Budget airline acknowledges disruption after early departure of flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on Nov 1.

Scoot has issued an apology following an incident where one of its flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur took off approximately 1½ hours earlier than the scheduled departure time on November 1. Flight TR456, which was originally set to depart at 4.50am, was rescheduled to 3.21am due to “operational reasons”, as confirmed by the airline on December 19.

The budget carrier did not specify whether passengers were informed about the earlier timing before the flight’s departure, nor did it disclose how many passengers missed the revised departure. Passengers who missed the flight were accommodated on a later Singapore Airlines flight, SQ104, which left for Kuala Lumpur at 7.04am the same morning.

One affected passenger shared their experience with Stomp, explaining that they relied on the SG Flight Info app, which showed the original 4.50am departure time. Upon arriving at an empty gate, they panicked and sought help at another terminal, where Scoot staff apologised for the confusion. The passenger was subsequently offered $150 in compensation by the airline.

Though the passenger eventually made it to Kuala Lumpur, they missed their connecting flights and had to purchase additional tickets for their onward journey. Scoot confirmed that its customer service team has been in contact with the affected individual to provide assistance.

This incident follows a similar one in January 2023, where 29 passengers missed their flight due to a similar rescheduling issue. In that case, the airline stated it had notified passengers via email and SMS about the change.