Check-in goes smoothly, but there are traps for frugal luggage hoarders and people who get nervous about gate assignments as my Tiger Reborn journey to test Tiger on its first day of resumed flying kicks off properly.
I’m habitually early at airports, but other appointments meant that rather than getting to Sydney T2 bang on 1155 when my flight opens, I’m a shocking 15 minutes later than that. I needn’t have worried this would force me to stand in a queue; there is precisely one person in front of me, and no-one ends up waiting behind me.
The woman at the check-in counter is extremely cheerful, much more so than I recall from the last time I flew Tiger. Whether this is because she’s on her best behaviour or I just got unlucky last time is hard to say.
Issuing my boarding pass is speedy, but before that happens, my hand luggage has to get weighed. This certainly didn’t happen last time I flew. I come in at 3.9kg — well under the 10kg entitlement — but it’s worth noting that this will clearly be standard practice on Tiger. If there was any day you’d decide as an airline not to be narky, it would be on your first day back in the air. So if you decide to go hand luggage only, make sure you don’t pack in more than that (which is easy to do), or you’ll be slugged with extremely high at-airport baggage fees.
That lack of queue means I have plenty of time to grab a bite to eat, but when that’s finished I do note one interesting thing. My boarding pass says Gate 39, but the screens in T2 suggest Gate 27. Technical note: there is no Gate 27.
I presume this error is because Tiger has only just resumed services and there’s a messy lack of communication between the airline and the airport operators. If I was of a nervous disposition, I’d start panicking about the flight being late or delayed. But why worry? Luggage rules notwithstanding, if there’s any time when Tiger will want to make sure it doesn’t screw up, it will be today. A debacle on day one would not help.
Next up: I’ll post about the actual flight experience. Though obviously not from the air. There’s already a couple of TV crews here to film the passengers arriving from Melbourne . .
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