So I book a tiger flight because it's the cheapest one out by far...I was already hesitant because it is a low-cost carrier but I thought, heck, try it once. it could be alright like Virgin.
In the booking process, you had to purchase your SEAT. yes, $5 for a seat. I thought to myself - now, if i didn't buy a seat, what would happen? stand? obviously that was not an option. Standard seats were $5 and premium seats were $25.
Then of course, there was baggage fees and then creditcard fees. What started out as $98 became $130 but that is beside the point. What came next was TOTALLY UNECESSARY!
I get to check in desk for the 45 before departure check in (rather than 30 minutes like other normal airlines). The queue is quite large, only 3 desks operating...but ok, they are a low cost carrier. Be patient. Get to the counter and my bag is 20kgs.
"That will be $75 for excess baggage - $15/kg." WHAT?!?!?! THey only allowed 15 kgs, or apparently the ticket only paid for 15kgs. So....alas, I walked around, took out my laptop and all my toiletries which ended up equating to 7kgs (HAHAH! hair products, skin products, make up, etc) and i was through.
The girl next to me was 0.3kgs over and she was made to pay $25. When the lady behind the counter said 'no, that's not possible, the bag has already gone through', she chucked the biggest tantrum!! God, this was going to be an interesting flight....
The flight was generally smooth and we arrived early as well, however when we landed, it seemed to land in the middle of the entire airport and we had to get out, walk for like MILES and MILES (ok, maybe that is exaggerating a wee bit) but more like walking for about 5 minutes til we reached this area which honestly looked like a cage - i thought i had walked into a 3rd world country or more like a 3rd world detention centre! The wire fencing around the entire thing with barb wire along the entire top of it... People were everywhere, it was outside and cold and there was a conveyor belt...but nothing on teh conveyor belt. To get out of this cage, there were those revolving doors, of course being outside, it was the gated type, those ones where manually spin your way out and then can't get back in because they bar it.
I had no idea where the bags were...it said baggage pickup was terminal 4 with an arrow to the right and people seemed to be streaming out with not much luggage so I looked left, looked right and decided that terminal 4 was the building to the right...
I got out and turned around and the conveyor belt started moving!!! NO FRICKIN WAY?!?! That was where the luggage was going to be! How was i meant to get back in?
Oh. Em. Gee!
I stood there helpless...what was I going to do? there were no groundsmen who would help me. The people picking up their relatives/friends/family were standing on my side of the fence, speaking through the holes to the people they were picking up! It honestly was like a jail situation. I stood there thinking 'oh, man, i feel like a blonde'. I walked to the fence, asked the lady next to me 'Is that your daughter there?' pointing to the girl on teh other side of the fence. 'Yes?'
'Can I ask a massive favour? I know this sounds really weird but I walked out thinking that luggage claim was in that building rather than here so now my bag is on the conveyor belt...the one with the pink ribbon and pink shoe...could she get it for me?'
The lady laughed and said in her proper English accent 'Is that right? (eyebrows raised)'. Her daughter helped me and I finally got my bag. Of course, she hadn't gotten her bag so she had to push my suitcase through the spinning doors, and on our end, we had to manouevre it to make sure it would come out and she wasn't stuck or the bag.
Dramas Dramas Dramas!!!
NEVER AGAIN will i travel Tiger Airways. Totally not worth the pain, effort...
If anyone else has had a pleasant trip with Tiger, I'd like to know... because it was the worst experience ever!
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