First Tiger flight & first experience as DJ Gold

[dajop]

Well in the last week, had a couple of firsts:
1) First experience as a DJ gold member at MEL and SYD lounges.
2) First Tiger flights MEL-ROK-MEL

Here are some observations of the experiences.

DJ MEL & SYD lounge access/ flights Thu 24 Apr

Thanks to a status match following DJ's promotion in CBR, I decided to use DJ to get to/from a meeting with a staff member at SYD airport, rather than the usual QF. Fare was more or less same on both carriers (DJ marginally cheaper at chosen times), but at 7pts/dollar I ended up with 1,300 more pts on DJ.

Day started with a visit to the MEL lounge for breakfast of toast/cereal & OJ. I was amazed at how quiet it was. Whilst there I counted at different times somewhere between 9 and 17 people present. Fantastic as a a passenger, it is a far cry from the crowds in the QP, but in the long term must be a concern. Just for the sake of keeping the other mob honest, I hope DJ's courting of the corporate market is successful.

Joined my flight to SYD - went as any flight to SYD does with an obligatory circle of Goulburn - and fairly uneventful. One thing I like about flying DJ - not having to find a space in the overhead locker to squeeze my (fairly small) laptop into - usually plenty of space, as there was on this flight. Curiously I am not particularly enamoured by the DJ's flight attendants (or perhaps that is unfair - it is more the "type" that I aren't fussed about). Whilst I am sure as individuals they are wonderful people, they seem to be very much in the same mould and seem to represent a particular "click" (for the want of a better word) of the broader community. I can't help think a little diversity wouldn't go astray to appeal to a broader cross section of passengers.

Anyway, went to the lounge at SYD and noticed it was considerably busier than MEL, and much smaller, although I note they are moving into the old Golden Wing Lounge space this year. I had a meeting room booked - and was surprised it came without charge thanks to my gold status (should I abbreviate that to WG as it is DJ's top tier?) - and saved the couple of hundred it would have cost had I used a QP meeting room. DUring our meeting, we adjourned for lunch and made myself a ham and salad sandwich (what a good idea - having slices of bread available to make sandwiches!) and enjoyed a hearty soup. Later we also had some of the delicious nougat on offer and took some barsnacks (potato chips) back to the meeting room. Then caught the 5:15pm back to MEL, another uneventful flight. Flight was full, including PE seats that were in economy config, yet still no dramas finding OH locker space.

In summary, quite impressed with the overall experience. And really didn't miss the two "snacks" I would have received for free on the QF flights.

TT flights MEL-ROK-MEL Apr 25/27
We joined a relative small queue in the "tin shed" at T4 to check in for the TT flight to ROK. At $20 return, these two flights would have to the cheapest flights I've ever had. We were checked in within perhaps 5 mins of joining the queue, and only had hand luggage so didn't need to worry about the 15kg limit. After a stroll up to international terminal and back to fill in time, we went through security and were soon boarding. I have read a few complaints about the long walk to the planes at MEL, but it really only took a couple of minutes and as someone who flies regionally a bit, I've had just as long walks joining Dash 8's in CBR & BNE, and jets in HBA, BME & LST, so no big drama for me.

Flight "pushed back" (should that be "pushed forward"?) about 5 mins early and soon on our way. Leg room tight, but taking my shoes off after take off helped, as did the fact that we had a spare seat in our group of 3 so I moved from my allocated B to C. (Interestingly I note that very few couples do this - happy to stay in AB or EF and leave C or D empty, but for us we both like to spread out!) Did notice lots of families and I suspect a few children flying for the first time - I always get a kick out of their excitement and reminds me of the first time I flew myself. Flight was uneventful, and purchased muffin/coke from reasonably priced menu. No IFE at all, but I usually read a book anyway - so this passed the time. One thing I do like is Tiger's cloth seats, better than the leather seats on DJ and JQ.

Landed 10 mins early in ROK, right in peak hour - alongside a JQ A320, QF DH400, a DJ 737 and a DJ Embraer. Busy busy place. But without luggage we were soon in rental car on way to Yeppoon (now Yeppoon is another story, but save that for a different time).

On the way back, due to 45 min cutoff decided to check in first then refuel car - only problem with this strategy was total lack of carparking at ROK - madhouse that hasn't coped with influx of LCC flights (but upgrade on way). Nevertheless double parked in the Budget drop area, and was checked in shortly. Again it was peak hour and watched the various flights depart and aother DH400 arrive (and noticed a picture on the wall of a SQ plane at the airport - which made sense as I have seen a Rockhampton flight boarding at SIN, which I later learnt was probably a military charter). Anyway we were soon on board and off back to MEL. Again uneventful flight landed slightly early and soon through the "turnstile gates" that separate the luggage collection area from the outside world.

All in all two perfectly adequate flights, only complaint was that the parking for the 2 days and 6 hrs in the long term carpark cost more than the return flights for the two of us! Looking forward to another $20 trip (daytrip this time) to ADL at the end of May.

[futaris]

We too did a weekend trip on Tiger. Luckily you didn't end up caught in the delays. Apparently the PER-MEL flight (on VH-VHD) from the 26th April was delayed, which caused flow on effects for the Tiger network.

Our MEL-OOL flight (TT7408) was delayed 2:15. I think the last TT7409 OOL-MEL flight only just made it out of OOL just before 11pm curfew.

No information from anyone inside the terminal, but the captain was nice enough to let everyone know why the flight was delayed, etc. Unfortunately I didn't get his name. Certainly not the worst delay that I've experienced, but far from the best. Thankfully the main MEL terminal is only a short walk away from the T4 shed.

[dajop]

We too did a weekend trip on Tiger. Luckily you didn't end up caught in the delays. Apparently the PER-MEL flight (on VH-VHD) from the 26th April was delayed, which caused flow on effects for the Tiger network.

I noticed that on the MEL airport website, the PER flight was due to arrive something like 14 hours late - which is a lot of time for one plane to be out of action when they only operate a very small fleet. They must have some fat in their timetables to cater for this, as they seemed to juggle the fleet to achieve only 2-3 hour delays on other sectors. Luckily (for me) the ROK flight was early enough not to be affected.