Dec 12, 2009
Tiger Airways leaves her stranded with not a word of apology
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IT IS curious that after a horrendous trip with Tiger Airways just two weeks back, I chanced on a report on Sunday, 'Travel with a safety net'. I cannot agree more on the importance of travel insurance and I hope readers will take heed and be prepared if they are going overseas. What happened was so ridiculous, I am still simmering.
On Nov 27, I was to return to Singapore after a wonderful time in Melbourne. I was to fly on Tiger Airways on the Melbourne-Perth-Singapore route as it has no direct flight from Melbourne to Singapore. While waiting for the flight in Melbourne, passengers were told that flight TT 598 was delayed but no reason was given.
After four hours of waiting, we finally set off from Melbourne airport and we found out, from the captain, that the reason for the delay was that Tiger Airways was understaffed. To solve this problem, Tiger had to fly in crew from Adelaide.
Due to this delay, my connecting flight from Perth to Singapore was long gone.
To say I was worried is an understatement. Tiger Airways has only one flight from Perth to Singapore daily. What was I to do? I hoped (now I realise I was gullible) there would be assistance from Tiger in Perth.
At Perth airport's domestic terminal, there was no one to help me, so I took an internal transfer from the domestic to international terminal. No one was there either to help me. Stranded alone in Perth, I was thankful for the free Internet service provided by Optus at the airport and searched Tiger Airways' website for an emergency contact number. After calling the so-called 'urgent' numbers, a recorded message told me the number operates from 9am to 9pm. It was already past midnight.
Next morning at 9am, I called the 'urgent' number again. I was put on hold for 45 minutes before someone answered. A Tiger Airways woman told me: 'There's nothing we can do.' She said the next available flight was three days later, on Tuesday. She said nothing about getting me on the next plane. No apology for the delay. Nothing on what I was to do for the next three days or how I was to survive. It did not matter the least bit I was alone, with no cash and the cellphone battery running low.
Once the Tiger Airways counter opened that evening, I told the officer about the missed flight. Because all flights were full, I had to wait for a no-show passenger. And get this, I had to pay for the flight again.
To cut a long story short, I got back because a passenger had a problem with his passport and could not get on board.
I faxed Tiger Airways a complaint letter on Monday. Yesterday, five days later, there was still no call from Tiger. How infuriating.
Chan Wai Fong (Miss)
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Tiger Airways leaves her stranded with not a word of apology
<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
IT IS curious that after a horrendous trip with Tiger Airways just two weeks back, I chanced on a report on Sunday, 'Travel with a safety net'. I cannot agree more on the importance of travel insurance and I hope readers will take heed and be prepared if they are going overseas. What happened was so ridiculous, I am still simmering.
On Nov 27, I was to return to Singapore after a wonderful time in Melbourne. I was to fly on Tiger Airways on the Melbourne-Perth-Singapore route as it has no direct flight from Melbourne to Singapore. While waiting for the flight in Melbourne, passengers were told that flight TT 598 was delayed but no reason was given.
After four hours of waiting, we finally set off from Melbourne airport and we found out, from the captain, that the reason for the delay was that Tiger Airways was understaffed. To solve this problem, Tiger had to fly in crew from Adelaide.
Due to this delay, my connecting flight from Perth to Singapore was long gone.
To say I was worried is an understatement. Tiger Airways has only one flight from Perth to Singapore daily. What was I to do? I hoped (now I realise I was gullible) there would be assistance from Tiger in Perth.
At Perth airport's domestic terminal, there was no one to help me, so I took an internal transfer from the domestic to international terminal. No one was there either to help me. Stranded alone in Perth, I was thankful for the free Internet service provided by Optus at the airport and searched Tiger Airways' website for an emergency contact number. After calling the so-called 'urgent' numbers, a recorded message told me the number operates from 9am to 9pm. It was already past midnight.
Next morning at 9am, I called the 'urgent' number again. I was put on hold for 45 minutes before someone answered. A Tiger Airways woman told me: 'There's nothing we can do.' She said the next available flight was three days later, on Tuesday. She said nothing about getting me on the next plane. No apology for the delay. Nothing on what I was to do for the next three days or how I was to survive. It did not matter the least bit I was alone, with no cash and the cellphone battery running low.
Once the Tiger Airways counter opened that evening, I told the officer about the missed flight. Because all flights were full, I had to wait for a no-show passenger. And get this, I had to pay for the flight again.
To cut a long story short, I got back because a passenger had a problem with his passport and could not get on board.
I faxed Tiger Airways a complaint letter on Monday. Yesterday, five days later, there was still no call from Tiger. How infuriating.
Chan Wai Fong (Miss)
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