 20kg check-in.
The staff, without getting her are off the stool replied “can you read”…
WTF…. wonderful flight time
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Wouldn’t surprise me. It seems Scoot is going down the route of Tiger Air. They double charged me for the baggage on the outgoing leg and refused to let me use the allowance citing their terms and conditions that only allow of refund by voucher. I pressed for a refund in the original payment method and was refused because it was “not Scoot’s fault”. After countless phone calls and having phone calls drop out on me causing me to call back and repeat myself, they ceased to cooperate and even lied to me about sending out a voucher that I had apparently accepted.
It wasn’t until I filed a chargeback with my credit card company that they finally refunded the double charge, but not without trying to put up a last minute fight.
On the same leg, the baggage was damaged, but Scoot refused to accept any responsibility initially citing their terms and conditions, however, their terms and conditions do not and cannot override the Montreal Convention which dictates that they are responsible whilst in their custody. Even with quotes (which they refused to pay for) on what it would cost to fix the damage, Scoot will continually low ball you with a ridiculous amount.
I think Scoot is Tiger Air! (they merged)
OMG – Sorry to hear that!
Will not consider them on my next trip.
Cheers!
I agree, Scoot is the worst airline I have ever travelled on. Give it the widest berth. I thought I was travelling from Singapore to Berlin with Singapore Airlines who I booked with and was offloaded to Scoot. 12 hours with no water or food or in flight entertainment. Surely not providing water is a health and safety breach. All they cared about was looking groovy in their uniforms and doing absolutely nothing for their passenger comfort. Disgusting!
I’m just waiting 7hrs in Singapore because of Scoot airlines…and and not even get a decent refund..
It is really a worst flight, delayed many times until next day, now I am still sitting here & wait for next delay
If there is any other word than worst i will definitely choose that express my opinion about Scoot airline service ! They should be nominate for that prize , worst airline in the planet, ha ! I will wipe out Scoot from my option to fly even if they give a free travel. Seriously !! They are handling it so bad start from ground crew till cabin crew . Not recommended at all !
I agree with you Tara, Singapore airlines is ruining its good name by managing an airline like scoot.
Unfortunately, I live in south East Asia and sometimes my only option is scoot but given my recent experience was similar to yours, I hope to god they improve else won’t be long before they’re suffering the same fate as most of the budget carriers in Europe.