Air Asia KL to London

[hal55]

The KL - London route is now open for booking but finding some details is hard. It doesn't look as though there is a stopover so the flight looks a long one, can anyone confirm flying time for this leg and AirAsia seems to charge for baggage with no free allowance. Add in the cost of meals, which I'm pretty sure have to be purchased as well, and I'm starting to wonder whether a "full service" airline might not be the better bet after all. BA had a good special recently Brisbane to UK, with a Europe side trip included, for a bit over $2000 return. Starting to wonder if I shouldn't have grabbed it while it was available.
Finally, has anyone seen the seating plan for their Airbus and will the economy seats be on par with other major carriers.

Thanks in aadvance, credit card is ready to go.....

Hal55

 

[oz_mark]

Not sure on the flying time, but they will fly non-stop from KUL (LCCT) to Stanstead. They are proposing an A340 on that sector, and I believe it will be configured 2-4-2 (some of the 330's get 3-3-3, but don't think this is the case on the 340)

 

[comint]

Just checked prices. Qantas ECONOMY sale price, PER-LHR, middle of next year - prices out around $2578 return.

AirAsiaX XL CLASS sale price, PER-STN, middle of next year - prices out about $200 more (including 15kg checked bag & food, but with an overnight connection in KL.) [4733myr + 743AUD ~ 2743AUD return]

XL Seat selection - on PER-KUL; 2-3-2 but on KUL-STN; it's 2-2-2 (very nice). (Economy on the London flight is 2-4-2)

 

[PlutekPlutek]

I'm not so convinced. Unless you live in, or near the cities that Air Asia serves, you might as well fly Qantas.

I looked at departure dates around late may (around 28th) from Australia, and returning in late june (around 28).

Their flight leaves OOL at 8:40am. I live in Newcastle, and there are no morning connections that get you there, so would have to fly the night before and sleep in a hotel. Jetsaver fare for 27-th May NTL-OOL costs $79. Add to that accomodation near OOL, assume $100. A return flight from OOL-KUL with meals, 20kg bag, and the kit (no assigned seat) costs $850 including taxes. A return flight from KUL-Stansted costs around $1260, also including meals, 20kg checkeg back, blankets. The return flight leaves London at 01:25am, and arrives in KUL at 21:25 the next day. No connections available to OOL until 10:40 the next morning. Add a $100 for accomodation in KUL, although I am not sure what you could get for that. The KUL-OOL flight arrives at 20:20, so once more have to overnight before a connecting flight to NTL. Once more accomodation, assume $100. Jetsaver fare to NTL next day costs $119.
So summing up all of that, excluding the accomodation is $2308. For the same dates, you can fly SYD-LHR with Qantas for $2352, with pretty good connection times, and not having to spend 3 or 4 days travelling back.
Not very low cost compared to QF, unless you actually live in OOL, Perth, or Melbourne, which I'd still pay the extra 200 to fly QF given the weird arrival and departure times of AirAsia, and the coughpy connections in KUL.

 

[hal55]

I've done figures till I'm batty, and flying AirAsia just isn't adding up as a viable choice out of the Gold Coast. The British Airways special that I thought had finished is still going into December and that will give a side trip into Nice or a selection of other European destinations free of charge. Haven't decided for sure but it's looking likely as the way I'll go.

Hal55

 

[Evan]

Hal55,

You have pretty much figured out some of the issues with LCC's, its often a perceived low cost options but you should never rule out the full service carriers.

As somebody said here, they have family that needed to fly, went straight to jetstar page and booked, when questioned why they said it was jetstar and being an LCC they would be the cheapest wouldn't they ? well in this case not at all.

E

 

[JohnK]

Unless there is a sale, with restricted travel times, I have found Air Asia X airfares not very competitive and connection times in both OOL and KUL requiring an overnight if you are not based in OOL. And again as someone mentioned as you add up all the costs they price out to almost the same cost as a full service carrier.

Will be interesting to see the JQ airfares when they eventually start flying to European destinations. I believe they will be along the same lines as Air Asia X and most times better off with a full service carrier that also has interlining agreements with other airlines.

 

[markrun]

I fly to London a couple of times a year and although my loyalty lies normally with BA & QF, there were no Classic QFF seats for the London - SYD leg of my trip next year.

So I gave myself a challenge of getting back as cheaply as I can. It's a hobby of mine sometimes. I've managed to get $32 SYD-coughet, $137 SYD-Japan, 1c SYD-Albury, $19.95 MEL-Perth, $19.95 MEL-Darwin, 1p London-Dublin etc etc etc)

So, I got an Air Asia X bargain. At the beginning of November, they had a birthday sale which was a FREE flight ($0) KUL - Australia so I booked mine to OOL + tax & charges which worked out at $208.99

I was waiting for the launch of the London to KUL to complete my missing link which happened last week. The acutal flight was GBP 41.00 + tax (total GBP 99) and then added on an exit seat for extra leg room (GBP 20), Meal (GBP 7) and 25kg bag check (GBP 20). So a total of GBP 146.00. This translated to $349.01 on my credit card.

So $558 from London to OOL is not a bad deal. I understand it could be as costly as a full-serve carrier but with this one, I was lucky.

And gives me a chance to overnight in KUL to see a bit of the city. KUL is one of the only Asian capitals I've not seen.

Now all I've got to worry about is OOL-SYD !

Just wanted to share that with you.