Letters: Not happy, Tiger

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This was published 14 years ago

Letters: Not happy, Tiger

I recently tried Tiger Airways for the first and last time. In 35 years of national and international travel, I have never experienced such rudeness as I did from Tiger's ground staff after I missed my check-in time by five minutes. They had me in tears.

Their aggressive, bureaucratic manner has been revealed on the Air Ways television program but remember their best behaviour is being filmed. Never again.

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- Melissa Bruce

Top tour

We write to recommend a "soft adventure" we did last spring. We took Oz Tours' 14-day Cape York overland-sea camping safari, travelling from Cairns to the tip of Cape York on a four-wheel-drive 16-seater bus and a return journey by sea on the MV Trinity Bay, a combined passenger-cargo ship.

The vehicle was comfortable; the trip was well-paced; the guide, Ron, was informative and Anita, his wife and our cook, never ceased to amaze with the meals. See oztours.com.au.

- John and Helen Simpson

Oversized fee

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My wife and I recently travelled to London via Shanghai on a Qantas-Swiss Air ticket. We packed our bags lightly so that our combined baggage weight, with a surfboard, was 40 kilograms. We checked in our luggage in Sydney and the surfboard went in to oversize luggage.

When we checked in to Swiss Air at Shanghai, we were told of a $US200 ($258) charge for the surfboard. To put it mildly, we were very angry. Swiss Air would not budge from its position so we had to pay.

Swiss Air's reply to my two emails of complaint and request for a refund was that I should have read its website. If airlines are going to have combination tickets they should standardise their baggage allowances and requirements.

Incidentally, a couple next to us were taking a boxed bicycle to Zurich. They said the bicycle was worth less than the Swiss Air charge so they took it back to their apartment in Shanghai. They obviously didn't read the website either. Surfers – and bike riders – beware.

- Lawrie Jones

Pricey exchange

On a recent visit to London I cashed €500 into pounds sterling at TTT Foreign Exchange Corporation in Sloane Street.

It pays not to be in a hurry. After I received the rate of exchange, which was acceptable, I did not ask for the rate applicable for commission or handling fee, which turned out to be 11 per cent.

Harrods, which is just around the corner, has a set handling fee of £4 ($8) and its exchange rate was almost identical.

- Brian Cormie

What about Fido?

Clive Dorman (Traveller, August 1) writes that domestic travel is on the decline. We are a retired couple with plenty of time to travel and a reasonable budget but we have a dog.

We find it almost impossible to find places that accept pets. We are amazed how many people travel with dogs in Europe and the US. For example, at the Ibis Hotel in Dresden, a customer had a Great Dane. Is there any hope the accommodation industry here will change its attitude?

- Eva Salm

We welcome your travel-related opinions, experiences and letters. Letters may be edited for space, legal or other reasons. Email us at travellerletters@fairfax.com.au including your name, address and phone number.

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