15h on a 787 with no IFE and where you pay for everything else: reviewing Berlin/Singapore flight aboard Scoot

My itineraries never have a very linear genesis, a normal traveler plans dates, routes, and stops according to his or her needs And at the price you are willing to pay. In my case it is the tickets that decide my itineraries.

Why I booked an intercontinental flight with Scoot

I was able to take an error do, of the interesting kind, but not too absurd to be written off. I was able to peel off a prize ticket at only 50k Flying Blue points. to fly from Hanoi to Paris CDG aboard Vietnam Airlines' A350, already this would have been a great achievement, but included in the 50,000 loyalty program points I also threw in the second leg from Paris to Chicago, also aboard an A350, this time from Air France, outfitted with the new business class cabins, those with doors and various amenities.

So I had to build the rest of the trip: go all the way to Hanoi and back from Chicago trying, of course, to bring home as much material as possible for TFC.

Reservation

I started looking for how to get close to Vietnam and so the first choice fell on Scoot. Low-cost carrier controlled at 100% by Singapore Airlines. The airline flies to Europe to Singapore from London (with a stopover in Bangkok) and Berlin (with a stopover in Athens).

Of the two solutions, I opted for the latter, because flying from Athens (or secondarily from Berlin) might appeal to many Italians looking for a cheap way to fly to/from Asia.

Tickets from Athens, barring offers, cost from 200€, but unfortunately on the day I was interested the price was significantly higher, incredibly then the same flight leaving Berlin cost me less than boarding during the layover in Greece.

In the end, the basic economy ticket cost me 307€., Thanks to my gold Krisflyer status I also got free basic seat selection and priority boarding, but otherwise the ticket remains ultra basic economy.

A few days before departure I also tried to participate in the auction for an upgrade In Scooter Plus class, which is premium economy.

The price difference between the two classes when I bought the ticket was 900€, which was crazy.

My offer for the upgrade, which was declined, was €240.

The beauty of low-cost, even on long haul, is that they sell you loose tickets, you don't have any penalty to buy one way and not a round trip ticket and that was what I needed. Spend as little as you can to get close to Hanoi, anyway then moving around Asia is a matter of tens of euros.

At the airport

I arrived early at Willy Brandt, or the new Berlin airport, which opened during the pandemic after a delay of about 20 years.

I arrived early because I wanted, as always, to poke around since. I had never been to this airport before and to experience the possibility of a last-minute upgrade.

So as soon as I arrived at the registration desks I asked if the plane was full and if there was any possibility of upgrading. At this point the attendant passed me on to his colleague who told me about the possibilities: Switch to Scoot Plus 237€, a better chair 110€.

I wasted no time and took the upgrade at 217€+20€ airport fee. Oh I forgot they only accept cash.

With my new boarding pass I went through security and reached the pier D, the one dedicated to flights outside the Berlin airport's Schengen area.

A total disappointment, I already knew thanks to loungebuddy That there would be no lounges, but I would not have expected a long hallway with a small store and a bar, really a unique sadness  Also aggravated by fog on the track.

Following the plane on flightradar24, I took a seat at the gate just in time to admire the arrival at the gate of 787/8 in Scoot's official livery.

Here I immediately realized that something was not running smoothly. At 9:35 a.m., the time of boarding, the gate was not even manned yet, and yet people started lining up. Around 10:15 a.m. when we were scheduled to take off for Athens, the first attendant popped up.

About 20 minutes later the screens lit up indicating the two rows: Scoot Plus and Economy. Not even time to get in line when the announcement comes: flight delayed by 2 hours.

The surprise

This is a flight in fifth freedom regime, this means that Scoot also sells tickets only on the Athens/Berlin, but almost all the passengers are headed to Singapore.

A few minutes after the announcement on the gate desks two reams of A4 sheets popped up, curious I went to get one and I found that Scoot was immediately proposing a refund to passengers affected by the delay.

When the arrival delay was not yet known (in Athens or Singapore) TR apologetically gave passengers the option to cancel the trip by getting a full refund cash or increased by 20% in the form of a voucher.

That is, they still don't know how late they will come, but si already provide them with a pre-filled form and instructions on how to apply for reimbursement. Chapeau to Singapore, which has brought to Scoot the same care for the passenger that one has aboard its aircraft.

Boarding in line for 3

Finally arrived the opening of boarding passengers with Board me first printed on the ticket were let through first, only to be stopped at the finger door.

Something never seen before happened here. An attendant asked all passengers to line up for 3, went up like a salmon up the tail yelling like schoolchildren at the people in line.

Then a colleague came along and removed the tape, and the herd left like when they open the gates at San Siro at Vasco Rossi concerts.

On board

The plane is only 6 years old, but it looks twice as old. Probably being a work mule, it is not easy to keep it in shape all the time.

The Premium Economy cabin, AKA Scoot Plus, is tiny. The 2-3-2 configuration, the same configuration found on all major world carriers on aircraft of this type.

The seat, however, is very similar to those seats that in the U.S. or on carriers such as Qatar or Turkish are offered to business class passengers on single-aisle planes.

It is only 18 seats, and I must say it is much better than I thought.

The rest of the plane is a classic Dreamliner, with minor differences. There are no galleys. Crew spaces are only in the front and tail. All the rest of the space is used for seats.

The other big difference is the absence of the screens from the seat backs. This is not the first time I have flown on a 787 without infotainment, but unlike Zip Air, low-cost Japanese there is no portal where you can connect and watch movies and other content. There is nothing here.

Economy passengers, that is, all but the 18 who sit up front, have nothing. Even the power outlet must be paid for separately and activated by staff. My initial fare did not include anything at all. Only because of Gold Krisflyer status had I gotten a seat and priority boarding.

The chair

As mentioned, it is convenient and I absolutely didn't weigh 15 hours on it.

The tilt is very generous, and the leg support is comfortable.

Even when the front passenger reclines, you are not suffocated.

The table is just right and stiff enough not to jerk as I type on my ipad this review.

The optional extras are finished, if you exclude the button that turns on the light and the one to call for crew intervention, there is nothing else. There are also no air vents, and since we cannot use the mock hat racks above the middle row, there is also a lack of space in the hat racks.

The coffee table was also large enough for me to eat with my tablet nearby, a huge difference on an aircraft without IFE.

In Athens everyone off the plane

I really didn't understand why, but when we arrived. everyone was forced down And we were locked in the gate.

A small gate with a few chairs, a micro Starbucks with a barista who had to handle the demands of a flood of people in a few minutes and a bathroom.

Incredibly, neither 20 minutes I was back in my seat, after witnessing the delivery of two "passengers rejected at the border" and escorted on board by police.

However, when I hoped that at least half of the delay had been reabsorbed With this quick pitstop, the pilot informed us that a passenger was missing from the roll call, so they were looking for his baggage claim to disembark him.

Moral of the story we left later than when we left Berlin.

Service

My upgrade must not have been handled properly since the assistant, friendly smiling and ultra attentive to the needs of the passengers, asked me to show my boarding pass because she did not have a passenger in my seat on record. As a result, she was not showing my lunch either.

So after serving a lunch to all the passengers, he first asked me to pay for my snack and then said "it's on us." Very similar situation on the second leg. This time, however, having already broken the ice the attendant advised me what to get and everything went smoothly.

The pattern on board seemed well-trodden to me: take off, eat, disappear.

Bothering the boxes in the long section was the constant turbulence and I must say that I didn't like the fact that because of the length of service in the rest of the plane the lights in the small Scoot Plus cabin were turned off more than 2.30 hours after takeoff.

IFE

There is no such thing, nerve-wracking even figuring out how to use wi-fi, With two networks on board. One where there is a range of content and the other that should be the one that provides the connection.

After 30 minutes of trying, and after memorizing the alphanumeric code for the free 30 mb voucher for Plus passengers, I raised the white flag.

Food & Beverage

Everything has a price, but the selection is really paltry (as are the portions). The nice thing is. Premium Economy passengers have two full lunches, included in the price.

You would come to say it's normal it's 15 hours, but the point is that we're still on a low-cost and the first flight is 2 hours long and there are carriers that don't even give you free peanuts anymore.

I opted for a chicken sandwich and a cocacola on the first leg. While on the long flight I followed the flight attendant's advice and took an Indonesian recipe.

A preheated box with gourmet appetizer portion, unexciting color and indecipherable flavor except for the presence of coconut milk. The most tantalizing thing was the crackers and the can of Coke Zero.

The crew

If there were a union in Singapore this flight would not exist, leaving aside the delay that extended working hours, staff did not take a break until 9 hours after boarding in Berlin.

No break on the Berlin/Athens route, then quick cabin rearrangement and waiting for new takeoff. Service delayed by turbulence.

Truly a tour de force, stuff that in Europe you risk hearing "sorry we've reached the hour limit, we can't take off because we don't have a new crew" here instead you're smiling 99 teeth.

In conclusion

At the right price, why not. The key here is price. Obviously I would never pay 1200€ for a full premium economy ticket, yes of course I would also earn a handful of Krisflyer miles, 1 for every SGD spent, but it is not at all competitive considering then you have to pay for the approach flight.

Departure in the early afternoon from Athens allows you to be able to fly from Italy in the early morning and catch your flight without wasting time. At 2 to 300 euros for a one-way ticket it is an attractive option, taking into account the same assumptions made above.

I ended up traveling in PE at less than half the price at the time of booking, and so it is really good traveling.