Mia's Travelogue: ScootBiz to Qingdao

If you follow me on my IG, you should probably know that I've recently went to Qingdao for my pre-wedding photoshoot! 

After a quick search for air tickets, I came to realised that only Scoot provides direct flight to Qingdao, and with a very small fee for upgrade to ScootBiz. Hence, it's decided that my first experience with Scoot shall be ScootBiz!

-credits to flyscoot.com-

First up, there's no secret that on ScootBiz, you will get bigger, roomier seats. However, for my personal experience, I feel that Scoot doesn't really try to hide that their aircrafts (or just so happen to be the aircraft I boarded?) has seen better days. The armrest that holds my pull-out table has unidentified stains and the buttons to recline my seat has a big corner broken off. But these aside, I can't deny that the seats are definitely way more comfortable compared to the usual economy seats for a budget airline. 

And now, to their (miserable) food. 

I really didn't expect Scoot's flight meals to be this bad. Apparently, if you're on ScootBiz you will be entitled to a premium meal that comes with TWO "sides" (snacks/tidbits). However, this wasn't made known to me as I was choosing my meals (that the premium selection will get you two snacks instead of one). And as the one and only premium selection for my flight was some random chicken dish with rice, I obviously went for Nasi Lemak, thinking that it will be of a quality that's comparable to Air Asia. 

And.... obviously not.

The extremely miserable portion size aside, the rice tasted just like plain white rice with no hint of "lemak" (coconut milk) at all. Pairing white rice with a few miserable pieces of rendang chicken, a few strands of long beans and a bite sized otah fishcake doesn't turn the entire meal into Nasi Lemak, Scoot. Why don't you get some pointers from Air Asia? 

From other reviews, it seems like Scoot uphold their rules of no outside food on board very strictly, which is why I guess they're comfortable with serving food of such quality (and quantity). You've no choice, especially if you're on a longer haul flight (and not on ScootBiz, which gives you "complimentary" meals). You either starve, or you get ripped off by them to pay a ridiculously hiked up price for such crappy food. Or maybe you're better off with buying cup noodles instead, at least you know it's not going to taste like crap. 

And back to the premium selection meal on ScootBiz. It was pretty strange, that we were only informed upon check-in at the airport, that the BF's seat is faulty and will be unable to recline. Hence, the counter staff offered to switch him to another seat, but can't put us together because the flight is "very full". And so I boarded the flight thinking that I will be sitting alone, but I ended up sitting to a random aunty, who has a premium selection meal, which you need to pre-book during air tickets purchase. Hmm...

But anyway, the premium selection comes with a small can of pringles and a bag of dried raisins, unlike my normal meal with comes with just a Ritters Sport chocolate. 

And now, to the main reason why I decided to upgrade to ScootBiz. Their in-flight entertainment!

Other than the complimentary meal and in-flight power, ScooTV will the be last complimentary service you'll be getting on ScootBiz. Do note that other services such as WiFi and even a "comfort pack" of blanket & cushion will require further add-on purchases. 

If you're using Android, then you'll be safe as access to ScooTV will be directly on your browser. But for iOS users, do remember to download the ScooTV app on your device before your flight, if not you will probably need to buy their WiFi service to download the app before you can gain access to your complimentary ScooTV, which is pretty ridiculous, I know. 

And here's the selection of movies during my flight. 

Other than a few pretty recent movies, and a couple of pretty old ones, there's also a small selection of drama and variety shows (which totally didn't catch my eye at all). 

The experience on ScooTV was very smooth, other than the fact that any PA announcement will pause the movie and I experienced difficulty with continuing my movie from where I was cut-off (had to reload the whole movie from the beginning). As in-flight power is complimentary (with a 3-pin plug for each seat), there is no worries of your device dying on you halfway through your favourite movie! 

And so, my final thoughts. Is ScootBiz worth it? I'll say it definitely depends on how much the add on fares is. For Qingdao, it was only a mere $50 add on from FlyBag so it actually makes sense to add on that amount for a better, roomier seat, complimentary meal, in-flight power and entertainment. For other routes, the add on fares can get up to a few hundreds and in those cases, I do feel that you're better off with just a FlyBagEat or even just FlyBag if you're on night flight. 

Till then,

Mia Foo