Air Asia X MEL>KUL

[soorox]

I was looking at flying D7 in December to KUL, and looked at their fares, with a difference between premium and economy cabins of about $300 AUD, but I decided to give premium a try.

Has anyone tried D7's new Premium seats before? And what do they offer for Premium guests? I'm abit worried that they might not offer IFE.

Much info appreciated, thanks

Soorox

 

[k_sheep]

Premium only gets you a better seat, dedicated check in (which may or may not be staffed) and a premium tag on your luggage. No included food, drinks, IFE, blankets, etc etc.

 

[dezza]

Food and drink is included, pillows and blankets.

 

[Saab34]

Although I don't think its unlimited food/drinks, pretty sure you need to pay after the first free quota.

 

[clifford]

You also need to be mindful that AAX can cancel flights at whim, as they have done with Wednesday flights MEL-KUL recently. My wife and I were booked on one such flight next month for a holiday to Penang, but that is now shot to pieces because of Air Asia.

I have asked them to refund fares for all of our flights affected by their cancellations, and have cancelled hotels etc (thankfully refundable). However, they have not bothered to get back to me on my request, so I can only guess as to whether they are actually going to process a refund. If I don't hear anything within a couple of weeks (I don't expect to), I'll get my credit card company to contact them and query the charges (it usually works with Amex).

So, buyer beware with Air Asia. If you can afford to forfeit the fare and not have any consequences if the flight is cancelled, fine. In my case this is just once too often (this is the 7th AAX cancellation I have suffered this year), and I won't be booking them again! I'd rather pay more and get a reliable airline from here on in.

And, to avoid AAX and LCC's in general, we have changed our holiday to Adelaide.

Good luck...

 

[Mrmaxwell]

In my case this is just once too often (this is the 7th AAX cancellation I have suffered this year), and I won't be booking them again!

This seems pretty unlucky...can you advise the process when they cancel a flight? Are you saying no alternate flight is offered to you?

 

[soorox]

My flight is booked on a Saturday, that would be no problem right? As I think D7 do quite well with Saturday flights out of MEL.

This is what I get for flying Premium;
- Priority Chech-In
- Priority Boarding
- A Combo Meal
- Priority Baggage
- Pillows & Blankets
- Pick A Seat
- 20 Kg Checked Baggage
- Lie Flat Seat

But Extras I have to Pay for;
- Extra Meals & Drinks (After Serve 1)
- Amenty Kits
- Extra Luggage above 20 Kg, but alas cheaper than Y pax

Overall I'm just flying D7 to KUL, then 3K to SIN then QF (Y) back home to MEL on the A380 and all up it was about 1550 AUD, I'm quite happy, unless if D7 or 3K pop up some surprises.

One last question, Does D7 offer buy on board IFE?

 

[banger2]

I had a similar experience to Clifford. Booked Premium MEL-KUL. 4 days before departure..email says cancelled. 1hr wait on the phone and was offered the early morning flight in premium...great I thought as thats the flight I really wanted, but it was $300 more, but they didnt charge me! Flight day comes, get to checkin at exactly 3hrs prior and its full and cheking in! Im the last in the premium queue, it takes 1 hr to reach the counter...basically to be told go to CS...I knew how many seat in Premium there are and my fuming hour wait told me there were more people in front of me than seats, anyway in customer service "sorry KUL made a mistake rebooking you, we are over booked and you have been downgraded to economy...is that OK?"....what the hell...is that OK? I was mad but calm...anyway with 2hrs prior to flight, they have me by the curlies(what am I going to book another flight at 11pm??), what can I do? Made for a very uncomfortable flight Was told would get a refund of the difference and all the service of premium without the actual seat...got the comfort pack...good start...no food ever offered(even though its part of the Premium service I paid for) and I was too angry to chase something which should have been asked of me(considering they make money from food sales they didnt ask me if I even wanted to purchase food in either of the 2 service runs...maybe I looked very angry??).
Sent a firm but clear email message to them of my very disappointing experince, and 2 weeks later received a somewhat weak "marketing" type apology and they would refund the difference(no more and no less) within 30 working days! Good to see they make money off my money while they hold it. The refund did appear within 3 weeks anyway.
Long story, from my perspective, book Premium and hope you actually get it. If you book economy and expect little but a seat and to arrive at your destination on time you will be satisfied!
Rant over!
Ash

 

[clifford]

Long story, from my perspective, book Premium and hope you actually get it. If you book economy and expect little but a seat and to arrive at your destination on time you will be satisfied!
Rant over!
Ash

As I said earlier, I no longer book AAX Intercontinental flights, as I can't afford to pay for their stuff-ups.

I now book full service airlines such as Emirates or Qantas (will soon be a Gold FF with both), which do, on the face of it, cost more, but are much more reliable, so avoid extra costs and hassle by having fewer changes, etc.

AAX has actually cost me thousands of dollars extra this year through their cancellations. It's all very well offering an alternative flight on another day (but obviously not in the case of a cancelled route such as AUH), but there may be a huge cost to the passenger in this, such as missed connections, hotel bookings, etc.

My advice is just don't fly AAX unless you are prepared to accept the hassles and extra costs that crop up all too frequently.

 

[Flashback]

As I said earlier, I no longer book AAX Intercontinental flights, as I can't afford to pay for their stuff-ups.

I now book full service airlines such as Emirates or Qantas (will soon be a Gold FF with both), which do, on the face of it, cost more, but are much more reliable, so avoid extra costs and hassle by having fewer changes, etc.

AAX has actually cost me thousands of dollars extra this year through their cancellations. It's all very well offering an alternative flight on another day (but obviously not in the case of a cancelled route such as AUH), but there may be a huge cost to the passenger in this, such as missed connections, hotel bookings, etc.

My advice is just don't fly AAX unless you are prepared to accept the hassles and extra costs that crop up all too frequently.

.. and unless you have good travel insurance

 

[clifford]

.. and unless you have good travel insurance

Unfortunately, most travel insurance isn't "good", as I have found out to my cost.

Getting reimbursed for your Air Asia tickets is easy, but not so easy with connecting flights on other airlines. And where there is a major AAX delay caused by MX, many insurance policies won't pay out.

The bottom line is that if you have to be somewhere, and you can't tolerate a 24-hour delay, just don't book AAX.