20 February 2008

Is Tiger Evil?

| Joe Canberran
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Tiger Airlines, as most now know, has recently started flights between Canberra and Melbourne. It’s bloody cheap but is it worth it?

A couple of days ago I was at the airport and witnessed the Tiger check-in procedure. Tiger has, according to their check-in guidelines, a strict 45 min cut off before the flight. Word was that they would allow passengers a bit of leyway in the first week but apparently this wasn’t so as I saw the Tiger staff cut off about half a dozen passengers lined up to check in at exactly 45min before the scheduled take off, the first in line of those a young mother with a child under 6 months old. No surprise she was mightily upset and the staffs’ reaction? “I’ll be back in a minute” then walk off not to return.

Now you would expect the other airlines would pick up a bit of extra business from tardy Tiger travelers but it appears there has been a bit of backlash against Virgin as well as someone told me (I didn’t witness this) that some of the same Tiger staff reappeared a few minutes later wearing Virgin uniforms to man the Virgin check-in.

To indicate their professionalism Tiger’s Australian website is a wordpress site (so is RiotACT so nothing wrong with that right?) and I understand if you have a complaint you have to do so in writing to Tiger HQ in Singapore. I’d be more inclined to contact Consumer Affairs.

Oh and if you think the cheap flights are worth the extra hassle see how cheap they are after you’re landed with their extra baggage charges for over 15kg or bulky objects.

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If you arrive late, it’s not the fault of the airline. No point bitching about it, the world doesn’t revolve around you or your baby.

Simple solution: get to the airport with enough time to spare.

Religion = method to control masses of people and thats all…..

I do not need the threat of hell (or heaven) to be a good person.

Goats can be virgins too, and pigs. Bet they’d feel pretty ripped off if they got shoved 20 virgin pigs.

I’d be all ‘I didn’t eat that luscious porky goodness during my entire stay on earth, went and blew myself up in a carpark, and this is my reward’?

Anybody who believes in religion is either a tard or a schnitzelfrenic anyway, as stated on another thread, believing that a bieng can give birth to a human form of itself, and that stuff about making other people from ribs and talking snakes really does set a low standard to aspire to.

James-T-Kirk10:56 am 21 Feb 08

omg!!!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:54 am 21 Feb 08

I notice some of our Muslim brothers say that if you die a martyr then you will get X number of virgins when you get to ‘the other side’. I notice also that they don’t say whether said virgins will be male or female. You’d feel kinda ripped off if you blew your self up then got shown through to the IT department…

isnt it 20 terorists ?

If you die a virgin, you have to have sex with a terrorist. I just thought I’d share that.

The Virgin Lounge has beer, and table service if they’re not too busy!

I would much rather the beer lounge have virgins, and table service if they are not too busy!

Ingeegoodbee9:07 am 21 Feb 08

The Virgin Lounge has beer, and table service if they’re not too busy!

James-T-Kirk8:57 am 21 Feb 08

Simple, really – Just factor the extra for a real Qantas flight into the quote when you go for the job – That way, the Government picks up the tab, and you can collect Frequent Flier points!!!

Why bother with Cheap Tickets? There certainly is no beer in the other Frequent Flier clubs!!!

MelonHead, the point of this thread is to answer the question “Is Tiger Evil?”.

I think we’re all in almost unanimous agreement that, no, they are not evil.

End of story 🙂

As others have said. Read the Rules. Then abide by them. That’s what your cheap ticket gets you. Else pay more and get more. Simple really.

Just what is the point of this thread? Someone please remind me……

I’ve heard of people who’ve been quoted a few hundred dollars for a website, about 20% of the going commercial rate for a typical static website … and then wonder why it takes 6 months to build and they don’t get what they were expecting.

I’m happy to pay more to fly with Virgin or Qantas if it means I’m not going to get screwed around … which you probably will if you fly with Tiger. They have to cut costs somewhere – and if it means hiring staff part time, shuffling the customers around to suit themselves then I totally understand that … and good for them, but I won’t fly with them. I don’t need the grief.

If an airline is late for takeoff, they are fined by the airport. Tiger is simply ensuring they minimise late takeoffs.

Complaints like this give me the shits. Read the rules, if you dont like them, go else where. This applies to everything in life.

Everyone, please stop being sheep!

I have always been of the opinion that once you joined the queue to check in you are essentially in the care of the airline that you are booking into. The airline then has a duty to ensure that you receive the service that you have provided. I believe this needs to be tested in a court of law, but who’s going to be the bunny?

It would certainly lead to less aggrieved passengers if the airline had a policy that any passengers who arrived in the check-in queue by the cutoff time (extend it to 60 mins if necessary) would not be disadvantaged.

Things don’t always run smoothly, especially when transport is relied on to get to the airport. There have been a few times I have arrived at the airport with about 30 mins to spare despite booking a taxi to get me there with over an hour to spare. Late passengers are not always ‘just disorganised’.

Can you imagine the uproar if banks tried the same trick? You walk into your bank at 15 mins to closing, queue for 15 mins, then at 4pm, when you’re just about at the front of the queue, the shutters come down and you’re told ‘bad luck’?

Airlines like Pornstar and Tiger would benefit from a bit of lateral thinking in their approach to checking in. Until they do I for one am not interested in flying with them, and would rather pay a few dollars more to go on Quaintarse or VerginOnTha…

I always turn up 15 min before boarding, never had a problem over dozens of flights (with virgin) even when I have to lug out the laptop/shoes/belt etc..

Simple: you pay $ for people to “care”, otherwise you should be well organised.

If you give me a dollar, i’d care too ;P

Ingeegoodbee2:00 pm 20 Feb 08

I generally like to get to the airport about two hours ahead of departure (unless its an early morning flight), if only to take full and unbridled advantage of the complementary bar in the QANTAS Club or Virgin Lounge.

It’s clearly not just me. But when I booked my flights with Tiger in July. I read all the conditions and I understand when I need to be at the airport to provide myself reasonable time for delays. It all seems quite normal to me. I am a bit annoyed at Tiger however for changing my flight times, that has made a lot of trouble for my Melbourne fly out (I know get to wait in Tulla for 4:30 hours 🙁 )

It’s not always “babies” kicking the back of your chair. The fact that you’re flying with a budget airline means you’ve got sweet f.a. leg room, so if you’re even slightly above average height you’re going to be kicking the chair in front of you.
However, kicking the back of a person’s chair is the least I feel like doing when I hear people tsking and sighing when there’s a crying child on board.
Clearly you don’t have kids though, so you don’t realise they don’t just have an ‘off’ switch to stop them from crying.
And any chance that the “…81% of respondants…” were dismissed because they’re all inconsiderate @rseholes?

“recommended they bring ipods”

… yeah, ‘cos that will stop me noticing my chair being kicked every four and a half seconds.

is that tiger or it’s staff that’s rude? Plus its simple, be there on time, you make the flight. I don’t see why you expect people to be late and still be on the flight. All they had to do was leave home 5 minutes earlier and they would have made it.

Joe Canberran12:53 pm 20 Feb 08

oh, and thanks to the admins for posting so many of my submissions today (it’s been a slow morning) but surely there is someone else out there with some news/views today? I mean where the hell is thumper for a start 😉

Joe Canberran12:47 pm 20 Feb 08

Swaggie, RiotACT posts need a point??

I suppose it’s just that there is no leyway with Tiger, they are rude/lie (“back in a minute” unless they meant back in a minute to sell you a virgin ticket) when dealing with the public and yes indeed you get what you pay for – buyer beware.

Don’t get your hopes up too soon regarding soundproof Family sections on planes. The mob who did the survey released it yesterday, and then the boss of the mob dismissed the concerns of 81% of respondants by saying it just showed that flyers were “sensitive” to noise and disturbance, and recommended they bring ipods. I wonder if he has young children by any chance?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/ban-the-babies-say-air-travellers/2008/02/19/1203190799939.html

What’s the point of this post Joe? All the points you try to make are based on “what you heard”. Its a budget dirt cheap airline – you rock up early – its a fact of life.

There really is no defineable excuse in accepting the conditions of the contract, and then breaking them, and expecting somebody else to go out of their way to fix it for free.

lol neanerthalsis, i agree

neanderthalsis11:37 am 20 Feb 08

I would vote to make the “family section” in an unpressurised hold if it meant not having uncontrollable screaming kidlets disturbing my reading.

In cutting the mother and baby off from boarding, maybe they’d read that survey (in the SMH today) where 81% of Australian flyers wanted babies/kids to be in a special “families” section of the plane.

I’ve flown a heap with EasyJet, and these conditions look the same. Stick to the rules and you’ll be fine, I’d generally show up at least 1:30 before take off. I’m flying the Melbourne over the Canberra Day long weekend for $20 each way, so I really can’t complain.

Also the Tiger website is http://tigerairways.com.au/home/ not that fan blog you linked to.

I flew with both RyanAir and easyJet when holidaying in Europe (which have the similar strict check in arrangements and backage limits) and found it to be very satisfactory.

As others have said, you get what you pay for and passengers should read the rules of the airline. If the cut off is 45 minutes before takeoff. Then make sure you’re there WELL before that. If the baggage limit is 15kg – don’t expect to get away with a heavier bag without penalty. In Europe we saw families with several bags having to step to the side of the queue to rearrange luggage so all the bags were less than 15kg (thems the rules).

Know how the system works and you’ll be fine.

Joe Canberran11:14 am 20 Feb 08

Oh, that flight that they cut the mother off from was 25 min late in taking off

if their enforcement of check-in and baggage limits means that they run on time and keep airfares low, creating some real competition, then i don’t see anything wrong with that at all

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy11:06 am 20 Feb 08

I always laugh when I hear of people complaining about services like this. FFS, you get what you pay for. If you pay for a service that’s substantially cheaper than a competitor’s service, typically the quality will match. Do people really expect that an ultra budget airline will have the same infrastructure and processes as an airline like Qantas? Duh. I fly Qantas, not only because of the FF points, but also because if something goes wrong, they generally have strategies in place to resolve the situation, rather than just a few moron staff who walk around drooling.

neanderthalsis11:00 am 20 Feb 08

I’d still rather fly the Red-Roo for business and personal trips, not only because of the QANTAS Club and my desire to build those FF points. For a few dollars more you get a meal, inflight entertainment and drinks on the afternoon flights. They often do cheap fares that are infact better than Virgin or Tiger (such as the current offer of Canb to Bris for $105)

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