ADVENTURES IN BEAUTIFUL BERLIN
It’s their first flight to Berlin, maybe they’ll serve champagne,” said a woman outside Gate F50 at Singapore’s Changi Airport. Passengers of Scoot’s flight TR734 on June 20 left messages on the #Scoot2Berlin wall before boarding. “Berlin here we come!” someone wrote.
“It’s gonna be wunderful!” another passenger scrawled in large, loopy letters.
We thought so too, but some friends had doubts when they heard we were flying to Europe on a budget carrier. “I wonder what the seats are like,” said one.
Pretty great, actually.
The flight
Our economy seat aboard Bo Jio, one of Scoot’s 17 all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, was comfortable. (Yes, Scoot names its aircrafts and we hope to one day ride the Kamascootra.) We were surprised to realize that even with our backpack stowed under the seat in front of us, we still had space to stretch our legs. There was plenty of space in the overhead bins, too—our suitcase slid in easily, no pushing and cramming needed, another benefit of flying on a wide-body aircraft. (Like the Scoot website says, “Size matters!”)
Scoot, the low-cost carrier of the Singapore Airlines group, flies to 66 destinations across 18 countries. Berlin is its third long-haul destination after Athens and Honolulu, both launched last year.
“From the start, we’ve challenged low-cost carrier norms and we do things differently. Six years since we started, Scoot is now widely acknowledged as a game changer in the industry. We’ve been named Best Low-Cost Airline in Asia-Pacific by
Airlineratings.com four years in a row,” said Vinod Kannan, Scoot’s chief commercial officer. “We always create a very fun and refreshing brand image, distinctly quirky, youthful. It’s called Scootitude. We aim to create extraordinary moments.”
He added, “Scoot is very excited about flying into Berlin. Scoot counts millennials as one of the most engaged and supportive customers and Berlin is renowned for its youthful population and is one of the world’s most exciting cities for millennials.”
The flight was 95 percent full with 311 passengers onboard. More than half of them were between the ages of 18 to 35. It was the perfect crowd for an in-flight party. Oh yes. There were rainbow lights, there were games, there was a raffle, there was even a dance-off. “It’s not a flight, it’s a party,” we posted on Instagram Stories using Scoot Wi-Fi.
The sleeping passenger sitting in 13H won a hundred-dollar travel voucher in the lucky draw. “It’s the best thing to wake up to,“said host Daryl Epimaco.
We purchased some snacks and drinks from Scoot Cafe and settled back to watch comedy on the ScooTV app in our phone before snoozing. It was a smooth, swift ride—the 12 hours flew by.
“We hope you enjoyed your Scoot experience,” we were told as we descended.
People applauded when we landed (13 minutes ahead of schedule!) and our flight was welcomed with a water cannon salute. “Please don’t be alarmed,” the captain announced.
As we disembarked, little teddy bears wearing BER shirts greeted us. We had arrived at Berlin’s Tegel Airport and it was time to start exploring.
This is Berlin
It’s Sunday and Mauerpark’s concrete amphitheater was packed with people. Two girls were on the makeshift stage singing “My Heart Will Go On.” They met only moments before but that doesn’t matter, their arms were linked and they were drinking from the same beer bottle. Over a thousand people joined them in chorus, with some pairing off to dance to the Titanic theme song. One guy took a running leap and his friend lifted him in the air, Dirty Dancing-style. The crowd cheered.
This was one song out of many sung that drizzly afternoon at the open-air Bearpit Karaoke, which has become a phenomenon. There, people from all over the globe—Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Texas, Afghanistan— come to belt out their favorite songs in front of the world’s most supportive audience. You may be tone deaf and off-key and you will still be met with applause and whistles.
Earlier, a man from Yemen stood onstage. It was his birthday, he said, and he wanted the crowd to sing for him. They sang “Happy Birthday”—in four languages.