No, wait, don’t misread that, Flying Tiger is a fine old freight line that has now been absorbed … another of aviation’s "fallen flags". But Tiger Airways is a vibrant relative ‘new guy" on the airline scene. Based in Singapore and backed by world-renown Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways serves a huge chuck of SEA and Australia. (Rant on: boy how I wish every airline would put a simple graphic like this on their website so people could see their area of service at a glance … Rant off).
The reason they get a write-up here is that they among several "young’ carriers who regularly serve DMIA (the former Clark AB), north of Manila, one of the up and coming places to fly into and out of the Philippines.
I did have Tiger’s website on my Blog roll but I have never written them up before … should have. One of my online friends in the Philippines, JD from Baguio used them to fly from Clark to Macau and return and had a very satisfactory "visa trip" experience.
Laurence, one of my Australian readers also reports their service from major Australian sites to Clark is satisfactory (thanks, Laurence)
How cheap is cheap? Well a couple sample fares I see today on their website for travel in January … after the holiday rush:
Clark-Macau-Clark: Monday departure, Thursday return, all-in air fare:125.59 USD
Clark-Singapore-Clark: Sunday departure, Friday return, all-in-air fare: 171.76 USD
Clark-Darwin-Clark: Sunday departure, Friday return, all-in-airfare: 643.83 USD
I don’t know about you, but these prices, especially to one of my favorite destinations, Macau(Hong Kong) makes me want to fly. A good deal for sight seeing,, leaving the Philippines for visa purpose, not to mention getting to the Philippines from Australia.
A little note I feel I have to add regarding all these deep-discount carriers. They are cheap, particularly because they don’t serve meals and drinks without you paying for them, don’t have tons of comfy pillows and dedicated ladies to keep them fluffed up for you, don’t have free booze, etc. Don’t leap at one of these fares and then complain about the perqs along the way … it’s honest, basic transportation … there’s a reason it’s cheaper.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Philly,
Viva Macau will also be commencing flights to Sydney soon. So that will mean Sydney to Clark via Macau.
Hmm … that’s interesting, Laurence, I will check them out, thanks again.
Philly,
I’m planning to visit the Phils in Dec and just checked out the flights I’ll probably be taking.
Prices at the moment……
Viva Macau Sydney – Macau – Sydney $700
Tiger Macau – Clark – Macau $140
Thanks, Laurence, I’m not sure how good the Aus to Macau fare is, but what a nice deal for the Macau to Manila leg … great for people who just need to take a break or to have an out of country trip to renew their tourist visa privileges.
It’s great that Tiger Airways is giving travelers a cheaper option to fly, particularly in Australia. The fares they are offering for their Perth and Alice Springs from Melbourne are very competitive, specially in contrast to the other Australian domestic low cost carriers.
Hi Nina, thanks for dropping by and for commenting. Indeed, we can always use more discount airlines … and there’s also so much less congestion and hassle in flying in and out of Clark than NAIA
Philly,
I was just checking out the Tiger prices for my Xmas trip. The Singapore-Clark-Singapore fare is approx $450 AUD each.
As I am planning to fly Sydney-Singapore-Sydney with Singapore Airlines, I checked the additional cost of adding a Singapore-Manila-Singapore leg. This works outs to be $250 AUD each…..a lot cheaper than Tiger.
The advertised Singapore Airlines fare for Singapore-Manila-Singapore is obviously a lot dearer than Tiger, but when booked in conjunction with another flight it comes up cheaper.
So the lesson here is….don’t just compare the low cost carrier fares against the major airlines on a straight one to one basis. You could get a better deal if you book a multi leg flight with the major carrier.
@Laurence: Thanks for the important point yu make there, Laurence. In the nearly 9 years now that I have been dealing with flying to the Philippines or helping people who want to fly to the Philippines, the single biggest problem I have ever seen is people getting themselves in trouble by being “too cheap”.
It is everyone’s right to do thnigs the cheapest way they choose to … I certainly look for bargains myself … but when it comes to booking your own international travel you need to make sure you don’t get so far down in te weeds that you create your own problems.
For my American readers I recommend several proven honest travel agents, guys I know have been doing a good job, and I personally never try to book my own travel. It just doesn’t pay. There are too many ‘ins and outs’ and ‘gotchas’ to try to save that last $20.
Several years ago I was flying from Colorado to Hong Kong and back. United had a great fare from LAX to HKG, but instead of calling them and finding out what deal they would give me, I relyed on their website which seemed to be too expensive. I booked Colorado to LAX on a new, ultra-discount airline (now long out of business). Well, the really cheap guys canceled my flight on me and didn’t even answer their phone. I called United direct, explained my dilema and the resrvation lady put me on a United flight that got to LAX in time to meet my already discounted Hong Kong conection for less money than my useless deep discount ticket … to teach me a lesson I expect.
When I returned from Hong Kong the “cheap guys” did getme back from LAX to Clorado … 14 hours late!
In almost all cases it is better to book your flight end to end on one ticket … or so it seems to me.
Tiger is closing the Singapore/Darwin route.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/08/01/1217097483233.html
@Laurence: Thanks for the update, laurence. Not good news for our Australian readership but money has to be made and I frankly wondered a bit how they could keep a viable service to a smaller, out of the way city like Darwin. Kind of like Northwest always fighting a losing battle with their major US hub in Minneapolis-St. Paul. A fine little pair of cities but not ‘on the way’ to anywhere else.
Dave thanks for the tips on air travel as i did not know about tiger before. I needed a flight out for my stay there so i was looking for a cheap tickets just to use for the entry and visa requirements. I just found a one way from clark to macau for 50 usd taxes included. The good thing is i can change it after my first 2 months to keep the visa process going. Thanks again for all the info you provide October is coming soon and i can’t wait to be in San Carlos.
Jim
@Jim: Hi Jim, thank you, sir, for the kind words. Yes, buying a cheap ticket as you did is a favorite way to get around the 21 day stay problem with airline boarding.
Just FYI (and for anyone else reading) once you are ‘in’, you are in. There is no requirement to show onward transportation when renewing your tourist visa, it is not part of the extension process, so there is no need to keep an outbound ticket for ‘show’ once you are properly admitted at the port of entry. I know, I know, it doesn’t make sense but then again, why _would_ it make sense?