Using a friend visiting from overseas as the perfect excuse to spend the weekend in Melbourne, I booked the cheapest possible flight for the roughly 90-minute journey departing after work on a Friday and returning as late as possible on Sunday.
While my Friday night flight went without a hitch, the same can’t be said for my return trip. Not made too clear to the passengers what was going on, it seemed that the flight was overbooked and the airline was looking for volunteers to stay a night at an airport hotel and take the first flight out in the morning instead… all for a measly $80 compensation.
Unsurprisingly, few wanted to stay and chaos ensued as it was then mentioned that the plane needed to be lighter to cut flying time as it was getting late and Sydney Airport closes early. The airline began to choose at random who would stay behind. Arguments caused delays meaning we had minimal boarding time to make sure we departed before it was too late to take off in time to make it back to Sydney before the airport curfew.
In the end, we did take off, just a few minutes before 10pm, almost an hour after our scheduled departure time. We landed in Sydney just minutes before the 11pm curfew.
Although this really wasn’t a great experience, I would use Tigerair again. I’ve flown with the budget carrier many times before and have had an experience I’d expect with a budget carrier – no frills for a low price. I’m hoping this was just a one-off experience and that my next flight with the airline will be a much more positive journey.
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