Tigerair ramps up competition with $13 airfares

Australia’s airlines are playing tit for tat with Tigerair now the latest to offer rock-bottom sale prices.

The budget carrier will begin its Halloween sale tonight at 8pm, where customers can snap up flights for just $13.

The cheap fares will be on sale until midnight - just four hours – and will be available across nine routes around the country including Sydney to the Gold Coast, Sydney to the Whitsundays, Adelaide to Melbourne and Brisbane to Cairns.

Related: Virgin pays $1 for Tigerair

But the hype surrounding cheap flight offers have a history of not living up to expectations with customers left disappointed when websites crack under pressure.

The Tigerair offer follows this week’s Jetstar sale that left many customers furious and empty handed after they advertised $88 fares to Bali.

#jetstarfail had tickets 3 times! Website times out. Wasted over 2 hours. Shocking @JetstarAirways #jetstar pic.twitter.com/pJgH9P0Jhs

— Mr D (@17th_and_Vain) October 27, 2014

Hundreds of customers were left in the lurch after the website and phone lines were unresponsive.

Similarly, when Tigerair offered $10 flights last April, their website crashed.

But Tigerair Australia Head of Communications Vanessa Regan told News Corp she was confident their website could now handle the traffic.

Related: Qantas eclipses Virgin announcement with latest redesigns

While the flights are being advertised for $13 dollars, there is still a booking and service fee.

AirAsia also joined the cheap flight battle this week with its introductory sale of $99 one-way to Bali.