The seeming clarity of Scoot’s pricing is appealing. Indeed, passengers can log into Scoot’s mobile app to see exactly how the costs break down: £82 for air passenger duty; a £16.81 passenger service charge.
Wilson had mentioned that the first few flights (running on Boeing 787s) would be full. Yet, when I reached Gatwick’s North Terminal, I hadn’t quite anticipated the size of the check-in queue. The tangle of Thailand’s entry rules prevented anyone from completing the process online; the litany of paperwork required human approval.
“Scoot?” asked an airport worker, as I blindly barrelled towards the area framed with a halo of the airline’s fluorescent signs. “Over there for the back of the queue”. I surveyed the line, which snaked through a complex network of cordons. My time for a pre-flight meal at Wetherspoons, and last-minute dash to Boots, had quickly dissolved. It was 7.55pm and the flight was due to leave at 9.45. It would be tight.
Two stipulations that are now commonplace across the world – proof of full vaccination (for the moment, that means two jabs) and a negative pre-departure test – are top of Thailand’s regulations.
After supplying proof of these came more layers of admin: a QR code secured as official approval for a Thailand pass, and proof of a travel insurance policy with medical coverage of at least $50,000 and evidence of payment for an SHA++ (Safety and Health Administration) hotel stay of at least one day. The latter has to include the cost of two tests to be taken during your stay. A fear at the back of my mind was that I would test positive on arrival and be spending Christmas in an approved state quarantine facility. But at that moment, my real hurdle was boarding the flight.
Each caller to the check-in desks was asked to lay out their papers. The thoroughness of this process reminded me of my visa appointment at the American embassy back when it sat near Green Park.
Recognition for the amount of admin facing airline staff, and perhaps the thought that by Friday many of us would be basking in Thai temperatures of up to 34C (93.2F), far from the doom-laden UK, held the line’s patience – for the most part.
“Excuse me”, called one passenger. “Are we going to get our flight or not?”
“It won’t go until you’ve all checked in,” replied an airport worker.
The average age of my queueing comrades skewed young. Most looked under 40. There were plenty of single travellers, a few couples, the occasional group of lads and a good smattering of families with children.
The latter group would not, I noted smugly, be sitting in my part of the cabin. I’d opted for Scoot-in-Silence, a section of seats from which under-12s are banned.
By 10.10pm I was hastily presenting my own documentation; by 10.20pm, with a few stragglers behind me, I was marching through security and towards the gate. By this point I was regretting my failure to pack sufficient snacks. As we lined up to file onto the bright yellow Boeing 787, I got talking to a British couple – Dominic (40) and Kirsty (34) – from Suffolk. They’d booked their flight just three weeks previously and were planning to stay out in Thailand for Christmas and New Year.
