I read with interest that Air Asia X is expanding services on the London KUL route. But what happens when the route is no longer profitable? Air Asia's attitude is to send a text message one week before departure and let you know that the flights are cancelled. No alternatives provided. Just a simple cancellation. TO hell with passengers who booked months in advance.That's what happened to us. We booked last year in June having seen the adverts in the Metro so we went for KUL MDC ( Manado in Sulawesi). Whilst on holiday in Japan we got a taext to say the flights were totally cancelled. Rang Air Asia, no alternative provided. Requested to be rerouted to Makassar, was told a new reservation was required at a higher price. Anyway managed to book with Silk Air to MDC. and 5 times the price. Got to KL and called Air Asia was told by the supervisor that no rerouting or transfer is offered. Just a refund that will take 30 to days. Requested to speak to the CEO, was told that was not possible and the call cannot be transfered. Not a policy in Asia to transfer calls to the CEO's office. The supervisor informed me it was a professional airline!!!!!!!!
Does one have any recourse, considering that we had to pay 5 times more for the flight or loose the resort booking as it was paid in advance! Also had to spend overnight in Singapore! Travel insurance company tells me I have no claim as I did not miss or cancel the flight due to illness.
I guess Air Asia X did the same when they withdrew from the Abu Dhabi route recently!
Moral of this story: DO NOT BOOK WITH AIR ASIA!
PaulPenang - 24/03/2010 03:38 GMT
AirAsiaX... be careful.
Most recently, my wife and I were stranded in Abu Dhabi when AirAsiaX announced they were canceling service to/from Abu Dhabi in January this year. They didn’t notify us (their stranded passengers) until Feb 10th. Neither did they offer any accommodation nor answer our emails asking for help. We had to get back to Malaysia on our own. They won’t reimburse our additional expenses either.
They said they would refund the Abu Dhabi/Kuala Lumpur portion of our trip, but it will take them 30-50 days to process the refund. Such an attitude!
Watch out for these guys. If you are considering using AirAsiaX, It might be a good idea to develop a plan B... just in case.
Also... Our KL/Abu Dhabi trip departed KL on Jan 25. The return from Abu Dhabi was to be on March 1. I strongly suspect AirAsiaX had decided to vacate the market prior to our departure. If they knew the return portion of our tickets could never be used, why didn't the check-in agent in KL tell us?
A travel forum (simpliflying.com) posting had this to say,
"Incidentally, I had learnt about the route closure (Abu Dhabi) on Twitter around Jan 25th, and Azran himself (AirAsiaX CEO) made a public announcement in Singapore on Jan 28th. That's why I'm surprised that as a passenger who had booked a ticket wasn't informed earlier."
Farm animals get more respect than AirAsiaX passengers.
Thanks for the valuable post. I can't believe an airline would behave like that in today's competitive market. Air Asia is ruthless. I only traveled with them within Thailand, and couldn't believe how unprofessional they were in the airport check in areas. Their gate personnel & boarding area were a disappointment also. It reminded me of some kind of high school type operation. Inflight service was terrible. Once we got to BKK, we had to wait 55 mins. for our checked luggage to arrive at the carousel. Never, never again!
VintageKrug - 24/03/2010 05:47 GMT
While it IS fair to criticise, I also think you should set out what you paid to travel.
I have paid £15 one way to travel Air Asia on a short hop; the closest fare elsewhere on a "proper" carrier was more than five times that amount.
IMHO for many people for whom cost is the key criteria, waiting 55minutes for bags is not an issue and higher prices would mean they could not have travelled.
If you need top notch service, it doesn't come for free...!
It equally unfair to treat your fare paying passengers with disgust. Only informing a week earlier and cancelling a destination! It's not the cost of the flight but the lack of care !
JUST DON'T BOTHER BOOKING AIR ASIA. You only need to tell 8 people and the whole world knows. So spread the word.!
VintageKrug - 24/03/2010 21:54 GMT
Well, I just booked another two flights with them.
How much DID you actually pay for this flight bmidiamondclubfan???
And are there any airlines with which you WILL actually fly? bmi, perchance, with its penchant for removing cabins and routes at under a month's notice, ermm, exactly as you accuse Air Asia of doing....
PaulPenang - 25/03/2010 01:11 GMT
Price is not the issue. It's irrelevant. You either show some respect for your customer or you don't. If you don't, you perish. Simple.
AirAsia's growth seems to have exceeded the ability of it's management. Even Maybank (Malaysia's biggest bank) has recommended selling AirAsia stock.
How true, does the company show any respect for it's customers, leaving them high & dry ? do they treat them like a person or just a dollar sign? I hope more people will realize they're just booking "trouble" when they make a reservation. United air, Thai air & Star Alliance partners offer many alternatives, and respect their customers.
If you don't have repeat customers, your revenue will eventually go down to zero. Shame on them!
PsyDtoBe - 25/03/2010 07:14 GMT
True! Air Asia in Malaysia is the worst! Their LCCT Terminal is a joke! people are cutting the lines and the queues were endless, what worse was that, no one cares about the long Qs until your flight is about to depart!
Oh also, they don't give you any updates about delay, or whatsoever. my point is, Air Asia Malaysia is cheap in their price, cheap in their staffs attitudes, cheap in service as well as facility! If you can choose to fly with another company, don't fly with them!
Dear VintageKrug,
Price not the issue. RESPECT! Perhaps when it happens to you just before you fly you will know what I mean. Good Luck.
Yes BMI cancelled Tel Aviv route and I had friends booked on it but an alternative route was provided or full refund? CHOICE! something that lacks in AIR ASIA -. RESPECT!
MarcusUK - 25/03/2010 11:03 GMT
I took AirAsiaX service from Melbourne to try them out last year, in their then premium economy seat. This is with their New A333 aircraft.
I also hear their A340 about to be refurbished with flat beds with 2 aircraft, are reliable & haven't been cancelled yet. At approx £600 STN - KUL, one way, with other Airlines at £1,300 one way & the return at £400 as they don't rip you off for tax like the UK), they have established reliability on these major routes.
I always prefer SQ, MH, TG intra Asia, with Business fares not being so vastly different, sometimes Thailand to Malaysia or domestic flights only %20 more of the economy ticket.
Fares have shot up to Asia at the Moment in C class, with many Airlines pricing PE at the previous Business fare rate.
Yet they remain very profitable, & successful, taking business from MH SQ TG in Asia...
I would have thought their long haul London & Australia routes are priority to keep running smoothly, & indeed the review in BT of Air Asia's new Flat bed was very good. With No frills but a good bed to sleep the 13 hrs STN - KUL, I would happily pay then £400 one way with them to try when the new cabins are fitted.
Did you check your conditions of contract? You entered a contract when you purchased the ticket from Air Asia - do you remember ticking the box on the website? Anyway, the relevant clause says:
"9.2 Cancellation, Changes of Schedules: At any time after a booking has been made we may change our schedules and/or cancel, terminate, divert, postpone reschedule or delay any flight where we reasonably consider this to be justified by circumstances beyond our control or for reasons of safety or commercial reasons. In the event of such flight cancellation, we shall ***at our option***, either:
carry you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your booking;
or should you choose to travel at another time, retain the value of your fare in a credit account for your future travel provided that you must re-book within three (3) months therefrom. "
So, Air Asia are perfectly in their right to cancel. Depending on their "option", they *could* have allowed you to re-route with no additional charge, but they were under no obligation to do so
If you don't like the Ts&Cs, might I suggest you find an airline with a contract more favourable to you. And please can you let us know if you find one...
PaulPenang - 25/03/2010 11:19 GMT
Yes, the airline has the right to cancel. They also have a moral obligation (plus it's good business) to notify their customers, in a timely manner, about the service being discontinued.
It's really weird they don't see the importance of that.
This is my opinion of Air Asia. You may not agree but this is a space to air your views. Like or not, good or bad. We all can have our say. How many of us read the conditions? Me, I have better things to do. So I pay and make my choices. Bad or good. I judge it according to my needs. But I think respect for passengers is paramount.
VintageKrug - 26/03/2010 11:59 GMT
But you are not prepared to say how much you paid for the ticket.
Just completed my first round trip on Air Asia, BKK-KUL-BKK which was a hasty add on to a long-time booked trip to Vientiane with TH via BKK. some interesting lessons, especially after experiencing LCCs in Europe.
I pre-printed my boarding cards (this can be done up to 15 days in advance and, unless you buy a seat allocation in advance, you are given no choice of seat but do get a seat number) so avoided immigration in BKK as I had hand luggage only. However, Air Asia in BK were religiously applying their 7 kg rule to the main piece of hand luggage to had to do some reorganisation to put all books etc into my backpack!! Outbound LOOKED fine - incoming aircraft on time but it then went technical with no clear indication of likely resolution. A vague offer over the tannoy to transfer some passengers (those who heard) to the next Air Asia flight (a Thai based aircraft) was taken up by some of us so had a rush to another gate and limited check regarding who we were. Free seating for all of us interloppers. Therefore arrived about 3 hours late but could have been much worse.
KUL Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) is interesting - a temporary structure while they build Terminal 2 at KLIA. Limited control over arriviong and departing passengers - I THINK I could have elected to go to Domestic arrivals instead of International without any form of check or, indeed, boared one of the departing aircraft there. Immigration queues are long.....
Return was fine - no queues and early departure and arrival. Clueless me thought I could go to the Thai transfer desk to pick up my boarding pass - could not print it beforehand for some reason - for my onward flight to Vientiane. No way! "You travelled on a LCC therefore there is no connection!" I had to go through immigratioon, upstairs to Departures and start over again with the queues etc. So I was in Thailand for 15 minutes!!.
I guess LCCs in Europe do not really interface in major airports with what Thai staff at the transfer desk called "real airlines" so this transfer issue does not really arise.
Overall Air Asia assessment? Not bad - staff do not have the fine service touch of most Asian carriers - its almost as if some of them are trained to be assertive. Catering looked good - its paid for in advance for hot meals or onboard payment for snacks. Security issues at KUL LCCT and in the (very helpful) transfer process to the alternative flight in BKK.
Are there many budget carriers that have stepped into the long haul market?
I have used Air Asia in Asia, it works, but am not sure I would use Air Asia longhaul. A bit like Ryan Air or Easy Jet flying to New York, it just doesnt seem right!!
The only other one I can think of is Jetstar.
Binman62 - 05/10/2010 15:38 GMT
I have flown with Air Asia from Macau to Kuching and did so as full service carriers were 5 times the price. 2 days before travel they altered the departure time by 12 hours ....earlier. This was not an issue and given what I paid I put it down to a case of "you get what you pay for" However it made me think about future travel plans, and since that experience I have avoided almost all travel on low cost carriers anywhere. Caveat Emptor must be the watch words and whilst I have, and will continue to be, critical of BA and other full service carriers; the fact is you get what you pay for. Yes BA have cancelled flights on me this year, they have lost my bags and delayed me, but I have never been abandoned and have been properly compensated when things have gone wrong. Between them and Amex I have survived the outrageous fortunes of air travel this year.
As a foot note, Air Asia could not behave like this on flights from Europe which are covered by regulation 261/2004
Having had one very bad experience with Air Asia, I would never consider flying it again. Had the choice recently as a last minute booking from Colombo, but chose Sri Lankan Airlines and the flights were on time and the service excellent. As it was just an overnight stay for me in Kuala Lumpur, it was the same crew and it was good to know they recognised me and very professional and pleasant. You get what you pay for. Since it was only an overnight trip I could not risk the uncertainty of Air Asia! Try Sri Lankan website for hot deals and you will be surprised at the low price they charge.
