Tiger - Do I or don't I?

[Jude Starr]

So, on short notice a friend has asked me to come to Melbourne for a weekend (from Brisbane). Because it's only a short time away (BNE to MEL on Friday 9th Sept, and home again on the evening of Sunday 11th Sept or the morning of Monday 12th Sept), there are no suitable cheap flights available on Virgin (usually my first preference) or Qantas (2nd choice) or even Jetstar. I can, however, find cheapies at a suitable time on Tiger. I have never, ever flown Tiger before, and am loathe to do so now, however the monetary saving would be significant...I just don't know if it's worth the risk. If I don't go with the cheap Tiger flights, I probably can't afford to go at all, but then again I don;t wanna go if it's all going to be a gigantic hassle (or worse). So, what's to go? Is Tiger worth a go after all their troubles, or should I still be avoiding?

 

[djfuzz]

If the Tiger flights depart from the same airport as a Jetstar flight within +/- 1 hour, you can get Jetstar to price beat the Tiger fares by 10 per cent.

Price Beat Guarantee | Jetstar

Have used this several times and it has definitely been worth it - say what you will about Jetstar, they're no Tiger when it comes to service and punctuality. And say what you will about Tiger, but I'd rather see them fly (safely) than suffer through the unchallenged pricing of the others.

 

[Jude Starr]

Oh, now that is interesting...wasn't aware of that Jetstar price thing...will look into it today. Thanx!

 

[awilcockson]

As much as I hate JetStar, I'd go the JetStar price match over tiger.

Look at it this way, CASA have effectively said "we don't fully trust you, so we'll let you operate a few flights and if you manage to not drive one of your aircraft full of passengers into the ground then we'll eventually let you fly more routes". Does that level of confidence inspire you to want to fly with them?

 

[UP4014]

I'd be concerned that your outbound Tiger flight gets cancelled, then you're stuffed for the weekend and most likely loose out completely.

Matt

 

[Jude Starr]

I guess I knew in my heart I didn't want to go with Tiger (for all the reasons y'all have mentioned), otherwise I just would have booked it and be done with it. I just needed my gut instinct confirmed as not irrational! LOL! Thanx guys! As always you have saved the day....and I learned something new about the Jetstar price matching, which is the way I will be going!

 

[straitman]

I guess I knew in my heart I didn't want to go with Tiger (for all the reasons y'all have mentioned), otherwise I just would have booked it and be done with it. I just needed my gut instinct confirmed as not irrational! LOL! Thanx guys! As always you have saved the day....and I learned something new about the Jetstar price matching, which is the way I will be going!

Just be aware that the phone call for the price match can be very painful.

Be sure of your facts as the last time I did this I had to lead the way through the maze.

 

[awilcockson]

Just be aware that the phone call for the price match can be very painful.

Be sure of your facts as the last time I did this I had to lead the way through the maze.

Interesting, I've only done it once and it was painless. I was even ready for a fight over not paying the CC surcharge, but before I'd said anything the guy on the other end said "we require payment via CC over the phone, and because you can't choose the free bank deposit option, we won't be charging you the CC surcharge". I was impressed.

 

[straitman]

Interesting, I've only done it once and it was painless. I was even ready for a fight over not paying the CC surcharge, but before I'd said anything the guy on the other end said "we require payment via CC over the phone, and because you can't choose the free bank deposit option, we won't be charging you the CC surcharge". I was impressed.

Hopefully most people have your experience and I had the one bad one. It is good to know the extremes of what to expect.

 

[djfuzz]

Just be aware that the phone call for the price match can be very painful.

Be sure of your facts as the last time I did this I had to lead the way through the maze.

Yes, do make sure you have all the information in front of you do you can lead them through it.

Having said that, the person who did my last one was super efficient and I got through immediately now that they have a dedicated numb, but obviously YMMV.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Bear in mind that JQ have been cancelling flights on a regular basis including ex BNE. When this happens in some cases JQ will rebook on their own services, other times they will transfer pax to QF flights.

I would print out a screen shot of the QF flights each way so if your JQ flight gets cancelled you can say to JQ "can you please transfer me to QF632 at 1805".

If they say we can't do that you could reply "well you do every other time you cancel your flights".

 

[Jude Starr]

Thank you all for your wonderful advice...booked the flights via Jetstar price match line as suggested, and had no problems getting the price match...saved me many dollars because, when it comes down to it, I really don't think I could have made myself fly with Tiger.