Tigerair has won the not-so-contested title of Australia’s most complained-about airline for the sixth year running.
The Airline Customer Advocate (ACA) compared Tigerair with Australia’s four other leading airlines including Regional Express, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar for the year of 2017.
Figures showed that the low-budget airline’s customers were often left unsatisfied.
Tigerair has won the not-so-contested title of Australia’s most complained-about airline for the sixth year running
Most complaints centered around flight delays or cancellations
Most complaints centered around flight delays or cancellations.
The airline also received the most complaints for refund requests and fees or charges.
Virgin Australia, however, fared the worst when it came to complaints about baggage services.
Of the three airlines that offer loyalty or frequent flyer programs – Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar – the most complaints about the service were lodged against Qantas.
Tigerair is a low-budget, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Virgin Australia group.
According to the airline, it carried a total of 4,598,673 passengers during the reporting period, which ran from January 1st – December 31, 2017.
Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association Steve Purvinas told Daily Mail Australia that Tigerair is trying to run on ‘shoestring’ budget, resulting in the flight delays.
‘Tiger are trying to run a commercial service on a shoestring budget and subsequently, maintenance is always sourced at the cheapest possible rates and as a result, on time performance suffers,’ Mr Purvinas said.
Tigerair is a low-budget, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Virgin Australia group
Tigerair send their aircrafts offshore for heavy maintenance checks because they do not have the necessary facilities.
According to Mr Purvinas, Tiger aircrafts receive ‘minimal oversight’ at the offshore facilities and mistakes regularly occur.
‘Recently an A320 sent to the Philippines for a 2 week check took 3 weeks to fix upon return to Australia,’ Mr Purvinas said.
‘Tiger generally do the right thing and fix their planes when errors are evident but with a small fleet and virtually no backup options, a grounded plane means disappointed customers.’
Tigerair was not immediately available for comment.