Review of Tiger Airways Australia
Itchy Feet Team | May 06, 2008 | Comments 170
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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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.
I have just returned to Melbourne from Adelaide and a horrible Tiger experience. At check in I was harassed because my cabin luggage was overweight. When the check in lady worked out the only thing that weighed anything in my bag was a laptop she told me to remove it. She was then upset because my bag was legal weight. She told me I would have to carry the laptop separately to the bag for safety reasons (an attempt to get me to check the bag and pay an extra fee!!). I said no thanks. When I boarded there were heaps of other people with big bags over 7kg but she stayed focussed on me and insisted I remove the laptop. I refused. She had already scanned by boarding pass so i ignored her and walked onto the aerobridge. Then all hell broke out. I was escorted off the aero bridge by two burly baggage handlers to be met by the police – but get this – the police told me Tiger staff did this type of thing all the time and they were sick and tired of them wasting their time because of their bad service. Holy mackerel!!
Anyway I told them to offload my bag. They were a bit shocked I think that I would stand up to them like this. The police ended up being very supportive. I flew home with Qantas. Never ever again. Next stop VCAT, CASA, ACCC and whoever else will listen.
All you need to know is…DO NOT FLY TIGER AIRWAYS Domestic!!!
It is no doubt the worst airline in Australia. The service is unbelievably bad, the people are a disgrace most likely not able to get a job with the other airlines. Every negative comment above is true and anyone denying this is without doubt affiliated with Tiger or delirious!
The only positive from them is the pressure on the other airlines to keep prices down
107. Kevin Stanley | 8 July 2009 at 10:08 am
I purchased 2 discounted tickets in February for travel on 8th July from Gold Coast to Melbourne. At 9pm (7th July) the night before our travel (10:35am 8th July) I received a text stating our flight had been cancelled. After trying 6 times to ring the company (Timed out after 2:50 min), I initially gave up. I checked their web page and noticed they were still selling tickets for the flight. At 9:30 pm I tried to ring them again and still could not get through. By this time the price had gone down on the flight I was told had been cancelled. There was another flight also listed for later that day as well, and I was wondering why we had not been changed to that flight? (Maybe because we had very cheap tickets?) I finally got through to the company at 10:pm and was told the flight had been cancelled and all they could do was offer a flight 24 hours later. I asked if the flight had definitely been cancelled and they said yes, but as I was talking to them the price dropped another 2 times on their web site. When I questioned this they only stated that the flight had been cancelled. After almost 20 mins on the phone asking why I couldn’t get onto the later flight and only being told the flight was cancelled, I asked for a supervisor. I was put on hold and they checked with me twice to see if I wanted to keep waiting for just over another 20 mins when the phone went dead. About this time both flights also disappeared from their screen. I had told the girl I could not fly the next day (9th July) as we had concert tickets for the night we were to fly to Melbourne (8th July). All she would say was that our flight had been cancelled and they could put us on a flight the next day. I have since read that Tiger have indicated they have offered to pick up the cost of competeitor airline flights, however I was not offered anything other than a Credit refund for future use, A seat on a flight the following day or a full refund. I have since had to buy last minute tickets with a competitor airline, and of course there were no cheap seats available. Their disregard for their customers is blatant and they obviously have not learnt anything from their previous mistakes. I have flown with Qantas and Virgin and will definitely stay with them in the future.
STAY AWAY FROM TIGER AIRLINES, I BELIEVE THEY THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE.
“NEVER EVER FLY WITH BLOODSUCKING RIPOFF TIGER” me and my husband were at the airport at 0800 for 0845 flight to Melbourne as we got stuck in traffic. but when we rushed to the counter it was unattended and few other people were waiting before us as well before 8.after one hour tiger airways guy came and told us to pay $70 in order to reschedule to another evening flight.While we were waiting we even called the contact centre and had an argument with them explaining the situation with non english speaking person just reading scripted messages with no compassion at all.She would not even allow us to talk to any manager just saying they are unavailable.what kind of service is that????? 3 people before us in the line too had to give up as why should we pay $70 bucks when we all were on time .when our turn came we explain to the guy our situation but he was careless and ask us can you guys decide before i shut down my computer and leave the desk.How rude was that ????? in the end we had to give up and we lost $210 for the tickets and our hotel booking cancelled losing $125 on top of that our fuel and parking fee.i will be writing to their solicitor soon and fair trading and why should i give up on my hard earned money when we are not at fault.So please please never fly TIGER AIRWAYS NO MATTER HOW CHEAP THEY ARE .THEY ARE BLOODY RIP OFFS.
I booked a Tiger Air Flight in early April 2009 for late July 2009. I was ready to go only to be told at the airport that the flight had been canceled. No alternative was offered for that day or even the next day. I was told that Tiger air can get me on a flight 3 days after the flight i had booked. All the other airlines were booked out and i was stranded. DO NOT FLY TIGER!!! Its just not worth it. for the sake of an extra $50 – $100 you can fly with Virgin Blue and have a much better experience.
After watching “Airways” the new Channel 7 program which featured tonight I will not be using Tiger Airways. They “by the book” spoke to people as if they were trying to help them yet after 10 hours of waiting didn’t expect them to have tempers. After 10 hour of waiting they were lucky they were only man handled. I know I wouldn’t have been so generous. And as for the pram incident I was disgusted that they weren’t more flexible.
Lift your game Tiger or the people’s tiger will bite you.
God help us, this is Easy Jet revisited and I am sure everyone who flys will remember them.
Airways has just presented the worst piece of publicity for Tiger that I have seen since Easy Jet and there is no way I would fly with them either. Beware pasengers, Easy Jet is in Australia in disguise so be warned. If there service is that bad what about their other areas. This Tiger is a virgin but it is a virgin I will not be flying with.
Hey were the hell is the Tiger email address so we can complain directly to management. Contact Us yeah HOW
I have flown with them twice……..never again. they are not cheap….looks it but then they slug you for taxes and charges. Never leave on time and the Changi Budget Terminal is the pits!
Try Virgin Pacific, they are great and appreciate your business.
The original Tiger flight I was booked on was TT523 (departing Adelaide for Melbourne at 07:40 on Friday 17 July), and this flight was won as part of a promotion being run by The Wine Society out of NSW, and the booking was made by TLC marketing on 29 January 2009. TLC marketing were most helpful during the whole booking procedure, as well as trying to assist wherever possible with the ongoing difficulties I experienced with Tiger Airways. I also made another booking for my wife so she could join me in Melbourne, on the same flights. The original departing flight I was booked on was cancelled by the airline (no reason given), and we were both put onto flight TT896 on the same day, but leaving 7 hours later. Cold comfort when my wife had taken a day’s annual leave, and I had morning appointments in Melbourne.
I changed my flight to TT892 (departing at 6:15am) in order to make my appointments. When calling the Tiger Airways call centre (in Manila by the accents?) to change my wife’s flight to the same as mine, I was told that she had already accepted the first flight change (which we dispute as she has been in South Africa for the last 3 weeks), so fare differential and change fees in excess $130 would be payable. I asked if my flight could then be changed back to the afternoon flight that my wife is on (with a view to changing my morning appointments), and the same response was given. Fare differential and change fees in excess $130 would be payable. So in the space of 30 minutes, the flight that I was booked on has gone up $130? All of this after the original flight had been cancelled by the airline. With no resolution in sight, I cancelled the flight bookings for both my wife and myself. The treatment I have received from Tiger is so disgraceful that I am not even going to bother requesting a refund. Ultimately, we flew to Melbourne on Qantas. Friendly staff, breakfast in the Qantas club, on time departure, no mucking around with baggage allowances and loss. Life is too short to put up with non-existent customer service, lift your game Tiger, these are competitive times… I wonder if Tiger’s owners (Singapore Airlines) are aware of the negative impact that this jumped up little upstart of an airline is having on the reputation of the parent company?
Thanks Christiaan, i was unaware (perhaps naively) that tiger was related to Singpore Airlines. Surfice to say with all the issues i have had with tiger (they refuse to refund my flights when they are the ones that cancelled the flight), i wont be using Singapore Airlines any time soon either!
after reading all these complaints i’d like to leave some positive feedback people are really quick to complain yet not many people are quick to be positive.
i flew with tiger out of perth to melb christmas eve last year i was delayed a couple of hours due to no fault of tiger as all flights were delayed due to an air traffic control problem in victoria, after a short wait we boarded with no hassle and got to melb in great time TIME TO ENJOY CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAMILY! well done tiger my return flights out of melb were also great with little hassle finding tiger as i had previously looked it up as you generally do before making trips. i booked my luggage in where i was well over limit due all the christmas pressies and shopping i had done over the holiday period i was great by a wonderful lady who was polite friendly and cheerful! she was so eager to help everyone and i feel she went out of her way to help she put my excess luggage thru on a full flight for no extra cost.
also there was another lady there having problems her son was to young to fly by himself and without an adult to accompany him on the flight they would have lost there money on the flights that they had booked months in advance the hostess confronted my and i flew with the little fella so he could board his flight he was 2 months off being able to fly by himself i introduced myself to his mum and had a quick chat before we went on our way. the tiger air hostess keep an eye on us the entire trip she didnt have to do this she could have charged me excess baggage and turned the lady and her son away yet she went out of her way to make arrangements for the both of us. im a very happy tiger customer who feels they went out of there way to help. so happy infact that i have booked flights from perth to adelaide next week when i booked i put the wrong email address though i had no problem calling tiger to change them and when i called i got a centre in melbourne the lady was lovely and more than happy to help i since have called back to check my luggage and how much i was able to take again i got straight thru with no problems and a very helpful person on the other end. im sure my trip next week with tiger will be just as smooth as my last.
I would like to know why Tiger has participated in the “Airways” program? It can only be some strange form of advertising. I would definitely not risk being left to their mercy! Go Virgin, I travel between Mel – Gold Coast approx. 6 times a year – I’ve never had a problem with them, always away on time, helpful staff.
My husband and I have just returned from a few days in Hobart flying with Tiger. We had no issues with the flight Melb to Hobart, checkin staff were courteous and polite. Flight left on time.There is always a long walk at T4 to the aircraft on the tarmac, but hey this IS A NO FRILLS airline. Tickets cost $28 each to Hobart. We arrived without a problem. Our flight back to Melb on Aug 1st was cancelled because a severe wind gust on landing had damaged a wing flap enough to warrant the plane unfliable…wouldnt have wanted to be on that flight! The ground staff made regular announcements letting us know that an engineer from Melb was arriving on the next Virgin flight to assess the damage. In the meantime we were given a food/drink voucher for $5. Then the flight was cancelled. Had to line up at the checkin counter and were given the option of a refund or rebooking on Sun, which we did. Because we were on holidays, they told us to present our accom receipt for Sat night (up to a total of $120) the following day so that we could be refunded in 3 to 4 weeks…that remains to be seen! Staff once again were very professional in what must have been a rather stressful situation for them.
We have flown with them several times to Hobart and also to Alice Springs with no problems.
By the way, Jetstar flights to/from Hobart are often cancelled at the very last minute due to plane being less than half full!
Moral of the story…if you dont want to stick to their rigid rules or if you have to be somewhere at a particular time FLY WITH VIRGIN OR QANTAS. You get what you pay for!
Beware booking online and paying by credit card with Tiger.
In June I successfully booked a cheap return flight Sydney to Melbourne using my credit card, via the web.
The Tiger site verified my card via its multi-step wizard. It then confirmed the flight details, as per the web booking Itinerary screen. This page states that your booking is complete and says that all you need to do is produce this itinerary and photo ID at check-in.
I did not imagine that anything could go wrong after the credit card had been verified and the confirmation was received – it said “Your booking is complete”.
Beware. My card was declined, somehow, somewhere. Tiger claimed my card was declined during this transaction and that I was not confirmed, despite the card verification step occurring and the web page details with “Your booking is complete”.
Beware. Tiger’s website allows a card payment to be verified (i.e. accepted), then a booking confirmed, even though there may be an error with the card payment step. This has serious implications for all of Tiger’s passengers who book via the web.
If (as I suspect) the decline did happen after confirmation, then Tiger didn’t bother contacting me. Again, this is a serious issue of concern for all of Tiger’s credit card payment customers. Ironically, my follow up booking (at twice the price and no sympathy from Tiger) was with exactly the same card details. This was over the phone.
Just came back from a Melb trip with Tiger – all my friends warned me but I didn’t listen, thought “hey, they’re the new kid on the block, let’s give’m a chance…”
1.) Check-in staff at SYD airport the rudest I’ve ever met (asked me to put my carry-on on the belt to be weighed. While I was still busy getting my ticket out she said “You have 5 seconds!” I was sure I must have misheard her, she would never make such a comment, but my partner confirmed later she actually really said that. Seriously, I didn’t take long, we’re talking seconds between her comments.
2.) My partner had half a kilo too much in his carry on (7.5kg instead of 7) and was told he had to check it in therefore and pay the extra. He decided to simply take his jacket out from the top of his bag to wear it. We were then asked to requeue at the end of the queue because he took something out after it was weighed – “Tiger policy” we’ve been told. We felt like little school children being punished. How silly is that policy…
We watched two other passengers experiencing the same. One got extremely angry and asked “what if I miss my flight due to this?” Their answer “That’s possible but not our fault”. Their conversation became a bit louder – he refused to requeue and the tiger staff refused to check him in. Until he finally gave up and joined the queue again at the end. We’re not sure if he made his flight, we did, however, not see him in the plane later. Unbelievably rude and uncaring.
3.) To top it off, the staff on board had a loud argument on board closer to landing about who’s going through the rows, collecting the trash, including name-calling. All passengers watched on in disbelief. What a kindergarten.
TIGER? – NEVER EVER AGAIN!
DO NOT FLY TIGER unless you are willing to wait 2-4 hrs extra for your flight to take off! I have flown return with them once only to Perth from Melb in July. I will never fly them again. Virgin tickets are only a little more expensive and what price is “fair” for waiting 4 extra hrs in the departure lounge while Tiger find a plane that is safe to fly.
Also friends from Perth flew Tiger this week. The return journey for some of them was 2 hrs late and others who flew back the following day were 4 hrs late. This happens a lot with Tiger, anyway who flys out on time with Tiger should consider themselves part of a very small club of Tiger passengers who don’t get delayed waiting at the airport.
after another great tiger flight im convinced some people will complain no matter how good the service is!
last week i flew tiger from perth to adelaide everything was great and the tiger staff were exceptional! for $68 dollars each way who is complaining my flight left on time and we arrived early. i once again had far to much luggage and got away with it. on the return trip i was only charged $15 for being over instead of being slugged alot more as far as i can see after reading alot of these complaints they may be bought on themselves if you follow the guidlines arrive on time and be courteous i dont see you having a worry in the world! i think tiger is doing a wonderful job for a cheap no frills airline they get you there in time if you want all the bells and whistles dont fly budget! but if your looking for a cheap get away tiger will offer you that everytime.
go tiger they make travel affordable on even the tightest budget!
Jackie,
I thought like you, I had an Adel – Melb flight which went without a hitch. On the way back, my Sunday night flight got bumped (6 weeks before to the 9.45 timeslot). It then got cancelled on Sunday night and I had to book my kids and myself into the Hilton for 2 nights. The earliest they could fly me us was Tuesday morning. I am supposed to be being re-imbursed $120 per person per night for the accom but I sincerely doubt that I will get it, as they all seemed to trained to tell you the same thing, but they didn’t appear to believe it themselves. If I do get paid, I will come back to this site and let you know, but I am not confident.
Tiger’s attitude is nonchalant and arrogant…… very much “your problem”.
My 3 return flights from Adel to Melbourne will end up costing me well over $1100.
Like many above, I’d say “NEVER AGAIN” and it’s worth paying a bit more up front to a reputable carrier and avoiding the surprises.
My first Tiger experience Melb to Sunshine coast! Seat was not the cheapest I have experienced.(I have flown this route many times with Virgin, my favourite, and also Jetstar)
First the positive!
Flight left on time and arrived at correct destination along with my luggage (but see note below re luggage)!
Having watched that “Airline TV show on 7″ on Tuesdays I made sure I planned to arrive an hour and a half before departure. I also checked the night before on the web exactly where the Tiger terminal (T4) was located. Staff at terminal, and on-board did their basic job adequately ( i suppose) without any “frills”, empathy, or personality. I now refer to them as “dragons” (male & female).
The negatives:
Website booking hung the first time, right at the end of the process so I was unsure if I had booked or not. Waited on the phone for 30 minutes before being able to speak to someone who confirmed there was no booking so I repeated the process and all went okay but the process seems to take longer than it does on Virgin and there are some aspects of the site that are as unfriendly as are the staff in person.
Initially I was going to travel with just hand luggage but then decided to take one long item which would have to go as baggage, so I rang Tiger, and after another 30 minute wait they confirmed that my 128cm long, 3kg tube “luggage” would be accepted and I would have to pay $10.
However at the T4 terminal I was charged $25 (The only other luggage I had was 3kg of hand luggage. I did not argue just paid and wrote the $15 off to experience or to be checked “later’ (Was it my error???)
On top of the basic fare Tiger charges more for everything so the fare may not be as cheap as first thought.
Would I fly with them again? Well, I my return flight was pre-booked, (only 3kg hand luggage on the way home so all should go okay). That said, providing the fare was really, really cheap I would fly with them again as long as I had no fixed time lines at the destinations. However, in the end I paid about the same price as I would have with Virgin, and I could have selected my seat for free, and they answer their phones in a reasonable time!
Flying Tiger is a true budget airline experience and they have got that part right. If you can actually get to fly on the flight you have purchased, do not expect anything else other than a seat, and you do not pay out much money then its a great airline but you need heaven’s help if something runs amiss in their schedule as I would say customer service from start to end is zero.
i think the main thing to make people aware of here is you are booking cheap flights but budget on expensive costs should they cancel as they did with us from melb to adel. arrived 3 hours before check in, checked in 2 hours early only to have to wait until the airport was literally closed on the sunday night to be told the flight was cancelled and would fly 2 days later???? i cut out the frustrating bits of not being told, rude staff, care factor 0. to face me and my wife not working the following day my two kids missing school $400 for the hotel for the night, $200 for the hire car which i had to drive back with $100 for fuel and the most expensive was the speeding fine. (my fault,no complaints) so budget on around $1000.00 for a family to get home when tiger gets it wrong once again. i will shout for joy the day consumers decide the demise of this farcical business.
as long as you follow tiger’s policy of arriving more than 45 minutes before take off (allow 2 hours) and purchase extra baggage allowance when booking you shouldn’t have a problem. We flew to Gold Coast recently and I was very worried after reading all the reviews. The lady at check in was polite and even moved the seats around for us when I requested it. After weighing the bags she told us how much extra we had and to make sure we went shopping to fill them on the way back. I really didn’t have any problems. The flights are cheap and there are no extra’s but that is what you pay for. If you want extra book with qantas instead or take out travel insurance.
Oh my gosh I’m terrified! Was going to book the $35 seats from Syd to Melbourne for my son and I to attend an engagement party down there, but I don’t think I can take the risk!!!!
Things are not looking too good for Tiger. This was the first time ever for me personally to use a low cost carrier.
7 of us booked for a 10:30PM flight from Syd to Melb on the 21st of Aug 09. We checked in at around 08:30PM after which went and grabbed some dinner.
Eventually the time came for boarding so we went the right gate. This is when the fun started…As we arrived at the gate we were informed that the flight was delayed which wasn’t a biggy as these types of things happen. After waiting for 1hr we were finally asked to board and some 40mins later we were finally on our way.
As I first stepped inside the plane, I was shocked with the lack of space. After finding our seats we all settled in for the flight down to melb.
Some 10mins into the flight after the plane finally leveled off an announcement came over the PA System saying “We will not be serving any food or drinks tonight as we might be experiencing turbulence plus..this is a short flight…hehe”. The comment about short flight and the “hehe” towards the end of the announcement seemed extremely unprofessional!.
A friend of mine had to sit sideward’s with his leg in the hallway (his around 6”3-4, just to give you a prospective.
Mid-way through the flight(it was well last 11:15PM) I started nodding off, same as 90% of the other passengers. Next thing I started hearing was loud laughter’s and giggles from the back of the plane. I eventually realized that that it was the flight attendants, talking about their boyfriends, clubs etc. I seriously could not believe how unprofessional tiger staff are!.
We eventually landed in Melb. It did not shock me that the Tiger Terminal is basically a large garden shed but what shocked me was the lack of security. There are 2 large revolving gates in the luggage area which is suppose to separate the passengers from the general public. Whist I was waiting for my luggage I noticed few school kids in uniforms walking around the luggage area. Then I realized that revolving gates could be operated both ways and I noticed more general public entering the luggage area. Just to put things into prospective, once you are in the luggage area, you have full access to the runway etc.
On 24th of Aug 09 we arrived for our 01:30PM Melb to Syd Flight . We arrived at the tiger terminal some 2hrs and 15mins before hand, dreading our flight home. After checking our bags, we were told that the flight had been delayed for 45mins (big surprise!). For those that have not used Tiger before, when boarding (or disembarking ) the flight in Melb, you have to walk down a very long corridor followed by another long walk on the runaway followed up a flight of stairs and eventually entering the plane.
After been told the flight was about to start boarding, we all got our things together and walked all the down the corridor of hell, walked across the runaway and stood at the foot of stairs. After waiting some 10mins in freezing cold everyone was asked to GO BACK TO THE CORRIDORE!!. When we asked the customer service attendant what was going on, she told us “Sorry I can’t help you” (what sort of freaking service is this!!). We were made to wait another 25-30mins standing in the freezing cold. During this time multiple tiger staff walked past us but no one could tell us what was going on.
We eventually boarded flight and finally on our way to Sydney. The flight had some really bad turbulence, one of the worse I have ever experienced. A passenger (row in front of us) finally could not handle the turbulence and finally vomited all over the floor. 2 of the flight attendants finally began to help the bloke. While they were helping them, they started passing smartass comments such as “Oh, I love my job” and “You are the lucky one”. These 2 flight attendants were saying all this while in front of the poor bloke, who by this stage was pale white. I know cleaning someone else’s vomit is not fun but damn!. How about showing some discretion!.
I have left of couple of bits and pieces out but I am sure you can get an overall picture. Tiger airlines in my opinion is one of the worse carriers in Australia. I know 7 of us have vowed never ever to fly with Tiger again. If you don’t value customer service or cramped seats then Tiger airlines might not affect you but if you do…..pay a little extra and travel with a carrier such as Qantas or Virgin.
Well done Tiger Airways. First time with Tiger Airways Syd/Melb. Staff were efficient and friendly. Although departure was 15mins late, it arrived right on the scheduled time. The return flight to Sydney was the same, competent staff and friendly. There was a slight delay due to the current weather in Melbourne and the flight took less than one hour. The terminal isn’t the Ritz but it’s comfortable. I will travel with Tiger again.
Boy Am I glad I stumbled onto this site before I booked. I’ve never flown Tiger, but I was looking at booking a Melb – Perth – Melb flight and have been checking all the airlines waiting for cheap fares, but I’d rather pay $50 extra each way to travel with Virgin. Seems the extra $50 is well worth it in order to deal with staff with a bit of common sense, a clue or two about customer service and a couple of brain cells.
this must be the crappiest airline ever, takes over 4 hrs for their “people” to answer and then they can’t speak english and are totally incomprehensible, give them a huge miss, plus their website is crap
im with you justine
i just cant see how people have so many issues with this company follw the guilines and you wont have an issue
i belive some people make it hard for themselves after my great adelaide flight a work collegue decieded to take the same flights a few weeks later she also had a great tiger experince no hiccups at all another very happy tiger customer dont complain cause you cant get it right thats not the airlines fault get it together people read the guidlines and follow the rules if you dont be prepared for a rough experince suck it up and get over it i belive tiger is offereing a great service and making holidaying afforadable for all budgets and i have never had an issue with phoning always very prompt and helpful and the check in girls we’re just delightful! approach these girls with a friendly manner and i dont see anyone having a bad experince you have to understand these people are just doing there job and i think they do a bloody good job of it!
My complaint is about Tiger’s inflexible booking in/boarding policy. I had an unfortunate experience today when I took an 87 year old friend to Hobart airport to find that we were just one minute late and staff would not allow her to board the flight to Adelaide. They were not rude but did not show any compassion for this lady who needed to get back to Adelaide for medical reasons this afternoon. (Friday 28/8/089). When I asked them the reason why, the supervisor, obviously inexperienced in public relations just blandly repeated the airlines policy. I have tried several times to contact the Melbourne office of Tiger Airlines to comnplain but the number given is continually engaged. Little wonder. I rebooked the lady’s flight for Sunday and had to pay an extra $70.00. This time the young man at the checkout seemed more sympathetic but toed the company line as no doubt he was programmed. I omplained that the attitude of the airline was un Australian and later realised what a silly statement this was as of course it is NOT an Australian airline and our values of compassion and common sense do apply here.