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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Trip route:
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur - Singapore
Airline – Tiger Airways (Low Cost Carrier - LCC)
Flight no. TR 2452/TR2457 Departure: 6:20/16:20
Date: April 18th 2011
Aircraft type – Airbus – A320
Flight duration – 40 Minutes

Background Info:

As I had an upcoming business meeting in Kula Lumpur (KL) and thanks to our new strict internal travel policy of using a low cost carrier within a three (3) hour radius I elected to fly Tiger Airways. Although I had a choice of three more LCC airlines, I chose Tiger primarily because it had an early morning and late evening departure. Besides I could use the budget terminal which I had never experienced before.

Prior to the arrival of the low cost carriers this market was a complete monopoly between Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines. These carriers used to fleece consumers with very high ticket prices with basic fares being as high as Singapore dollars 400 for this route. The last two years have seen this sector open up to LCC and a lot of credit for opening up of this sector goes to Tony Fernandes from Air Asia who has been lobbying for quite a while to fly on this lucrative sector.

With the arrival of low cost carriers the dominance of full service carriers has almost diminished as today consumers have a multitude of choices. One can choose from a plethora of airlines below to fly to KL:

1) Air Asia
2) Tiger Airways
3) Jetstar Asia
4) Firefly (Low cost division of Malaysian Airlines). Firefly is the only airline that flies into Subang Airport which is only 25 kms away from the city centre as compared to KILA which is about 80 kms thus saving time to drive into the city.
5) Silk Air
6) Singapore Airlines
7) Malaysia Airlines
Cool

A few international carriers like Garuda etc.

I booked my ticket directly on the airline website a week prior to my trip and found a very cheap fare of Singapore dollars 55 all inclusive and return fare. The funny thing was my taxi fare to and from from Changi airport was about 44 Singapore dollars!

Booking through the website was a breeze and you can complete your bookings in 5 simple steps. You have the option to add on things like – Extra leg room, Check in luggage, board me early etc., none of which I chose as I only had my laptop bag.

Since I was flying an LCC for the first time in my life I thought it would be best to arrive a bit early as I have read that LCCs are quite strict in their boarding process and don’t allow late comers.

Airlines that are currently using the budget terminal in Singapore:

The budget terminal resembled a big wedding reception hall and instead of a food counter I could see rows of check in counters.

Since I had no luggage I managed to check in quickly and was issued a boarding pass that looked more like a supermarket receipt.

Even though it was a budget terminal there were quite a few local and international dining options.

Tiger Airways had a flight leaving to Chennai/Madras one hour after my flight and as always I could see rows of people trying to check in with their SONY LEDs. This is quite a common sight amongst the passengers who travel to Chennai.

The budget terminal continued to impress me once I cleared immigration. There were scores of duty free shops for people to do their last minute shopping, free internet café and even a mini bar to get drunk at the last minute in case the LCC doesn’t provide liquor.

Very soon boarding was announced and we were segregated into two queues - those who had paid for choosing a seat on the website and those who were happy with free seating. We were called first followed by the free seating passengers.

Since this is a budget carrier there were no aerobridges and we just had to walk a short distance to board the flight. Once on the tarmac I could see at-least 4 Tiger Airways lined up for their early morning departures, mine going to Kula Lumpur and the rest to Chennai, Hong Kong & Macau. I was about to take photos of the aircraft on the tarmac but I was stopped by security.

The plane was quite new and from my guess only about a year old. It was very clean and the air-conditioner was obviously working. The seating was not as good as compared to a full cost carrier as I found the seat pitch a bit tight. The seat was covered with fabric instead of the usual leather seating that LCCs normally like to use. See the leg shot picture below:

In spite of being a budget carrier they had an in-flight magazine as well.

As this was an LCC there was no free food or drinks and one had the option to purchase the same via the menu which was provided in the seat pocket. The menu had only one option for Indian vegetarian comprising of – channa peshawri with rice.

I also found an interesting exclusive notice card in the seat pocket advising travelers about the prohibited items that cannot be brought into Singapore. As I had not seen this before I found it interesting.

The flight to KL was quick and we landed as per schedule. Once we docked at our landing berth the captain advised that the auxiliary power unit that was connected to the aircraft had malfunctioned and that the cabin lights and air conditioners would be turned off and the aircraft would be a bit dark. Anyways it was not much of a hassle and we all deplaned without any further incident.

Once on the tarmac I saw quite a few people clicking away photos of the various aircrafts so I took some snaps as well of the Tiger Airways plane that I flew in. This time, security did not stop us.

My return flight the same evening was very similar and routine hence nothing much to write about.

The only interesting thing to note was that the LCC terminal in KL had an Indian restaurant. So this is good for people who are particular about what they eat.

As our plane was taxiing to our terminal I managed to take quick snaps of a 747 cargo from Jett 8 Airlines cargo that was in the process of being scrapped.

Verdict:

Overall, a good experience flying with a LCC for the first time. Will I fly again? If the price is as cheap as I got for KL, then will fly both for both a business as well as a personal trip. Again this depends on the urgency of travel as I have always seen that the price of a last minute ticket of a LCC is almost comparable to a full cost carrier if you add in all the extras.

As always appreciate your feedback and comments.

Sri_Bom

himmat01 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: DEL

Enjoyed going through your brilliantly written report. Loved the pics of the LCC terminal at Changi.
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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject:

Interesting report, is tarmac photography disallowed in Singapore but not in Malaysia?

Thanks for posting!
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Yeah.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Excellent TR, was a pleasant read.

GuyFromBOM · Member Joined: 19 Jun 2010 Posts: 544 Location: VABB

Nice TR, Sri..!
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The more I fly 9W, the more I prefer AI | FlightDiary: 59 Boeing + 30 Airbus + 9 ATR + 1 Embraer

Nimish · Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 7:02 pm Post subject:

Wow- great TR - thanks for sharing.

Can't imagine Rs. 2000 for a return trip for a sector like BLR-HYD or BLR-MAA - and yet you have that for SIN-KUL return! Good show and I wish Indian aviation could also be so cheap and accessible.

I can vouch for that Veggie Indian restaurant at KUL's LCCT - good food, decent place. It feels good to eat Pav-bhaji after a week in Malaysia eating (delicious) malay food Smile

.
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We miss you Nalini!

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Nice TR, thanks for posting!
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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Sri, thanks for a very detailed and comprehensive trip report on an exotic carrier, and one covering two LCC terminals: at SIN, and KLIA! The description is crisp and vivid - almost like being there with you!
Cheers, Sumantra.

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore