After a short overnight nap at Changi Airport, I headed for breakfast and to the gate to catch my Scoot flight to Bangkok. This will be my first time flying with the new Scoot IATA code of TR after Tigerair was merged in.
My Scoot flight TR298 bound for Bangkok Don Mueang and thereafter to Osaka Kansai.
Since I was kind of late to reach the gate hold room, I just headed straight for the plane.
Two aerobridges were in use for the 787, and I was directed to use the first aerobridge leading to ScootBiz even though I was in the second Economy Class cabin behind.
Walking through the Scoot-In-Silence cabin, it’s quite clear which seat will not be the chosen one for a long-distance flight.
Blacklisted Scoot Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Seat: 7A (Scoot-In-Silence)
Once I greeted my seat, I almost activated one of my pet peeves on board Scoot’s 787s – the call button on the armrests. Seriously, whoever designed this seat has probably not tried sitting in one before, and Scoot’s cabin crew may also agree with me on this. Even before the safety demonstration, the crew was already walking up and down the aisles responding to such unintentional calls.
Unlike most planes, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has electro-chromatic dimmable windows which means that window shades aren’t found on this plane. And since the cabin crew can also control these windows at a push of a button, there’s also no need to keep informing passengers to keep their window shades up during take-off and landing.
The original Scoot 787 parked beside it’s new A320 sibling.
The legroom available in Economy Class, feels like there is slightly more space than the usual seat pitch by regional LCCs.
With the Boeing Sky Interior fitted on 787s, Scoot switches to yellow during boarding.
The interior then changes to blue during the safety demonstration and for take-off.
Taxiing to the runway.
Flying above Changi Airport with the new Terminal 5 site in sight.
Maybe I’ve flown too much on A320s, but the missing individual air-conditioning outlets seems like a small disappointment for me. Good thing that the cabin was cool enough in general.
The clear untinted window in the air.
At the third and middle setting, the window provides a nice tinge of blue.
If you go to the fifth and darkest setting, there is still some light visible if you are close enough to the window. If this is a long-haul daylight flight, I wouldn’t be too comfortable with this. Furthermore, it took around 30 seconds to get to this darkness whereas with a physical window shade, it would probably take just a second.
Since all flights are non-smoking anyway, the No Smoking sign has been moved to a sticker on the seat instead of a lighted sign on top.
The slightly darkened cabin as most passengers wished to sleep during this early morning flight, whereas I was feeling energetic already, probably since I only had to wake up less than 2 hours before the departure time.
Slowing down and commencing our descend into Bangkok over Rayong.
A nice airplane glory on the clouds over Rayong and Pattaya. (Not to be confused with a full-circle rainbow.)
The cabin crew preparing the cabin for landing, with the Boeing Sky Interior switched back to blue once again.
Trainspotting from the sky: looking at the new MRT Purple Line Khlong Bang Phai terminal station and depot.
Descending into Bangkok Don Mueang International Airport.
Did you know? The greenery in the middle of Don Mueang’s two runways is actually the fully functioning Kantarat Golf Course.
A small preview of the upcoming Don Mueang Airport Rail Link and High Speed Rail station.
Before disembarking, I got a shot of another windowless seat which you should not choose on Scoot’s 788 unless you plan to sleep for the entire flight.
Blacklisted Scoot Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Seats: 37A & 37K (Economy Class)
The interior of the aft cabin of Economy Class.
Don Mueang is the smaller and older airport of Bangkok which is mainly serves low cost carriers. (From Singapore, it’s Scoot, AirAsia and Thai Lion Air.) This also means it’s a shorter walk to immigration.
Looking back at my plane before it continues onwards to Osaka without me.
With a small airport, it means shorter immigration queues as well. Despite some news in the earlier part of August about 5-hour queue lines at midnight, at an arrival time of 9am in Don Mueang and without check-in baggage, I was cleared through immigration and customs, and made it out of the security area within 5 minutes. 100% of the immigration counters were open on the day of my arrival.
From Don Mueang Airport, I got on the local train to the city.
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