Nearly a Tiger checkin disaster at PER [Went to old Terminal]

[sinophile888]

As I mentioned in another thread, my son was visiting Perth over the Melbourne long weekend. He chose to fly back on Tiger as it was the cheapest flight and at a good time (4:45pm).

We drove him to the Perth Domestic terminal, said our good-byes and headed off. We hadn’t reached the roundabout when we got a frantic phone call. The Tiger terminal is now next to the International terminal, at least a 10 minute drive in light traffic, which it wasn’t. We rushed back to pick him up, drove down Tonkin Hwy and saw a new turn-off for T1 and T2. Had we not taken that turn-off it would have been a disaster as we saw on the way home that the Horrie Miller Drive intersection was at a complete standstill, as usual.

We finally got to T2 at 2 minutes before check in closed. He sprinted into the terminal and was just in time. While we waited for the all-clear from our son, we noticed at least another dozen more people jumping out of their cars and sprinting into the terminal.

It got me wondering how we were supposed to know that Tiger now has a new terminal. There was nothing on my son’s ticket and he doesn’t remember seeing anything about it when he made the booking.

Maybe a sign at the domestic terminal would be a good start. Or did we miss it?

 

[mannej]

What terminal does it say on your sons ticket?
The new terminal has been open for a while now, so it's not something that started just the other day.

 

[dajop]

Perhaps a change in the thread title is warranted? Disaster in the context of airlines has a very specific connotations, and I am probably not the only one who opened the thread expecting to read about a near miss in terms of aviation safety. If you'd said "Nearly a Tiger checkin disaster at PER" that would be better!

 

[Aussie_flyer]

A near-disaster? They way this thread came across by the subject line was that their was almost a crash. As it turns out the thread is that somebody accidentally went to the wrong terminal?

 

[sinophile888]

I imagine that it would have said T2, but we had used Tiger last year out of the domestic airport. It just didn't occur to us the domestic flights could leave from the international side.

 

[sinophile888]

Perhaps a change in the thread title is warranted? Disaster in the context of airlines has a very specific connotations, and I am probably not the only one who opened the thread expecting to read about a near miss in terms of aviation safety. If you'd said "Nearly a Tiger checkin disaster at PER" that would be better!

I don't know how to change the title. It would be better with your suggestion.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Perth Airport Terminal Numbers

 

[serfty]

Added to title ...

 

[sinophile888]

Thank you so much for the map, serfty. I had no idea that Tiger had moved. The map makes it so clear. We could even have avoided Tonkin Hwy. I'm flying out to HKG on Friday, but should have no trouble at 5am.

 

[moa999]

And I would note that Virgin Regional (ex Skywest) is also in T2....

Not having been to Perth in a while, how well is all of the terminals (and airlines) signposted on the way in?

 

[DC3]

I initially thought that there was a major incident with a Tiger aircraft at the old terminal. Happily, nothing like that at all.

 

[singh]

I have had gone from Perth to Broome return on daytrips in the past and flew Qantas in the morning from T3/T4 and returned at T2 (Skywest) - this was annoying as car was parked at T3/T4... So hopping on the transit bus which adds about half hour to an already long day.

 

[eastwest101]

I have had gone from Perth to Broome return on daytrips in the past and flew Qantas in the morning from T3/T4 and returned at T2 (Skywest) - this was annoying as car was parked at T3/T4... So hopping on the transit bus which adds about half hour to an already long day.

Yep - for a city with a population of 1.9 million with four/five separate airport terminals they have really snookered themselves if they ever wanted to be taken seriously as a transit airport. What a PITA.

Is it possible to construct an itinerary where you can transit all 5 PER terminals in the same trip? Maybe involving Kalgoorlie (Alliance T2) charter flight and then Qantas from Kargoorlie (T4) to Leinster (Skippers Aviation GA) and then Karratha (Virgin Australia T3) and maybe Denpessar (International T1)?? Sounds like a an AFF challenge to me... :shock:

 

[samas]

Not having been to Perth in a while, how well is all of the terminals (and airlines) signposted on the way in?

It's signposted very well, both on the Brearly Avenue approach and on the major arterials around the airport, like Tonkin, Great Eastern, Leach Highways. Also references to international and domestic have been removed. It's now signed as T1, T2 with arrows towards the 'international' side. And T3, T4 to the traditional domestic.