Review of Tiger Airways Australia
Itchy Feet Team | May 06, 2008 | Comments 71
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.
More Information:
Got something to say…
If you have a comment on tiger airways (good or bad) please leave it for others to read. We will review it and then approve it if it is relevant.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
It appears that this blog entry has attracted many people that are dissatisfied with the customer service from Tiger Airways. We now apparently have Secret information from “Inside Scoop” in our comments. Check out the information that is provided and use it if you so desire, but please do not disclose the source. Protect the “Inside Scoop”. Thanks
Popularity: 100% [?]
Filed Under: Air Travel • Featured
Farout, it’s scary that such business practices are going on – so much for ‘deregulation’ – a license for rip offs and disservice!
I flew Gold Coast to Melb recently with Tiger, but almost lost my flight as I couldn’t find their ‘terminal’, which is a separate building, over the road to the north of the main terminal used by all other airlines.
There’s a tiny sign obscured by trees on the side of the building (though this just looks like advertising), you have to cross a busy road that all the buses use and walk past an area that has signage warning about jet stream exposure. The path is quite rough, and not made in some areas, where I had to shortcut as I was panicking about missing the flight.
The only people at the main terminal who could explain where Tiger are were the bus drivers (thank heaven for them, they were lovely!)…. The waiting area was like a cattle yard, with confusing announcements. It was lucky it’s a small area as I had been told the wrong gate.
The attendants on and off the ground were lovely, but it was a very long walk to their Melb ‘terminal’ (and what a joke that is, you can’t even get out of the 2 turnstiles with luggage – very difficult for those with children and big bags!!). Then another long walk to the front of the main terminal…. as I have an injury walking is very difficult, but there was no help offered that I could discern. Anyone old or infirm should travel with Jetstar or Virgin!!!
Was about to book to go home but think I’ll pay a little extra and go with the lovely people from Virgin… who have in the past been most helpful about a little lateness or slightly heavier bags. No point in saving a little and taking so much risk!
Thanks for your comments everyone, my experience was relatively ok by comparison, but the overwhelming impression from this and another blog is avoid Tiger.. and I will!!
PS – it sounds like the ACCC should know about what Tiger has been doing, sounds not just immoral but illegal to me. The following website will give you links. Remember, if you don’t make your complaint then no action can be taken.
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/3634
cant help but agree with the hugh numbers of negative experiences reported on this site. take a tip. pay the extra and travel with some reasonable chance of getting on the flight and arriving on time. tiger staff are duds and will not go out of their way to assist. give that mob the flick.
ADLto MELB 21st of April 2009, Booked an air fare for my self and 2 children (8 and 9) My name is spelt almost the same as my sons name, minus 2 letters. When booking i accidently put my name twice(my fault but did not pick this up until i got to Adelaide Airport 2 and half hours prior to departure thank goodness) They could only name change two strokes of a name 3 hours prior to departure so i had to cancell my sons booking(8 year old) and lose the money for the flight. Then I had re book a seat for 173.00 but i gave the person 190 and only got 7 change not sure what the extra 10.00 was for. They did not have change on hand so the person had to walk around to the money exchange and get change for me with just 10 min to seven and we were boarding at 10 min past 7am. I was just in panic mode cause it had taken me well over 2 hours to resolve my situation. When going to change my sons name on the ticket in Melbourne to fly back to Adelaide was told ( by a very hard to understand person)that the person in Adelaide should of changed that flight back at Adelaide,as now the first part of the ticket had been used you could not make any changes now and would have to buy another ticket for him to fly back with me. For me to have my son back on the flight and with his changed name but once that was closed in Adelaide the the return flight was Nil and Void and i had to re purchase another Ticket from Melbourne to adelaide which had to be done through the Call Centre. The people i spoke to said that the people in Adelaide had to change it on the day it was cancelled. the people were very very hard to understand for both my Dad and myself we tried for 2 days we would ring and would get through and would be put on hold and then the engaged signal so we would try again just to get my son on the same airline as me going home. The ticket cost me 92.00 plus the 183 plus the original price of 50 each way ended up being a very costly flight. virgin blue will never loose me as a customer again i gave one point for just the in flight service but every thing else about the booking to picking up the baggage whch u have to walk such a long way from the plane to the baggage place was just nil and void for me.
The flight actually started off being a 26.00 fare with taxes 50 and then add the rest of the other stuff ended up being 275.00 extra for a child very very costly by the way i had 20 left for 9 days while i was away thank goodness i had family why i was in Melbourne I fear my Flight home from Melbourne on Thursday 30 April 2009 do i get there 4 hours before. Just in closing i think if those that have had a problem must speak out to the Australian Consumer Association and advise other passengers via this blog.
I booked Melbourne to Sydney return flights via the Tiger Airways website on Friday, 24Apr09.
The booking experience was horrible, where the website kept hanging or not responding.
I finally completed 1 transaction & the Flight Booking Confirmation was received at 11:51h on Friday, 24Apr09. I thought it was the end of the story but no to my horror, 2 more booking confirmations arrived later on the same day – at 1432h then at 1823h.
I was puzzled & alarmed for having received 2 extra booking confirmation but try as I may, I could not get trough Tiger Airways via phone or fax. Their fax was even busy over the weekends! I emailed & sent letters via postal mail to both the Melb & Singapore office & never received any response. I believe the duplicate confirmations were due to Tiger Airways system glitches & the website frequently hanging
I finally got through to Tigar Airways on 05May2009 & asked them to indly delete & cancel the duplicate bookings.
I did not make those extra bookings, had no reason to do so & will not be paying for them.
Unfortunately, Tiger has only agreed to refund me for 1 extra flight & that’s only because I argued my case for more than 20mins on the phone.
For the 2nd duplicate, they refuse, first saying because it is not the same flight then saying because it is not the same booking!
They refuse to listen to reason e.g. I cannot fly Melb to Sydney twice on the same day if I have not returned from Sydney!
It’s just an absolute nightmare & the customer service is appaling. They advertise for free tickets then catch consumers out this way.
Moral of the story – 1-DO NOT FLY TIGER ARIWAYS. 2-FREE TICKETS SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE 3-IF IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT’S NOT 4- SEE RULE #1
The best way to contact Tiger with a complaint is
a) on the “secret” Melbourne administration and executive office number
03 9330 3188 then type an extension number from 101 to 117. I recommend extension 113 which is the Managing Director (Shelly Roberts or her PA Lee Palmeri).
b) by faxing your complaint to the “secret” Melbourne fax number 03 9330 3288
c) by calling head of Corporate Affairs Matt Hobbs. Matt is now in Singapore but has a Melbourne number 03 86237250 on permanent diversion. You can also try matthobbs@tigerairways.com or matt@tigerairways.com
d) by contacting Tiger Airways Australia Pty Limited care of Forbes Dowling Lawyers (their legal reprentatives). The lawyer who handles the Tiger account is Dinesh Navaratnam refer http://www.forbesdowling.com.au/team_dineshnavaratnam.aspx or Phone 03 9320 3084, Facsimile 1300 360 904 or dnavaratnam@forbesdowling.com.au. Remember it usually only minimal administration fee to start a “small claim” with your state tribunal (VCAT in victoria)
Good luck and make your voice heard !
WOW… I wish I had Inside Scoop’s info 4 months ago!
We have been fighting Tiger over a refund they promised us back in January and have failed to pay.
As we, and many others now know, they have zero customer service in Australia. We have sent fax after fax and spent hours trying to call them on numbers that never answer. We have contacted ACCC and Department of Fair Trading. We have taken a claim to the Small Claims Tribunal (and guess what today we finally had a breakthrough….. their lawyer called us to say we will have our refund this week… 18 weeks later)…
My advice is take legal action (it’s cheap to make a small claim) as it is the only way to be taken seriously by them..
On the contrary, I flew with Tiger on sale tickets ($30 Perth to Melbourne each way). One of the flights was delayed by 2 hours because of an earlier delay using the same aircraft, this was annoying but unavoidable. The flight was fine, seats were crammed & T4 is basically a shed but it is a budget airline so it was expected.
T4 is a long walk from Qantas domestic in Melbourne, however, the flight tickets do say Melbourne flights depart and land at T4 – A quick google search prior to leaving shows where T4 is located in relation to all the other terminals at Melbourne airport. I don’t think this should be a big issue for people.
Tiger clearly state the check in rules, I abided by them and had no issues.
Although, I did need to call customer service about seat allocation and the line just rang out – this was strange, Tiger should have better customer service if they want to be taken seriously in the Australian market.
It seems like if flights are not re-scheduled or there are no payment/credit card issues then the flight with tiger should be okay. However, should you have to contact them there might be issues.
Normally Tiger flights PER – MEL are $120 whilst Virgin sale fares are $150 and Qantas $180. If I had to choose between those I would go for Qantas or Virgin just for comfort. I don’t think I would book Tiger at their full price.
I am writing to complain about Tiger Airlines, I had my daughter and her boyfriend booked on flights from Adelaide to Melbourne on Sunday night the 17th May 2009 to fly out at 8.10pm. When we arrived at the airport at 7.10pm, there wasn’t anybody from Tiger Airlines at the check in counter, there were also 4 other people there with the same itineries. When we compared itineries, they stated Monday the 18th May 2009 to fly out at 8.10pm, none of us had booked for the Monday. As such I had to rush to get the kids on a Virgin flight which was due to fly out at 8.00pm that night, hence costing me $628 dollars, money I would well not afford, but the kids had to get home to go to work the next morning. The other 4 people had the same dilemma, and also had to pay the big bucks to get home. I have tried to phone Tiger Airlines, but get a recorded message, press a certain number for a certain enquiry, or hold for an operator, upon doing this the phone hangs up after a couple of minutes. I have emailed via a reply to the itinerary they sent, but again no reply. As such I am out of pocket for the Tiger flights of $166 dollars, plus the $628 for Virgin. Can anybody point me in the right direction to get in touch with this mob and get my money back? I have since gone on to their online booking and when you select a day, it comes up with a different day but doesn’t highlight the fact there aren’t any flights available on the day you have chosen. This is really dodgy and I am sure plenty of people are being ripped off by this Airline.
We have just experienced the Tiger nightmare ourselves.
The ladies in my family planned a long weekend in Melbourne. We were scheduled to depart Perth on a Tiger flight Thursday 21st May at 7.30pm. We were required to arrive at the airline 2 hours in advance. We checked in at 5.30pm and waitied at the gate just after 6pm. Shortly after it was announced that our flight would be 45mins delayed. A little while after that we were told it would be delayed by another hour. This went on and on until, all up, the flight was delayed by 5 hours which meant we did not arrive into Melbourne until 4.30am Friday 22nd May. The annoying thing is that we later discovered that when we checked in at 5.30pm, the plane we were to fly on had not even left Melbourne, so staff surely would have known the full extent of the delay earlier than was announced.
During the weekend holiday we all focussed on sending positive thoughts to the “tiger” to help ensure our flight back to Perth was on time. But obviously our thoughts weren’t enough because things got worse. . .
We were due to fly out of Melbourne at 10pm. We checked in at 8pm and proceeded to the departure gate. At around 8.45pm the message “cancelled” appeared on the departure screen. No formal announcement. Just “cancelled”. Everyone at the gate was confused so we went to the front desk to speak to the Tiger staff, where we were told to get in the back of the long queue (of people checking in for other flights) to find out more. We advised the staff that we would not join the existing queue and that we demanded to know immediately what “cancelled” meant – what our options were and how we could get a refund. We were advised that the next flight was 10pm Monday and that we would be shortlisted for the flight. We were told to pick up our bags “from the shed outside”. We were informed we would get a refund of $170, but that this would take a month to be refunded to us. Tiger informed us they would only pay accomodation costs if we chose to fly back to Perth with Tiger. Two of the ladies in our party have small children and three of the ladies work (one was scheduled to start work at 7am Monday). It was not an option for us to wait until 10pm the next night. Unfortunately all Virgin flights were booked so we were forced to pay $600 to catch a Quantas flight at 6am the next morning.
From there, the best option was for us to stay the night at Melbourne airport. We asked the security gaurds for the best area to crash and they suggested the Virgin check-in lounge as it “has carpet”. So that is where the 5 of us slept from midnight Sunday until 4am Monday morning when we checked in with Quantas – with the many other passengers who were due to fly to Perth on this fateful flight (including children).
The level of customer service provided by Tiger was zero. We were tolld the two girls on the check-in counter did not even work for Tiger – that they were contracted from Greyline Tours. Quantas staff mentioned that Tiger cancel flights very frequently each week and that the sirport security spend most of their time at the Tiger check-in area dealing with disgrunted customers.
After reading the posts on this blog we are not hopeful our refund will be forthcoming and are prepared to take the matter to the small claims tribunal if necessary as this may be the best way for the complaint to be formally recorded and may provide DOCEP and the ACCC with formal proof of the dodgey practices of this ariline.
[...] in the same building. The new T4 is Australia’s first ever low cost carrier terminal, used by Tiger Airways Australia domestic services. This is separate to the main airport and can be located by the Tiger [...]
I have also expereinced Tiger Airways lack of customer service. I was scheduled to fly from PER TO MEL on Monday 25th May. I received a text message advising this flight was cancelled Sunday evening. After receiving the text message I tried contact their Melbourne number numerous time to no avail. I spend most of Monday also trying to contact them to no avail. Like most people we need to get to our destination. I ended up booking a flight on other airline. Minutes are checking my luggage in on the other airline I got a phone call from a tiger representative. This was 22 hours are receiving the text message, very bad customer service. I said to the person that I’ve just checked my luggage in with another airline, I would like a refund for the addition costs. Anyway the person who worked at Perth Airport and was not a Tiger employee meet me. They said I should get a refund for the flight that was cancelled. On board the other airlines flight was 4 of us who were Tiger Airways passengers not all in the same boat as me, but disgruntled. Hopefully I will get a refund but I’m not counting on it after reading so many bad reviews not only here but on other forums also. By the way the secret numbers both fax and personal do get answered. I am prepared to take the matter further is necessary it is the prinicple of the whole thing.
OMG I am so worried. I have booked a flight for next week to go to the goldcoast with my husband and children. Does anybody have anything positive to say about this airline. We have been planning this trip for a long time and my children would be devastated if something happened like the flight being cancelled. Surely this is not the norm????
Justine,
As long as you have read the terms and conditions, such as the 45 minute check in cut off time, and have monitored the weight of your check in baggage and carry on baggage you will be fine!
There is a risk with flying of delays and cancellations, but that applies to every airline, not just for Tiger.
Budget airlines take you from point a to point b, arrive in one piece. It’s a backpacker’s airline. To compare SIA to Tigerairways, Hilton to B&B, BMW to BMX, … isn’t that obvious ?!
Take budget airlines where you have no meaning of life, have amber of time to kill, doesn’t matter where you next destinations are or their priorities. Relax and enjoy while you still alive !!!!
thank you Sophie, I have read all the conditions, brought travel insurance and am ready to go. I have talked to some other people who have travelled with Tiger and they had positive things to say about their trips. Will keep you posted.
i contact tiger about my 3 children fling alone age 15,13,12 1 was told they could as long as i fill indeminty form and wait until they got on the plane i repeated the same question about 4 times due to lady was not fluent in english i got the same answer i went ahead and booked the flights, i was emailed the confirmation and conditions i read the conditions and it is says no child under 14 can go unaccompponied i have rang them for refund but they have no refund policy and they say i should have put their age down when booking tickets but the webjet site dont ask for age when booking they keep repeating same answer very fustrating and every time i ask for supervisor their busy, the flight is in oct09 has anyone got advise?
After reading this, i am so worried. I have booked a family holiday over Xmas and have already booked & paid for the flights.
I don’t know what i would do if it got cancelled at the last minute. I wont be able to afford the expensive airfare at the last minute…
DON’T FLY with Tiger Air!
I hate them more than cancer.
They would not allow me on to my flight and ‘closed’ the flight while I was in the cue waiting to check in.
Even though I had no bags and it was 46 minutes (one minute too late!!) they would not issue me a boarding pass and could only offer me a flight three days later AFTER the rugby match I was flying to see would be finished.
Good thing we have sensible gun laws in Oz as I was ready to go off my head. Thanks to Qantas, they took payment check in and got me off of the groud before Tiger had even boarded.
My friends on the Tiger plane said it was empty!
probably because they close it off to prevent people from getting on.
Hello,
I am pretty worried about flying Tiger Airways now. I ahve booked and piad for Mel-Perth return and I leave on 1st July!!! The bottom of my booking form says i fly into Tullamarine Airport….but now i am reading that everybody is flying in to some tin shed….where is this tin shed…and do any of you have anything good to say..
I REALLY dont want to have a delay as i am leaving at 1:10am in the morning if i am delayed for a few hours i will lose a whole day of my trip!!!
Let me know if you have any info
Thanks
Be aware that Tiger is effectively impossible to contact should you need to make a change to your booking. I made a 2-person domestic return flight booking recently and realised too late that the seats I had selected only applied to the first leg. I had wanted the same seats for the return journey as well.
You cannot change seats online. You cannot call the Australia number (+61 3 9335 3033). If you do, you will receive an engaged signal. An ENGAGED signal for a call centre… That is ridiculous.
If you keep redialling, you may get a call connected. My experience was 1 connection for every 10 or 15 attempts. This will let you listen to a long-winded, drawn-out recorded message. Persist through this and you can select why you are calling and will be put in a queue. I got to this stage only twice. On the first attempt (9:30am, weekday), I waited 20 minutes with no answer, so I hung up. In the second (2:30pm, weekday), I waited at least 5 minutes and was surprised to hear a voice.
The staff member I received could barely understand me. I could barely understand her. She talked a lot (scripted?) but didn’t listen. It took quite some time to communicate what I needed, though it was a simple request. The line volume was very quiet so we talked loudly at each other until she took my card details to reserve the seats. Then she disconnected the call while processing the booking. I received no notice of success or failure, so now I will need to call back AGAIN.
Rage. If you fly with Tiger, know that you will pay in some way for even the slightest mistake. All emphasis is on you to be 100% correct, first time. That means:
1) Your booking. All of it.
2) Your arrival time. They are strict.
3) Your baggage weight. Electronic scales check even carry-on luggage and they are strict.
Because we are all human and we make mistakes, there are consistent reports of bad experiences with Tiger. They are unforgiving and because of this, they deliver more unpleasant flight experiences than any other local airline. Keep it in mind.
Most of the people on this forum have an issue with tiger concerning delays or missed check in. Easy, all airlines have delays and all of them will lie to you! Do you think Virgin and Jetstar don’t lie? If they tell the truth they might have to compensate. Some on this forum have genuine gripes but most people have fallen foul of the 45 minute check in or not reading the terms and conditions. YOU MUST READ THE FARE RULES. They wont make money selling $30 tickets so they have to catch you out. Dont let them! Another number is 9092 6500.