Tiger Airwars.
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Member of: Qantas, Virgin Blue, ANZ, Avis Preferred
Posts: 30
Tiger Airwars
Four of us travelled Melbourne-Darwin-Singapore-Darwin-Melbourne in January 2008 using a Virgin Blue / Tiger Airways cocktail. FFs may be interested in the following:
DJ was fantastic. I emailed them with our flight itinerary and even though we weren’t flying with them to Singapore they ensured that we got row 5 seating as we had only 70 minutes between our scheduled arrival in Darwin and the 45 minute closure time prior to our flight to Singapore. It appended my email to our booking so that all concerned could see it. As a result we got seating up front in the first 10 rows that cannot be seen by others when checking in on-line and we got rows 1 and 2 seating back to Melbourne. Full marks VB!
TR are a very basic no frill carrier much like Jetstar. Don’t expect anything more than a seat.
TR’s cabin service was OK and the meals and drinks reasonably priced.
We payed extra and booked row 1 seating. Unless you are <5’4” tall I would recommend this. From row 2 rearwards is akin to a tin of sardines. Only 30” seat pitch!!
We have made a decision that we would not book a flight of much more than two or so hours on a LCC unless the price differential was at least 30% as anything less than this does not, in our view, make cattle class discomfort and the cost add-ons worthwhile.
TR’s pre take off safety briefing was a bad joke on the Singapore-Darwin leg. The Asian accent was very thick and many appeared to have difficulty understanding it. It was also very mono tone and unanimated. This is not acceptable in the 21st century. Given the seat pitch and pax density, if an emergency did occur, the safety briefing and pax comprehension of same would be vital to survival and egress from the A/C.
Communicating with TR is difficult. It tries to stream all comms through its WWW site. This may be OK for making bookings but not if one encounters problems. The other problem is that all WWW comms seem to be handled by its Singapore based staff. This is one of my pet hates. I want to talk to someone locally who understands where I’m coming from and what I’m talking about. In TR’s case this problem appears to be being exacerbated by the Singapore Government’s long held policy to ‘speak more Mandarin’. Younger Singaporeans appear not to grasp the English language quite as well as previous generations. Before someone accuses me of being racial, I have been visiting Singapore regularly since 1975 and have Chinese God parents living there. I know the country very well and like it very much. I would very much like the chance to live and work there for a while. It’s just that I have observed the above in latter years and it appears to make communicating with organisations like TR more difficult. This phenomenon appears less so with Singaporeans older than say mid thirties.
Through industry sources I have gained the following contact number for TR’s Darwin operations. International queries: +61 (0)8 8945 7100; and Duty Manager: +61 (0)413 888 449. I’m certain TR don’t want you to know these numbers! I got them in case our DJ flight from Melbourne was going to be late departing and I needed to call TR in Darwin and seek clemency. I’m not certain it would have done any good but I was determined to stack the odds in my favour!
Singapore’s Changi Airport budget terminal is like TR. I.e. basic.
TR enforces its flight closure time and excess baggage policy mercilessly. Beware: You can only purchase extra baggage capacity on-line or by telephone up to or greater than 72 hours prior to departure. This means that if you pack your bags and weigh them on the day of departure and discover you are over weight, you can either shed weight and repack or purchase extra weight at the airport at grossly inflated prices above those available on-line prior to 36 hours before your flight. This policy appears to encourage pax to take excess cabin baggage on-board. Not good passenger safety policy with all of those heavy objects in over head lockers just waiting to become projectiles in turbulence or a forced landing.
Tr’s seat width appeared to be slightly wider that DJ’s.
Last edited by brucek; 3rd February 2008 at 02:33 PM.
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Communicating with TR is difficult. It tries to stream all comms through its WWW site. This may be OK for making bookings but not if one encounters problems. The other problem is that all WWW comms seem to be handled by its Singapore based staff. This is one of my pet hates. I want to talk to someone locally who understands where I’m coming from and what I’m talking about. In TR’s case this problem appears to be being exacerbated by the Singapore Government’s long held policy to ‘speak more Mandarin’. Younger Singaporeans appear not to grasp the English language quite as well as previous generations. Before someone accuses me of being racial, I have been visiting Singapore regularly since 1975 and have Chinese God parents living there. I know the country very well and like it very much. I would very much like the chance to live and work there for a while. It’s just that I have observed the above in latter years and it appears to make communicating with organisations like TR more difficult. This phenomenon appears less so with Singaporeans older than say mid thirties.
Hi Bruce,
Interesting report. I visit Singapore a dozen times a year or more and haven't observed that younger Singaporeans are less able in English. Quite to the contrary actually, as the high schools and colleges are pouring out fluent English speakers. Pretty well every educated young person in Singapore wants to work for an English-speaking multi-national company.
Perhaps you are being influenced by Tiger's flight attendants, many of whom are Indonesian or from the backwoods of Malaysia. And with your Singapore connections, you would know where most of the criminals in Singapore come from...
Member of: Qantas, Virgin Blue, ANZ, Avis Preferred
Posts: 30
Re: Tiger Airwars
Hi Arthur and tnx for the response.
My view on this was influenced by my God father's sister in-law. She is a local and a senior primary school teacher in Singapore. She made the comment to me not in the context that I have used it, but in realtion to another matter we were discussing during my visit.
On the whole I agre with you. I suspect it may be less about their ability to speak English and more to do with the interpretation of the nuances of the English language. This is problem that many people have when learning a foreign langauge. Speaking it text-book fashion is one thing, using it in conversation and understanding the interpretation and coloquial meaning behind words and phrases is another.
In my God parents case they studied engineering and medicine in Australia and are very well travelled. As such they, and many others in that country, have an excellent command of conversational as well as text book English.
The point that was made to me was that since the Singapore Government enacted it's 'speak more Mandarin' policy quite some time ago, Generation Y'ers can speak English but not necesaraly have the conversational command of it that earlier generations had.
I don't want others to take what I have writen in the derogatory sense as this is not what I mean. It was purely an observation influenced by the input of a Singaporean educator and resident. Pse don't get me wrong, I love the place. Where else can you go walking at 0300 in the morning and not feel woried about being attacked from behind a bush?
DJ was fantastic. I emailed them with our flight itinerary and even though we weren’t flying with them to Singapore they ensured that we got row 5 seating as we had only 70 minutes between our scheduled arrival in Darwin and the 45 minute closure time prior to our flight to Singapore.
I don't understand why you would only leave 70 minutes for the connection in DRW from DJ to TR. Was that DJ flight your only choice? I don't think TR would have been very compassionate if the DJ flight was late arriving into DRW.
i have just flown tger from MEL-OOL, and i dont care what all the comotion is with tiger, it was the best flight i have ever been on in my life, best crew, new plane, new seats, only 70% full, whole row to myself!, nice and quietm better than any old jetstar or virgin flight, i wont be posting my trip report on here but email your email address to
lukasmahoney@hotmail.com and i will send you the trip report sometime on thursday (i still the the way back trip to go, currently in OOL!)
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It's good you had a pleasant experience on TT, however if a LCC short-haul OOL-MEL was the best flight of your life, then I'd have to guess your flying experience is fairly limited.
i have just flown tger from MEL-OOL, and i dont care what all the comotion is with tiger, it was the best flight i have ever been on in my life, best crew, new plane, new seats, only 70% full, whole row to myself!, nice and quietm better than any old jetstar or virgin flight, i wont be posting my trip report on here but email your email address to
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