Roam-a-holic: Flying with Tiger Airways

A few months ago, there had been a sale on Tiger Airways and we all agreed to book a flight to Singapore and so, before July ended, we all flew to our major out of town trip this year.

Tiger Airways is a budget airline. It is more like Cebu Pacific here in the Philippines. Going to Singapore, they depart from Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 and they land in Changi Airport Budget Terminal which is quite isolated from the other two terminals that it has. Our flight was scheduled at 5:50 am and so we were already there at around 2:30-3:00 in the morning just to check in and while waiting for the boarding, it was delayed. So don't expect much on this airline, however it is one of the cheapest flights you can get to go travel around Asia.

At the airport. you need to pay some travel tax before getting your boarding pass. After getting your boarding pass and checking in your stuff, you need to pay the terminal fee and go to immigration. The immigration officials asks you several questions like, where do you work, what is your purpose in going to Singapore (or wherever country you are going to), is this your first time to travel, who is with you, etc. You may also need to show them your company ID to prove that you are indeed employed here. After several questions, they stamp on your passport and you may now proceed to the boarding area.

Total fees we had just before leaving the country:
Travel Tax - P1620.00
Terminal Fee - P750.00

Our tickets for this flight is quite cheap, PHP4,194.52 (SGD91.84) for a round trip ticket from Manila to Singapore. This is a promo fare that is why we got a very nice deal on it. Here is our itinerary for the flight:

We waited at the boarding area and since the flight was delayed, we waited longer. After a while, around 30 minutes, we were ready to board the plane (finally!). It was a 3-hour flight and since I had an hour of sleep before waking up just for this flight, I immediately went to sleep at my seat (that is why I really don't have much photos on the plane). However, before I fall into deep slumber, I noticed that the plane was pretty much the same as that of Cebu Pacific. There is minimal leg room on each row so going in and out just to use the rest room is difficult. They have some magazines and stuffs to read in the pocket of the seats so you have something to do while on board. I noticed that they don't have sick bags on it so if you have motion sickness, try to ask the crew of one if you are unsure if you'd be needing it. Also, there is a menu if ever you want to avail of the food they have. It is quite expensive since it costs SGD10 per meal and if you do not have any SGD, it converts to around PHP400. My seatmate (whom I do not know) availed it and it smelled like curry in our area. Good thing I was so deep in sleep that I hardly noticed it.

Boarding area at NAIA

At Gate 14, Flight is delayed :(

Also, I learned that you can't take photos of the crew there. I was asleep almost the whole time that I didn't even noticed them at all. However, I still prefer PAL's attendants since they seem more friendly and accommodating.

Going home was the same thing. We still were in the Budget Terminal of Changi Airport and the boarding area was really not that nice to stay. The lobby, though, was good since it has a lot of stores and restaurants. You get to wait in line before boarding the plane, and by boarding, they don't have this tube where you go in and you get into the plane, here, you need to walk outside and climb the stairs up the plane (more like in the provincial airports here in the Philippines). Also, what I was really wondering is that we didn't pay any terminal fee here or any fees at all, we just went inside, got our boarding pass, checked in our bags and went to immigration. After that, we went to the boarding area. I was wondering now, where the Philippine Airport Terminals use up those terminal fees where in fact, the Terminals here in Manila are not that good compared to a Budget Terminal in other countries. This is one thing that makes me sad about our country. You get to travel around your own country promoting tourism and yet, you get ripped off by the corrupt people in the government *sigh*.

Changi Airport shuttle. Enjoy the difference!

I wanted to sleep on the flight going home since it was a 3 hour ride but the irritating child on our row is screaming and is very noisy. I wanted to throw him out (haha! kidding! :P). The attendants can't do anything about him and I noticed that they are all irritated too, they can't do anything but smile. That is one brat that deprived me of my sleep. The parents also can't do anything about it since they are the one who instilled hat behavior to that brat. Poor child.

Other than that, there is nothing more to expect on this airline. I will surely fly with them again since they offer low fares and that is the only thing that is important to me (of course, safety of the flight too). It was nice to have flown with them in my first ever international trip (yes, I'm a loser). Cheap flights, good service, minus the delayed flights and small leg room, I would recommend this airline for those travel junkies like me who travels on a budget. Nice flying with you guys!