Review of Tiger Airways flight from Singapore to Hanoi in Economy

Visit to Vietnam, both Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. The main highlight of the trip was to visit Halong Bay (1 of the 1000 places to visit b4 u die) as well as the Cu Chi tunnels which I missed out on the last visit to HCM City. The trip was planned to be very budget, flying Tiger up to Hanoi and back from HCMC, with a domestic flight from Hanoi to HCM on Vietnam Airlines (VN was only slightly more expensive than Jetstar Pacific, so why not fly VN instead). Total ticket cost including taxes was around S$300 for SIN-HAN-SGN-SIN for 3 flights. Pretty decent if you ask me.
09 May 2010
Tiger Airways
TR 2302
Singapore (SIN) - Hanoi (HAN)
A320
9V-TAB
Budget Class
Nothing interesting to report down here. We will be departing from budget terminal which I guess most of you readers knew how it looks and feels like. Bought some snacks and drinks from the 7-11 store in the departure hall to avoid paying the above average onboard food/drinks prices. Flight today was operated by Tiger's oldest plane, 9V-TAB (TAA has been sent to Tiger Oz).
9V-TAB, looking in need of a wash

Passengers queuing up for boarding

Boarding has begun. Pax walking across the tarmac to the aircraft.

Boarding. Last photo taken before I was stopped by a security officer from taken photos on the tarmac.

Look how dirty the fuselage is! Black streaks all around.

Was welcomed aboard by a Ti-girl. Total of 4 crew onboard today and the flight was pretty full. Most were middle-aged Singaporeans going on a holiday. Me and my friend had an empty seat on our row of 3-seater. What luck! The crew were very friendly and helped passengers settle down quickly for an on time departure. Flying time was announced to be 3hrs 10min. Even though the exterior of the plane was very dirty, the interior looked clean, even though some of the seat covers were fraying. However, still not that bad for a more than 5 yrs old plane.
Boarding was completed rather quickly.

Another Tiger plane preparing to depart for Phuket before us.

Welcome announcement, pushback and safety briefing

Taxi to the runway and mandarin safety briefing

SQ773 going to Jakarta

Tiger departing for Phuket

Takeoff from Changi Rwy 02C. Count the number of SQ birds parked at the remote stands!

Climbing after takeoff

Stuff in the seat pocket. Inflight magazine, duty free catalogue and safety card.

Seat pitch was tight, as expected for a budget airline, but tolerable for the short flight. However I find Jetstar's seat pitch to be worse as my knees would be touching the seatback in front on Jetstar's A320s.

Cruising. The flight was very smooth due to the good weather enroute.

After the seatbelt signs pinged off, the crew first came around with Vietnam immigration cards followed by sale of hot meals, snacks and beverages. Options for the hot meals (which were offered for flights above 3hrs) were chicken rice and one other choice which I could not remember. However no takers for the hot meals. Sale of snacks and beverages were also not too great, as I counted less than 10 sales. In the meantime, I secretly tucked into my bring-onboard snacks and drinks. Service was completed very quickly and the crew disappeared behind the curtains of the galleys. Duty-free was offered about 1hr prior to landing (some sales) followed by another round of beverage sales with no takers again.
Crew conducting snack/beverage sales service

Lavatory. Surprisingly, it was rather clean, unlike the horribly stained toilet bowl on my last Jetstar flight.

Cabin view. Very full flight.

Starting our descent into Hanoi.

Descending. Engine and wing view.

Final approach into Hanoi. It was rather smoggy outside.

Landing in Hanoi. The landing was smooth!

Some planes during taxi to the terminal:
Vietnam Airlines ATR72

Lots of planes on the tarmac

Parked beside a Vietnam Airlines A321

China Airlines A343

I still find service on Tiger rather acceptable if everything goes well. If expectations are lowered, Tiger is a perfectly budget airline to fly with.