This was the first time that we have taken an international flight with Tigerair Australia. We flew from Australia to the topical island of Bali, an island that is immensely popular with Australian travellers, due to its relative proximity. One must remember that everything becomes relative with flights from Australia, so for us, anything that is less than 6 hours, becomes a bus ride in effect.
(Editor update: Unfortunately TigerAir no longer fly to Bali, but we still recommend them as a company)
Our experience flying Tigerair Australia
Contents
- 1 Our experience flying Tigerair Australia
- 2 What extra’s did we get on our flight?
- 3 Where does the International Flight with Tigerair Australia leave from?
- 4 Why we are liking Tigerair Australia
- 5 Value Alliance
- 6 Canberra to Melbourne DAILY
- 7 What we liked about our international flight with Tigerair Australia.
- 8 What I didn’t like about our international flight with Tigerair Australia.
- 9 Our conclusion
We have flown with the low budget carrier Tigerair Australia domestically, enjoying a trip to Tropical North Queensland. We have written that we enjoyed this flight as it left on time, arrived on time, and our bags were off the plane quicker than we were. We have also mentioned that this airline, has a new lease on life and is now one of the most competitive carriers in Australia. You might like to read our article, You won’t get Champagne and Caviar on Tigerair Australia, which indicates that your expectations of this airline should be realistic.
Competitive Cost
Tigerair Australia aims to get you to your destination at the most competitive price, and not to bother with all of the frills that many people do not want with an airline anyhow. In saying that, you do have many options like purchasing food either on board or before you leave. You can also access the onboard entertainment via the Tiger App, either before you leave or before your plane leaves the tarmac.
Beat the queues
You can also choose to beat the queue when boarding. I didn’t get this for a while, but I sure do now from flying on other airlines. You might like to read my article, which has also been reproduced on The Huffington Post, Pet Travel Peeve: Airline Passengers Who Have Too Much Carry-On Luggage, and this article has certainly resonated with travellers sick of people taking their overhead bin space.
What extra’s did we get on our flight?
We chose the extra leg room on our international flight with Tigerair Australia, and this was a good move. At approx.. $32 internationally, it meant that for our flight, I was able to walk past Gordon and the aisle passenger without disturbing them. It also meant Gordon could stretch out his legs, and that made him a happy husband.
Food
We chose to buy some food on board, to save any hassles going through immigration at both Australia and Bali, Indonesia and it was quite reasonable. We fly a lot on many different carriers, and seriously folks, airline food is airline food; unless an airline wants to prove me wrong.
Where does the International Flight with Tigerair Australia leave from?
Unfortunately, the international flight does not yet leave from Sydney, where we live, but it does fly from Perth, Melbourne, and Adelaide to Denpasar, Bali. We took a domestic flight with Tigerair Australia to Adelaide before our international leg. It worked out well for us with timings, and we were able to sample some Adelaide wines before we left Bali. You have to support your local industries, don’t you? We also got an aerial view of this lovely capital city of South Australia.
On another positive note, as we were flying relatively low, we got to see how very vast Australia is, and how very massive and spectacular the desert and the red centre of Australia is.
Why we are liking Tigerair Australia
This is a pretty savvy airline; that operates under Virgin Australia.
“Virgin (Australia) became Tigerair’s sole owner in late 2014, and management had been “ruthless” in executing a turnaround strategy of improving marketing and front-line services, Mr. Borghetti said, after releasing Virgin Australia’s full-year results on Friday.
Eighty-five percent of Tigerair’s domestic flights arrived on time last year compared to 78 per cent of low-cost rival Jestar’s, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. The on-time average of all airlines was 86 per cent.”
Patrick Hatch, SMH August 5th 2016
Value Alliance
Tigerair Australia is now part of Value Alliance – an airline alliance formed in 2016. This becomes a game changer for Australian travellers, with 160 destinations in Asia now a lot more accessible. You can book through any of eight carriers through each partner website, to create itineraries across the region through a single booking.
Value Alliance consists of only of low-cost carriers as its members. It comprises eight Asia-Pacific airlines: Cebu Pacific, Jeju Air, Nok Air, NokScoot, Scoot, Tigerair, Tigerair Australia and Vanilla Air.
The Value Alliance has services to over 160 destinations on 176 aircraft, from Australia to Japan, and the Philippines to the Middle East. This will open up destinations for everyone in the Asia-Pacific region, and will be good for tourism to and from Australia.
One of these routes is the international flight with Tigerair Australia to Bali.
Canberra to Melbourne DAILY
Tigerair Australia recently announced that the low budget carrier will now have daily flights between Canberra and Melbourne. To say that this was a highly popular announcement would be an understatement, as people from Canberra like Melbourne, and it gives Melbourne people the opportunity to explore Australia’s capital city. Social Media has shown just how well received these daily low-cost flights between two cities is. Tigerair will regularly have fares available between Melbourne and Canberra from $69. Now Canberra people can fly to Melbourne, and then take an international flight to Bali, all with Tigerair Australia.
What we liked about our international flight with Tigerair Australia.
- Booking a Flight with Tigerair Australia is easy
- Rules are spelled out on the website about what you have to do, so read them carefully
- Check in was seamless and friendly
- We left on time on every leg
- We arrived on time on every leg
- We didn’t have to wait for stragglers on every leg
- People were not allowed to bring on extra carry on every leg
- Staff were lovely on every leg, see *note about sick woman on our flight
- Planes and toilets are clean
- Extra leg room was great on every leg
- Food was reasonable priced on board on every leg
- Our bags beat us off the plane on every leg except one, where we waited about 3 minutes
- The cost of flights
* A side note. A passenger became critically ill on our flight from Bali to Adelaide. The staff were fantastic in getting her medical attention and caring for the elderly lady. They were kind and professional. A paramedic was waiting as soon as we arrived at Adelaide. I hope she is ok, but she looked better when we landed.
What I didn’t like about our international flight with Tigerair Australia.
It will be great when Tigerair Australia flys from Sydney directly to Bali. The second thing are the uniforms. Ok, not a fan but that could be just me. If that is all, I have to complain about then … Look all I want is to get from Point A to Point B on time. I want my luggage to arrive, and I want my overhead bin space. I got all of that. The rest were bonuses.
Our conclusion
Having travelled domestically and now flown on an international flight with Tigerair Australia, we will fly with them again. The Value Alliance is super exciting for many Australian travellers. It opens up many destinations and is an easier way to explore a third of the world’s countries.
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I was interested to read this as I just flew with Virgin Australia from Brisbane to Bali last week. Although I find Virgin to be fine to fly with I was shocked as to how little space there was between the seats and that we were flying on just an ordinary Boeing 737 or similar, not an Airbus! So no onboard entertainment, no alcohol or anything else really (except a fairly ordinary meal!) We will have to give Tigerair a try next time. Thanks for the review.
Definitely give Tigerair Australia a try. I think you will be more than happy with the leg room, and the services.
Like you say if it gets you safely from A to B, gets your luggage to arrive alongside and provides space for your carry-on, at a budget price, everything else is a bonus. We have used Tigerair to Melbourne several times and never had a problem. Bonus of not being tall though, we have never found the need to pay for extra legroom!
I agree totally Lyn. It is transport and the extra legroom helps Gordon who is tall, but also allows me to walk past him who is in the middle, and the aisle person.
Thanks for sharing this; Tigerair has received a lot of bad press in the past. I have always resisted the thought of using a budget airline to fly internationally but I really like the idea of being able to purchase more leg room! I will definitely consider using a budget carrier in future.
I am impressed with Tigerair and we will fly with them again.
WE flew Tigerair and thought it was fine. Good value, good service.
That is what we find with Tigerair Australia too.
We went to Bali last year and loved it. Sounds like this is a convenient and comfy way to get there
It is a convenient and moderately priced way to get there, and then the money we saved could be spent on ourselves in Bali.
I have never used TigerAir myself, but I have an upcoming Bali trip in about 6 months time so this post is timed perfectly. It’s a bummer, they don’t operate from Sydney as this is where I’m based too! I will definitely have to look into the prices after adding a domestic flight as well. Thanks for sharing!
I am looking forward also to when they fly from Sydney, but I think you will find that it is competitive when you add in the domestic flight, particularly if you get one one of the deals. Here is the link to their deals page https://tigerair.com.au/deals
I have not tried Tigerair yet so found your post interesting. Enjoyed your article on passengers and their carry-on luggage. #wkendtravelinspiration
Thank you.
Never heard of Tigerair in the USA, but after reading your post I realized they don’t fly here. Tigerair seems to have the same kind of policy like all the budget airlines: you pay very little for the tickets, but then you get charged extra for everything else. However, their planes seem to be way more comfortable than the small budget airlines. I especially like the idea of purchasing extra leg room for only $32. That is an excellent price for an international flight.
The extra leg room was worth it for sure.
I had no idea that Virgin owned Tiger now. I’ve flown Tiger a lot (family of 5 and all).
In July 2013, the airline re-branded to tigerair australia and the joint venture between Tiger Airways Holdings and the Virgin Australia Group started. It is a very economical airline particularly for a family of 5.