This review takes a look at my recent flight with Tigerair from Hobart to Melbourne. Tigerair Australia is a low-cost carrier that is fully owned by Virgin Australia. They operate out of 12 destinations around Australia, utilising a fleet of 15 aircraft.
Along with airlines such as Scoot and Cebu Pacific, Tigerair is a part of the Value Alliance, the world’s largest low-cost carrier alliance. You can not earn Velocity Points or status credits for flying Tigerair, however, you can book Tigerair flights with Velocity Points.
Fleet & Routes
Currently, Tigerair Australia operate 4 Boeing 737 aircraft in addition to Airbus A320 aircraft, however, they plan to transition to an all 737 fleet over the coming years. Tigerair operate out of 12 destinations around Australia, as shown below.
The 737 is used on routes such as Melbourne to Perth, Brisbane to Melbourne and Sydney to Melbourne. Tigerair operate 1-2 flights per day from Hobart to Melbourne, using both 737 and A320 aircraft.
The seats
The aircraft features an all-Economy layout with 180 seats in a 3-3 configuration. Standard seats have a pitch of 30 inches and width of 18 inches.
The seats are made of leather and offer good comfort, featuring a great adjustable headrest. In my opinion, the comfort offered by these seats is almost as good as that of Virgin Australia’s 737 Economy seats.
I found the legroom to be very generous for a low-cost carrier; I had about 8cm of legroom in my standard seat, 12A (I am 178cm tall).
The seat is well designed in that it has a magazine holder at the top, which contains the safety card, menu, Tigerair magazine and airsickness bag. This helps to both maximise legroom and storage space.
The seat also features a phone holder at the top, which is convenient for watching movies. This also keeps the tray table free when eating.
Seat choice
Most of the standard economy seats are basically the same, however, avoid Rows 25-29, as they have less pitch at 28 inches. Standard seat selection is an optional extra and for my flight, it cost me $5.
Tigerair sell extra legroom and upfront seats, which cost $21 and $10, respectively. The extra legroom seats could be a nice upgrade if you are tall, however, upfront seats are not worth it in my opinion.
Service: food & drink
Complimentary food and drink is not offered with Tigerair, however, you do have the option of purchasing items from the menu.
There is plenty to choose from on the menu, at prices that are affordable albeit not a bargain. I chose to purchase a ‘posh ham and cheese toastie’ and a dry ginger ale for $12.
Unfortunately, the crew forgot about my meal, however, they brought it out about 20 minutes before landing after I reminded them.
The toastie was nice but the dry ginger ale was warm.
Inflight entertainment
There is no inflight entertainment offered on Tigerair.
How to redeem Velocity Points for Tigerair flights
You can use your Velocity Points to book Tigerair flights. The required points are calculated based on ticket cost, meaning selecting a different flight could save you thousands of points.
When researching for this overview, I found a flight from Hobart to Melbourne for 18,454 Velocity Points (or $120) whereas another flight on the same route was 7,993 points (or $52).
In comparison, a standard Virgin Australia redemption for this route costs 11,800 Velocity Points, regardless of the cash price. To find how many Velocity Points a flight will cost simply click on the Velocity frequent flyer logo at the Checkout page. You can then login to your Velocity account and pay using points.
Just getting started with Velocity? Read our intro guide here.
Summing up
Overall, I enjoyed my flight with Tigerair. The legroom was far better than what I had expected, the seat was well designed and the crew were friendly.
What is great
- Good legroom for a low-cost airline
- Well-designed seat
- Ability to use Velocity Points
What is not great
- No inflight entertainment
- No complimentary food and drink
- Seat selection not included in ticket price
Check out our comparison of full service and low cost airlines.
You said above that the food is free then below its not and its not on Tigerair so not to sure what you meant there and aslo you didn’t even mention the whole baggage situation, but decent review otherwise, good job!
“Complimentary food and drink is offered with Tigerair, however, you do have the option of purchasing items from the menu.”
“What is not great
No inflight entertainment
No complimentary food and drink
Seat selection not included in ticket price”
Hi Morgan,
Thanks for letting me know. It is supposed to read “Complimentary food and drink is not offered with Tigerair, however, you do have the option of purchasing items from the menu”. I’ll get it fixed it ASAP.
Are they just the previous Virgin seats just a new yellow headrest and new rear of seat tray table?
Hi Dom,
It would make sense if they were updated VA seats, as all Tigerair Australia B737’s have been transferred from Virgin Australia.
There are slight differences between their fleet of 737’s so it is hard to tell for sure, but based on my flight I would say that they are updated VA seats. Since this article was written Tigerair has received another 737 from VA which features improved overhead locker spacing and ambient lighting.
Tiger are notorious for cancelling flights last minute or if they don’t sell enough seats, I have been caught up a few times now I stick to Jetstar or Qantas on my weekly OOL-SYD commute.
Hi Ross,
Thanks for reading. Tigerair’s on-time performance is worse in terms of on-time arrivals, on-time departures and cancellations out of all Australian carriers (according to BITRE, 2018).
The upside is that, being owned by Virgin Australia, there is a good chance you will be moved to a Virgin flight if the Tigerair aircraft won’t be flying.
Lucky your flight flew Tom! I think Tigerair is the most unreliable carrier operating in Australia. It’s literally a lottery as to whether you’ll get the flight you paid for on the day you want.
I now avoid them at all costs.
Thanks for your comment Missy.
You’re right, in 2018 Tigerair had the worst performance in terms of on-time arrivals, on-time departures and cancellations out of all Australian carriers (according to BITRE, 2018).
LCC’s are known to schedule less turnaround time between flights in order to offer lower fares. This is why I often try to get an early flight as they are less likely to be delayed.