fly not with Tiger Airways
Weeks after booking myself a flight to BKK, and being extremely pleased with the upcoming holiday.... i was notified by the airline that " For operational reasons, some changes have been made to your flight schedule..." So... they made the decision (without my consultation of coz!) to push my return flight to the next day, which means I needed to stay another night in BKK.
The notice below left me no choice but to accept their counter offer... becoz dun u think it sounded like if i dun accept... i will forfeit the $$ i paid for the flight?!
Well... anyway.... I am not a difficult customer to start of with... and acknowledging that the airline probably have somewhere in their terms and conditions that they reserve the right to change their flight schedules at their own discretion... I compliantly accepted the updated itinerary and went on to reserve another night @ the hotel (which is obviously at a higher price). That done.... i was once again pleased with myself... eagerly anticipating the day I leave for my holiday.
Two hours later.... this is what I got from the airline!
I had absolutely no idea what was going on!!!!! First they tell me there were operational issues... then they tell me there's a system error!!! Isn't it obvious that it is a mistake on their end? And no matter how many times i read the mail... i dun see them standing up and admitting they made a mistake! I now find myself stuck in a situation which I can't seem to get out of. Who is going to pay for the extra night's accommodation? Shouldn't i be given an option to stick with the new flight or choose to revert to the original one?
Feeling the need for an explanation.... i called the hotline, hoping someone can at least explain the situation. That is when the ordeal really started... and it is still going on. The calls either never got tru... or everytime it did get tru.. i had to hold the line for 30 to 40 min.... with no one picking upp the call!!!!
I tried calling 15 times over the past two days... I still haven spoken to anyone! So... email is the next option right?! No way! No email address at all! So... I had to resort to primitive fax method! But.... no one has called me back thus far....
In this day and age where the hype is all about bringing quality service to customers.... I see myself receiving such appalling service... i dun know what to think about it. I live and breathe all things customers. Customer satisfaction and loyalty is what i do.... as I truly believe that the most cost effective way to market a pdt or svc is via word of mouth. So... u can imagine the extreme disappointment I felt with Tiger Airways.
I have travelled with a number of different budget airlines.... and this is the first time I encountered such an incident. Even Cebu Pacific provided on grd service that exceeded my expectations.
Where does that leave me? An extremely dissatisfied customer with tiger airways.... who just wasted $150 on a night's accommodation that I cannot enjoy just becoz I was a compliant customer. I want my $150 back.... and I will definitely tell as many people as I can about what a fool the airline has made me into.
I have just ticked the box of "Extremely dissatisfied with the Tiger".
Ouch! dat sounds like a really bad encounter with the airline! i hope they give u a satisfactory answer. bring it to the press if they dun reply! what atrocious service!
ReplyDeleteThe really frustrating part is... till now... I still haven't been able to get tru to speak to someone.
ReplyDeleteYou can try to get your blog post "tomorrowed". That will get you some attention from Tiger. www.tomorrow.sg
ReplyDeleteI just did lor. It is STILL not resovlved... and i have given even tho i feel super short changed.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at your terms there are 4 options... credit, change date, refund or accept...
ReplyDeleteI faced a similar situation with Tiger. My flight was changed costing me a extra day of accommodation.
In my experience it took 20-30mins on the phone before they picked up... keep trying =)
Actually Tiger Airways is quite famous for not picking up calls. A friend of mine had to call them several times, holding the line for at least 30mins, and finally gave up on each occasion. He still got through at the end but you can fly on SIA to BKK with that phone bill charge. (I'm exaggerating :p)
ReplyDeleteTo keep my message short: they don't think service quality is important for the budget services they are offering.
You should seriously consider bringing this up with the press. And i can safely say forget about your ticket fees. My wife had been a victim too.
ReplyDeletewell at least you got what you want.
ReplyDeletewelcome to the front page of tomorrow.sg
report to casE!
ReplyDeleteWell.... i wasn't expecting the world... I am more than willing to top-up if it means to let me keep the new flight, so I will not waste the extra night's accomodation. But... I wasn't even entitled that option :(
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ReplyDeleteTheir operations design is like that. The only way to rectify matters is to use their website forms, failing which you will have to personally proceed to the little counter at the Budget Terminal - it is located on the right when you enter the terminal (next to the customs GST Claims counter). Most matters can be resolved at the counter but many do not know this and spend much time trying to find traditional contact details such as a call or email service. My advice would be to go around the time when there is a flight scheduled.
In your case, you should definitely go down with the relevant proof (extra day booked at hotel) and explain the situation. I think they will accommodate a flight change FOC to the following day of your travel - which is quite a simple amendment.
I only foresee the problem being the difference of fares for different travel dates which you should push for the airlines to absorb. Let us know how that works out for you, Good Luck!
have you tried cancelling your extra night's booking? there are sometimes provisions for cancellation without a penalty should there be sufficient notice.
ReplyDeleteexplored that long before. There is still a penalty. Not full price tho. But... I have paid for the room already since it has already been charged to my CC. Anyway...i have up to next week to decide before they charge me full price for cancellation, and the travel agency will need to refund me lor.
ReplyDeleteJust found ur blog. I am also going to BKK this coming May, with Tiger Airlines. I am worried if somethingis gonna happen :( Now I regretted (a bit) that I chose them to travel. Hope things are going OK.
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ReplyDeleteMuryani,
ReplyDeleteI guess when we decide to travel on a budget airline, it comes with a certain degree of risk. I have travelled with Tiger a couple of times in the past... and they were fine then. That prompted me to use them again, despite the fact that Jetstar is my preferred budget airline. Well.. of coz price played a big part as well. Unless you are willing to forgo the $$ u paid on tiger and change an airline... you just have to pray that the same problem doesn't happen. Even if it does, hope the comments other people have left on my blog can help you deal with the situation better than I have.
I symphatise with you. Tiger is possibly the worst airline in the world for me. I hv flown a number in Asia and Europe.
ReplyDeleteCustomer Service sucks, you cannot pay by anything else other than credit card (and they charge you for it), no check in baggage, departs from lousy budget terminal, and hv to rush for seats. Rubbish airline.
AirAsia run by the Malaysians is 10000X better and they're always expanding their network to new destinations.
I used Tiger Airway once and regretted using it ever since. Since then, I always use jetair or fork out more $ to pay for SQ.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this is an old post, i'd like to add a comment here just in case someone who needs to call tiger airways desperately from singapore ends up here (like i did today).
ReplyDeleteWell, so I spent the whole day trying to call the singapore call center at both their numbers. all i got was crappy music and a grandiose announcement.
Then it suddenly struck me to call the Indian call center, and lo and behold, they picked up at the first ring!!! and all my problems solved @ an 8 cents per minute call.
So next time folks, remember that we live in a globalized world.
Thanks Sednri..
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your comment, I called up the Australia hotline and it worked!
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