Review of Tiger Airways Australia
Itchy Feet Team | May 06, 2008 | Comments 222
Tiger Airways is a low cost airline which commenced its operations in Australia in November 2007. Essentially Tiger Airways offers cheap flights on its 12 destinations in Australia. As a budget airline service the ticket cost covers the seat booking and 15kg of check in luggage. The airline also offers upgrades on luggage of 5kg, 10kg and 15kg that is paid for on top of the ticket price.
No food or drink is included in the ticket price however an in-flight service offers food and drinks for sale. Generally these prices are expensive for budget conscious travellers.
Baggage and Flight Check in is Strict! Initially travellers have been caught by the strict check in procedures and been denied check in after the 45 minute cut off time. Here an excerpt from Tigers check in policy so you don’t get caught.
“Baggage check-in opens 2 hours prior to the scheduled time of your departure. Check-in desks close strictly 45 minutes before scheduled departure time.
Tiger Airways recommends that passengers check in two hours prior to scheduled departure. Check-in desks in the Budget Terminal close strictly 45 minutes before scheduled departure, by which time passengers should have completed the check-in process and be in possession of a valid boarding card. We reserve the right to cancel your reservation and deny you boarding if you do not comply with the Check-in Deadline.
Any passenger not having completed check-in formalities and be in receipt of a boarding card within the above time line will forfeit their seat and no compensation will be given. You will be expected to purchase a new ticket on the next available service.”
The hub of Tiger Airways is Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. Tiger flys to Alice Springs, Adelaide, Hobart, Launceston, Canberra, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton and Mackay. Tiger also has flights to Perth and Darwin utilizing these cities as exit points to fly internationally into Singapore.
The flight experience is good with new planes and friendly staff however the baggage collection for Tiger at Melbourne Airport is budget. It is situated next to the large and luxurious Melbourne terminal, in a shed with cyclone mesh fencing open to the elements. The baggage service is fine and bags are available for pick up in a reasonable time frame. This ending to a trip reminds the traveller that they are flying a budget airline. Don’t let this put you off however as the cost savings compared to its competitors more than makes up for this little bug bear.
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You can contact Tiger Airways Adelaide directly on (08) 8234 3140 or urgent matters on 0423 798 832
Tiger Airlines,
Would have to be without a doubt
the worst airline that has ever flown in Australia
so many hidden charges,filthy aircraft,discusting
service how could Casa allow them to even fly here
is amazing,they have non existent customer service
flights that don,t exist they cancel if they don,t
have the required number of passengers on their
aircraft they really need to be investigated by
some authority remember one thing if you buy with
them all the money goes to singapore why should
we support them wakeup Australia.
Shane
wish I have seen this site first… i am due to fly out tomorrow from melb-syd, got an email from them a couple of days ago saying that i need to do a web check in otherwise they will charge a $10 fee to check in at the airport. (what the?! they mentioned none of this at the time of booking!)
anyway, i thought, oh well, easy for me, i always web check with Qantas when flying with work so this could even save me time!
well, i can check in from melb to syd but not the other way! (we are only going there for a few days) i called up this morning to their call center, greeted with someone from i think its a mumbai call centre, told me that i cannot check in for the return flight until i depart!
i told her that its a holiday trip, i wont be able to get hold of a computer let alone printing a boarding pass. Her reply was ‘internet cafe’! well, firstly i dont want to go to an internet cafe, secondly why do i want to punch in my personal details in a public computer?!
so i asked to speak to a manager, she said none! no manager?! she told me she is the only agent available! i said i can hear people talking in the background and surely she cant be the only staff in a call center?! then she changed her story saying all managers are busy, i told her i am happy to wait on the phone, then she said they are in a meeting?!!!!!
i told her i need someone to help me with this, and she said ‘well, if there are no concerns, then i will terminate the call’ I said ‘dont terminate the call, i have concerns thats why i am asking for a manager’ before i can finish, she hung up on me.
I wrote a letter of complaint, fax to the number on tiger’s website, guess what? the phone is disconnected! the fax bounced back, i went and google it on the net and found this blog and ‘inside scoop’s ‘ post. faxed it off and it went through.
I am hoping that tomorrow it will be okay, will never ever fly tiger again, i cannot believe there are no contacts for the company.
Tiger, you are a joke.
It is ridiculous that you cannot email them to complain. This is how a business can improve itself by finding out what needs to change.
I had tickets to Launceston – a fortnight after I booked them they contacted me to let me know the times had changed. These times weren’t suitable but I changed my plans to fit.
Now they have sent me an email cancelling my flight as they no longer fly to Launceston. I have had to buy tickets for another carrier which are more expensive because the lead time is so short.
Annoyed !
Same issue with me as well. I m flying for a holiday for 2-3 days and wanted to web checkin for coming back. Just realised i cant do it. I Called the their call centre. Its definitely not in India as I can make out its not the indian accent. However, looks like they go by reading some script as I was talking about web checkin and the lady was reciting all my flight numbers, passenger names, flight times and all. They have no idea of what needs to be done when someone wants to web checkin for return flight. With all this it is merely a way by which Tiger airlines want to make more money by forcing customers pay at the airport for a stupid Check-In.
Tiger Airways is the worst airline I’ve ever had the misfortune of flying with! My critique is based on my experiences in over 30 years of domestic & international air travel.
No matter how cheap it appears beware the hidden costs! Check-in fee! Oversized luggage fee! Overweight luggage fee! Re-booking fee!….
Beware of cancelled services! Services are delayed & cancelled regularly, the best you’ll get is a meal voucher & a longgggggggggggg wait at the terminal to board another flight. 2-1/2 Days at the Gold Coast Airport in one instance.
Beware of lousy customer service! Particularly the off-shore customer service centre at the end of their one & only advertised contact number! Long queues, hang-ups & mis-information are a regular occurence.
Longgggggggg wait at check-in counters and small & overcrowded terminals.
Let me reflect on my family’s recent experience.
Last minute travel to Brisbane for the Vic School Holidays, Tiger was the only airline that had affordable (not cheap,cheap) seats available at that time.
Called Tiger customer service to confirm the departure terminal, answer “International at Melbourne Airport”.
Arrived airport 90 mins prior to departure time & parked car in Long Term car park. Headed to the International terminal – WRONG! After wandering around international departures for 15 mins trying to find the Tiger counter we were directed to the correct terminal at T4 (old Virgin). I’m told the Tiger customer service person had meant Melbourne International Airport!!!!!!
After walking the family to T4 (10 mins or so) we arrived at the Tiger check-in counter 50 mins prior to departure to find that they were no longer checking in baggage. The “young” fellow behind the counter was not open to any reasoning or discussion re our plight, the only option given to us was to pay an additional $210 to be moved to the 5.30 am flight next morning.
So there we were, 8.30pm & home was over an hours drive away. Taking into account the cost of fuel, toll charges & the 4am start next morning, we decided not to return home and so began our search for some affordable accommodation nearby. Having paid the $24 to get the car out of Long Term parking, we checked into a nearby motel 2 hours later, best rate $170, all for 5 hours sleep.
Arrived back at the Tiger terminal 4.30am next morning 90 mins prior to departure (Tiger reccommends 2 hrs). We’d already paid the extra $20 per passenger to get a 15 kg baggage allowance ($55 pp if paid at the airport). One bag weighed in at 15.3kg, they then proceeded to try and extort another $55 from us for the extra 300 grams. No way was I going to pay them another cent, so I unpacked the case on the scales & removed my diary & jacket which I was then allowed to carry on as cabin baggage at no further cost (WHAT A JOKE!!! 300 grams is 300 grams, whether it’s in the hold or in the cabin. WHY THE FUSS?)
The guy beside us was about to kill the check-in chick. He had a carry-on bag that he’d taken on board many different airlines while travelling the world. Tiger was telling him that it was oversize by 3cm and were demanding he pay $55, we was not happy. Every other queue was held up with people unpacking suitcases at counters trying to reduce the weight of their luggage. How efficient is that? Especially given that most of the stuff removed is carried on board as hand luggage anyway. $5 of the $55 baggage fee is supposedly an administration charge…SURE!
Once we’d left the check-in counter we were in yet another queue, this time weighing hand luggage to make sure it was under 7kg. Once again, people were forced to wait while passengers unpacked their bags in the queue.
Moving on, there was yet another delay while we stood in the queue at the security point. A very narrow & innefficient choke point.
The T4 terminal is very cramped with little seating available when 2 or more flights are scheduled to depart. Food & beverages are typically overpriced and there are queues at counters. Access to the aircraft is via the tarmac which was quite uncomfortable given the cold winter winds at Melb Airport.
Once on board, it becomes apparent that the aircraft are not cleaned regularly, there is no in-flight entertainment and the aircraft are not fitted with in-seat radios or video screens. All food & drink must be purchased and they DO NOT accept cash or eftpos on board, credit cards only. I had cash but I’d left my cards in my luggage, I couldn’t even buy the family a drink of water… WHAT A JOKE!)
I ended up heading back to Melbourne earlier than expected, I booked with Qantas and left my family to return with Tiger as originally planned. My family reported that the service from Tiger in Brisbane was just as bad as Melb. Our itinerary had a seat booked for me including a 15kg baggage allowance that I’d paid for. Tiger would not allow my family to use the seat nor would they allow my family to use my 15kg baggage allowance despite us all being ticketed on the same itinerary. Once again, my wife had to unpack a jacket to bring a bag below 15kg. It turns out that they subsequently resold my seat & yet offered no refund.
Given the whole “Tiger” experience I will never ever fly with them again. At the end of it all I could have flown my whole family on a Qantas every day fare, at a time convenient to us, for less cost than we ended up incurring with Tiger.
The airline is a joke and deserves every bit of the negative press & consumer backlash that it incurs. The company has taken domestic air travel in Australia to an all time low.
I agree Tiger Airways should be investigated and that the Australian Govt should enforce minimum standards for customer service.
Tiger is pathetic. I have been hung up on twice by rude “customer service” agents. I also wrote a letter but no reply. And part of my complaint was the fact that I could not pay for tickets using my MasterCard! Now what sort of backwater company does not care about collecting money?
I am a moron for flying Tiger! Twice stung with exorbitant overweight charges, no service, smelly aircraft, cramped seating, lousy website, how do they even keep planes in the air? It’s beyond me!
After being yet again slugged another $50 for 2.9 kgs it’s finally time to abandon Tiger and embrace the mainstream airlines again that treat customers like they are human beings and not cattle to be herded around like suckers.
What are our elected members doing? I think they are asleep at the wheel!
My partner and I have just returned from a holiday in Phuket. We flew Tiger, NEVER AGAIN! Perth – Singapore flight was fine. Singapore to Phuket flight cancelled we had to wait 15 hours for the next flight. On our returm journey Phuket- Singapore flight was cancelled and we had to buy new tickets on Air Asia so that we could get to Singapore in time to get our Singapore-Perth flight or else we would have had to purchase new tickets for that leg also. Tiger promised a refund for our cancelled flights but we have not recieved that. A peice of photo copied paper is all we have as evidence for a refund and none of the Tiger Airways numbers are customer service. I do not believe they even have a customer service depeartment.
I cannot stress loud enough, warn everyone you know not to make the mistakes that we did and fly with this airline. It is not worth the ‘cheap’ fares.
We booked on the website on 7th July for our fly to Sydney from Adelaide on 27th and back on 29th. Their work was efficient, we soon received Tiger Airways Booking Confirmation, Tiger Airways: Flight Reminder by email.
Neither of them mentioned any additional fees we should pay besides our fare. However, on our return, when we were checking in at the Sydney airport, we were overcharged 60 dollars. Ridiculously, we were told that we were charged such an amount because we hadn’t checked in on the web. We think it a fraud for we were not informed in any way.
I am also a victim of Tiger. My son had booked with Tiger for a weekend away from Sydney to the Gold Coast.
Firstly the flight was delayed. The one hour delay was not the worst of it. It was delayed 3 times and the gate that the plane was to leave from changed 3 times. I am 60 and keeping up with it involved walking Kms around Sydney domestic airport to ensure we would not miss it.
Fortunately I had organized the seat allocation (flight confirmation) from my computer before I left home, otherwise I would have had to pay $15 per person to do it at the airport. We only arrived at the final gate allocation a few minutes before the flight due to the constantly changing gate allocation. Others must have too but had arrived without their seat allocation being done. They were refused entry to the plane and were told to rebook and pay a fee.
However on entering the plane I found it to be totally full. The people who did not have their seat allocation would not have got a seat any way.
We arrived at the Gold Coast and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days.
We arrived at the Coolangatta airport an hour ahead of time for mthe flight back to Sydney. My son was under the impression that he had already booked the seat allocations for the flight back. We sat in the Tiger Airways lounge (300 metres distant from the main airport) waiting for the announcement to board. No announcements were made until the call to board was made.
After close to an hour of waiting we went to board the aircraft and found that the seat allocations had not been done. No announcement had been made about ensuring that we had confirmed our flight. The woman at Coolangatta airport was extremely rude and seemed to relish giving us the bad news that we needed to rebook for the next flight 6 hours later. We were not the only ones. There was a couple with a child and another couple of guys who were also caught up in the scam. I called their number to see if something could be done. The person at the other end could not help me as they hardly spoke English. They were certainly not going to get anything changed. I could not understand a word they said.
We were told we needed to pay another $85 each for the later flight even though we had Tiger Flight Insurance. I paid the extra $170 for both of us. Hanging around the airport for 6 hours was a hard ask but we did it.
We boarded another full flight with the usual number of people hassling at the entry for a seat allocation. Seems like the seat allocation scam is how they make their profit. I will try for the insurance to pay out the money lost.
I would NEVER travel by Tiger Airlines again.
I do not rate tiger airways, the trip ended up costing me more then a first class ticket with Qantas. the flight was canceled from Coollangata to Adelaide BSN ADL anywayz was waiting at airport 3 hours then told to go away and next avaliable booking was a week away. very unreasonable.
all they could do is give a refund form to fill out which i did and have not received a refund for 3 months now. at the time i was upset which they do not care and told me i have 5 seconds to make a decision hahaha. i normally would not bother to do this but i believe they deserve as much bad publicity as possible and hopefully will cause a corporate collapse when everyone realize cheap is not CHEAP!!!! give your monies to Australian Company and service next time !! please to all those who look up on reviews and passenger feedback.
Tiger airlines is terrible. NO matter how cheap the flight, DONT BOOK IT!!!!
My partner and I went to fly from Sydney to Goldcoast on a Saturday, our flight was to depart at 530pm. We had webchecked in and got ready to board at 450pm. At 5pm we were informed our flight was cancelled due to one of the cabin crew becomming sick!!! We had asked if they could get us on a flight that night as we ourselves had an event to go to and Im sure every other passenger their own plans…Anyway, they told us that the next available flight was MONDAY MORNING!!
We had no option but to book with another airline, we finally arrived at our desternation at 3am (As we had to book with jetstar and catch a flight to brisbane, arrival time midnight and then catch a coach to gold coast!!)(We were suppose to be there at 7pm the night before), being $700 poorer and missing out on our event. We were highly pissed off!!
Tiger airways refuses to reimburse us for any of our out of pocket expences excluding our original purchase of the tiger airline flight.
BASTARDS!!!!
….PS I rang that Adelaide number that someone posted (Thanks for that) but even that guy was useless!!! They have the worst customer service!!! They will not help you!! In the end you are referred to the singapore call center!!
I have written into Today tonight and hoping they will shead the limelight on this bad airservice, PLEASE PEOPLE write into them, the more angry customers they get, the bigger the chance of them sharing and investergating the company!
I was also informed from airport staff in Sydney and Brisbane that Tiger airways does this all the time!! Its not abnormal!!
Tiger airways is the worst I have flown in. Have been trying to web check-in for 4 days with over thousand attempts but no luck. I contacted service and they said we will fix it and try later. And their hidden charges are pathetic. $10 for long queue check-in is smells greed esp when web check in does not work. The Australian Government should remove their license to fly in Australia. Their planes are filthy and service is deplorable.
Never again will I fly with Tiger Airlines. They have no ethics.
I have never experienced such pathetic customer service as I did with Tiger this morning when I finally spoke with someone at the elusive Tiger call centre.
The issue was that I had booked my flight about a month ago then a week later, wished to add my 9 year old to the booking.
Anybody who has experienced the Tiger website will know how impossibly UN-user friendly it is. You would think that making an addition to an exisiting booking would be an easy task. Not so with Tiger.
Adding my child to my booking via the website was not an option. So I tried to make a completely new booking for my 9 year old however because of the age of my child, the website would not allow me to proceed with the booking.
After calling the Tiger call centre multiple times over the past month and being unable to get my call anwered, while in the meantime the cost of the flights I needed to book were ever increasing, I faxed a letter in yesterday.
Of course, despite the fact the letter was titled as ‘urgent’, no response has been made in regards to my request to add my child to my booking.
I called the contact centre this morning at 8:05 and after waiting on hold for 7 minutes, finally got to speak with someone. The response from the Tiger agent was that it’s too bad that I wasn’t able to get through to the call centre until now and that I should have just booked my child on the website using a birth year that would have allowed the booking to proceed.
I explained to the agent that I have flown with Tiger regularly since 2007 and have to date been happy with my experience however, I was shocked by the apathy and total lack of courtesy this individual showed.
I asked to speak with a supervisor who this particular person suddenly professed she was. I then requested to speak with someone else who actually gave a damn to which this Tiger staff member advised me that no one else is there. By this time I was so frustrated with the unhelpful attitude that I told the staff member flat out that it is bullsh*t that no one else is there because she works in a call centre.
I again asked to speak with her supervisor. This time she advised that the supervisor wasn’t in yet (hang on, wasn’t SHE the supervisor just before???). I said that is fine and requested the supervisor call me back. Of course this wasn’t an option with the Terrible Tigers because the call centre is only inbound (who would’ve thought??).
Much like the abovementioned experiences from other Tiger Trauma victims, the “customer service” agent decided that she would hang up on me after advising by constantly talking over me that I need to book my child’s flight and use the wrong birth year, then terminated the call.
Much like everyone else who has experienced this non existent level of customer service, this incident has certainly changed my attitude to ever considering or recommending Tiger and the previous 4 years experience of travelling with them. In fact, I would actively discourage travel on Tiger to anyone.
Do you know that before you decide to book a ticket from Tiger Airways, you can research the cheapest ticket first? With this tool, you can search the Tiger Airways cheapest ticket in 15 days since the date of departure you selected.
This way you can find out which day the Tiger Airways ticket is the cheapest. I found this tool at: http://www.unique-stuff.co.cc/find_cheap_tiger_airways_flight.html
Good luck, may it be useful to you.
Flew Adelaide – Gold Coast return this week just gone, and do not have a bad word to speak of Tiger. Yes the planes are old, yes the service is limited. But YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!! and for us that was cheap flights, there and back, nothing else. We are early 20′s, and my partner is quite tall and we were offered the extra leg room seats both flights on the condition that we could open the 15kg emergency door if needed. Our flights left on time/early, we landed safely, and received adequate in flight service. The only thing is that Tiger is lower priority, so we had to wait 20-30 mins for our luggage in Adelaide, and their terminals are either a separate building or right at the very end of main terminals. Just read the fine print on the website and do as they say. When they say be checked in 45mins prior to your flight, be checked in. When they say 15kgs of luggage, they mean 15kgs.
Lovely flight, very satisfied. Got what I paid for
The only thing I can take comfort with about Tiger Airways is the fact that I am not alone in being underwhelmed (that is being polite!) with Tiger Airways. My trip from Canberra – Melbourne & return on weekend 14/15 August 2010 was an example of how not to run an airline.
Tiger clain you can do web check-in up to 7 days prior – I could only get my boarding pass for return leg 2 days before. Not good enough Tiger. Also, the time of my flights was changed several times, resulting in having to cancel a Sudnay afternoon engagement just to get back to Tiger’s filthy Melbourne terminal and then be kept waiting for the flight, but more on that shortly.
Canberra – Melbourne leg was OK but I put that down to it never being too busy or stressful at Canberra airport.
However, the experience in Melbourne was enough to ensure that I never contemplate travelling with this airline (again I’m being polite calling it an airline) ever again.
Arriving at the Melbourne terminal at 4.45pm for a 5.45pm flight (I already had my boarding pass and only carry on luggage) it took almost 40 minutes in a line to clear security screening (one X ray open only). Whilst in the line we could hear indecipherable mumblings on a PA that really didnt reach some areas of the line, so we couldn’t tell what was happening. I also had my 4 kg overnight cabin bag weighed – many people were told to rearrange their things or go back and check their bag in (what’s the fee to do this up to now? As much as the cost of the flight in many cases). Not good enough Tiger.
Eventually I got through security and noted that the TV screen said my flight was boarding at Gate 2, so I went to this gate and it was not open. However, a lot of people were lined up at Gate 1 so I tacked on the end of this line with other Canberra travellers who were all perplexed about what was going on. Eventually someone said it was the Brisbane flight line (showing boarding at Gate 3 but this was Gate 1 remember). Confused? Everyone there was. Not good enough Tiger.
Then the TV screen showing our flight as closed – lots of stressed people milling around gate 2 wondering what to do. I heard someone comment maybe they had to go to Qantas or Virgin to get a flight home as they’d missed their Tiger link. A conversation amongst the assembled fellow disgrunteld passengers started and someone suggested that this (inaccurate TV screen details) is a normal Tiger occurrence and to ignore the screen as they usually called the flight and some people had been there a while and it hadn’t been called, so we should wait. All this occurred after the flight was scheduled to leave so I understood people’s angst (particularly for people who hadn’t flown much before). Not good enough Tiger.
Eventually our flight was called and we all tracked off to Gate 3 (not Gate 2 as the monitor still showed) and boarded and eventually made it to Canberra.
This is not a reflection on the flight crew – they were fine and are probably embarrassed to actually work for this company – they probably want jobs with Qantas or Virgin anyway.
However even Budget airlines should get basic service right and put some effort into acknowledging basic needs of customers – courtesy, communication and respect.
So Tiger, you probably don’t care that it was my last flight ever with you as a result of this unsavoury experience, as plenty of others will take my place. But it was also the last flight of many people I straw-polled at your grubby tin shed in Melbourne so I hope the masses turn on you so you either (a) start providing service or (b)you go away and leave airlines to people who have some understanding of customer service.
Like most people, I believe that Tiger airlines should not be flying in Australia today. Three months ago we booked return flights from Adelaide to Brisbane in January, and received yesterday an e-mail saying the route had been discontinued from November. They have had our money now for three months, and are indicating that will take another 5 to 6 weeks to credit our account. I accept that airlines should be able to make route changes, but if they take your money nine months ahead of the flight then I think this should be that the notice required before route changes. And to suggest that 5 to 6 weeks is required for a credit is just unbelievable.
People should remember that this airline is owned by Singapore Airlines – an “esteemed” brand. How they can allow a fully owned subsidiary to act in this fashion is just astonishing! I am not a fan of US style litigation, but I’m reasonably certain that a class-action financial damages (lost interest, costs) against Tiger would be successful. Very nice thought, but in practice it should not be flying Australia!
Tiger Air is the worst airline I have ever had the misfortune of using. OK I admit it, I was seduced by the budget priced seats to Melbourne (departing Brisbane) but silly me, I didn’t expect the plane not to be available for the flight or an absolute lack of customer service. Boarding passes printed along with loud complaints re 7kgs luggage limit we arrived and could not for the life of us find Tiger! Then we found that the flight had been delayed 4 hours (allegedly due to a bird strike on an aircraft – amazing how many of our little feathered friends choose to leave this mortal coil via taking revenge on a Tiger Aircraft)! However, there was no guarantee that the plane would be available at 12.30am. I understand that the Rockhampton passengers had been waiting since 9am that morning. As our accom was dependent on our arrival along with early tours the next day, we shelled out another $400 to fly Virginblue to leave at 8pm that night (last seats available and the Virginblue staff were wonderful). Our departure from Melbourne can only be described as a nightmare. 2 check in counters operating, with lines and lines of customers. Staff so impassive I wondered if I had entered the Stepford world. We didn’t have access to a computer so were unable to do an online check in and my wallet is now $50 lighter because of this – $50 to check in, talk about skyway robbery! I suggested that given the inconvenience of our Brisbane flight they could forgo a check in charge….NO! Luggage 200gms over, yep they wanted another $55! We repacked 2 items of luggage (one 7kgs one 3kgs). I still can’t understand how you can take 2 items max on board with one 7kg etc. I could be confused but 10kgs is 10 kgs be it in one bag or two…if I can work this out, why can’t Tiger! I now had one suitcase and 3 small bags. We were checked in and sent on to next area where our luggage was again weighed (talk about double handling) and I was asked why I had 3 bags. I explained our check in nightmare and was then told well that’s wrong, the counter staff were wrong. Another 10 mins of arguing and pointing out that to continue would hold up the rest of the queue and the plane we were allowed to continue onto security and the boarding gate, only to be told that the arrival of the plane was delayed. They say that every customer will tell 5 people about their experience…I hope to make it many many more! I will never ever fly Tiger Air. By the way, the wooden staff at Melb check in stated that they were not able to waive any fees as that was how the company made revenue. I suggested that they may make more revenue by repeat business if they showed some good will toward their customers and provide a half way decent service. I was also advised that on any given day they had 30 people as no shows..not sure how this is my problem, particularly as those ‘no shows’ have already paid and I’m sure Tiger would onsell the empty seats!
So in short dear fellow travellers, don’t be tempted by the cheap seats on offer from this sub standard airline, stay strong! Vote with your feet and walk towards the competition. It will not only save you money in the long run, but it will be far better for your stress levels.
charged exta to check in on first time flying with tiger. Unaware of this when booking on line. staff attitude ws rude and uncaring.
no more tiger for me as the extra charge made the cost dearer than flying with another airline.
anyway kangaroos and virgins are better company than tigers any day.
Flew Tiger Brisbane to Melbourne & back on the same day. (Yes I know !!!)
Flight out was fine – return flight a nightmare 6 hour delay – no information and true chaos in the terminal as nobody knew what would happen. Were given a meal voucher which had the wrong date on it so could not be used.
But get real folks – IT IS CHEAP.
So accept the hassles or fly Qantas for over triple the price.