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AirAsia X: Kuala Lumpur – Sydney flights to commence 1 July!

roshodgekiss — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:53:43 +0000

AirAsia X is set to bring the great travel deals to Sydney from 1 July, 2010. Photo Credit: onggon (Flickr)

Travel Weekly broke the news that we’ve been all hanging out to hear, announcing today that AirAsia X has tentatively set 1 July as the date to commence direct Kuala Lumpur – Sydney flights. For now, daily departures are on the cards, to be potentially upped in the future.

It isn’t the first time that AirAsia has stated its intent to fly into Sydney, however with the resolution of the dispute between AirAsia and the Malaysian Government over the Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KL LCCT), it seems a lot more feasible this time. Stay tuned to this blog and our travel tweets for updates.

In related news, Tiger Airways Australia has stated its plans to more than triple its fleet from 17, to 68 aircraft by 2015. With this will come greater frequencies on existing routes and the introduction of new routes across Australia and Asia. Read more on this venture.

More routes, more departures, cheaper flights. This is going to be an excellent year for the budget traveller!

Travel news in review…

roshodgekiss — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:34:40 +0000

A couple of shorts from the last few weeks:

Tiger Airways is now flying between Sydney and the Gold Coast, commencing 15 December. Introductory fares start from $39, with daily frequency.
Virgin Blue and Pacific Blue flights will no longer accept cash for food and entertainment services on their flights – only credit card. Just as well – carrying loose change on international flights is a bit of a drag.
Singapore Airlines and others are encouraging punters to buck the discount trend and purchase earlybird fares. So far, these fares are largely hot air, being neither particularly cheap (Sydney to London for $2000 with Singapore Airlines) and in the face of a strengthening dollar, not necessarily in short supply.
Tiger Airways has more than enough material for another season of Airways, with a flight cancellation delaying passengers in Hobart for up to 3 days. Tiger denies that the police were called – that said, if I was stranded in Hobart for 3 days…!

It’s great to be back on the couch. Game on!

Tiger Airways: Is it the right airline for you?

roshodgekiss — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:15:45 +0000

Tiger Airways - The verdict is out.

Recently I had the pleasure of flying Tiger Airways between Sydney and Melbourne, on my own coin, of course. Prior to the flights, I had been inundated with both positive and negative stories regarding Tiger flights, ranging from, “Oh, you have to walk on the tarmac, ooooh!”, to “Well, it’s $28 a pop”, not to mention exposure to Channel 7’s controversial show, ‘Airways’. Combining these tales with my own experience, I realised that, for all its merits, perhaps Tiger Airways isn’t really for everyone. The following is my breakdown of what to expect on a Tiger flight; hopefully it will help you decide whether Tiger should be your carrier of choice, or if you should invest that extra few dollars to avoid the mobile stairs.

On the Ground

Most of the criticism towards Tiger Airways’ operations have been directed at activities on the ground, such as check-in procedures and crowded boarding areas. I collaborate with these points, as it can’t be denied that Tiger Airways’ check-in queues appear to be consistently long (one of the results of having no web- or self service- check in facilities) and while in queue, the thought persists that you may not make it for their ‘45-minutes prior to departure’ cut-off. On the flight to Melbourne (departing Sydney’s domestic airport), there were two check-in agents who were working diligently enough, however one seemed to be engaged for over ten minutes in processing a five-man metal band and their shabby assortment of guitar cases. Fifteen minutes into the wait, people in queue were starting to shift their weight uneasily, looking at watches, perhaps anticipating that an ‘Airways’ cameraman would turn up any moment now…

Which leads me to the return leg, via the legendary Melbourne (Tullamarine) Terminal 4 corral. This time, the ‘Airways’ crew were already standing in wait, like bored vultures with boom mikes. Yes, we had been warned – a placard on the door declared that we were to be filmed – but the fact that the crew were making themselves so obvious, so close to check-in cutoff and in such an enclosed space made for a very uncomfortable atmosphere. Were they really waiting out for the cutoff so they could pounce upon the hysterics of some suburban mum, all in the name of ‘good television’? I willed the queue to hurry – it wasn’t my intention to personally kick-off ‘Airways’ Season 2.

Security screening at Sydney and Melbourne was stock-standard, as security should be. The gates at each respective terminal, however, were miles apart in terms of comfort to passengers. So, lets talk about terminals. Sydney domestic T2 is shared with all the other domestic carriers – Qantas, Virgin Blue, Rex, Jetstar – meaning that you enjoy facilities of a standard befitting premium-fare passengers. This is not the case with Melbourne’s Tiger-exclusive Tullamarine Terminal 4, which resembles, well, a busy weekend at Bunnings Warehouse. Look, I won’t knock it too hard – it keeps out the weather and is of the same construction as the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Kuala Lumpur (LCCT). But that said, it is a budget commission – the plastic seats are hard, there aren’t enough of them (especially when people sleep across four abreast), people crouch/lie/pray on the dense carpet and the arcade machines have come to die (if they haven’t already).

People sit so closely in Terminal 4 – back to back – that you can catch snippets of low-cost conversation:

“I spent nine years in boarding school… Think of all that family time I missed… nine years…”

“Ya couldn’t have said it any louder, luv!”

A girl sits in the shadow of her Henleys-jock boyfriend, so blue it makes her spray-tan look a less than complimentary grey. A ground staffer announces delays to Tiger flights bound for Sydney and Canberra. He wavers, sounds uncertain.

Moving onto boarding the aircraft, it’ll break it to you gently – boarding is via the front and rear stairs. If you have a problem with climbing stairs for reasons other than age or disability, then honestly, discount travel is not for you. In fact, I recommend staying in bed.

That said, mobile stairs do pose an interesting problem in Melbourne, which is as famous for its volatile weather as it is for its Chapel St ragtrade. Both on arrival and departure, we were met on the naked tarmac with bone-chilling gusts of wind. I pulled my coat around me in a stranglehold.

Melbourne’s T4 baggage carousel is sheltered, but not from the wind. I met a cockatoo once, who lived in a similar enclosure.

In the Sky

Well, this is what you pay for – the romance of flying, skirting the elements for the price of a DVD. And at this task, Tiger Airways is perfectly adept. However, in the spirit of discount, there are a few caveats – snacks have to be paid for, the seat pitch is not for basketballers and when the seat in front of you reclines, it momentarily seems like you’re going to be cradling the seatback in your lap. But for an hour of cheaply-priced flight (or in my case, 47c per minute), it’s completely acceptable.

I picked up a well-worn copy of Tiger Tales, their inflight magazine. It’s one of Ink Publishing’s better in-flight magazines. I wanted to tear out the destination guides and an interesting article on Mt Kinabalu. Someone had already beaten me to a third of the cover, after all.

The flight attendants are all amiable and confident. They all looked full of Spring, unlike the Jetstar insomniacs I had met when trans-Tasman last month. One gives a fellow a stern, but fair rap for using his phone while the plane is refuelling. I’d want that FA on my raft if we were ever to ditch into Lake Burley Griffin.

On the Phone

Important Note (29/09/09): Tiger Airways’ call centre is based in the Philippines. Due to the recent catastrophic events following Typhoon Ondoy, telecommunications’ services have been thrown out of whack, as well as the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. If you are trying to contact Tiger Airways, visit their Call Centre Update page for details.

I love talking to the Tiger Airways’ call centre staff. I don’t really like waiting 10-15 minutes for the pleasure of it. And I wish they could do something more for me. But there’s one rule on a $28 fare and that’s that it will cost you another $28 to book a new ticket. Want to change your flight time/date/name on ticket? Too bad – that will cost you $50 per person, per sector. A new ticket will generally cost you less than that. And that’s what the call centre will tell you – more politely, of course.

In Conclusion…

I may really like to knock around what is a very competitive new airline on the Australian travel scene, but Tiger Airways met my optimistic expectations. Yes, Melbourne’s Terminal 4 is a bit droll and having the ‘Airways’ film crew on the wings sure makes one reach for the antiperspirant, but in the air, they’re fine. So, here’s the wrap:

Why you should fly Tiger Airways:

Flights are consistently cheap, starting from $28 between Sydney and Melbourne;
They have a great in-flight magazine (hah!);
They fly to Tullamarine, not Avalon;
They fly. As in, they stay in the air. Singapore Airlines’ 49% stake ensures this.

Why you shouldn’t fly Tiger Airways:

No web- or self service- check-in; queues can be long and worrisome;
Boarding and disembarking involves walking on stairs and tarmac (potentially into Melbourne weather);
You have agoraphobia – Melbourne (Tullamarine) Terminal 4 can get pretty crowded;
You’re a tall person and the seat-pitch is saying, ‘no’.

Make sure you share your Tiger Airways’ experiences – good and bad – on this blog, as I’d love to hear from you. Happy flying!

Change of Travel, Booking Fees and other Maladies

roshodgekiss — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:28:07 +0000

Booking fees. What exactly are we paying for, anyway? Photo Credit: Martin Kingsley

The topic that’s tying knots around the Australian travel industry this week is that of booking fees, being that rather capricious sum that unexpectedly bumps up the bill when you’re purchasing a hotel room or airfare. Following the lead of their parent sites, both Expedia and Zuji Australia lifted their booking fees this week, with Zuji plumly citing that they are “outdated in these tough economic times”. However, despite the success of this tactic in the United States (with Priceline.com gaining market share when they went booking fee-free in 1998), Webjet have expressed with certainty that they will not be following suit… Perhaps, understandably.

For the major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) in the United States, the majority of revenue comes from hotel bookings. For example, Expedia derives 60% of its revenue from hotel transactions and less than 15% from airfare sales worldwide. So even if airfare revenue takes a considerable hit from forfeited booking fees, it’s a managed hit. Ground can be gained through an increased number of hotel transactions, car bookings and packaged services.

Webjet does not have this luxury. Despite possessing a whopping 13% of online market share in the Australian travel booking space, one can speculate that practically none of their money comes from hotel reservations, whereas in 2007, it was reported that 65% of their revenue came from those pesky “service fees”. Given their lack of revenue diversity, booking fees make for a really hard teat to wean from. And so it is in the free market that a retailer such as Webjet can charge $50 per international airline booking, run really irritating television ads for weeks on end and still be the number one online airfare retailer in Australia.

Personally, I believe that in most circumstances, booking fees are antiquated in the online space and do little to warm customers towards a brand. First of all, the point of an online shopfront is to put the consumer in control, ie. make them do the work. I’m quite content to give a physical travel agent a considerable cut of my travel spend, as I’m purchasing their time, expertise and security. However, if I’m doing the research (and assuming the risk), then I don’t believe I’m getting any inherit value in paying a booking fee. Secondly, having $50 unexpectedly whacked onto your trip to Fiji doesn’t make for a happy consumer, especially considering that’s 10% of a Pacific return fare these days. That said, a lot of people seem quite happy to put up with this nonsense – service fees in the Australian online travel industry cost consumers an estimated $22 million annually.

So on to my second bug bear – airline fees.

Recently I had the pleasure of attempting to change the travel details of a relative flying with Tiger Airways. With only a vague mention of a “change of travel” fee on Tiger Airways’ website, I decided to give their call centre a go. The horror – Tiger Airways charges $50 per person, per sector, plus the difference in airfare. Considering that I was trying to reschedule a $70 return flight between Sydney and Melbourne, it made more sense to simply forfeit the fare.

Ultimately, fares can be sold at near cost-price on discount carriers, as money can, and is recouped in paid meal service, entertainment system rental, merchandise and fees. Plus through fares which are purchased, then not redeemed. However, is there a better way to monetise on customers’ low-cost carrier mistakes, than charging $80 at the airport to check-in baggage bound for New Zealand? Or hitting you with a stupendous sum if you book on the wrong date? These measures certainly funnel the money back into the carrier and keep the administrative overheads low (as it’s not in Tiger’s interest to rebook passengers at whim), however do so at the expense of the public opinion. Watch an episode of Channel 7’s ‘Airways’ and I bet you, there will be at least one skit involving a heated passenger dispute over fees.

Some of you may tell me that the removal of these booking, changing and purely whimsical fees will only result in price increases, as vendors simply push up their margins to compensate. I wouldn’t mind an “honest” fare or hotel tariff, as tacking up the price at checkout is quite disrespectful to the consumers who have spent considerable time shopping around for a competitive price. Perhaps more importantly, consumers and retailers should consider what value the consumer is receiving in paying a booking fee – is Webjet’s price guarantee really worth over $20, when many brick-and-mortar travel agents price match free of charge with hardly a second thought?

If the booking fee is simply paying for the “pleasure” of using the travel agents’ advertising-crammed and often clunky travel product search, then it doesn’t seem to be delivering much value at all.