Tiger trips

[Steve Jones]

Hi guys

Might be a bit controversial, but I've just come back from a weekend of Tiger flying (for $20 a ticket, why not?), and I've been very, very impressed with them.

My 4 sectors CBR-MEL-ROK/MKY-MEL-CBR were on 4 different aircraft: VH-VNB,C,F,G, and all were spotless, no matter whether it was a morning or evening flight. That's more than can be said for other airlines I have flown domestically.

Secondly, all 4 flights were on time, a rarity these days.

Thirdly, by checking in early I secured an emergency exit window on all 4 sectors. Basically, very few people pay the extra $25 to get an exit row (even on the longer flights it seems), so if you ask at check-in, you usually get one. Interestingly, while all my flights were reasonably full (from 135-170 pax depending which flight), I invariably had the seat next to me at the exit free - seems like the last seat they allocate.

Fourth, the check-in staff and on board crews were very friendly, the pilots usually made 2 on-board announcements per flight (versus the one or none that you generally get elsewhere) - even on the short MEL-CBR flight. Interestingly on 3 of the 4 flights, we had at least one british cabin crew - I wonder if that's coincidence or whether they have some deal for an exchange with a UK airline or they target UK working visa people - most were quite young.

So for $80 all up for 4 sectors, it was a very good weekend on Tiger. Last year I did the same to DRW (when they were still going there) and my comments would be similar. So low cost doesn't always mean awful!