If you’re flying with Scoot in the near future, you may want to pack light. From 1 June 2020, Scoot will limit the maximum weight of cabin bags to just 3kg, down from the current 10-15kg.
| Maximum weight allowed in cabin | Economy | ScootPlus |
| Up till 1 June 20 | 10kg | 15kg |
| From 1 June 20 | 3kg | 3kg |
3kg isn’t a lot at all- your average laptop probably weighs about 2-2.5kg already. The good news is that any bags above the 3kg limit will be checked in at no additional cost.
| ⚠️ Note that the “no additional cost” only applies to baggage that would otherwise have been allowed in the cabin, i.e matching the dimensions and restrictions below.
If you’re bringing a full-sized bag, you’ll still have to check it and pay according to the usual rates. |
So this isn’t a cut in the cabin baggage allowance per se (as it’s been reported in some other media outlets), it’s more of a restriction on how it’s allocated.
Why the restriction?
Some may dismiss this as an attempt to make more money from checked bag fees, but that doesn’t really hold up, given how Scoot is checking other cabin baggage at no additional cost.
Instead, the reason lies with the need to facilitate security clearance and boarding. I’m guessing that all the additional health screenings and declarations will add time to the boarding process, and emptying the plane more quickly on arrival gives the ground staff more time to clean it.
Furthermore, restricting cabin baggage limits the number of touch points on the aircraft- fewer people touching the overhead bins (and each other’s luggage) minimizes the opportunities for transmission. It ensures people get to their seats quicker, instead of getting bottlenecked in the aisles when someone stops to access the overhead bin.
Other carriers, both full service and budget, have implemented similar restrictions.
- Air Asia is limiting cabin bags to 7kg, and specifying that it must fit under the seat (they previously restricted it to 5kg, but u-turned after a backlash)
- Emirates is only allowing laptops, handbags, briefcases or baby items to be brought on board
- Norwegian Air is limiting cabin bags to 10kg, and specifying that it must fit under the seat
- Royal Jordanian is only accepting small personal items in the cabin
Singapore Airlines has not adopted the same restrictions, and passengers will still continue to be allowed to bring 1 or 2 pieces depending on cabin, weighing up to 7 kg each.
What is a bit curious to me is why Scoot is waiting all the way until 1 June 2020 to implement this, if public health and social distancing is the goal.
Conclusion
I’ve said before that any travel during this time is going to be “travel lite”, with limited service and catering cuts in lounges and onboard. These new restrictions are just more of the same, then.
But the fact of the matter is: no one should be flying right now unless it’s absolutely necessary, and if you are, I think you’d be more thankful to be able to get from A to B than be bothered by this.
It also helps with boarding and disembarking process. Less things you have faster you move and because CAAS has the new social distancing guidelines in place so think this all helps in the overall process.
3kg does seem a bit extreme though. that said, i doubt they actually bother to weigh (which would slow down an already slow process even more) and probably just eyeball the items.
from someone working from the internals of aviation, thank you for shedding light to the masses on safety and security which is often overlooked (or ignored actually). yes, the general public would think that it’s cost cutting but the fact of the matter is that we just need to minimize any touchpoints in the plane right now.
Great to hear from you! Hopefully this will all be a distant memory before we know it.