26 September 2008

Tiger lines up later check-in - at a fee

According to The Age, Tiger Airways is considering allowing passengers to check in after its 45-minute cut-off time if they are willing to pay an additional fee.

The Age believes the proposal is being discussed in a bid to reduce the number of irate passengers being told they can't check in despite arriving at the terminal well before departure.

To keep costs low, Tiger uses the same staff member who checks in passengers to help those passengers board the aircraft.

A Tiger spokesman refused to deny the budget carrier was looking at the option. He said Tiger was keen to allow passengers as many options as they were prepared to pay for.

"If we were able to look at a way where that would be cost effective, then we would look at it," he said. "It's a process that needs to be looked at and gone through because the last thing we would want to do would be to increase costs for something people don't want.

"Our model is all about giving people choice for the bits that they want to pay for."

"If they want to take 30 kilos of luggage, that's fine by us, you just pay a little extra."

Tiger's check-in cut-off time is the strictest of the domestic carriers.

Jetstar requires passengers to arrive no later than 30 minutes before departure.

Qantas' policy is 30 minutes, or 15 minutes if passengers only have carry-on luggage.

Virgin Blue's check-in time is 30 minutes but is flexible.

All carriers have different policies for checked-in baggage, with Qantas the only domestic airline that has not yet introduced a charge to check in baggage.

A Report by The Mole