Tiger Airways-SeaAir Flight to Puerto Princesa and Back to Manila Bad Experience

We Travel Tripsters managed to book with Tiger Airways for a flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa during a seat sale almost a year before our scheduled date.  We were really happy to have purchased our roundtrip for two at 2,200 php.

Our supposed departure flight to Puerto Princesa is 2 pm. But, 2 months before our suppose flight, we received a notice that our departure time is adjusted to 4 pm.

Unfortunately, we've already booked our hotel stay through Agoda with no refund options so we couldn't cancel our flight.  Anyway, 2 hours difference isn't such a large gap.  Then, a month before our supposed flight, they emailed us again informing us that our departure time has been moved to 7 pm.

We were in NAIA 3 since 5:30 pm as we were advise to be an hour before our flight.  But, our flight was delayed so we were able to leave Manila at around 9:30 pm. 

So we had our dinner at the airport and were so excited to depart.

A demo for safety was performed as protocol and the light were off as we all slept. 

I read this for awhile and then slept too since there's no more nice window view to see at such late hour. =(

But, the saddest part of our trip was not being allowed to board on our flight back to Manila.  Our supposed flight back to Manila was originally 2 pm moved to 7 pm then to 9: 45 pm.   We were advise to be there 40 minutes prior to our flight.  We were there at the boarding gate at 9:05 pm but were not allowed to board for a reason that the boarding gates closes at 9 pm. Unfortunately for us, we bought our tickets on sale so we weren't entitled to bump our schedule unlike the other bumped passengers nor were we entitled to a refund.  It was New Years Eve and we were stuck in Puerto Princesa without a place to stay. =(  All the airport staff told us that we were supposed to be allowed to board as long as the plane was not arrived yet.  But, the staffs of Tiger Airways rejected us saying they will only accommodate those with reserved seating.  We had to withdraw and go to the cheapest accommodation recommended by the airport staffs who pitied us.  We had to buy a new flight the next day at a very expensive rate since it was New Year's Day.

Overall, I can't say I'm satisfied with Tiger Airways-SeaAir since it was a horrible experience for us.  This taught us a lesson or two though.

Any tips on how to avoid cases like this?