ScootBiz (Scoot Airlines) Singapore to Hangzhou & SATS Premier Lounge Terminal 2 Changi, Voted Asia Pac Lounge of the year 2017 Priority Pass

We were going on holiday!  Our destination was Hangzhou, followed by Shanghai.  The plane was as follows:

Day 0 - Depart Singapore to Hangzhou (Scoot Airlines), Arr. Hangzhou 2135hrs
Day 1 - Hangzhou, got a driver, tour the city, including West Lake and Ling Yin Temple
Day 2 - Depart from Hangzhou to Wu Zhen (water town), and then transfer to Shanghai Courtyard Marriot near Disneyland
Day 3 - Shanghai Disneyland! (One full day)
Day 4 - Transfer to Shanghai Marriott City Center
Day 5 - Private day tour to SuZhou
Day 6 - Shanghai Free & Easy
Day 7 - Home sweet Home - Shanghai to Singapore on Singapore Airlines (Business Class)

We would fly from Singapore to Hangzhou, and we were trying out ScootBiz in Scoot Airlines for the first time.  Scoot is a wholly own subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, and it is their low-cost arm.   When Scoot was first launched, we flew with them to Sydney! That was way back in 2012.  Since then, we have flown on Scoot a few times, but this is our first time in ScootBiz.

ScootBiz is Scoot Business Class?
What is ScootBiz? Well, it is NOT the typical Business Class of a full service airline.  It is more akin to Premium Economy.  What attracted us were the seats - full learther with at least 38" of legroom, 22" of width and 6" of recline, with adjustable headrests and legrests.  You also get complimentary meal and drink, but that was less important.

Scoot flies from Terminal 2.  Check-Lines moved quickly.  You had to do self-service check in first, before dropping off your bags.  That's the new trend, self-service.  I didn't see any special check-in line for ScootBiz passengers, so we joined the same queue.

Win A Jaguar E Space!

There was some lucky draw going on, as part of the Changi Millionaire program.  Check out the car on display! 

SATS Premier Lounge Terminal 2

After clearing immigration, we headed to the SATS Premier Lounge to chill out for a while and get some food.  Note that ScootBiz does not provide lounge access with the normal ticket.  We used our Priority Pass cards to gain entry.   Here is the entrance of the SATS Premier Lounge, which was opposite the SilverKris lounge at T2.

Video of Lounge Experience

A video of our lounge experience.  This lounge was voted Asia-Pac lounge of the year, for Priority Pass.  For a Priority Pass lounge, it is decent.  In fact, a good number of airlines use this contract lounge for their Business Class passengers too.  Here are YouTube video links so lounge reviews of  SATS Premier Lounge in Terminal 1 and SATS Premier Lounge in Terminal 3.  Below is the video of SATS Premier Terminal 2.

Lounge of the Year Awards 2017 - Priority Pass
The Lounge in Terminal 2 won the Asia Pacific Lounge of the Year Awards 2017 for Priority Pass. Our credit cards provided us with Priority Pass access to Lounges, which is very nice.  We could bring the entire family in, using my card and my wife's card.

Drinks anybody?
Drink selection was decent free-flow of alcohol, if that is what you like.  The chilled white wine wasn't too bad.  Don't drink too much before you fly!

Signature Laksa, which is pretty good.  Had a bowl, together with some red and white wine.  They also had some Nasi Lemak, yellow curry chicken, pandan chicken and other hot food, plus a soup.  See my video above for what I ate.

Beautiful Orchid Display.

Lounge Buffet Area.   We stayed for over an hour, and soon it was time to head to the gate!

FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

SCOOTBIZ - FlyScoot Singapore to Hangzhou
Flight Number TR 188
Dep: 1635hrs, Arr: 21:35 Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport
No time zone changes

We had wanted to visit Hangzhou and Shanghai.  So it was great that Scoot has a direct flight.  Scoot currently operates the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.  This was our plane at the gate, its nickname was 'Bo Jio'.

BOARDING - A useful perk is that ScootBiz gets to board first.  They had just started boarding for the main cabin when we got there.  We boarded immediately as the video would show.

FlyScoot BizScoot Flight Review Video.
The 7:30 minute video below details our experience on board ScootBiz, showing you the seats and the meals.  Enjoy!


Some photos to whet your appetite.  The ScootBiz cabin was in a 2-3-2 configuration.  We were at the aisle, and I was in a window seat. We were in Row 1 & Row 2.  The seat was comfortable, no doubt about that!

Food wise, ScootBiz ticket comes with food and drink.  For the food package, you have to order in advance (online, when you book).  I didn't realise that there were different types of meals.  The most 'value-for-money' would be the Premium Meal selection, sample below.  This meal comes with 2 deluxe sides and a drink.  But there was no Nasi Lemak here.  I selected Nasi Lemak and that was packaged with a lower value meal (no ice-cream). So, hot tip, if you want a full meal with Ice-Cream, pick from the Premium Selections! 

Waiting for Luggage - Scoot Crew luggage came out first
Landing into Hangzhou was smooth and we got to the gates quickly.  The immigration clearance was fast.  What took some time was the baggage.  See the video below, for pretty much the entire aircraft passengers waiting at the luggage carousel.  Funny thing - the cabin crew luggage came out first! After we collected our bags, the Customs officials made all passengers put every bag through an X-ray machine, i.e. 100% check.  That caused a line to form, but the overall process was orderly and didn't take too long. The video also shows snippets of the taxi ride, and the room service we had.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hangzhou City Center, and we ordered room service for supper, as we were tired and hungry.



Room Service - All the Food in the Photo for 177RMB plus 3 drinks (including beer)

Take-off Video
If you like take-off videos, here is the video I took from my window seat of the Scoot Boeing 787.  Check out the huge piece of land being developed for Changi Airport Terminal 5.


Thanks for watching!!

Guitar Singapore Travels

FlyScoot Singapore to Hong Kong TZ 220 Boeing 787-9

FlyScoot - TZ 220, Singapore to Hong Kong.  We were going to Hong Kong for a short holiday.

Booked very cheap flights (total less than SGD700 return) for my family of 4. The flight departed at 0155hrs and flight time was short, slightly over 3 hours.

Here is the video review.


Flight departs from Changi Airport Terminal 2.  Flight departed on time.  As FlyScoot is a low-cost carrier, expect zero frills.  We had some food (for a light supper) at the Changi Airport Terminal 2 at a place called Wangz before the flight.  We had boiled eggs, toast and a hot drink.  The place was rather crowded at about midnight.

After getting our food, we took a slow stroll to the gates, which was rather far away. Anyway, we had plenty of time. 

At the gate, we got in quickly and waited in the waiting area.  Here is a picture.  There were a good number of kids on this flight as this was the March Singapore school holiday week. 

Boarding was swift and we got to our seats quickly.  We didn't purchase any checked luggage.  Instead we travelled light and had 3 cabin bags for the 4 of us. I had no problems finding overhead space for our bags.  Here is a photo of the cabin, in a 3-3-3 configuration on the Boeing 787-9.

Another view of the cabin in the 3-3-3 configuration. Seat width were rather cramped.

The flight was uneventful. Everybody just wanted to sleep. Take note Scoot is a low cost carrier and no blankets are available, unless you pay for them. ($12). The plane was rather cold. All of us brought our jackets and we slept wearing our jackets.

We were all awoken when the pilot announced that we had started our descent. This was about 30 minutes before landing. Landing was smooth and the flight arrived on time. The plane turned on these rainbow lights during disembarkation. Quite cool!

The flight landed on time. However, the gate that Scoot used was very far from the Immigration counters and the people mover only started operations at 0620hrs. So all of us had to take a long walk to the Immigration counters. The sign-posting was not clear and many of us made a wasted trip down to the people mover area first before realising that the trains were not yet operational.

When we arrived at the Immigration area (after a long walk), the lines were really long. Credit to the HK Immigration officers, they were working at break-neck speed, just 8 of them, to clear a super long line. Other flights (including one an Emirates A380 from Dubai) had landed at about the same time.

To be continued.,.

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