It's All About Me

The lie of the Tiger

This is the story of why I will never fly Tiger Airways... Again...

 Yes I took the plunge and flew the forbidden airline. 'But Liz,' I hear you say, 'Why would you fly on a cruddy airline that's so cruddy that it has a television show devoted to how cruddy the airline is?'

 BECAUSE IT WAS BLOODY CHEAP, that's why. Well, in the start it was... but after the airline got finished with me I spent more than I had ever spent on a flight to Melbourne.

I'd heard all the rumours about Tiger before I booked my flights but I figured since I knew what I was in for I could prepare myself so as not to get stung. The first rumour out of the mill was that they were ruthless with checking the weight of hand luggage. Since I had booked one of their no checked luggage airfares I figured I better be pretty darn sure I was going to be underweight, lest I be hit with the famed $50 excess luggage fee. I got out the kitchen scales and weighed every item I packed in my bag. There was no WAY I was going to get caught overweight.

The next thing I had heard is that they shut boarding extra early for all Tiger flights and wouldn't hesitate to bump you off the flight if you were half a millisecond late. I made sure that I got The Boy to pick me up super early and was at the airport 2 and a half hours before my flight was due to leave. Take that Tiger! 

Then we looked at the departure board. My 8.30pm flight was now apparently leaving at midnight. 

Wha?

I hadn't had a phone call. Or an email. Or any kind of contact to explain this apparent delay. And when we had phoned the airline we were informed that everything was running on time. Something wasn't right. And there were conspicuously few Tiger staff around. The Boy called Tiger HQ to get some answers. 

But he needn't have apparently. The guys at HQ reiterated that the plane was definitely due to leave at 8.30pm. But I wasn't convinced. I had to ask for myself. We tapped our feet and waited another 30 mins for Tiger staff to arrive at the airport. Yep thats right folks, there are no Tiger staff at the airport until two hours before your scheduled departure time because they are actually outsourced roles. The Tiger staff at the airport are bloody temps. But I digress.

We lined up to find out if our flight was on time. A Tiger rep came out and addressed the small crowd that had gathered. "You only need to be in this line if you haven't checked in online! Everyone who has already checked in online can go straight to the gate!" she called. About 15 people left the line. "Is the plane on time?" I yelled out. She shot me a look. "I will answer all questions of THAT nature when you get up to the desk!" she said, with a fixed and forced smile plastered on her face.  Interesting... Sure enough, when we got there, the lady at the counter confirmed, smiling all the while, that the flight was four and a half hours delayed and would indeed be taking of at half past midnight. She handed me a food voucher for $8 for my inconvenience. "So, do the people who left the line and went to the gate get food vouchers?" I asked. "No, they're not here," she replied. "But... But," I stammered. "They chose to leave the line," she said. "But you TOLD them to leave the line!" I said, exasperated... She shrugged. 

I walked away from the desk in disbelief. The girl in front of me started muttering. "This is what happened last time," she said. Out of curiosity, I asked her what she meant. Turns out she was due to fly out on the 8.30pm flight last night and her flight was similarly delayed. "It never took off," she said sadly. "It got to 12.40pm and they said they missed curfew so they couldn't take off. I was rebooked on this flight," she shook her head." I can't afford to pay for another flight so I guess I'll wait." 

This was an outrage. She might not be able to buy a flight, but I sure could. I pulled out my iPhone, booked a seat on Virgin, printed out my boarding pass at the kiosk and marched upstairs. I wasn't going to chance waiting four hours and then not getting a flight anyway.

 On the way back from Melbourne, EVERY flight was delayed in the whole terminal. I had spent my last bit of cashola on the extra flight over and couldn't afford another. I was just going to have to stick it out for the long haul. My friends and I bought a deck of cards at the newsagent and sat down for a few hands on the only small square of floor that wasn't covered with completely pissed off travellers. 

Announcement after announcement came of the PA system informing everyone that they still had no news on what was happening. Then came the dreaded announcement that NO traveller ever wants to hear "All passengers heading to Canberra, your flight has been cancelled." Cue total and utter chaos. The crowd could be heard surging over the next announcment "I KNOW YOU ARE ALL VERY UPSET," the woman said over the hundreds of angry voices, "BUT I NEED YOU TO STAY CALM. I ALSO HAVE TO LET YOU KNOW WE ONLY HAVE 15 SPACES LEFT ON ANY OF OUR FLIGHTS OUT OF MELBOURNE FOR THE NEXT THREE DAYS." The shouts get louder still and the journo in me just has to go and take a sneaky peek. 

When I round the corner into the check-in lounge I can not believe my eyes. Hundreds of people are surging towards the desk and there are riot police. FREAKING RIOT POLICE! I started to take photos and one of the police came up to me and told me in no uncertain terms they would confiscate the camera if I continued. I didn't.

I spoke to a few passengers. Some of them said this had happened before, and they seemed to call the police every time they cancelled a flight. Some passengers couldn't afford accommodation and had missed out on one of the precious 15 flights. Some people had a place to go, but needed to get to their destination ASAP for various important reasons. It was a total shambles.

I went back to our gate. I found out later that, had I asked specifically for it, Tiger would have given me a refund form for the extra Virgin flight I bought on my way to Melbourne. They don't give them out until you ask. And you can't get one by phoning Tiger either, you have to get it from the ground crew on the day of your flight. 

In the end, our flight home was only 2 hours late so that was good. But when you're elated by the fact that you've only been delayed by a few hours, you know there's a problem. 

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