I flew with Scoot on their long haul service from Athens to Singapore to experience the inflight product. Over the years I have been in contact with the catering and PR team at Scoot they have always been helpful and offered me a free meal the next time I flew with them. I reached out to the airline to take advantage of the offer, and they provided complimentary meals. The crew knew that I was on board, so I won’t comment too much on the inflight service, but I found them to be very professional when dealing with other passengers.
PRE ORDER
When booking your ticket online you can pre-order meals for the first or second meal service. Previously the airline charged SGD$50 (EUR 35) for two meal services on their long-haul flights. However, they tell me that based on feedback received from passengers, they “unbundled” the combo to give you the flexibility to choose one or two meals for your flight.The previous meals were slightly more substantial than the current offer and included salad and fruit, these items have since been removed due to the shelf life of the product. Purchasing both meal options on Scoot will set you back €31, pricey, much like the meals on Norwegian.
INFLIGHT
The first inflight meal service took two hours to complete, the crew first deliver pre-order meals and then sell items from the cart.I expected to receive a meal tray and was surprised to receive my hot meal, a bottle of water and a wafer biscuit all laid out on my tray table. The hot meal choice I ordered was the Greek Village Chilopites, it was delicious and similar to what I’ve experienced on Aegean Airlines in economy class.
My issue with this meal is the cost and low value offered to passengers, it’s astronomically expensive and offers poor value, similar priced pre-order meals are more substantial and provide better value for money; even Ryanair has a breakfast pre-order for only €10.About five hours away from Singapore they began the second meal service, a little early perhaps, but I’m sure they have their reasons why.When the cart came around a second time, I decided I would buy something from the extensive onboard menu. However, my first and second choices were not available, and the only items available were pot noodles or crisps. The credit card machine had not been working most of the flight and without cash, you couldn’t buy anything.
My second pre-order meal arrived and I can’t help but feel there is no value in €15 for a sandwich, a wafer biscuit and a Coke. I realise that low-cost airlines need to make as much ancillary revenue as possible, and Scoot isn’t the first to charge high prices for inflight meals. I like to think that if you offer excellent value and a great product, more people will buy into it.An example of this the below meal on Austrian Airlines which cost the same as the sandwich meal deal on Scoot. Which meal would you prefer for €15? I realise that it’s like comparing apples to oranges, and each airline has its own strategy, various suppliers and operational complexities.https://www.instagram.com/p/BYjCbJQARnW/?utm_source=ig_embedI can’t fault the entire experience based on the food, the planes were new, the crew were professional, it was comfortable, and they got me from a to b in a timely fashion. As someone who has sampled many pre-order meals on a wide range of airlines across the globe, I feel as though there could be improvements to the product. Someone is making a hefty mark up here, and I don’t know if it’s the airline, the caterer or both. I’d like to see more value given to passengers; I feel like this is taking advantage of people.