CDKing

There wasn't time since OP arrived too close to departure.

JDiver

We've moved this to the proper forum: Budget Asian, Australian and South Pacific Airlines.

JDiver
Senior Moderator

TrojanHorse

Two things on this one

1 account for this money as tuition to the school of hard knocks

2 never flying Tiger air again

They receive their money from you wants

Full me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me

friendlyplanet

Plenty of time- as long as you are at the counter 45 minutes before your flight, they will process you, because you were at the counter before the closing time.

The domestic T2 terminal in Sydney is not large, and I think the gates close 15 minutes before take off, so you still had 1/2 an hour to ticket and clear security.

Next time, put the bag on the scale, open it up and start putting on articles of clothing. I got up to 4 shirts and 3 pants once before the LCC desk agent gave up and let me wheel my bag away!

Nothing wrong with flying LCCs- just need to read the fine print and know how they work.

saykiaora

2 things, 17 kg of carry in is ridiculous, fair enough you should pay for it, sounds like you rolled the dice and hoped you would win. And why would Chinese passports make a difference.

hanahiro

Should have been more clear:

History, paid $97.5*2 for 2 check-in baggages:
OP: 3kg + 14kg(checked-in)
Wife: ?(>3kg) + 7kg(checked-in)

A better scenario, pay $97.5 for 1 check-in baggage
Guess what?! It just needs the OP to take wife's 7kg baggage with him!
OP: 3kg + 7kg = 10kg, carry-on!
Wife: ?(>3kg) + 14kg(checked-in)

lokijuh

This was really the problem. One thing that those who use LCC's regularly do - is to check every rule, and comply. If within the rules, LCC's can be a cost effective way of getting around. If you don't know the rules, or think "it'll be OK" on the day, then best to avoid LCCs, particularly in Australia and Europe who tend to be very strict - after all that is the business model - to use cheap fares with lots of restrictions to generate ancillary revenue. Have seen a little more leniency in Asia (not much), but I can't comment on LCC's in North America or other parts of the world.

CDKing

Very few true LCC in US. Spirt charges for all carry-on that cannot go under seat in front, They now make it very clear what the extra fees are and offer to prepurchase, just like Tiger and AirAsia do during booking process. Not sure about what warnings were duiring check in since i never flown them. My air asia flight was so long ago so cant recall.

alphaod

The hassle of dealing with all these ancillary fees is is one reason I avoid flying LCC and trying to save money. I spend a bit more for a mainline carrier to avoid these things.

26point2orbust

Sounds like Tiger is following their advertised conditions.
Dear OP, why wouldn't the advertised fees apply to you?

warakorn

When reading the OP, I was thinking of a recent experience in the baggage check-in queue - what is the couple in front of me already doing 10 minutes at the check-in counter?

aster

I had the same nightmare with Scoot recently with the check-in woman trying to pressure me into paying for excess check-in luggage by claiming "check-in desk closes in 1 minute!" (apparently they close 60 mins before departure).

I completely ignored her quickly and moved some stuff to my hand luggage (my carry-on was virtually empty). So after another weigh-in attempt I was told that my luggage is 1kg over and that I need to pay because... check-in closes in 30 seconds.

That got me laughing which angered the desk staff and I did the same thing over again, this time removing 1-2 items to make sure I transferred yet another kilo from one bag to the other.

By this time the lady decided she needed to be elsewhere and someone else took over for her, but the entire experience with Scoot was a complete circus. I too am wondering if they can actually make you miss your flight by just cancelling the check-in procedure mid-way...

YuropFlyer

Unfortunately, grumpy CI agents/gate agents, or more generally spoken, unfriendly/grumpy service agents in any field, can make your life really bad if they really want to. Of course, you can complain later, and have the company (hopefully) fixing it, but it's not a guarantee. Plus, in some countries worker protection is extremely high, which makes company having trouble to get rid of unfriendly agents.

I guess in your case, the agent in question was just a pure a*s - while in OP's case, they indeed were really tight on time, and would have needed more time to repack than they actually still had.

Regarding checkin luggage/carry-on, I've made the experience that if I reasonably could show that I can just as well transport everything in my carry-on, they let slide a slight overweight situation, or in the case of a slightly too heavy carry-on, if I could just take it out/wear it etc. - this at least if the agent in question isn't on a power trip. When it's the later, it can be really annoying for the customer.

rooivalk

how you managed to have a 17kg carry-on on the other airlines you listed is beyond me. no wonder we run out of cabin space so often... Chinese tourists clogging them up with overweight and oversized bags.

I honestly can't blame the CI lady for reaction - mainland Chinese tourists are amongst the worst I've encountered.

YuropFlyer

US-Americans too... or British lower classes on a flight to Spain.. and don't even talk about Africans.. or Indians.. (got the point? If not: Generalisation is a very bad thing)