the Scoot-Away

At about 12.30pm, I met up with Sam for lunch at POMO. We’ve been hearing from our church friends about a particular store there that sells very delicious assorted vegetable and meat rice; valuing their recommendations, we took heed and decided to eat there. It was there when I realised that Sam is very health conscious, and doesn’t eat much. To her, so long the food looks picture worthy and is something yummy of her preference, she is happy to eat it. Also, she loves fruits and told me that she eats at least one type of fruit per day.

 

Lunch ended at about 1.00pm. I accompanied her in shopping for CNY clothes at Plaza Singapura and Raffles City. We went to a variety of places, including Forever New, Blogshopping, and Paper Market. It’s during the shopping when I realised that she is neither brand conscious nor money conscious. So long she thinks the item is pretty and is suitable for the occasion, she would buy it. Of course it has got to be something she likes and sees herself wearing more than once, not just for that occasion. When it comes to shopping for clothes, she knows what type of style she likes and focuses on the shops that she usually frequents. Therefore, it was quite easy shopping with her. She is quick to decide on the items to buy and doesn't wastes time deciding unlike some girls who can spent an hour in a shop trying on clothes.

 

After shopping till about 3.30pm, we went to Kith cafe nearby to have some coffee and light bites. I started asking Sam about her preferences for airlines. To her, she’d spend more money for longer-route trips, and is more likely to take budget airlines where it’s to nearby countries. For instance, she’s more than willing to pay more for SIA or Cathay if she’s travelling to the Americas or Europe, because comfort and in-flight entertainment is crucial if the flight takes at least 6 hours. However, if it’s to places like Bangkok, because she’s going to be spending a lot on shopping already, she’s more willing to save on travel expenses.

 

Sam thinks of Scoot as a surprisingly decent budget carrier, citing its spacious legroom as something she appreciates. She is aware of Scoot’s marketing. She was really excited telling me how often Scoot has time based sale fares especially on special occasions. To her, it is sometimes irritating because the system is always jammed up when she wanted to book a flight on special sale fare day because Singaporeans like to camp on their computers and try to snap up those cheap flights as well. Thus, Sam has given up hope when it comes to such sale fares already. Nevertheless, Scoot's marketing is still very attractive and does not really look as cheap as a typical budget airline. When it comes to deciding a budget airline, however, price point is the most crucial determinant. But if the prices between budget airlines are very similar, then the next determining factor is the travel length, then followed by comfort. After her first experience with Scoot to Hong Kong last December, she is very certain of saying that she would generally prefer Scoot over other budget airlines because of its comfortable seat space and comparatively newer seats and the plane itself.

 

After coffee, we walked around for a bit longer. We had dinner at 6.30pm at Waterloo and ended the day at about 7.00pm.