Just when we thought Scoot's "bad old days" were over, a dissatisfied SilkAir-turned-Scoot customer shared his unpleasant first-time experience with the budget carrier.

Just so you know, the following Facebook post was sent to Singapore Airlines (SQ) on Tuesday, Dec. 5 because one Jn Tan says he didn't hear from anyone after writing an email to them almost a month ago.

The TL;DR

It's quite a lengthy post, so we condensed Tan's post for you.

Problem #1: Forced to take a budget airline when he purchased tickets on a full carrier

Tan had booked a SilkAir flight, a regional full-service wing of SQ, to Kuching.

However, he was transferred to Scoot, which is SQ's budget arm.

Problem #2: Allegedly not informed regarding the change of flight

According to Tan, he found out about the downgrade of flight from another passenger he was travelling with and didn't receive any notification from SilkAir or Scoot.

Concerned, he rang up SQ's call centre a total of three times to no avail.

He was told on those occasions that the team will get back to him, but apparently, they never did.

It was only when Tan emailed them that he received a reply notifying him that the complimentary legroom space for affected passengers was no longer available.

Problem #3: No in-flight meal

Tan already paid for the SilkAir flight, which is as mentioned, a full-service flight.

This means in-flight meals and drinks should be complimentary.

Knowing this could be a potential problem on the one-and-a-half-hour budget flight, he asked a member of Scoot's staff prior to boarding about it, and was allegedly guaranteed that he will be receiving the in-flight meal.

However, when the flight attendants were distributing food, Tan said he didn't receive his portion. Next thing he knew, they had already landed in Kuching.

Other problems

On top of these, Tan said he faced issues with check-in, a change of gate numbers after going through the customs and a delayed flight.

It is not clear which member of Scoot's staff he spoke to, or at which point, and Tan also did not respond to queries about when his flight actually was.

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Kuching flights were transferred to Scoot since late Oct

Now here's the thing: Silkair's Kuching route flights were transferred to Scoot from Oct. 29, 2017 onwards — an event they announced in July this year in this press release:

This decision was made, the airline said at the time, to optimise aircraft utilisation within the Singapore Airlines Group and at the same time better meet travel demand for the routes.

A spokesperson for SilkAir told Mothership that customers who booked flights to Kuching were told of the recent change and were given an option to either reroute to another SilkAir point in Malaysia or go on with the planned Scoot flight.

"Customers booked for Kuching for travel from 29 October onwards were given the option to reroute their flight to another SilkAir point in Malaysia or to continue their travel to Kuching on a Scoot flight, where meals would be provided as per original flight. Alternatively, they could also opt for a full refund of their tickets. All administrative fees and penalties were waived for customers who have purchased tickets prior to the transfer of service." 

Scoot offering standard travel voucher

We were also told that the Scoot customer service team is reaching out to Tan to offer a standard travel voucher that can be used for his next flight with Scoot.

"We apologised that this passenger was not served meals onboard. We will continue to monitor the efforts of this transfer for other passengers to ensure seamless handling."

Mothership has also reached out to Tan for comment on these developments.

Top image via Scoot's Facebook page