If your searching for flight deals from Melbourne to the Gold Coast there’s no doubt you’ve checked out Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Tiger Airways for deals. And there’s probably a fair chance Tiger is the cheapest, but are they any good?

Going to the Gold Coast you can fly from Tullamarine or Avalon airport with Tiger Airways and in my case I was flying from Tullamarine. The flights out of Avalon are usually cheaper but my booking was  last minute and Avalon flights were sold out. So, it’s off to Tullamarine airport.

Getting to the airport is easy if leaving from Southern Cross Station, simply jump on the Skybus which takes around 20 minutes. The tiger departures area is in a separate building from the main terminal and the driver points it out as the bus enters the airport, its only a couple of minute walk from where the Skybus stops.

If you’ve got carry on luggage you can make use of the web check in service, print out your tickets and cruise through to the waiting area. After going through security the waiting area has seating, an internet kiosk (requires payment), a couple of touristy stuff shops and a few vending machines for drinks and snacks.

Regarding carry on luggage Tigery specifies that you should have no more than 2 bags, weighing no more than 10kg in total, and with either bag weighing no more than 7kg. But that must be a self regulated request as nothing we had was weighed or checked on the way on board.

You have to take  a walk out onto the tarmac to get on the plane via the old fashioned stairs but that’s the case with many discount airlines around the world. The plane has no special features, like video screens in the back of the seats or even drop down screens in the overhead console like some planes I have been on.

The seats are standard issue, cloth trimmed and able to recline a little. There’s three seats on each side of the plane and I could imagine it would be a little squeezy if three big guys are sitting together but otherwise it’s OK. I think the window seat gives a little more space than the others.

During flight they offer snacks and drinks which you pay for. At the time choices included basic soft drinks, water, tea, coffee and some alcoholic drinks. For food there was a sandwich and range of other snack foods including chips, chocolates etc. You could spend anywhere from 7 to 20 dollars depending on what you want, we took on our own snacks and no one seemed to care even though we later noticed it written somewhere that you can’t byo snacks..

The flight takes just under two hours and at the Gold Coast airport theres also a seperate terminal building just for Tiger Airways. You might have to walk over to the main building to catch the shuttle bus or taxi but because we only had backpacks we took the cheap option. We caught the public bus from Golden Four Drive at the end of Johnston St. Bus 700 or 702 runs straight up the highway to Surfers Paradise taking about 1 hour for under 8 bucks.

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