Review of Tiger Airways Australia
Itchy Feet Team | May 06, 2008 | Comments 207
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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This is my second submission/complaint. The first may have been a little heated and you seem to have rejected it. I stand by my statement that Tiger’s totally inflexible policy regarding late check in is uncaring and even in some situations, potentially life threeatening. As I explained previously, an 85 year old friend of the family needed to return to Adelaide from Hobart on Friday 29 August 2009. Thru no fault of her own our friend was between one and 5 minutes late arriving at the Tiger check in desk, she was caught up in heavy traffic due an accident caused in part by torrential rain.I explained to the seemingly uncaring staff member and later a very nervous looking supervisor, that our friend needed to get back to Adelaide as she is constantly monitored by a specialist for an ongoing medical condition. Even though, this was 40 minutes before departure time, the supervisor just blandly repeated Tiger Airline policy with no sign of sympathy whatsoever. Obviously these staff are trained to be robots. I advised them that I did not hold them responsible for Tiger’s policies but wanted someone in the managerial area to talk to. Big joke. They gave me a number to call in Merlbourne and it is continually engaged. I wonder why? Eventually we rebooked a seat for our 85 year old friend who was quite distressed by the situation and it cost another $70.00. This is like adding insult to injury. I think that I said at the time that the treatment given to our friend was un-Australian ( which of course it is). I suppose we cannot expect the same level of compassion and common sense from a foreign company. I think that Tiger Airlines should refund in full the 85 year old lady’s fares as well as compensate her for the stress and potentially life threatening situation that they placed her in. We had to have her checked out by a local doctor in Hobart after her ordeal. I realise that Tiger is a budget airline seemingly aimed at the younger market and backpackers but there has to be some discretion allowed by supervisors to waive the draconian check in policy in some situations. (especially for elderly people and for those who for no fault of their own are just a FEW minutes late. Please reply to this email this time. (The upside is, your staff were not rude, but unhelpful and certainly had no people skills). I make an exception to the young man on the check in counter later when we rebooked our friend’s ticket. Although once again pushing the company policy, he did display some sympathy.
I have been trying to book a flight Hobart-Adelaide for the past twenty four hours. I can get through to everything until it comes time for payment to be confirmed. Then – cyberspace.
My experiences have been the same as mentioned – no answer – on hold for an hour before just give up, cannot understand clearly what people are saying when I did finally get through after the tenth call.
Told ir was a problem with my card – said no, bank has checked my card, all good, then told it was my server, no – checked that, so then back to my card was the problem.
Even local flight centre tried to make booking – no success. How do they get away with this?
Even when I disclosed that my westpac bank said this was an ongoing issue with Tiger, the call centre told me no such other complaints, refused to put me through to supervisor – am guessing there is none.
Totally fruitless and time consuming saga.
I love jetstar in comparison!
An addenda – the operator finally offered to make the reservation for me at the higher normal cost just to test their payment system – are you serious???? Test Tiger’s system by using my money????????
Should this company be on today tonight or what?
Re my comments in post Aug 3rd…..Tiger promised to reimburse us for an extra nights accom (in 3 to 4 weeks) when the only Hobart to Melb flight was cancelled. We are still waiting 5 weeks later………….
Their check in policy is appalling – I was 9 minutes late and denied a boarding card even though the flight had not even begun boarding. They were terribly rude to me as well.
I can’t imagine they will last, word gets around quickly these days and people will avoid flying Tiger Airways. I’d be happy to spend more to fly another airline rather than do anything with Tiger Airways.
My wife purchases tickets via Webjet for herself and our 2 year old from Mel to Syd. She paid $10 extra, the only option, to take luggage. At the airport, she was charged for excess luggage and the weight of the stroller. $240 extra. The tickets were $88 each. The call centre does not answer, and their website does not state how much they charge for excess baggage. AVOID
I flew Sunshine Coast to Melbourne and return this last week. We arrived well and truly before the 45 minute stated cut off time for check in closure, and had no problems at all. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the flights were according to schedule. I was worried after purchasing our tickets online, I started hearing so many horror stories about this airline.
One of us was 1 kg over the checked-in baggage allowance on the flight down, and it was overlooked, not even mentioned.
The Tiger website clearly states that every kg over the baggage allowance incurs excess charges of $14 per kilo, and there were several options available to choose for luggage allowance, starting at 15 kgs for $10, then up from there.
Read the fine print, keep within their guidelines, and the problems are minimized.
I would fly them again, given another dirt cheap airfare!
I just had a very bad experience with Tiger and will not fly with them again.
My husband and I will never fly Tiger again. Once bitten twice shy as the old saying goes. Our flight from Melbourne to Adelaide was canceled due to a bird strike on the aircraft. Tiger could not offer us a flight until 2 days time. I had a job interview the next day. We ended up staying overnight in Melbourne and getting a flight with Virgin the next day. Total cost to us $688.00.
We also filled out the relevant paper work to have our fares refunded and was told it would take 14 days. After 18 days I rang the call center to be told they had no record of us lodging a request for a refund and to ring back in a week!! Their customer service is a joke.
We had watched the airways program with the horror stories they have about Tiger and thought yes as long as we stick to check in times , baggage etc all would be fine.
The Manager at Melbourne Tiger who looked about 18yo was not able to deal with this.
We are seeking compensation and I have sent a letter to Tiger requesting same. If no response I will be pursuing this through Consumer Affairs.
DON’T EVER FLY TIGER!!
Tiger cancelled our flight, with no notification. We were told to keep receipts for reimbursements. I wrote to tiger 3 times and phoned them with no response from them over 3 months. It wasn’t until I got consumer affairs to contact them that they said they would send me a $50 voucher (which you had to use with them, and didn’t cover our costs anyway). I had to fax them again because they still hadn’t sent the voucher (now 16 weeks after initially contacting them). When they finally sent it I was deliberating whether or not to use this voucher because I never want to fly them again and finally decided to make the most of what they offered. In trying to book a flight (one week after they sent the voucher) I find out that they’ve sent me an expired voucher! I rang them again, and the woman informs me that it will take up to a week for them to issue me a new voucher. Its been time consuming and exhausting chasing them up on something that was their fault and at no time have they shown any efforts to be proactive or simple good will to resolve the situation.
Oh Dear…we are booked to leave Adelaide next Tuesday, I checked the booking on their website and it came up with a message that we should contact their call centre immediately. Trouble is they don’t actually answer calls on the call centre, only found this out later from friend who is in travel…I had tried for a long time. I have sent them a fax asking them to ring me……no reply. Are they still in business? Why would they put a message on their web site, but not contact us direct?
We recently (Sept 09) flew Tiger from Perth to Melbourne.
Firstly the departure from Melbourne was changed from 1700hrs to 2330. When we arrived at Perth our flight was scheduled to leave at 0030. It was nearly 2 hoours late. The same happend on the return flight, nearly 2 hours late leaving Melbourne. The customer service shown by check-in staff was fair, but very robotic, nil people skills displayed. The flight itself was ok. Leg room as you would expect is limited so tall people may find it tight.
We won’t be flying Tiger again but thats our choice.
If you were flying short flights (Melb-Syd) it would ok but not longer flights, especially at night.
There is no customer service, and when we did get onto someone on the phone, i found it very hard to understand them as their english was not good.
I flew Sydney to Melbourne on 11.10.09. We were told to start boarding at 20:10, but we soon realised that the plane we were about to fly on was arriving with a full load from Melbourne at 20:10. They were essentially making us wait while to board while they emptied the aircraft. Why couldn’t they just make the boarding call ten minutes later?
When boarding, Tiger staff didn’t call for the people with tickets for back row seats to go through first. This meant that as soon as people boarded, passengers seated at the front blocked the aisle while they put away their carry on. As such, no one else could get on.
Thirty minutes later when passengers were more or less on the plane, the flight attendants realised there was not enough room in the overhead storage bins for carry-on! I was pretty annoyed because the 7kg carry-on limit is more strict than other cheap airlines and I had obeyed the rules. Other people clearly had not.
There was a row of empty seats behind my chair. One flight attendant, clearly annoyed with what was happening, decided to wedge the leftover luggage behind my chair, resulting in a really uncomfortable lump sticking into my chair. I told him the luggage was digging into my back and he rather rudely told me that ‘if we don’t prepare for take off in the next five minutes, we’ll be delayed an hour’. He then complained quite audibly about customers not observing carry-on restrictions, as though it was my fault. I had to move seats and none of the flight attendants seemed to care or feel any effort to apologise. The whole experience gave me the impression customers were just a herd of cattle to them.
The seats were thin and flimsy, Tiger staff are clearly not educated in basic crowd control and PR, and they obviously have problems with working out limits for carry-on luggage. Sometimes it’s just worth paying a tiny bit more for that little bit of extra quality.
I’ve read with interest the posts of others and I must say that I agree with them. I’ve been in business for twenty eight years travelling extensively by air and while I regret the passing of Ansett which was always a decent airline after using Virgin and Jetstar decided to give Tiger a go. I’ve had problems with Tiger who seem hell-bent on making life difficult. Airlines who fail to give service will not survive in Australia. However, we need a third airline to keep the industry competitive but not at the expense of treating people badly. We Australians expect to be treated with respect and dignity and above all else to be given a fair go. I suppose the only defence that Tiger has is ‘you pay for what you get’. That seems to be their ‘Mission Statement’. I’m sorry Tiger because you had a wonderful opportunity but I think you’ve blown it.
Booked my 95 year old mother on Tiger but as she needs a wheelchair from the check-in to gate had to ring the call centre. After 90 minutes on hold (yes, I am very patient) I gave up. Given that there is no alternative way to book a wheelchair, I believe Tiger are breaching the Disability Discrimination Act by treating people requiring a wheelchair in this way. The cost of the telephone call alone nearly exceeded the airfare.
Feaking company says 9am-9pm they would attend our calls. But don’t even pick up at all. They should close down !
I have to go to the Airport to meet and speak to them directly. Crazy airlines which is sooner or later going to go bankrupt.
My Wife and I flew Tiger on the Per-Sin-Per route, $512.00 Total for two people return, including seat allocation and 25kg luggage each.
We were expecting a budget service and that is what we got, however we thought the seats were comparable in size and legroom to Virgin. No beer was left for purchase on the flight out to Singapore, but that’s about my only complaint.
Both flights were on-time and hassle free, Perth check-in was fast and friendly, Singapore check-in was reasonable although staff not as friendly. FA’s were all friendly, though on the late night flight they took turns sleeping down the back!
We admit we were worried by all the reports and horror stories we had heard about Tiger, but now we wouldn’t hesitate to fly this route with them again. At Tiger’s prices it’s cheaper for us to take the family to Sing or KL for a holiday, than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia. If you want full service pay 3 or 4 times the fare! If not, book Tiger and take along a portable DVD player!
I left the message below and said I would come back if I got paid by Tiger. I ended up receiving a cheque after 8 weeks of waiting and faxing all of my details. The cheque was for my accomodation costs only, not the $120/person/day as promised. There was nothing with the cheque, just 5 words handwritten on the back, no response to my letter, and it was about $180 short of what it was supposed to be.
I had virtually written the funds off, so was pleased to finally get something from them. I still say “Tiger …NEVER AGAIN!!”
Roger says:
August 11, 2009 at 5:53 pm
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.
The worse Airline, worse service ever. Tiger Airways shouldn’t be allowed anymore flying in Austrlia Domestic Route.. They are the worse Airline in history, they are helltigers not a friendly staff members, rude and arrogant.
They have no sense of urgency, they are lacking customer service experience badly.. They lie, they are scam airline. Their policies are not clear and they are vague open for their own translation..
The call centre is based in Phillipine, with respect to my Phillipine FELLOWS… The call centre has no understanding of the Airline Concepts, they have language issues, they not confident, they lie..
I have contacted the call centre and they have mentioned that they are based in Melbourne, I said that I am in Melbourne wher are they based, they mentioned or can’t remember the street address because we are in Philipine. So I asked again, what do you mean, they said that they aren’t allowed to say they are in Philipine and the operator was hoping the call is not monitored and she might be dismissed…. What a lie and a half !!!
I have asked if I can cancel my ticket as I am sick and can’t fly she said no issues, and when she tried to do it, obviously, she must have faced issues and she wasn’t allowed so she asked me to call back on Saturday morning and ask for the supervisor… I believed that so I followed her instruction.
I have called back on saturday and spoke to Joanne who mentioned that the supervisor is busy and can’t talk to me, I said that I need to talk to a supervisor, this is costing me money as I am caling a melbourne number and always busy plus waiting time is bad…
I advised her of my request and she said no we can’t cancell ticket… I was upset, I lost my temper and said put me on a supervisor, she mentioned can’t, give me a regional manager phone number or contact, not allowed.. Give me an email address, she said can’t..
I was yelling and said that I am not getting off the phone until the supervisor on line, she said it’s Saturday and no supervisor… This is another failure from HELLTIGER AIRLINE
I asked for an email address and they provided this auspax@infotigerairways.com. I have been waiting for someone to respond for over a week and no response.
I called back chasing, spoke to Anna, apparently, she is the supervisor, lacking people skills, bad attitude, can’t negotiate or explain herself.
I have asked her for details on the refund or changing the ticket to someone else’s name and they have said no Refund eventhough the Fees and charges on helltiger aiways website says that $ 50 fee cancellation fee… which I have no issues paying that when you paying for a ticket for $350 domestic and getting the run around and stressing out.
The other issue that they want to charge me $100 to change one name… This is bad or what…
I have had enough of these people and this airline.. The watch dog or consumers should address these issues and get these managment of the airline to lift their game and put a stop to it from flying them into the country… It’s shame and it’s bad …
How do we know, they not taking the credit card details and seeling our security details to people from overseas and how can we track all these security breaches…
Australian Government must intervene here and do something
HELP US HELP US HELP US
But
What can I say… This airline should be names and shamed, they shouldnt be allowed to fly here anymore.
They have the worse call centre, they have the worse policies. Maybe Richard Bransen should talk to their managment and buy them off so we can get rid of their bad service…
I am so sick and tired talking to people just can’t negotiate, accomodate you and they just rudless… They told me to go to the airport and talk to someone regarding my issues as they have no one to refer me to…
Is this a Joke or what, is it April fool day or what…
I am astounded by this experience, where is the consumers affairs and the media to help this bullcrap airline
Here you go email this address : marketingjobs@tigerairways.com
Ask them to employ proper people in order for them to become a good airline
A nightmare airline; impossible to contact, incorrect information emailed to me which I am unable to reach anyone either by email; fax; telephone.
Warn others to never fly this shabby operation
Robert B
We booked tiger airways to go to sydney. Our Flight was 3 hours late which threw our plans for that day in sydney right out. On the trip back to Melbourne, the flight was 1 1/2 hours late as well. Won’t be flying with this very unprofessional airline again!!!!!!!
May i suggest everyone takes out travel insurance when booking with Tiger. Tiger cancelled one of our flights and refused to refund, with the help of our insurance we managed to get all our moneys refunded, with NO assitance from Tiger.
We will never fly tiger again, even if they offered me a $1 flight, i wouldnt do it, they really are not worth the hassle.
I’m glad some people make contact with Tiger. I sent a fax in late October seeking advice on progress with a refund for cancelled flights. When I tried to follow up in the last couple of days it was not possible to get a fax through – it was either engaged or simply not answering. In desperation I tried ringing the Melbourne number from Canberra last night but gave up after waiting for 15 minutes – I think their definition of ‘shortly’ as in a customer service officer will be with you shortly, is way of the beam. Tried faxing again this morning with no luck so thought I’d try the international call centre given on the website in case of emergency – Yes, I gave up again, this time after 7 minutes.My last resort is snail mail. Hopefully i’ll get a result from that.
How on earth can a business operate when it is impossible to contact them, other than by snail mail???????????????
I would NEVER fly with Tiger Airways again. The last six months have been a nightmare!
With four other Perth women, we booked through Tiger Airlines in April 2009 for a weekend holiday in Melbourne in May 2009. Our departure was delayed four hours which meant we arrived in Melbourne at 4 in the morning. We were forgiving. Their luggage pickup area was amusing.
For our return flight to Perth we checked in at 8pm on the 24th of May 2009 and was scheduled to depart at 10:05pm. We then heard an announcement at approximately 8:45pm that the flight had been cancelled and that we were to report to the desk for a refund and to collect our luggage. We asked for the reason for the flight cancellation but none of the representatives would give any explanation or help with booking alternative flights.
Because some members of our group had important commitments in Perth, we had no alternative but to fly back with another carrier at a cost of $600 each. Because this flight left at 6.30 in the morning and checkin time was 4.30 [by this time it was abt 11 pm] we had no other option than to sleep for several hours at the airport.
When our Tiger flight was cancelled, we were handed a Refund Application Notice and told we would have to wait up to four weeks for the refund. I promptly faxed the Refund Application on our return but received no acknowledgement that it had been received. With no refund or contact from Tiger Airways after three months we contacted DOCEP to help with our claim. They contacted Tiger Airways who told them they would refund our money. No refund came. Docep was almost as hard to contact as Tiger Airways but finally after 6 months from the time of our holiday we finally received the money owed to us credited into my credit account. From the time of the cancellation by Tiger Airways we never received one scrap of correspondence from them. If I hadn’t checked my credit card statement I would still not be aware they had refunded our monies.
Tiger Airways are very unprofessional and I wouldn’t risk flying with them again. They spoilt a fun holiday and caused us to be hundreds of dollars out of pocket. Beware!
Tiger sends today (16/11/09)a ‘flight departure changed for operational reasons’ notification and a contact phone number, 6598846766, for obtaining further information (like, a new departure time …). Where’s that phone number? Not in Australia or even in Singapore, it seems. Message boards are full of complaints about difficulties in contacting this airline; of ever obtaining refunds for cancelled flights; and (my contribution)of even being told of a cancellation: on 15/10 I stood in a queue at Sydney airport for two and a half hours only to be told on getting to the head of it that the flight had been cancelled-no announcements,no change to information about the flight on the video monitor, no-one coming along the queue to advise that the flight was no more. The staff are good but harried,unable by the pressures on them to offer basic service,overwhelmed when something goes wrong. Come on Tiger, add a dollar to each fare and do better.
Our flights from Adelaide to Perth were changed back in June – a day each way, which is obviously a very big change. We could no longer go, so were offered the option of a refund. I spoke with someone on the phone, who had me email through the details. I never heard back. I emailed again and never heard back. Months went by and we tried calling several times. As most people would know, it is close to impossible to actually get through to Tiger on the phone, with wait times up to an hour. Most the time the phone just rings out. After finally speaking to someone, they told us to send an email. We told them we sent countless emails, but the only response was to send another. Are you kidding me???!!! NO other airline would tolerate this sort of customer service. I wouldn’t dare fly on Tiger again…all we want is our refund!
I have a similar experience with Tiger as many of the previous comments.
6 of us travelled from Launceston to Melbourne, which went ok but when we arrived a bit over 2 hours early for our flight 1 of the check in people was going to check us in early but was told by his supervisor, without any explanation not to.
After another 30 mins or so we lined up at the correct time only to be told that our return flight was cancelled.
We were offered the following;
1. Take a flight the next or subsequent days.
2. Fill out a form to say that we would find our own way home & they would pay us $120-00 per person compensation.
We took option 2, filled out the form with bank details as asked & found flights at a 1/2 reasonable price with Jetstar.
After a few weeks i thought i might try a fax as requested on their website, No answer since approx middle September.
Phoned their & was lucky enough to get through & was told that i have to send a copy of our alternate itineries to enable payment ( wasn’t told this on the day).
Sent an e.mail as requested but as i couldn’t understand the operator very well i got it wrong.
After a couple more weeks, i was able to get the call centre again & was informed that i had a letter wrong, so i e.mailed the correct address but guess what, have not heard a thing.
I am waiting 1 more week & am going to consumer affairs.
I was prepared to forgive for the cancelled flight but not now after all this time,
People say, our flight was ok but just wait until you are stuck away from home & have to find alternative flights.
Tiger just don’t care !
Most budget airlines in europe have similar policies, personally I have no problem with this. I know some people through no fault of their own mss the 45min. cut off, But I for one hate being held back waiting for some dh to board the plane cos he/ she is late, why hold everyone else up? Also airlines are fined for missing their time slots- Budget airlines work on small margins therfore you can understand why they have strict check in policies- there’s always Qantas if you want to pay 3x the price.
I Don’t have a problem with the cut off times either mart, what i do have a problem with is the false promises made & the failure to answer e.mails.
I sent another tonight but the next communication will be through the Victorian Comsumer Complaints.
I also have no problem with check in time etc — HOWEVER I do have problem with having a flight canceled 1.5 hours before departure( a late night flight from Canberra with no other flights out so but no choice but to stay in hotel over night and no other Tiger fligtt available for 2 days so had to go with other airlines. Still waiting for the refund 8 weeks later– no word from Tiger.
Then this week flight from Melbourne to Perth– due to leave at 5.30 pm but did notice early in the day that the Tullamarine website indicated that this flight would be delayed with a revised time of 8.30. I rang Tiger to check– 50 min on hold then told that the flight was not delayed– I told them that the website said it was and then they agreed it MAY be delayed but I would still have to book in for 45 mins before the 5.30 time. SO even with delay of 3 hours I still had to book in at same time.
Then suprise suprise get to airport and it was delayed and then delayed further. Waited from 4.30 intil 9.30 for the flight that they knew was delayed.
Sorry Tiger no more from me. Twice bitten……..
Shame really because we need a third airline however I dont see you lasting.
Just to add to the comments here, i too will never fly Tiger again. (This was my first flight on Tiger)
My flight from MEL-SYD was cancelled. There was NO announcement made. The other passengers and myself found out when we reached the check in counter. I was told i could hang around, and they *may* be able to get me on another flight the same day, or more likely the next day. Alternatively i could have the cost of my ticket refunded. From the sounds of it, that’s going to be a struggle too.
Eventually, i ended up sitting in Melbourne airport for 6 hours and paying $300 for a one way ticket on Virgin.
I don’t agree with the comments that Tiger is a low cost carrier and we should accept this. It is just wrong.
I’m spreading the word amongst all my friends / workmates etc.
Never again.
Further to my comment of 16 November, I have to say (in fairness to Tiger Airlines) that I found no difficulty at all with two further flights I’ve taken with them. There were more staff running check-in desks and flights were close to on-time. I still await a promised refund for the flight cancelled by the Airline.
Good luck Arthur
It’s a bus service. If you miss the bus, it’s gone. If the bus is canceled, too bad.
We fly Tiger Sydney to Melbourne because they are cheap. If they cancel, we sleep at home.
Coming home, we fly Quantas or JetStar: When you have to work the next day, you have to pay for a good service.
If you need to make a connection, or attend an interview, or get back to work, don’t take a bus. Tiger is for when your kids want a cheap flight, they have no job, and school won’t start till next year.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME FLYING TIGER AIRWAYS!!!! It will cost you more than it’s worth if you do.
They are hopeless. I have been waiting for over 2 months for them to refund my flight – that THEY accidently overbooked. No, I was not late for my check-in, I was early!!! I have sent them 3 letters, and two faxes, as well as spent hours on hold trying to get through to their ‘customer service department’ that DO NOT PICK UP THE PHONE! Very unprofessional.
NEVER will I fly Tiger again. I hope that they fall out of the skies sooner than later!
We FINALLY received a cheque in the mail on 8th Oct, 9 weeks after putting in a claim for accommodation costs after a cancelled hobart to melb flight on Aug 1st, (despite having given bank account details). The cheque came with no note..just the cheque in an envelope postmarked in Singapore.
This was only after we had written 2 letters to Tigers Melb office!!
Interestingly, we received an email on 27th Nov saying..
“We thank you for taking the time to contact us.Please note we have received your reimbursement claim and are preparing your cheque to the amount of $91. Unfortunately due to a system error we are not expecting these cheques to be despatched until early January”
Then they give a phone number to ring if our details are wrong..03 93353033.
“Unfortunately there is no way for us to expedite this process. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience.
J Azzopardi
Customer Operations Officer”
Will we get another refund??? Seems to me Tiger maybe lacking in cash…is this the beginning of the end??
Well, what did i expect? Its a fine day in Melbourne, so no delays anticipated and i got to the airport at 6 am to check in for a 7.45 am flight to the Sunshine Coast to hear from Tiger that the flight was delayed. Until 11.45 PM!!! No alternatives offered, no real reasons, although obviously something serious must be wrong with the plane. The choice remained to stay at the airport for 13 hours (fun for all the family!) or go home at your own cost on the Skybus or by Taxi. So much for cheap flights – it is costing me another $80 or so. My 84 year old father is disappointed having expected me at 10.30 am and now i will need to get from Maroochydore to Caloundra by taxi at around 1 am as there will be no transport at that time. People, do not fall for Tiger, they need to close down operations because they are simply not serious and now i doubt they are even safe. I have flown with cheap airlines on many occasions in Germany and to Europe and have NEVER experienced the nonsense and zero service policy Tiger put their passengers through. I will not be using them again and encourage a total boycott of the airline. Ho Ho Ho!
I wish I new it was a bus service before I decided to fly via sydney back to melb. I call customer service to find out if the flight was cancelled. Speak to an operator who states the flight schedule has not changed. Get to the desk to find out flight is cancelled and the last flight back to melb is fully booked. No warning at all. What a disgrace!
Please note, we tried “Inside Scoop’s” numbers and faxes (see comments May 5 2009) he supplied. One stated they had nothing to do with Air Asia,but one staff member had left their company who had some connections with them “a long time ago” Another said they were lawyers and had nothing to do with Air Asia X either. Should have left a comment on this earlier but forgot!
I remember a few months ago that all the bags from the Gold Coast to Adelaide flight ended up in Melbourne, and all the bags from the Gold Coast to Melbourne ended up in Adelaide. No explanation was given to passengers and the bags arrived 24 hours later, with the cheek of asking us to come and collect the bags from the airport.
Anne:
This is a forum for Tiger, thats why they would have told you they have nothing to do with Air Asia.
We booked return tickets from Sydney to the Gold Coast. We were booked to return to Sydney on flight TT763 on Wednesday, 30th December 2009 at 9.55am from the Gold Coast but only one of us returned on this flight and we will explain why.
I arrived at the Tiger check-in counter at about 10.15am and checked in as well as informing the staff that my partner was delayed in dropping off our rental car. We had issues due to the lack of a Thrifty labelled car space to park the car and there was paperwork and a check to be done for the car. My partner arrived 7 minutes after I checked in and he was denied being checked in. Take note here that the flight was also delayed by 5 minutes and wasn’t planning to take off till 10am and in the end, it actually didn’t take off till around 10.15am. When I got to the boarding line at 10am, passengers had only just started boarding.
What is absolutely appalling is that I informed the check-in counter that my partner was on his way – is it that hard to wait an extra 5 minutes? The staff at the check-in counter then spent 10 minutes sitting there chatting and wheeling trolleys around. We understand that the check-in closes 45 minutes before departure but in this case, they were able to bend the rules for me by allowing me to check in 40 minutes prior to scheduled departure time so if they could bend the rules for me, why couldn’t they for my partner? My partner also had no luggage and checking him in would have been extremely easy but the staff refused. No other airline imposes such restrictions for domestic flights.
We then asked to speak to the manager and were told that we would need to wait 10 minutes. We were happy to wait. Then one by one, every single customer service officer disappeared from the counter till there was not a single soul left and after 30 minutes, we were still waiting for ‘the manager’. Two different check-in girls then appeared, sat there for 5 minutes and then asked us what we were doing. We explained that we were told to wait 10 minutes for the manager. We were then informed that the ‘phantom’ manager was out the back on the tarmac loading luggage. A manager loading luggage?? You must be joking. Is this how Tiger is able to ‘provide the cheapest fares around’?? By clearing all the customer service staffs at the front counter to help out with the activities on the tarmac? We have never seen or heard such rubbish. The girl then told us we were ‘misinformed’ about having to wait 10 minutes and we needed to wait till the flight left after 10am to see the manager. Why were we told lies at the beginning if the manager was loading luggage and we weren’t able to see him / her till after the flight left? Was this a lie to make us wait and wait till we
got fed up waiting?
Further to this ‘phantom manager’ that we both never met, the fact that we were told that this manager would not be able to see us until after the flight left was extremely unhelpful as the CUSTOMER OBJECTIVE AND REQUIREMENT here was to get us both on that flight. Every single customer service girl at the counter that day did not understand the CUSTOMER NEED OR OBJECTIVE and in this competitive environment, this is something every company must master. Given this horrendous and distasteful experience, we will never fly Tiger Airways again, no matter how cheap it is, out of pure principle. We’d rather pay extra money to fly with an airline that actually care about the customers and that will go out of their way to assist us. No assistance or empathy was provided regarding the fact that the next Tiger flight out to Sydney was the next day. Tiger Airways did not care that we were delayed beyond our control and that we were only 5 minutes late. Tiger Airways did not care that we were separated on different flights and wanted to be on the same flight. Tiger Airways did not care my partner’s belongings were in the suitcase that was checked on. Tiger Airways did not care that I had already informed the check-in counter that my partner was arriving shortly to check-in and Tiger didn’t bother to wait or take this into account. Tiger Airways did not care to provide alternatives and no one cared to help. The PHANTOM MANAGER never showed up. We wonder if there even is a manager. The airline processes seemed so poorly managed, there probably isn’t a manager.
What really disgusted us was how we were left stranded there for half an hr waiting for a phantom manager. My partner stayed waiting for an extra 15 minutes after I boarded the plane. My partner just gave up and got up and left because this PHANTOM MANAGER was never going to show and to have to wait 45 MINUTES INSTEAD OF 10 MINUTES as promised, was disgraceful. Instead my partner was sold a ticket to get on the 11am flight with VIRGIN BLUE. He was sold this ticket at 10.30AM – half an hour prior to take off and was still allowed on the plane. He was also given the day’s BEST RATE at $150 which was even cheaper than our tickets with Tiger. Not only this, but the customer service was exceptional – they got someone to check on the plane that he got on alright because they were aware he was a latecomer. NOW THIS IS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE WE ARE LOOKING FOR. Virgin has bargain rates but it doesn’t mean they compromise their customer service at the expense of their customers.
If you think about it, how does Tiger expect to grow and prosper as a business if they treat their customers like dirt? Why can budget airlines like Virgin cater for customers in desperate need and still provide exceptional customer service? The Virgin staff informed my partner that they always get customers who are turned away from Tiger Airways that need their help. Obviously we are not the only ones Tiger Airways has screwed around.
We will also add here that the night before departing Sydney, the flight TT764 which was going to Gold Coast showed as going to Melbourne on the Sydney Airport website, and did not show at all on the Tiger website. We then called the Tiger customer service hotline and was put on hold and just hung up after waiting too long.
We are frequent travellers and have been with many carriers and this is the most appalling and disappointing experience. We were also partially late to check in because the Tiger check-in area in the Gold Coast was separate from the main check-in area and this took ages to find otherwise we would have been there earlier. The whole experience was a disgrace. We will never fly with Tiger again! Tiger also really need to train their staff up to industry standards because the service was child-like and unprofessional and if you compare the staff to other airlines, there’s a lot of brushing up to be done. We felt every single staff member on shift that day let us down. Instead, they just deserted us and went back to whatever they were doing. No empathy, no professionalism, no understand, NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. In the end we had to forfeit the return flight and they didn’t give us a refund.
LESSON: NEVER FLY TIGER AIRWAYS.
Tiger Airways is a big joke!! Our flight from Melbourne to Sydney was cancelled 3 hours before the scheduled departure time. They promised to fully refund our air fares plus compensation of $120 each.
Now, it has been more than 5 weeks, not a single note or word from them. Cannot contact them via e-mail. I wonder if this is year 2010. I then rang them a few times, the number was constantly engaged. When finally connected, I was put on hold for more than 15 minutes. They should be awarded the best cheap airline for the year. I really mean the CHEAPEST.
Anyone know why tiger dont travel from Adelaide to Perth anymore?
Family members caught flight from Canberra to Adelaide yesterday afternoon. Flight was on time but luggage took 45 minutes to appear on the carousel. Large crowd of people waiting for luggage, no one from Tiger appeared to let us know what the hold up was. Very poor customer service I am afraid. Will book with Virgin next time, they know how to do this stuff.
BIG MISTAKE re my post December 28th…refers to TIGER AIRWAYS not Air Asia who we’ve had no problems with. Apologies to Air Asia. TIGER is the problem!
STEVE… Write to them(cant remember the address offhand) and you might have more luck like we did! See my Dec 12th post
finaly an answer from Adelaide airport….
Good afternoon Garry,
It is true that Tiger Airways have ceased flying to and from Perth and Adelaide. I understand this was for commercial reasons, however I am confident there is no crisis at Tiger as they are flying from Adelaide to Alice Springs, Brisbane, Canberra, Coolangatta (Gold Coast), Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and return and have plans to increase services from Adelaide.
Kind regards
I had a similar problem once with jetstar we were delayed due to a car accident which caused a traffic jam and arrived 15 min late yet we weren’t allowed on board even after explaining what had happened. We were made to pay for new tickets. So from then on I have never flown with Jetstar even though sometimes their cheaper…
vote with your feet people !!!