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It was only a matter of time really. After numerous calls from the nation's aviation safety organisation (CASA) for improvement in that airlines safety over the last 3 months, they apparently have had enough, and as of now have grounded all their planes in Australia for 1 week.

Unfortunately that coincides with the start of school holidays here, so about 35,000 people will be affected in the coming week.

Will Tiger survive this, time will tell.

Also today Carlton 184 d Richmond 81. Richmond, for people not familiar with AFL are, of course, The Tigers.


Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Not a good week for the "tigers".

I have Tiger flights booked for 30th July, better start walking.

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Collecting predecimal Australian Used Blocks.

For all those affeccted by the cancellations, Tiger are offering a full refund or alternate ticket.
So what.
I trust that many of those so inconvenienced, consider taking the airline to the Consumer Affairs and Small Claims Tribunel ( here in Victoria ) for payment of ALL your costs, travelling expenses, accomadation, extra meals,,parking fees, road tolls, telephone costs, alternative fare costs, telephone calls to relatives and all other incidentals.
This is not a natural volcano, it is brought about by their own actions coming to the attention of the authorities.
Make them waste a day at the Tribunel, even if you dont get every cent that you claim, you can smile as they WAIT in the queue to have the case heard, make them TRAVEL to the hearing place, and UPSET their plans.
Of course, seek advice from those qualified as to your particular circumstances.
Regards

They played the Melbourne Demons last week, not a good fortnight for the "Tigers."

So if I understand correctly - they have chucked a tanty because of the safety authorities asking them to spruce up on their safety and now they refuse to fly!?
If so, send them packing, ditch the planes and good riddance.

You don't stuff around with the official safety body as if it's all not your fault!
What next, a plane crashes and they cry "but we passed all the safety standards, so it's CASA's fault this happened?"


PS - Not every states school holidays just started, they are staggered.

TAS is already back to school
QLD has been off for a week already
NT has been off for a week already
NSW is now (1st)
VIC is now
ACT is next Friday (8th)
SA is next Friday
WA is next Friday

(In case anyones wondering, it's something for my work I need to know.)

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Hi Greg ,

Sorry but you are a bit Wrong, CASA Grouned Tiger due to Safety Concerns .

Quote : CASA moved to suspend the budget airline's services after an incident on Thursday night when a Tiger Airways Airbus A320 flew into Avalon Airport, south-west of Melbourne, below the lowest safe altitude.

It is the second time in a month that Tiger has flown below the safety standard.

Part of the story here , http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011 ... 259293.htm

It would appear "reading between the lines" I think there is some concern`s about PILOT TRAINING , Now I don`t think it`s one I would fly on personally .

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Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

They state that they are offering a "full refund," but the fine print is that may take up to four weeks to process.
Too bad if you have already paid for the pre booked holiday, or are requesting that people reschedule their wedding date or 21st, the baby's birth or the funeral.

Ah OK, I wrote my response to the OP without having read the article, thus my reaction.

The other info that I have read was that CASA found out that Tiger gives it trainer pilots just 250hrs fly time and then qualitfies them for commercial flights.

Whereas they are meant to spend 1,000 (perhaps even 1,500) hrs training before being qualified. There is a huge difference in cost and experience - one for me that would definately not make it worth the risk.

There is a reason "cut price" airlines are... cut price. They often cut corners.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

We had a Tiger flight booked ADL-SYD 2 weeks back on a Sunday.

Get to ADL airport at midday, an hour before the flight to see it showing "cancelled".

No other airlines planes were cancelled. Their plane went mechanical somewhere and never arrived.

Absolutely no advice whatever to us of the CX .. despite them having out phone and email addresses.

They cheerfully said we could fly on TUESDAY at the same time.

I said not on .... . "can you get us to MEL this afternoon?"

"YES no problems".

Great. That is your hub. So then you can get us to Sydney no problems then?

"NO - you get one flight and that is it."

"But I booked ADL-SYDNEY and you cancelled your flight - it is up to YOU to get us to SYD surely?

"NO CAN DO" - ONE flight is it buddy.

So we go to Virgin and Qantas and end up paying $500 MORE than we had paid Tiger, to get home Sunday night.

I am sitting in Dubai right now typing this, after 40 hours of flights today, almost around the globe, from SYD-LAX-IAD-DXB.

United cancelled our SYD-LAX due to equipment issues and booked us onto Delta instead, at no cost to us. So we got to LAX, and made our Dubai flight. Indeed we get UA miles as if we flew them, and of course DL miles as we flew them - over 10,000 miles, as it was booked into full "Y" class as they only had 3 seats left.

Lucky I moved fast, as on July 2, the Virgin, Air NZ and Qantas flights were all overbooked to LAX due to NSW school holidays, and USA July 4 relatives going home traffic.

THAT is what airlines are supposed to do when THEY cancel a flight - not stuff the passengers about.

It is called "re-protection" and Tiger better learn the meaning of that word.

They will, when they get MY letter and account - trust me.

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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

Definition of optimism = Tiger Airways still selling tickets for flight next week
They are still grounded, for non compliance issues

Tiger has now stopped selling tickets for flights after next Saturday, after the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) publicly queried why they had ignored their previous 'advice' (read order) to do so.

I think Tiger is stuffed and will probably not recover from this. I would certainly never fly with them. Strange, because Tiger is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, which has an excellent reputation.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

All my 4 flights with them (Melbourne to Adelaide returns) have generally been fairly good, except for a 3 hour delay on one return leg, but I was in a good mood so didn't care less.

However, I've been wondering if I should stick to JetStar from now on, after all this hillbillying around....

Just noticed this ad, how ironic:

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My blog, if you're interested: petitmondemoi.blogspot.com

This Tiger's had its wings clipped.

Good for the government to step in and ground them before a crash happens. Even if they are given a green light to resume operations, the beating their reputation is taking from this fiasco will probably see them folding up their tent faster than a travelling circus.

I read before that Indonesia, with its 200million population, has dozens of domestic airlines, most of them small, and almost all with very dubious track records, but aviation oversight is a black hole in the bureaucracy.

With Tiger being owned by Singapore Airlines, and operating internationally, its hard to understand how things could get so bad.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

You mean like the somewhat occasional offer of $1.00 specials from Avalon to Sydney (or elsewhere)?

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Australia has an enviable track record with air safety and CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) is certainly intent on keeping it that way. With the Sydney-Melbourne air corridor being one of the busiest in the world, I am certainly in favour of them doing just that.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Australia also has an enviable record in keeping our livestock safe from diseases such as foot and mouth which have decimated livestock populations in many countries.

This was only possible by stringent quarantine rules and constant inspections by the regulators thus stopping substandard affected animals or animal products into the country.

Now what was that about a substandard and affected TIGER

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Tony

Actually Singapore Airlines only have about a 32% stake in Tiger.

And the latest news is that CASA are to seek an extension of the suspension until Aug 1.

Also the SA government are chasing Tiger for breach of contract to the tune of $2 million

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Collector and Part Time Dealer (Member IPDA)website and online store - http://www.pwstamps.com.au - Australia & World Stamps & Covers, Discounted Catalogues & Accessories

I would suggest that if you can get a refund, you take it before they go bust. It's not just inferior Pilot training. It seems that many of their aircraft are very behind on their preventative maintenance and routine maintenance. Paperwork not filled in to certify the aircraft's safety and mechanical ability. Aircraft could become Groundcraft.

I also heard that when executives went to get money out of their safes, a large number of Moths were found inside.

They were found to be Tiger Moths.

CASA will apply to the Federal Court for an order extending the grounding till the end of July. Hard to see the court refusing the request and it may allow the public to get a clearer picture of the issues requiring teh grounding.

It is hard to see Tiger recovering from a full month's grounding.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Makes you worry about Qantas

Don't they get their aircraft maintained in Malaysia now (presumably at Singapore Airlines facilities)

Not all of them and it is not the quality of the maintenance work, rather the lack of maintenance, that is hurting Tiger.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Agree. Qantas's main problem is the quality of their sevicings. To stay competitive they are outsourcing a lot of their work and also employing less Engineering staff. Critical maintenance issues are no longer inspected by three levels of tradesmen. Also many faults are completed using a computer. Qantas still have the highest level of safety in the aircraft industry in the world. Many of their air incidents were caused by outside contractors' mistakes. eg Rolls Royce, Boeing, Air France.
Also keep in mind that planes are mass produced, so sometimes they are not quite constructed to specifications. But, in saying that, modern aircraft today have at least two backup systems for anything to do with controlling the flight.

I was sitting on an 18 hour flight today to Buenos Aires that got half way there and then the pilot aborted - and turned back to USA due to the volcano Ash issue.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-m ... light.html

So sitting here typing this in a very fancy Washington hotel room the airline were forced to stump up for!

Anyway I was reading the 'Wall Street Journal' on the flight, and they had quite a piece on this Tiger issue. Said Tiger were not fighting the August 1 new ban sought, and seemd to have kicked out the current CEO.

Also said ACCC were on their case re selling tickets for a time period they knew they would not be flying.

They are in serious doo doo is my guess.

Glen

Tiger Airlines did not oppose the application to extend the ban on flying.

Which means the issues were not aired in a public forum, for all the world to see.

Ho hum.

Do you mean Glen, that the airline did not offer you the option of staying at the airport, on one of their hard bench seats, near their own cafeteria, without the opportunity to change clothes from your luggage or sleeping on cold concrete, and surrounded by distressed children on school holidays, all at your own expense????

Philly, no I liked the idea of United paying for a Westin, and our meals, far better.

I now see that Death....er....sorry I mean Jetstar have been reprimanded by CASA for safety violations as well. They are a subsidiary of Qantas so as I said in an earlier email, makes you worry don't it

No doubt being washed down with a fine Red

Everyone knows about Qantas' track record thanks to Rain Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeYf-rhMQIQ

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Tiger Airways Australia has applied to have the CASA court case adjourned last Monday until today , and again today, until next Friday

But their website is still up, and listing flights, deparure times, cost of tickets etc Although it also shows the flights as "sold out."...huh

If you are barred from flying, and not ready for the court proceedings to be heard, WHO is flying with the airline

ME!

The moment the ban is lifted they'll dump a million tickets onto the market dirt cheap, just to fill them, and claw back some money.

Be the lowest fares in years for about a week.

I can say with authority that Tiger has quit all Avalon (near Lara) operations and will not be returning.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Yes Avalon was casualty #1.

Vic Premier not happy I hear.

I flew down to Melbourne on Tuesday just for the day. Cost $112 each way with Qantas which wasn't bad (then again I booked online early and was very flexible on departure/arrival times).

I've been on both Virgin (on the ridiculous) and Death... (er sorry) Jetstar and both were very poor in every area as as far as I'm concerned. Never flown on Tiger and never will.

For a few dollars more I'd rather fly with the main game thanks

Tiger still grounded and no sign of when they will be flying again. You would have to be an optimist to think they will survive this.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Apparantly earlier today they were granted permission to flap their wings again, with conditions.

All clear to fly now, the SMH tells us.

Any red highlighting is mine.

Glen



Tiger Airways given all-clear to resume flights Andrew Heasley

August 10, 2011 - 3:24PM

The six-week grounding of Tiger Airways Australia has ended, with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) today lifting the ban on the airline.

CASA aviation safety director John McCormick announced the lifting of the suspension in Brisbane this afternoon.

Mr McCormick said a new set of conditions had been imposed on the airline.

The lift on the ban is effective immediately.

''Tiger can resume operations that are safe at a time of their choosing,'' said McCormick.

In a statement, the airline said it ''will resume ticket sales today and will implement a gradual resumption of domestic services from Friday'' - the first flight expected to be a Melbourne to Sydney trip around midday.

The safety authority found missing, incomplete and outdated documentation relating to pilot training, operational procedures and maintenance oversight among other problems, Mr McCormick said.

As the safety authority could not determine the currency of pilot training from the poorly kept records, all of Tiger's 110 pilots have been put through proficiency retraining in aircraft simulators, he said.

A small number of pilots failed aspects of the retraining, he said, requiring them to undertake more remedial training.

The airline was grounded after the safety agency lost confidence in the airline following two low-flying incidents, one into Melbourne airport and one into Avalon, but Mr McCormick revealed his agency had found problems with the airline dating back into last year, which were unresolved at the time of the latest flying incidents.

Systems and personnel underpinning the airline did not keep pace with its rapid expansion from its start-up in November 2007, growing from four planes to 10 in the fleet, he said.

CASA has imposed conditions on Tiger's pilot training, crew rostering, updating document control manuals (the airline's reference materials) improving safety management systems and maintenance oversight and the appointment of suitably qualified and experienced senior personnel.

Some of these, including retraining pilots, were preconditions for being allowed to fly again, while the airlin has been given a timeframe of months to achive on others.

''Tiger must comply with these conditions while they are in place,'' Mr McCormick said.

Tiger will be allowed to fly only 18 sectors a day (or nine return flights a day) for the rest of August, with any expansion subject to the safety agency's approval. Before the grounding Tiger was flying about 60 flights a day.

It also means Tiger will be forced to cull a number of its ports of call from its route network.

''Any failure to comply with these conditions will be taken seriously,'' said Mr McCormick.

The airline would be subject to ongoing close scrutiny, he said.

''We will also be meeting regularly with the airline to review ongoing safety performance and compliance with the conditions on the airline's operations,'' he said.

Mr McCormick said he would be happy to fly on the airline now, and to put his family on board, too.

CASA grounded Tiger Airways Australia from flying on July 1 due to a "serious and imminent risk to air safety".

The no-frills, Singapore-based airline's grounding has resulted in upheaval for the carrier over the past few weeks, including costing its former chief executive Crawford Rix his job.

The Singapore-based group's chief executive, Tony Davis, has relocated to Australia to fix the mess.

The grounding caused disruptions for tens of thousands of passengers who had their travel plans ruined during school holidays and beyond.

It also cost the airline dearly, nearly $12 million over the past six weeks, on top of $13.7 million in forgone ticket sales and refunds, and $1.4 in lost ancillary revenues.

That comes on top of the airline's $18 million loss from Australian operations for the first financial quarter this year.

The airline also drew the ire of federal and state consumer watchdogs for continuing to sell tickets while grounded, before suspending sales after warnings.

Ticket holders have faced weeks of delays in receiving refunds for tickets paid for flights that never took place.

Tiger's Singaporean acting chief executive Chin Yau Seng said last week "our relaunch will focus on route profitability and operational excellence", lending weight to speculation that Tiger will cull a number of its unprofitable domestic routes here, including withdrawing flights from Avalon Airport near Melbourne.

Read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-new ... z1UbZ5xmXB

Phooey .. no direct flights Sydney-Adealide anymore.

So basically it'll be a lucky dip whether you get the pilot's that have been "remediated" or the one's that failed the tests and had to be "remediated" further

I'm sorry, but I could never fly with an airline of this high calibre

Just got this email and trust me, fares to Adelaide ARE up heavily.


We know that many Australians have been inconvenienced these past few weeks, and for that we apologise. We're sorry.

But we're also listening: listening very hard to what you want from us. Our mission is to be a safe, reliable airline that enables ALL Australians to go the places they want to go at a price they can afford to pay.

Since we haven't been flying, our competitors have raised their fares by more than 30%*; we don't think that's fair. It's a big country, and we believe that every Australian should be able to travel for a reasonable price.

So while we're always looking for ways to improve, one thing will never change: our absolute commitment to ensuring all Australians can go to the places they want safely, affordably and reliably.

Thanks for your support,

The entire Tiger Airways team

* Source: Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia Investment Research 18 July 2011.

I'm so glad that Tiger are "listening" and that they're "sorry"

I wonder how sorry they would have been when one of their aircraft crashed through their total disdain for air safety regulations

Too bad they didn't train their pilots properly in the first place like most other airlines in first world countries.

Still you get what you pay for in this world

I suspect that this flight was scrubbed because very few people would want to go to Adealide.

Is it even in Australia?

Anyone flown with them snce the rebirth?
And if so, then how was the service, passenge numbers etc?

If they want a spare $100, I'd buy one if their planes. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, I'll even throw in a free bottle of champers

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My blog, if you're interested: petitmondemoi.blogspot.com

Has anyone flown on Tiger Airways Australia since the resumption of flights?
have they improved, or still just flapping their wings?

I have never flown with them and probably never would. They are currently in finacial strife with losses mounting.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Got this email from them yesterday:

"On 10 August 2011 Tiger Airways issued &#8216An open letter to all Australians from the Tiger Airways team&#8217. This letter included the statement &#8216Since we haven&#8217t been flying, our competitors have raised their fares by more than 30%&#8217.

Following an investigation by the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Tiger Airways acknowledges that it did not have a proper basis for which to make this statement and as such it may have contravened the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) by making a false or misleading representation.

Tiger Airways would like to retract this statement and apologises for its conduct. "

Wish they'd get rid of those typos in the first paragraph!

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My blog, if you're interested: petitmondemoi.blogspot.com

They aren't typos, just html codes (or similar) that aren't being interpreted by your email. I suggest it should have read something like;

"On 10 August 2011 Tiger Airways issued 'An open letter to all Australians from the Tiger Airways team'. This letter included the statement 'Since we haven't been flying, our competitors have raised their fares by more than 30%'.

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Peter
Hawthorn - AFL Premiers 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008.

Boy, talk about go from bad to worse - they are in trouble all over!

They have not sent ME that email, that is for sure. But I got the original claim email - see below - ACCC please note!

Luckily for us, Virgin made a strange offer last month to "status match" top Elite flyers.

We emailed in our United Platinum cards, and were not imagining they'd match those to Platinum on Virgin - but they did!

So we now each get 69 kilos free baggage on each domestic flight, and 79 kilos free on all Virgin and partner overseas flights. Seat assignments a month out, and free upgrades, and free lounge access for us and 3 guests each etc, etc.

And also that got us top tier Diamond membership of Hilton and Intercontinental, and top Car rental Elite match too with Avis and Europcar, so was well worth the 2minutes spent scanning our UA cards!

So we are flying to Mackay and Adelaide in the next 2 weeks, if any member there needs 140 kilos of boxes taken up, or surplus stuff bought back from there ....... .

Glen


RECEIVED by me August 8, 2011.


We know that many Australians have been inconvenienced these past few weeks, and for that we apologise. We're sorry.

But we're also listening: listening very hard to what you want from us. Our mission is to be a safe, reliable airline that enables ALL Australians to go the places they want to go at a price they can afford to pay.

Since we haven't been flying, our competitors have raised their fares by more than 30%*; we don't think that's fair. It's a big country, and we believe that every Australian should be able to travel for a reasonable price.

So while we're always looking for ways to improve, one thing will never change: our absolute commitment to ensuring all Australians can go to the places they want safely, affordably and reliably.

Thanks for your support,

The entire Tiger Airways team

* Source: Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia Investment Research 18 July 2011.