Singapore has always been on top of my mind for a wonderful vacation as it is a boiling pot of all Asian cultures like Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and Japanese and yet retains a very cosmopolitan approach. But I used to be always under the impression that flight tickets to Singapore are very expensive especially when you don’t plan well in advance. But boy was I going to be proven wrong, and how!
I had been hearing about Tigerair which has been offering very competitive pricing from India to Singapore and beyond. But I had also heard that they had stopped services temporarily from Bangalore around 2010. But luckily they restarted the services from the ever efficient Bengaluru International Kempegowda airport couple of years back. I checked out Tigerair website and was pleasantly surprised to know that they fly to more than 80 destinations worldwide via connecting flights from almost all the major metros in India!
The Tigerair website is very easy to use and cuts down the flak which is seen in many airways websites. You can put the origin and destination airports, select round trip or one way and of course the dates, and you will be presented with all the available options with their prices. There are no hidden charges as everything is inclusive of taxes and fees. I liked the way they had 2 prices – “Light” pricing which has no frills like meals but still gives access to 10KG of baggage and “Combo” pricing which is more effective as it includes meals and preferred seating apart from 10KG baggage of course.
Tigerair cuts all the frills related to Air travel which generally increases the cost of your tickets. Lot of times many people are traveling just for tourism or business purposes. They wouldn’t be carrying a lot of luggage but still we end up paying premium for the tickets because of lot of surcharges like baggage and meals. Tigerair does away with these frills but still allows you to buy extra baggage allowance online itself in case you have done more shopping on your way back. If you are a person who has not been able to have a bite before boarding the flight, you can always pre-order a specific meal in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. I liked the simplicity in which all these can be chosen with no hidden charges.
Finally one important feature which is messed up on many airways site but well managed on Tigerair website is the seat selection feature. It is very simple and tells you whether there is any extra pricing for your preferred seating. So you can accordingly decide where you want to sit and get the best seat for you and your family.
The biggest advantage of course is that Tigerair prices are almost half of the full service air carriers. One way ticket to Singapore from Bangalore on Tigerair just about costs Rs.9000 if you book one week in advance compared to almost Rs.20,000 in full service air carriers. This is the killer advantage Tigerair has got over other carriers because of which it is extremely popular. So you can start your trip to Singapore with huge savings already! Go ahead and give Tigerair website a twirl and you won’t be disappointed!