Tiger Check-in Email

[Petch]

Looks like Tiger has run into some check-in problems, I have received multiple emails advising -

Dear Tiger Airways Passenger,

Please help us to help you get your flight away on time – check-in desks close 45 minutes prior to departure.

Please be at the check-in desk early, as this helps us to ensure your flight leaves on time. We open our desks 2 hours before departure and recommend that you arrive at the airport at this time. The desks close without exception 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. You need to have completed check-in formalities before this time to ensure that you do not miss your flight. You will not be able to join the queue after this time.

We really do not want you to miss your flight but our staff cannot accept you for travel if you have not completed the check-in process before the desk closes. They have other duties to perform to ensure that the aircraft can leave on time and that is one of the ways that we keep our fares so low. You will not be able to travel if you are late, so please do not take this out on our staff, they are just doing their job. You should also note that if you are late, you may lose your fare and you may need to buy a new ticket to travel on another flight.

So it is simple really, just arrive at the airport in good time and you won’t have any problems.

Please be reminded that you can bring up to 15kg of luggage to check-in and 7kg of hand luggage without additional charge, one piece only please. For anything more than 15kg of checked luggage, for those of you who haven’t taken advantage of our discounted luggage upsize option, then you will be expected to pay for the excess luggage at the airport.

We are looking forward to having you onboard our flights, and we want you to have a pleasant journey as well as a great fare!

Thank you for choosing Tiger Airways.

 

[crazydave98]

Who was it that was saying that Tiger would appeal to business travellers? I can see it now - you are 5 mins late for check-in, still 40mins before departure (when you could just be leaving your office for Qantas or Virgin Blue flight, or in The Lounge or Qantas Club for that matter), you get cut off and have to buy another fare at exhorbitant rates for another flight that probably won't leave for half a day if you're flying from MEL to NTL, ADL or OOL, or more likely the next day if you are flying to CBR, LST, HBA, PER, MKY, MCY or ROK.

cheers

CrazyDave98

 

[adamonline]

We open our desks 2 hours before departure and recommend that you arrive at the airport at this time. The desks close without exception 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. You need to have completed check-in formalities before this time to ensure that you do not miss your flight. You will not be able to join the queue after this time.

This seems a little contradictory. Must you actually be checked in 45 minutes before the flight or must you just be in the queue for check in 45 minutes before the flight?

Also, I have booked a flight with Tiger for next year and, while I would have looked in to cut off times before heading to the airport, I don't recall this from the booking process. I'm sure it is there but, where I clearly remember the 15kg baggage limit I don't remember this.

You will not be able to travel if you are late, so please do not take this out on our staff, they are just doing their job.

Agreed. I wonder if they have been copping it more than Jetstar given that 45 minutes is even more restrictive than the often complained about 30 minute Jetstar cut off that most people have finally learned to accept.

So it is simple really, just arrive at the airport in good time and you won’t have any problems.

Does anybody else think this sounds more like an internal email. It's like they are addressing their customers as employees or kids being talked down to.

Please be reminded that you can bring up to 15kg of luggage to check-in and 7kg of hand luggage without additional charge, one piece only please. For anything more than 15kg of checked luggage, for those of you who haven’t taken advantage of our discounted luggage upsize option, then you will be expected to pay for the excess luggage at the airport.

So they have had a lot of problems with this too then?

We are looking forward to having you onboard our flights, and we want you to have a pleasant journey as well as a great fare!

Thank you for choosing Tiger Airways.

I wonder if Tiger will start to get the same bad press Jetstar had regarding these issues?

I might also point out that I don't have a problem with their cut off times or baggage limits. They are a LCC and they are certainly selling consistently cheaper fares than Jetstar.

A

 

[clifford]

It's the Singaporean (Chinese) way of doing things.

If you don't like this style, go elsewhere. But at least the flights are usually on time...

 

[Yada Yada]

We really do not want you to miss your flight but our staff cannot accept you for travel if you have not completed the check-in process before the desk closes. They have other duties to perform to ensure that the aircraft can leave on time and that is one of the ways that we keep our fares so low.

I guess this explains why the cut-off is so long - the check-in desk people have to go do something else. Perhaps they are also the cabin crew?

As crazydave98 says, this just will not work for most business people.

 

[simongr]

Originally Posted by Petch
We open our desks 2 hours before departure and recommend that you arrive at the airport at this time. The desks close without exception 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. You need to have completed check-in formalities before this time to ensure that you do not miss your flight. You will not be able to join the queue after this time.

This seems a little contradictory. Must you actually be checked in 45 minutes before the flight or must you just be in the queue for check in 45 minutes before the flight?
A

I think it is pretty clear that you have to be checked in 45 mins before the flight. I assume that if there is one person being checked in at 45 mins and you arrive then you will not be able to be the next in line.

EDIT

Now here is a tricksy one - the wording underlined (now) is "do not miss your flight" - it says nothing about being refused to be checked in.

So rethinking my original post. You turn up at 44 mins with 100 people ahead of you and all is ok - you are allowed to join the queue and the efficient staff process you just in time. You turn up at 46 mins with two people in the queue and you get turned back - should make for some amusing TT lead stories...if this was JQ

 

[Petch]

I am currently assuming (as I have not flown them yet) that TT will operate in a similar way to JQ, as both airlines' business plans would be based on the LCC model -

• At JQ, I have noticed that in many ports the Check-in Agent is ALSO the Gate Agent. (This requires the check-in to close well prior to boarding, so they can do their paperwork, and move to the gate to facilitate departure. I think it makes sense for staff to operate this way @ a low frequency airline.)
• At JQ, if you arrive inside the 30minute cut-off time, you can still join the queue. (Issue is - in some airports knowing which queue, as the monitor above the counter is turned off at the 30minute mark. Thus all people already in the queue are checked-in, but late arrivals may not know which queue to join.) So, I am expecting similar at Tiger, except 45mins.
• Once the queue is finished, the check-in agent tends to look around, see if there is anyone else wanting their particular flight, then logs off the computer (presumably, instantly setting in motion processes to finalise the flight).

 

[Petch]

At JQ, if you arrive inside the 30minute cut-off time, you can still join the queue. (Issue is - in some airports knowing which queue, as the monitor above the counter is turned off at the 30minute mark. Thus all people already in the queue are checked-in, but late arrivals may not know which queue to join.)

Jetstar has changed its check-in process at Sydney airport, and now uses a legacy airline style check-in system, where passengers get into the single main queue regardless of which flight they are travelling on. (I normally speed through the check-in hall in seconds, on my way to Qantas Club check-in, but yesterday I had to visit the service desk, so noticed the change from there - therefore I am not sure how long it has been in action.) A move from multi-tasking staff to specialist staff, would seem reasonably at airports with greater frequency. But the question is how this will impact the 30min cut off.

• Multi-tasking staff was the major reason for a strict cut-off limit, so a move to specialist check-in staff operating an all-flights queue, makes it harder to justify a strict enforcement of 30minutes.
• Previously you could identify and join the queue for your specific flight easily, now at 30minutes you might end up at the end of a very long queue with no hope of reaching the counter before the cut-off time.

Additionally, for flights out of Sydney yesterday, Jetstar was not attaching colour coding to boarding passes, nor boarding via the Orange/Blue/Silver system.

 

[brucek]

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/tiger-airwars-12222.html#post158634

 

[JohnK]

Please be at the check-in desk early, as this helps us to ensure your flight leaves on time. We open our desks 2 hours before departure and recommend that you arrive at the airport at this time. The desks close without exception 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. You need to have completed check-in formalities before this time to ensure that you do not miss your flight. You will not be able to join the queue after this time.

Hypothetical. Would be interested to know what happens if all the passengers are in the queue well before checkin closing time but the check-in process for all passengers is not completed by the cut-off time. Do they delay the flight for as long as check-in takes to complete? Or is it tough luck for anyone not checked in.

They do say 45 minutes without exception even if it is their fault and not the passengers fault.

 

[Petch]

Hypothetical. Would be interested to know what happens if all the passengers are in the queue well before check-in closing time but the check-in process for all passengers is not completed by the cut-off time. Do they delay the flight for as long as check-in takes to complete.

My guess would be - no need to.

The system Tiger uses is similar to the one that Jetstar use to use everywhere, (but has recently abandoned at its high frequency terminals, to use the single queue, legacy airline style). i.e. Tiger uses specific check-in counters for specific flights. Even more specifically, 3* check-in counters/representatives per flight. (* some small variations noted @ T4 MEL)

Generally, there are already a fair number of people ready to check-in at T-2 hours, and a queue forms as soon as the Tiger ground people put their signs up on their check-in desks. (If people haven't already figured out where to queue.) At this time, all 3 check-in reps facilitate check-in. (TT tip: you only need to have your photo id out for check-in, don't bother with your itinerary.)

At some point during the 75minutes that check-in is open, one of the counters transforms into a "pay station", operating a secondary queue to deal with passengers who need to pay for additional luggage services, this keeps the main queue flowing quickly, and I can't see any reason why an A320 full of passengers would delay check-in closing much beyond their 45minute deadline, let alone needing to delay the aircraft.

Having now experienced Tiger @ Melbourne, Perth & Adelaide, I must say their check-in staff are generally fantastic, but firm on the rules. (In Perth, they operate from the Skywest desks, maybe they contract Skywest people to do it, but they are top notch! In Adelaide, I think they use the same ground staff as Singapore Airlines, so expect the same sort of attentiveness in service!)

(TT tip - checked bags arriving @ ADL: after unloading all the baggage from the incoming flight, the ramp team immediately loads the outgoing flight. Once this flight is full, the ramp staff then move the arriving baggage to the carousel for collection. SO, there is a long delay before your baggage can be retrieved.) I hope Tiger will move to the Easyjet system, where there is only a size and no weight restriction on carry-ons, I do not like having my wheelie-bag checked 'cause I'm 1kg over the limit. If there weren't overzealous police around, I would leave my bag behind a pylon while I checked-in, so it couldn't get weighed. :-(

(TT tip - departing Adelaide: all boarding passes were printed prior to check-in opening, so the representative simply went over to the pile, and retrieved it, rather than printing it out on the spot.)