Table of Contents
Flight Info: NokScoot Airlines Review
Taipei TPE to Bangkok DMK
Flight Time: 3h 40m
Cost: $100 USD
NokScoot Airlines Review Rating: 5/10
I got to my destination safely with NokScoot Airlines and I might fly with them again. But if the price is only a little bit more with another airline, I would fly with another airline.
Why? Because NokScoot’s Boeing 777-200 was so old!
NokScoot Airlines is a division of Scoot Air. Scoot air is also a division of Singapore Airlines. Unfortunately, you can’t earn miles for Star Alliance when flying with the low cost carrier versions. I thought you could, but spent hours getting nowhere with support.
Cost
My NokScoot Airlines flight from Taipei TPE to Bangkok DMK cost me about $100 USD with luggage. Without luggage it would have cost me $80 USD. That’s a pretty good price for a flight that’s almost 4 hours!
Was this the cheapest option for my flight? Nope. It was the 2nd cheapest option. The cheapest flight from Taipei to Bangkok was with LionAir. I was about to book my flight with them, until I saw an article online about LIonAir having a data breach that resulted in all of their customer data being accessed. If I didn’t see that article, I probably would have picked them for the cheapest flight to Bangkok.
Luggage Allowance
For about $20 USD you get a luggage allowance of 20kg. Nok Scoot has flat rate pricing for their check-in luggage and since I was planning on moving to Bangkok for a few months, I thought I’d get as close to 20kg as I could. As you can see from the photo, I had room for improvement but my bag would not close if I added any more items.
Paying for luggage also guaranteed me my 7kg carry-on bag and 3kg personal bag. Both bags I brought on board were definitely more than 10kg combined since it was all computer and camera gear.
LionAir has a pay per KG system which I think is more dangerous. It’s like the Price Is Right, if you go over your estimate weight, it’s game over and you pay a lot more in fees. That’s the same with all airlines, but LionAir tempts you with the idea of being able to pay less.
Checking-In With NokScoot Airlines
At least from Taipei, there’s no online check-in with NokScoot Airlines when traveling to Bangkok. Ok, no problem. I just checked-in for my flight at the airport.
When checking-in for your flight with a low cost carrier (and with luggage), you ALWAYS have to check-in at least 1 hour before your flight. I mistimed by departure and arrived at the airport 75 minutes before my flight. That’s only 15 minutes to find the check-in desk and I was nervous.
Luckily, I made it!
At the check-in counter, my check-in luggage weight 19.2 kg. I have 0.8kg to spare so that’s pretty good for getting max value!
Travel Hack: Free Seat Selection
As you know, when flying with a budget airline, they charge you for selecting your seat in advance. But a great travel hack with NokScoot Air and ALL airlines is that you can select your seat for free when checking-in at the airport! Of course, this depends on there being seats available to select. This won’t be an option on a sold out flight.
Since there were seats available, I got a window seat in the back of the plane. The check-in person asked if the back of the plane was ok before locking in my seat.
If I’m in a rush, I would sit as close to the front of the plane as possible and rush to immigration to beat the lines.
Since I was traveling alone and had luggage checked-in, I wasn’t in a rush to get off the plane at Bangkok.
In The Air With NokScoot's Boeing 777-200
You should never expect to have in-flight entertainment on a budget airline. You only get to your destination with a budget carrier so expect to bring your own entertainment and bring your own plane phone holder [See on Amazon] for a better experience. It’s actually a super useful passport wallet since it can also be used as a phone holder.
First off, this plane was super old. You can see the extreme wear on all the seats, inside the cabin and outside on the plane wings.
I normally don’t have a problem with flying, but I get really nervous on old planes because that’s where parts tend to fail. A plane can only fly so many times before parts wear out.
Luckily, there were no issues on the entire (almost) 4-hour flight. I arrived in Bangkok safely which is the most important part.
ScootBiz Seat Upgrade
ScootBiz: 1600THB
Super: 500THB
Stretch: 1000THB
The seat itself was roomy enough for me (I’m 5’8″) and the leg room was comfortable. But if you wanted to, they offered a paid seat upgrade before taking off for business class and “premium economy” which NokScoot Airlines called “super” and “stretch.”
NokScoot Food Menu
If you want any food or drinks on the plane, you’ll have to pay for it. That includes water. Most hot meals will need to be ordered in advanced otherwise they won’t have it on the plane. The best thing to do is eat before your flight.
But if you have to eat on your NokScoot Airlines 777-200 flight, at least the prices are fairly “reasonable” for what you get.
NokScoot Air Overall Thoughts
The flight was safe, they got me to my destination and my luggage wasn’t damaged. Overall, this is the standard level of service that you should be able to expect with any airlines. As for NokScoot, my rating of 5/10 is exactly in middle as average.
Nothing about the flight exceeded my expectations which is why it’s right in the middle at the average mark. Would I fly with NokScoot Air again? Probably if they are the cheapest flight by far. If I can fly with a rival airlines for a little bit more money, I probably will do that if they have a newer plane.
To find deals on flights, I use Google Flights and Airfarewatchdog. Google Flights is good for finding more local flights with a variety of options while Airfarewatchdog is great for discovering new destinations and setting searches based on interests (adventure!)