Would I Ever Fly Tigerairways Again? Not If My Life Depended On It…

[Dodobird]

I booked a flight on 17^th June 2010 (1800pm flight from SIN-BKK on Saturday 26 June 2010.) and thereafter, I have been receiving daily "Flight Reminders" e-mails from Tiger Airlines. Wonderful….

On 26 June 2010, I got to Budget Terminal (Singapore) with plenty of time to check in (because I didn't want to miss my flight!). See below…

CHECK-IN

BE AWARE - Tiger Airways takes being on time seriously. Check-in opens 2 hours before departure. Make sure that you get to the check in desk well before 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure. If you miss that time you miss the flight.

However, upon arrival, I was shocked when I look at the check-in-counter 9-10 display panel which shown the flight at 1800 had been retimed 'till 2000pm. I immediately approach an Indian lady (at counter 2) who was at that time seen frantically keying some messages on her mobile phone. In took more than 10 minutes before she look up at me with a very disgusting expression. I politely ask her why the flight was retimed to 2000? and why Tiger Airways did not updates the passenger about the changes as stated in the "Flight Reminder". She was kind of annoyed with the questions which may have been she gets this question all the time, and knows it sucks or she herself sucks.

HOW WE WILL CONTACT YOU

Remember to CHECK YOUR EMAIL REGULARLY. We may use this e-mail address to contact you about flight updates up to 12 hours before your first flight out.

This is how she replied :-

a) It is not my duty to explain to you about the changed, however, if you insist for an answer, you may call the "Hot Line" or write to the management directly.

As for the "Flight Reminder", the airline will updates the passenger up to 12 hours before their first flight out and not otherwise…

Apparently, not only are Tiger Airways staff rude and condescending, they refused to explain…Give this small fry a computer and counter and they behave as if they are lords.

Irritated, I decided to call the hotline, but no one is answering. I patiently tried numerous times to no avail.

Her flight was once again delayed departing Adelaide which meant she didn't end up getting home until 1am.The flight once again delayed departing from Singapore which mean I ended up arriving Bangkok at 2130pm (Thailand time) and another half an hour for immigration clearance, I came out at about 2200pm to meet my wife who fell asleep on the bench (tired and hungry) at the arrival hall.

I just don't understand myself, I have heard terrible things about Tiger Airways and yet I stupidly decided to travel with them.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Boo
removed derogatory & racially offensive phrasing

[MJo]

Well you book a flight with any low cost carrier and you get what you are paying for. Their flights are delayed regularly especially the last ones for the night that accumulates all the delays during the day. Nothing to be upset about. If you want service go for Singapore Air first class and you get the updates and at least have nice lounge to wait if there is delays.

[kuffki]

Well you book a flight with any low cost carrier and you get what you are paying for. Their flights are delayed regularly especially the last ones for the night that accumulates all the delays during the day. Nothing to be upset about. If you want service go for Singapore Air first class and you get the updates and at least have nice lounge to wait if there is delays.

Just because it's a lost cost airline it does not mean customers get treated like crap.It is low cost due to no free meals, no free TV, limits on luggage, and little things like that. It is in no way an excuse to be rude and unhelpful.

[Dodobird]

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE

[Dodobird]

Tiger Airways Passenger Reviews

[haveaniceday]

If you think Tiger is a shocker, then try JetStar or ScabStar. They make Tiger look great.

Not referring to safety or maintenance, but issues like you described to the customer. Unfortunately it is the front line cabin crew who take the heat.

Edited June 27, 2010 by haveaniceday

[thrilled]

I believe ya get what ya pay for.If you want better go with A better airline.Either pay lower costs and whatever happens happens or pay more money and get treated better.Wejj sometimes better.

[kuffki]

As you mentioned you not the only one, so there is already plenty of bad publicity, here is another one(but this will surely do some damage to their reputation)

Source: Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/extra-charges-on-air-fares-get-used-to-it-20100625-z7qr.html

Extra charges on air fares: get used to it

June 26, 2010

Education ... Crawford Rix says Tiger's pricing structure is 'simple'.

Tiger's Australian chief defends the airline's policy of adding ancillary charges to cheap tickets, writes Clive Dorman.

Get used to it: that's the message Australia's cheapest airline is sending Australians who, according to mounting complaints with state consumer tribunals, haven't accepted the airline industry's latest pricing model.

Even though Australia has had low-cost airlines for 20 years, Tiger Airways is pioneering the "unbundling" of airfare components that produces low "headline" fares but a raft of optional extras, called ancillary charges.

For example, you need to book about a month in advance to get the current $24 one-way fare between Sydney and Melbourne. That doesn't include a $6 credit-card fee (compulsory unless you have an Australian-issued Mastercard debit card) or checked luggage charge ($15 for 15 kilograms - but $50 if you arrive at the airport without having paid for a luggage allowance - plus $15 a kilogram for excess baggage). In comparison, Jetstar charges $10 for 20 kilograms of luggage on top of its cheapest discounts.

In the recent annual Australian domestic airline customer satisfaction survey by Roy Morgan Research, Tiger Airways ran a distant last behind Qantas, Virgin Blue and Jetstar, with only 51.1 per cent of its customers saying they were very or fairly satisfied with the experience. (Among the big carriers, Qantas won narrowly ahead of Virgin Blue with 81.6 per cent).

After boasting it was Australia's most punctual airline in 2008, Tiger is running last in that category, with just 78 per cent of its flights on time this year (although Australia does lead the world for punctuality; 78 per cent in Europe or the US would be considered acceptable).

The new managing director of Tiger Airways Australia, Crawford Rix, admits the airline has much work to do to convince its customers to accept the ancillary pricing model, with cheap headline fares (typically about $28) but strict rules about ancillaries that can result in hundreds of dollars of extra charges.

In large forums such as airlinequality.com, Tiger gets mixed reviews, with many saying it's essential to understand the rules before you use the airline.

"As an industry, particularly in Australia, we haven't been very good at getting the message across about ancillary revenues," says Rix, who was brought in to fix the airline's Australian problems and keep driving its fast growth.

Rix has spent the past four years as chief executive of a British low-cost carrier, BMIbaby, whose parent British Midland Airlines is now part of the growing Lufthansa empire.

On fares, Rix says: "We're taking all the elements out so that customers can choose what they want to buy or not so that we can get the fares as low as possible …

''We do, as an industry, get a lot of bad feedback for that. But a mobile phone company, where you buy a package and you go over your contract amount, you're charged and we don't see complaints. I think we've actually got to get that message across.''

Rix says it's not about gouging customers but about making pricing as transparent as possible.

"The way we're doing it at the moment I believe is right but that doesn't mean we won't review it,'' he says. ''We want to keep it simple, we want to keep it straightforward and we want it to be honest.

''I do think we need to do an education job, not just Tiger Airways, but as an industry generally."

[F4UCorsair]

What airline is ScabStar? More importantly, why?

[borovik]

Mr.DodoBird! you are getting to personal and emotional.You can fly with TigerAir,why not?Who else will take you to Langkawi for 800B?cheaper then bus ticket ?But do not try to call their Customer Service number because they dont answer,

or worse - they will put you on hold indifinetly causing great damage to your calling card(or worse - your Visa/Master!)

You can call instead - Airport Flight Information;they know about delays.

Last time,I flew with them - they played that game with luggage;my carry-on was 15kg instead of ...7kg;but it was my fault and I had to pay only little bit as penalty(after my plea:"please.!have a mercy!").

I do not complain about TigerAir.

[SamuiHomemadeFood]

I'm sorry but ANYBODY that books the CHEAPEST ticket they can get and then complains about the service needs to have a serious word with themselves.

You pay sometimes the same price as a bus ticket and it doesn't enter your head as to just why it is so cheap ?

You get the same type of idiot back home complaining about Ryan Air and Easy jet etc.

If you had paid a decent price then OK go ahead and complain but as it is it is you looking the sorry one not Tiger Air

[witold]

Ok, so the lowly counter lady told you she won't give you a BS answer just to amuse you? (Would you rather hear a lot of BS?)

Then you call the hotline and get no answer?

This is what you find so horrible that you won't fly them if you life depended on it? Welcome to 2010. This is standard practice at all USA airlines. My guess is that you will forget about your horrifying experience when the next ticket promotion comes out.

[F4UCorsair]

Most airports have a website that gives real time arrivals and departures. For a few baht, if you don't have your own computer and wifi access, you can log onto the airport site and check arrivals and departures.

Since haveaniceday hasn't responded, can anybody tell me what Scabstar means or why it applies to an airline, and which airline??

Edited June 28, 2010 by F4UCorsair

[hagler]

you flight was delayed by 2 hours?

and your carrying on like this?

I bet tiger is absolutely gutted to be losing you as customer.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Have to agree. The OP appears to have a p*ss poor attitude and I'm in no doubt that would have contributed to his communication experience.

I've flown with Tiger Airways a few times and had no problems at all, as I know what to expect when I choose a low cost airline. After all, that why I chose to pay a low price. I just want them to get me there safely. When I have important meetings or crucial connections I use a full fare airline.

In addition to this I have received service above and beyond what it expected from a low cost airline primarily because of skills of communication. In other words knowing how to talk to people in order to get the best out of them. This includes hold luggage carried for free on Ryanair. Don't think anyone can beat that.

[H2oDunc]

I bought a rolex mariner watch the other day from patong market for 20 quid. I went diving with it yesterday only to 30 metres and it now doesn't work and is full of water. Does anybody know of a good lawyer I can get to sue the market trader for selling me rubbish ?

JEEZ OP do you realise just how you sound by moaning and whining like you are ?

You paid the cheapest fare you could get yet expect to be treated like a first class passenger. get over it and get a life man.

[chuang]

When will all these Cheap Charlies gwt into their skulls that " whay you pay is what you get "..probably tiger airways has to fly the aircraft to his house and fetch him....

[F4UCorsair]

I think some of these comments are way off the mark. The guy buys a ticket for a flight leaving at a certain time, he has an expectation that it will leave on time, and it's two hours late. He has a case to bitch especially if they undertake to advise him via sms of changes but don't do so.

He may not have a case to bitch as much as he has, but he has a case.

If the airline doesn't intend running to a schedule, why would they publish one?? No point. Just turn up and when it's full the flight leaves. That's a charter. His was a regular public transport flight operated to a published schedule, a schedule published by the airline itself, not a wishful third party.

Paying a low fare doesn't entitle the airline to screw pax around (that's not part of the published terms and conditions), nor should pax expect that they will be screwed around. Suggesting that is just plain wrong.

Having said that, running an airline can be complex; weather delays, mechanical delays, knock on effects of one flight being late therefore subsequent flights, with the same aircraft, will be delayed, etc.

I think some posters are being a bit tough on him, but his attitude may not have endeared him to the Tiger staff. My view when dealing with people is to start out very low key; it can always be escalated, but once you take a strong position, it's awfully difficult to back off and maintain credibility.

Edited June 29, 2010 by F4UCorsair

[Benjie]

I'm sorry but ANYBODY that books the CHEAPEST ticket they can get and then complains about the service needs to have a serious word with themselves.

You pay sometimes the same price as a bus ticket and it doesn't enter your head as to just why it is so cheap ?

You get the same type of idiot back home complaining about Ryan Air and Easy jet etc.

If you had paid a decent price then OK go ahead and complain but as it is it is you looking the sorry one not Tiger Air

Surely someone who is grumpy and sullen costs the same to hire as someone with a more pleasant manner, manners cost nothing after all.

[spongeman]

In took more than 10 minutes before she look up at me with a very disgusting expression.

Perhaps you had forgotten to fasten up your zip on your pants ? It does happen.

A 2 hour delay ? i remember the one and only time that I flew with Aeroflot there was an EIGHT hour delay.

As they say, if you buy cheap shoes, prepare for the pain.

[fishhooks]

On TV news services last night in Australia:

Tiger Airways is soon to introduce a fee for customers who personally check in at the airport, rather than use On-Line check in!

[chuang]

A two hour delay.....his SIN-BKK flight departure at 1800 LT is dependent on the scheduled arrival of the in-coming aircraft

if the arriving aircraft is delayed at the other end subsequently the said flight is delayed due to late arrival.

On the other hand if the arriving aircraft flight time to Singapore is about 1 or 2 hours, in which case most if not all passengers for the SIN flight should be at the airport...i don't think they can e-mail or phone the passengers about the delay..this is what the departure sign board is for....

[F4UCorsair]

I agree entirely chuang but it depends on the origin of the aircraft flying the route.

It does also say that up to 12 hours before departure, updates will be give via sms, and this was within 12 hours, so in theory the OP doesn't have a case.

The point I made, however, is that when you buy a ticket with the expectation that the flight will leave on time. If it was a condition of carriage that the airline didn't have to attempt to operate to their schedule they would have no passengers.

The fact that you buy the cheapest ticket does not mean that you should not have the expectation that the flight will leave on time. Circumstances intervene, however, and that happens with all airlines, not just the LCC's.

I didn't quite follow his paragraph about the Adelaide sector, but if it was relevant and that aircraft did operate his flight, Adelaide to Singapore is 7+ hours I would think, so they would have had 9+ hours notice of the late departure (already 2 hours late + flight time 7+ = 9+). That still doesn't fall within their policy of notification up to `12 hours prior to departure though.

Several months ago I took a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bangkok and it departed 5 hours late. Whilst inconvenient, I was more concerned about the crew fatigue issues. Their tour of duty was 16+ hours which is illegal under flight duty times limits. I couldn't get off the flight without forfeiting the fare and Jetstar didn't send a supplementary crew but should have. Those are far more serious concerns for me when I travel.

Edited June 30, 2010 by F4UCorsair

[sunnyhor]

Avoid Tigerair if necessary. They receive thousands of complains every day. They will not explain to you much because they are budget flight. The staff performance is the worst I had ever meet so far. I'd already boycott them long ago.

I had bought a duty free liquor on board, no plastic carrier for the bottle. I insist one, you know what. I got an "used" supermarket plastic bag I think they pick it up from the rubbish bin or somewhere else. I write and ask them why they do not have a proper bag for our purchase. They answered, because we provide budget ticket for you, we will save all cost to remain the cheapest ticket fare. Fly cheap or pay a little more- you decide!?

[THAILIBAN]

well, "re-timed" was probably a DELAY, not a change of the schedule.

other airlines use that term too to make "DELAYS" look better (AirAsia for example).

the same thing with Tiger happened to me SIN - HKT in May...... flight "re-timed" 2 hrs later. which basically was a delay, not a change of the schedule.

Kudos to Airasia (in that case at least), they always send u email and sms when there is a change in schedule (reads: not a delay).

Have been flying TIGER around 10 times all around Asia, and while I not really LOVE them (I particularly hate those Bus-stop-like boarding gates at the Budget-terminal in SIN), they are not worse or better than their competitors. Always be prepared for something unexpected.....

but in general, my experiences with Low-Cost-Carriers are good and they with no doubt have dramatically enriched my travel-life....

the OP's report is really somehow polemical......

[stevenl]

Avoid Tigerair if necessary. They receive thousands of complains every day. They will not explain to you much because they are budget flight. The staff performance is the worst I had ever meet so far. I'd already boycott them long ago.

I had bought a duty free liquor on board, no plastic carrier for the bottle. I insist one, you know what. I got an "used" supermarket plastic bag I think they pick it up from the rubbish bin or somewhere else. I write and ask them why they do not have a proper bag for our purchase. They answered, because we provide budget ticket for you, we will save all cost to remain the cheapest ticket fare. Fly cheap or pay a little more- you decide!?

You've got to be kidding. You're complaining they did not give you a new plastic bag, so the environment can get polluted even more?

[sunnyhor]

Avoid Tigerair if necessary. They receive thousands of complains every day. They will not explain to you much because they are budget flight. The staff performance is the worst I had ever meet so far. I'd already boycott them long ago.

I had bought a duty free liquor on board, no plastic carrier for the bottle. I insist one, you know what. I got an "used" supermarket plastic bag I think they pick it up from the rubbish bin or somewhere else. I write and ask them why they do not have a proper bag for our purchase. They answered, because we provide budget ticket for you, we will save all cost to remain the cheapest ticket fare. Fly cheap or pay a little more- you decide!?

You've got to be kidding. You're complaining they did not give you a new plastic bag, so the environment can get polluted even more?

I'm not kidding mate. I still have the letter with me. They told me they will save all costs to provide cheapest fare. Whatever........I had boycott Tigerairways already!

Let me ask you, if you purchase something and the staff get you a plastic bag from the rubbish bin, will you be happy? That's it!

Edited July 26, 2010 by sunnyhor