My first TR: TT MEL-CBR, DJ CBR-MEL.
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I thought I might give this trip reporting thing a go.
Just got back from CBR after flying up with TT and back with DJ.
Here's the TR, some photos of questionable quality are attached.
Flight 1 of 2
MEL - CBR
Tiger Airways Australia flight TT7164 - VH-VND
Saturday 16th February, 2008
Scheduled Dep - 08:55 Arr - 10:00
Actual Dep - 09:30 Arr - 10:30
T4 at MEL is a lot nicer inside than it's warehouse/shed-like exterior suggests. It's a good-looking and convenient terminal, which was the first tick for Tiger.
The inside of T4
There were 2 check-in desks open for the flight to CBR, and the queue extended pretty much to the front door of T4. Checked in at about T - 0:50, thinking I was just inside the cutoff. However, the TT staff did not end check-in at T - 0:45, rather they let the full queue for CBR check-in before closing. Another tick for Tiger.
The 2 desks open for TT7164
First cross for Tiger. At T - 0:55, TT opened 2 check-in desks for a flight to NTL leaving 2 hours later, as per their policy. However, it seemed that, at that time, only 4 or 5 people wanted to check in for that flight. It would have been good, from my perspective at least, for TT to dedicate a third desk to CBR and get rid of the queue before the cutoff, rather than having 2 desks for each flight.
TT Boarding Pass - Almost identical formatting to JQ. Both Navitaire maybe?
After checking in it was announced that the flight would be delayed by around half an hour due to VN-VND's arrival from PER being delayed. At around 09:00 we began the tarmac walk to the flight.
The walk from T4 to VH-VND
VH-VND
Boarding the plane was done only by the front stairs. Allocated seat 18D, ie. not exit-row, so for a 6' 3" guy, i was interested, to say the least, in how this flight would pan out.
Legroom?
Legroom was, well...as you can see, for me there was little/none, but the seat itself was surprisingly comfortable. The plane itself was very nice, and the FA's were extremely welcoming and attentive. The time passed by quickly enough, although having brought no entertainment of my own, I found myself perusing through the same copy of 'Tiger Tales' several times.
We landed at CBR at around 10:30. At CBR, TT do not use the aerobridges, rather, passengers disembark by the stairs and enter the terminal via the tarmac, in much the same way as they do at MEL. Only difference is the walk between the plane and the terminal at CBR was 100 meters maximum.
Tiger share the 'other' side of the terminal at CBR with DJ. Baggage reclaim would have been in no more than 2-3 minutes. Big tick.
In general, Tiger was a very pleasant surprise. T4 at MEL is more than suitable, the flight and inflight service was magnificent and baggage reclaim was very quick. One small kink I noticed is the co-ordination of some ground services, like the check-in situation I mentioned at T4, however these issues are of little relative consequence.
If this is the standard of service I can expect for the price I paid for the flight, then I will fly TT again without reservation.
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Flight 2 of 2
CBR - MEL
Virgin Blue Airlines flight DJ720 - VH-VUM
Sunday 17th February, 2008
Scheduled Dep - 17:05 Arr - 18:10
Actual Dep - 17:30 Arr - 18:30
I gather most people on here would know what to expect from DJ in terms of service quality, but I'll post some experiences here regardless.
VH-VUM is a 737-800 series aircraft in Pacific Blue livery, which was an interesting change.
VH-VUM
The new experience for me this time around was the live2air system. This was the first DJ flight I had been on where this was installed. Being the somewhat-easily-impressed man I am, I was instantly hooked.
AWESOME.
The flight boarded and left the gate on time, but shortly after the safety demonstration the pilot informed us that we had to turn back to the gate because of a problem with the air conditioning mechanics. We sat at the gate for around 20-30 minutes, which was a small inconvenience, but true to DJ form, they made up for it with some free live2air.
We made up some of the delay with a quick flight to MEL, and landed around 20 minutes late. Baggage reclaim at T3 took around 5 minutes.
Regardless of delays, it was another high-quality DJ flight.
So New Planes are:
VH-VNC
VH-VNF
Ex Tr Planes are:
VH-VNA (coming)
VH-VND
VH-VNB
VND was in good condition when i flew it about 1 week ago, it looked brand new, i have noticed that VNB has had a few issues along the way. Can someone clear this for me please!:
-What is the 5th A320 going to be used on, unrevealed routes, or just backup???
They could certainly use the backup after all the recent bad publicity. Unlikely though as it's a huge asset to have as a maybe.
Keep in mind they still have to start ASP services in March, so the 5th plane will go a long way to doing that. Otherwise it will most likely go to existing routes, possibly adding capacity on popular routes.
I don't think we'll see many new routes from TT until they choose their second hub.
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