After two days catching up with my aunt, three cousins and a friend from Yemen days separately, it was time to fly back to my hometown. I had secured a Scoot ticket for AUD200 from Melbourne to Kuching via Singapore with a 3h connection. About half of that was taxes.
I had paid for a seat selection on top of that price. The flight seat map looked empty till about 5h before departure when a flood of people had done online check-in (or been assigned by the airline). I paid a further AUD3 to choose a seat in the only spare row left in the main cabin (excluding the pricey forward zone).
It was a small price to have a chance at having a row or even a spare seat next to me. Soon after that, the seat map was locked, so I was pleased to have kept an eye on things.
Getting to the airport by tram and bus, a little before the 3h mark for my 2120 flight, check-in was already in progress. It took about 30 mins to get to the desk even though I was near the front again.
I was airside in no time to grab dinner at the House lounge before attending to bills and admin online. I had been too busy socialising with family during my stay in Melbourne and had left things for a few days.
Boarding seemed chaotic because signage for the queues hadn’t been set up early enough. People had already queued in wrong places by the time the signs were put up and some that were in front that shouldn’t be had to move (and others were perhaps reluctant to move.
Despite that, we had an on-time departure, with me happily in my selected aisle seat with a spare one next to me.