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Tigerair Taiwan: TPE-DMK July 2015

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  • Tigerair Taiwan: TPE-DMK July 2015

    A Brief Report on Tigerair Taiwan


    Since I have reported on V-Air, one of the new LCCs in Taiwan created by TransAsia Airways, I decide to report on my trip on Tigerair Taiwan, which is a joint venture between China Airlines and Tigerair Holdings in Singapore. China Airlines’ influence is obvious, and even the ground staffs are dressed in China Airlines uniform. Compared to V-Air, Tigerair Taiwan’s branding is a bit on the bland side, but the service on Tigerair Taiwan is a bit better (and even better than Tigerair Singapore and Australia, but of course one single flight is not very accurate), but at least the service is fairly good. I am glad to report that it has hand soap in the bathroom.

    July 7, 2015
    IT 505 Taipei Taoyuan to Bangkok Don Mueang Airport Lv1600 Arr1900 Airbus A320-200 Sharklet B-50005


    Check-in:







    Just very busy at the Tigerair Taiwan counters at Aisle 11 – there were two flights departing in the early afternoon: 2:30pm to Macau and 4pm to Bangkok. There were four counters opened initially, but an hour prior to departure of the Macau flight, two staffs left to set up the gate area. The wait was 30 minutes long and due to the lack of kiosks and online check-in, four staffs are basically asking for troubles. Both V Air and Tigerair Taiwan fail miserably on the check-in in terms of convenience, technology, and waiting time. The check-in agent was friendly, as expected on China Airlines.

    Gate:
    B1R




  • #2



    Tigerair Taiwan used mostly bus gates, and gate B1R is their home base. This area has been nicely refurbished with comfortable leather chairs, charging stations, and bathrooms. There are four doors, and our flight used door #3 today.

    Boarding:
    Boarding began at 3:29pm and boarding were separated into four groups: those who needs extra time, Row 20 and upward, Row 10-20, and Row 1-10. There is no paid priority boarding, and with bus gates, it makes little sense. For an almost full load, Tigerair decided to squeeze everyone into two buses. I boarded with the second group and had to stand inside the bus for twenty minutes, as we were waiting for last minute passengers. Unlike other LCCs, Tigerair Taiwan does not close their gate till 10 minutes prior to departure.

    B-50005 had already worked an early morning rotation to Tokyo Narita, and was parked at bay 604. A great thing about bus gate is taking pictures of the plane, and nobody stopped anyone.









    Cabin:
    Unfortunately cabin shot was very limited, as I was among the last passengers boarded the flight. Nonetheless, the cabin was fairly identical to those new Tigerair flights, featuring black colored leather seats. The seats are not quite slim line, so it was reasonably padded. There were three rows of preferred seats: Row 1, Row 12-13, and I were the only one, who paid for this extra legroom seat. The seat allows the armrest to be fully raised, so I have a comfortable flight. The flight attendants were very vigilant about who were sitting in the preferred section, and the F/A double-checked my boarding pass. I actually did not mind their vigilance. One of the passengers tried to move to the exit row and an F/A immediately approached him and told him that the price of the seat, and he could only sit here if he paid for it. Its mother company actually blocked empty seats with huge cardboard, and Tigerair Taiwan might want to consider them.


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    • #3






      Regular seat


      Preferred seat



      Before takeoff



      Flight information:
      Door was closed at 4:02pm and we immediately queued up for takeoff, as Taipei was down to single runway till January of 2016. We took off from R/W5R at 4:34pm. Flying time was three hours and twenty minutes, and our routing took us over the South China Sea, and then towards Danang and Thailand. We started at 34,000feet and climbed up to 38,000feet. The flight was choppy in the beginning, as there was some typhoon activity in the south. It remained overcast pretty much most of the flight.

      Service:
      Inside the magazine pocket, there is a safety card, a tiger bites, duty free shop brochure, and tigerair Taiwan inflight magazine.

      Comment


      • #4












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        • #5


          The service flow was very typical of low cost airlines.
          Here is the flow:
          Arrival forms → Pre-Book hot meal service → Main BOB service → Duty-Free → Second purchase service at 7pm

          I pre-booked the Taiwanese Shredded chicken with steamed rice, and the combo came with a pack of spicy peanuts (very spicy), and a bottle of water. The meal might not look excellent, but it actually tasted pretty well. The combo choice of spicy peanuts is a bit strange and a more generic item should be used.








          Then I saw this promo for Portuguese egg tart and decided to give them a try. They could warm up the tarts for you, which was recommended. It was only so-so, but given the limited sweet selection, this egg tart is not bad.





          For LCCs, my main issue is often the limited stock, and Tigerair Taiwan seems to find a nice balance before providing lots of variety while maintaining stock. I still recommend you to prebook your meal, and there were some extra choices that were only available on pre-booking.


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          • #6
            Arrival:

            Descent began at 6:25pm Bangkok local time, which was an hour behind from Taipei, and we landed on R/W21R at 6:54pm, and parked at gate 25 five minutes later. Baggage delivery time was very good and bags were already out within 15 minutes of our gate arrival time.

            In conclusion, Tigerair Taiwan is a nice experience and I just hope that it can offer a bit more priority service, so for those want it, it is an option.

            Carfield

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            • #7
              A good read, Carfield! Food on Tiger looks better than Jetstar!

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