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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Irony of Tiger Airways

After posting two reports on Tiger Airways recently and getting no response from its management, I was not at all surprised when I stumbled upon a Facebook site called "What I hate about Tiger Airways".

And if you were to read the complaints of the people who have posted their unhappy experiences with the airline, it is very likely that you would think twice about flying with them. When I last visited the site, there were 586 followers.

I am sure the airline management is fully aware of this site, but I wonder whether it is doing anything to address the problems raised.

If one were to go by its feedback policy stated in Tiger's website, then there is no way any of these problems will be looked into. After all, Tiger says that it "wants to provide quality service to our customers through meaningful correspondence instead of casual e-mail responses."

In other words, you have to take out your writing pads and write to them before you can be taken seriously.

What I find ironical is this: while the complaints appear to be piling up, Tiger's financial performance in the last one year has turned the corner. It made a profit of $82.2 million from a loss of $50.8 million the previous year.

What does this mean? To its management, it must mean that it is doing something right. Otherwise, how do you account for the turnaround? To Tiger customers, it means that you will just have to grin and bear if you want to continue flying with the airline -- with all its woes.

I wonder what Singapore Airlines, Tiger's substantial shareholder and renowned for its top-class service, has to say about all this!!!

3 comments:

Shionge said...

I reckoned alot of people are still flying with Tiger because of the cheap tickets and it is like taking a bus.

Still, with so many budget airlines to choose from perhaps people can consider flying with other airlines and the message to Tiger to be more pro-active in customer feedbacks.

I flew with Tiger once and the next time I fly....I flew with Jetstar for a change :D

Unknown said...

Tiger is my 3rd choice among the three budget lines operating here. I do not include others like Cebu Air, Lion Air and those from India as I do not have any intention of going to Phillipines, Indonesia or India.

However, I do still fly with Tiger occasionally. Why? Because I have no pride. I fly with whomever offers me the lowest cost. After adding the fees and taxes Tiger is usually eliminated.

PERN YEW said...

An anonymous follower wrote to me about his bad experience with Tiger Airways in November last year. I cannot publish his tory as some of his comments may be libellious. As I am not able to edit "comments", maybe Anonymous would like to email his story to me giving his name and contact number. That way I would be able to share his experience as a story. Thanks.