Tiger print

When it comes to domestic travel in Australia, Tigerair is establishing itself as a viable and often cheaper alternative. Now owned by Virgin Australia, it operates 21 domestic routes to 12 destinations within Australia, with bases in Melbourne, Sydney and most recently Brisbane. Bev Fearis put it to the test on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne.

Just before my trip, Tigerair launched online check-in so I was one of the first customers to take advantage of it. Available between 72 hours and up to two hours before departure, it was a simple process. Using my reference number, I accessed my flight details, confirmed my seat selection and clicked all three passenger names to check in, and it was done. Easy. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for my friend’s printer, which didn’t want to play ball. As a result, we ended up turning up at the airport having checked in, but without a print-out of our boarding passes.

I wasn’t sure if this meant I would have to join the snaking queue at the regular check-in counter, but I tried my luck and headed straight to the online check-in desk where there was no queue at all. There was nobody manning the desk, but as soon as I approached it the check-in clerk at the desk next door said she’d be with me as soon as she’d finished with her existing customer, and she was.

Online check-in was apparently so new that even she was unsure what to do with me, but her colleague talked her through it. I explained about the printer and she happily printed my boarding pass (more like a till receipt), tagged our bags and wished us a nice flight. We had paid extra to take checked luggage, which works out much cheaper at the time of booking. Charges are easy to remember – AU$15 for 15kg of luggage per sector, $20 for 20kg, and so on, up to a maximum of 40g. Not paying until you’re at the airport, on the other hand, costs $70 – quite a hefty rise. If you want to, at the time of booking you can also pre-order ‘tigerbites’ (for example, a feta and roast veg wrap with wholegrain chips and a soft drink) for $13 and pay $3 extra for priority boarding. We took our own sandwiches and decided we didn’t mind not getting on first, especially as Tigerair operates with allocated seating.

At security, travelling with a child meant we were directed to a fastrack line with a slightly smaller queue and nice, friendly guards who commented on our son’s Spiderman t-shirt. After a quick stop at the newsagents, we headed to the gate, using the travelators on the way.
The boarding process was efficient and speedy and once on board we were greeted with a big smile and a warm welcome from Nick, the cabin crew manager.

We sat in row 2 for the one-hour flight, so the refreshment trolley came round quickly, just in time before we hit a bit of turbulence. We paid $4 each for a tea (fair trade) and coffee (romanza Italian), which we sipped as we flicked through the in-flight magazines while our son, 4, did some colouring, and before we knew it the cabin crew was preparing for our decent.

We landed in Melbourne on time and were quickly off and taking the short walk to arrivals, which is a hangar-like building detached from the main terminal. Apparently Melbourne Airport is in the process of developing a new budget terminal, but in the meantime Tigerair is in this temporary building, which has mobile toilets (plus ones). The advantage from being away from the other airlines is that the luggage came off very quickly and once you step outside the door, you’re immediately in the taxi queue, making for a hassle-free, schlep-free arrivals experience.