Fly Scoot 2455 & 2466 – Kuala Lumpur to Singapore vv.

O V E R V I E W :

The decision to go on this trip was a pretty last minute one, mainly attributable to the last minute discounted fare on Fly Scoot (previously Tiger Airways) for the short hop to Singapore from KL where I secured tickets for Changi’s Terminal 4 Open House. With the main aim of just attending the Open House, a day trip it was and the cheapest fares available on this date happen to make this the shortest international day trip I have ever done thus far, just over 7 hours between arriving and departing again. For some tips on your next visit to Terminal 4 at Changi, do check out my top 4 tips at T4 here! 

Fly Scoot – TR 2455 – KUL – SIN

Airbus 320
Seat 13F
Flight time: 11:35 – 12:50 (12:15-13:03)
Duration: 1 hours 15 minutes
16th August 2017

Arrived at KLIA2 via the ERL. The above made me very excited for the Open House having seen some pictures of the latest attractions at Changi T4, which features something similar but with more innovation and creativity. Again, this can be seen in my post on the Open House here. The statement piece(?) at KLIA2, the FIDS.It is not my first time on TR but it will be my first flight with them after they started operating under the Scoot brand, hence a tinge of excitement to see how have things changed. Quite a decent queue for the short flight that morning and the lovely check in agent was nice enough to offer me the emergency exit row window seat when I asked if a window seat can be allocated. There was a slight delay in the arrival of the inbound aircraft which made my initial plan of heading to the city for lunch upon arrival potentially impossible now given that I have quite a tight gap between arrival and my time slot for the Open House. 😦Was looking forward to a repainted aircraft in FlyScoot colours but unfortunately my equipment for the day was only partially Scoot with the name and a sticker of the logo noted on the body but the tail was still in Tiger’s paint. Cheers to extra legroom (even better as I did not have to pay extra), though it was just for a short hop!A sneak peak on the offerings on FlyScoot, quite pricey after converting to MYR (Malaysian Ringgit) but the choices available are decent, especially when compared to offerings on budget European airlines. An unusual taxi to the furthest runway from KLIA2, which is appreciated by a plane spotter like myself having taxied pass the satellite terminal of KLIA as noted above but it definitely did not help in terms of catching up with the delay of this flight. Contents within the seat pocket featuring everything Scoot.  It was pretty much an uneventful 45 minutes cruise with a brief F&B sale which did not seem to be very high in demand in contrast to memories on the same route with Air Asia where purchase of food and drinks were more prominent possibly because of the better quality and price. Touched down at Changi 10 minutes later from the initial ETA, with a short taxi to Terminal 2 where Fly Scoot is stationed. Queue at immigration upon arrival at Terminal 2 was one of the longest I have experienced at Changi, with a wait of approximately 30 minutes before I am given the stamp of entry. Decided to abort my initial plan of heading to the city for lunch and settled for the staff canteen at Terminal 1 and a second round at the public food hall at Terminal 3! Yes, I was very hungry. 😛But before that, a short detour to the Departures level to collect my boarding pass for my flight home to save some time after my T4 tour ends and also to account for the possibility of overruns. Dedicated check in kiosk for FlyScoot.Standard process done and my flimsy boarding pass was printed in no time!One last step before heading for lunch, a document check where the agent at the counter was surprised that I had checked in so early for the evening flight. Surprisingly, a proper boarding pass was printed and the flimsy one taken away from me, not entirely sure on the reason for this. Perhaps the agent reads my mind and know that I hate flimsy ones? 😛First stop for lunch will be the staff canteen at Terminal 1 (just a short journey on the aerotrain from T2), which was my very first visit after reading online that the price is reasonable for food within an airport. The canteen can be found at T1’s arrival level, after exiting the terminal building upon passing by the Burger King outlet, take a left turn immediately after going through the sliding doors and walk all the way straight until the end of the passageway where you will find a flight of stairs down to the canteen. Reasonably priced fish ball bak chor mee to start the day, note there is a price difference for the general public and also the staff of Changi. Round 2 was another aerotrain away at T3’s underground food hall, where I got my SG fried hokkien mee fix before heading for the Open House.

 

Fly Scoot – TR 2466 – SIN – KUL

Airbus 320
Seat 23A
Flight time: 19:25 – 20:25 (19:45 – 20:23)
Duration: 1 hour 00 minutes
16th August 2017

Fast forward a couple of hours later after the insightful T4 Open House, I was back at T2 to catch my flight home. Love this traditional FIDS which I hope will be kept to stay going forward. It was another close to full load on the returning leg, TR doing quite well on this route it seems. My equipment that evening still with Tiger’s paint. Some of you might recall based on the picture of my boarding pass earlier that I was allocated an aisle seat but Mr.Seat A was nice enough and willing to swap seats with me, which turned out to be one of the rare 1.5 window seats onboard this Airbus 320. Lovely peek of the Scoot dreamliner parked next door. Yet another uneventful short hop concluded my shortest international day trip thus far.

 

C O N C L U S I O N: 

As mentioned above, this is not my first time on TR but the first after they started to operate under the Scoot brand. Noticeable difference in terms of the hard product’s design and colours which is even more ‘yellow’ now but generally in the softer product it remains to be a pretty ordinary service with the occasional friendlier cabin crew but it did not felt consistent. Perhaps it is due to my previous flights including the ones covered this time that are only under an hour hence the lack of opportunity to explore more of the offerings on TR but fingers crossed I will have the chance to try their Dreamliner on a longer route and potentially provide a better picture of the Scoot experience then. Overall, nothing to shout about but at the same time nothing that would prevent me from Scooting as long as their fares remain competitive.