Has anyone flown with Tiger Airways?

R

richie_gt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I'm looking to do a quick trip to Melbourne from Sydney soon and the airfares for Tiger airways are stupidly cheap...now I know that catch is that it's carry on luggage only but if all things are going well it seems great value!

So if anyone has flown with them before I'm interested to know your experience with them - good or bad...please only valid responses only don't say they are crap for no reason etc etc,

Cheers!
 
stoff

stoff

Likes Dirt
I had a mate get stuck in Sydney Airport with them for around 6 hours waiting for a flight to Melbourne. I also know of a guy at work who ended up just giving up on his tickets after two consecutive flights from Melbourne to Adelaide were cancelled on him. The reason for the cancellation was apparently the pilot was sick in Adelaide so they couldn't get the plane over. I would (and do) avoid. The Jetstar flights weren't that much more expensive when I looked at the same route yesterday, and at least they code share with Qantas on what is reportedly the busiest air route in the world, so cancellations are less of a problem.
 
scuba05

scuba05

Likes Dirt
Tiger only has a few planes ( i think around 10 in total, probably less), and they run them into the ground. Serviced when absolutely necessary. This is why they only do a few flights a day, and if the 1st flight of the day is delayed, every single other flight that day is also delayed. I'm sure this could get quite annoying if you need to be some place on time for business etc.

I know of someone who flew with them, and got the luggage allowance (so you get more than the carry-on limit). You know the baggage carousels? Yeah, tiger don't have those. You have to go pick your bags up from what could only be described as a shed.

So i guess the saying "You get what you pay for" is in full swing here.

I guess if you needed to be somewhere, with not much luggage, and nowhere near the time you intended (if you get there at all), and for as cheap as possible, Tiger could be the way to go.
 
lawry

lawry

Likes Dirt
Guy at a work conference recently got up to do a speech and to kick it off said he had a joke to tell. He stood there cleared his throat and simply said "Tiger Airways".
One second of silence then the place erupted with laughter.
GOLD
 
skivi

skivi

Likes Dirt
i flew Tiger Melb to Syd and back 6 months ago, no dramas but you absolutely get what you pay for, crap service, shit planes and their terminal at Tullamarine is a rusty hanger. if you're on a budget and not in a rush try Tiger, if it's only a saving of $50 between Tiger and the next airline I'd take the alternative.
 
cam-o

cam-o

Likes Bikes and Dirt
scuba05 said:
So i guess the saying "You get what you pay for" is in full swing here.
Click to expand...
Which is a shame because it is possible for a budget airline to be good. I recently flew AirAsia and they were crazy cheap, something like $80 for a Hong Kong to Phuket flight including excess baggage (that's a 4hr flight).
Planes were immaculate, checkin service was the same as any other airline, service in flight was great and they were bang on time. You had to buy food but it was only about $4 for a hot meal (and they took 3 different currencies) Only thing missing was TVs on the plane, but a book fixed that.

The same flight on Cathay was $1100
 
P

Purt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Flown with tiger a fair bit. Taken my bike once and they were fine with it.

Last flight though was a bit of a downer. Waiting 6 hours at Brisbane airport and they kept delaying the flight. Got some food vouchers then finally they announced it was canceled. They gave people who wanted them reimbursement forms to fill out for hotel accommodation and they put on another special flight at 6am the next morning.

I have to say although they fucked up pretty hard core in the end it was ok, they treated everyone pretty well and were actually pretty caring (i don't even think they worked for tiger) unlike some of Jetstar flights where if you miss a flight schadenfreude comes into play.

I wouldn't have any problems in flying with them again.
 
E

emcgough

Likes Dirt
I've flown with tiger twice in the past year and the service has been excellent, and I've arrived at my destination on time, with no delays. In the same time period I've flown with Qantas once and been delayed 3 hours (not a weather delay, but a fault of the airline).
 
R

richie_gt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Cheers guys like anything there is always the good stories and the bad stories...I've heard bad things about Jetstar however when I've flown with them myself no problems!

Might be a bit of a gamble but for $30 or so its still way cheap...last time I got a cab to Sydney airport it cost me $60 and I live in Neutral Bay! Lucky work covered it!
 
rearviewmirror

rearviewmirror

Likes Dirt
I hated flying with Tiger, I will shell out a few extra bucks for Qantas or JetStar any time. Tiger nickle and dimes you on everything, even charging you $25 if you don't print your boarding pass yourself. Never again would I fly them....
 
FR Drew

FR Drew

Not a custom title.
Yup, we had a crap experience with one of the 2 flights we had with them too. Despite the fact that they claim to offer SMS update and online update of flight times, it seemed no-one cared enough to let any customers know that they were nearly 6 hours behind schedule (even though they had been since mid morning).

We were damn lucky (within half an hour) to get out of Adelaide airport before the evening closedown curfew. The 6 hours with an overtired child trying to kill time at the airport was not a fun experience.

We won't ever be flying with them again.
 
'Ross

'Ross

Eats Squid
Flown with Tiger Airlines probably 7-8 times and NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. FLight's were always on time, taken extra luggage with no problems....a bit of a lack of legroom on the planes is my biggest grievance so far.

However one time in Melbourne I was flying back to Canberra and I think every single Tiger flight was canceled or delayed....except mine:D There were hundreds of angry people everywhere, crying babies and dead corpses all over the floor, and no staff anywhere or announcements made. I was very happy that my flight had no issues, staying there in that scenario would have been a nightmare.

I'll keep using them as long as the prices are good and I don't get screwed over, hearing how other people have been screwed over doesn't really phase me.
 
Rider_of_Fast

Rider_of_Fast

Likes Bikes
Advice on TA (from personal experience):

DO - Arrive within 45 minutes (at least) of scheduled departure.
DO NOT - Arrive within 30 minutes of scheduled departure (like with regular airlines).

The will NOT allow you to check-in after this deadline! Even if it means that the flight has been delayed by 2 hours til take off and the passengers who made it within the 45 mins time bracket are sitting within sight of you through a glass window in another room, whilst the plane is just sitting on the runway, seemingly doing nothing!

^ Thats what they call Tiger logic. Which does wonders for their share price (NOT!)
 
A

Arete

Likes Dirt
Flown tiger once with no issues.

Had a direct flight from Broome to Adelaide with Jetc**s, and was redirected through Perth and Melbourne. A 3 hr flight home turned into a 14 hour epic with stopovers. I wasn't offered an apology or reason, or any complimentary food as I then had to buy an unplanned lunch and dinner in various airports - thus meaning I could have bought the Quantas direct ticket and come out even. Of course it's in the fine print that that they can redirect flights, so I had to suck it up, but it didn't make me want to fly with them again.

My preferred budget domestic carrier is Virgin, but I'm sure there's a fair share of people who have Virgin disaster stories too.
 
MasterOfReality

MasterOfReality

After forever
Can they be any worse than Jetstar?

I regularly have to fly Jetstar to Mackay as the Qantas flight is booked out weeks in advance, and my site visits usuallly materialise within a few days.

Every single time the Jetstar flight is delayed for some reason. Last time it was the weather, yet the Qantas flight took off with no dramas (they leave at roughly the same time)?

The budget airlines are always packed full of families with screaming kids and backpackers trying to jam huge luggage into the overhead compartments. I always pay the extra for Qantas when its a personal flight.
 
D

delbified

Likes Bikes
Rider_of_Fast said:
DO - Arrive within 45 minutes (at least) of scheduled departure.
Click to expand...
you gotta be earlier than that! if you arrive 45 ahead of departure they're closing check-in. check-in is slow too - i waited about the same time again last time i flew with them and that time doesn't count, you need to get to the counter by 45 mins ahead of departure.

apparently they're the most on-time airline in australia though.
 
'Ross

'Ross

Eats Squid
Arete said:
My preferred budget domestic carrier is Virgin, but I'm sure there's a fair share of people who have Virgin disaster stories too.
Click to expand...
Virgin is the one airline I try to avoid....maybe its because I dislike Richard Branson:confused:
Every time there seems to be a small delay or the loudspeaker is broken or there is a delay with the baggage or there is some little frustrating issue here and there that leads me to believe they aren't the most competent bunch. No major issues though. My only two major issues I've ever had were both with Qantas funnily enough, lucky I got to wait at the Qantas club on both those occasions at least.

I LOVE those shows about airports though, watching some poor losers lives get turned upside down stuck at an airport while someone films their reactions, gold!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top