Air Asia No Service/ Flyers Beware

[roego]

\ery hard to get promo fares as someone said u have 2 search day by day.
AND REMEMBER do everything correctly as Air Asia will not help u fix it. If you talk to anyone get their name and write down time and date as no one will admit to anything. Will give you the run around with emails if you can get any reply.
Sent registered letter no reply. I have confirmed booking for flight that does not exist and cannot get an answer.
WHEN U CALL HERE, SWITCH TO MALAYSIA and u will just hold and hold on.
And if you book wife and self on same E Ticket one will tell you auto seated together other will tell u unless u pay for selection could be separate.
SERVICE IS NON EXISTENT

 

[Mr Ed]

Wait till you get on board and up in the air. Then you'll know about no service. hahahahahahahaha
I dont know about anyone else but I just hate with a passion greasy black hand prints left on the cowling of jets in plain veiw of the poor sucker 11k above the earth.

 

[fortymilliondaggers]

I associate no service with this airline by thinking back to when I flew them to the Gold Coast. They ran out of beer an hour out of Malaysia. No beer on a flight to Australia? Do they not want to make money?

 

[drron]

Definitely no guarantee that as a couple booked together-ie booking is for 2 people-that you will sit together.On our first flight tried to get a change of seat which ended up with us both in the same seat :shock:.Once bitten twice shy and on next trip to Asia I am using a competitor even though base fare is more-however when adding baggage etc there really is very little difference in fares cf an Air Asia $0 fare.Amazing how their taxes were double that of the competition.

 

[david870mdg]

I associate no service with this airline by thinking back to when I flew them to the Gold Coast. They ran out of beer an hour out of Malaysia. No beer on a flight to Australia? Do they not want to make money?

Hillarious. The Irony.

Low Cost Carrier "Service" = Non Existent.
You get what you pay for.

 

[russianrob]

I also struggle to understand people who book "no service airlines" and then complain about the lack of service. You get what you pay for people!

As regards to Air Asia X in general. I have flown them many, many times between PER and KUL, and thence onward within Asia. Their planes have always been newish, in good condition, with helpful FA's (never over a size 6), and I have always eaten well, drunk my fill, and got the seat I wanted without getting additional overweight baggage charges. It's called planning!
Compare that lot with Qantas and guess who loses?
And I find their new call centre ok. Ever tried to contact Deathstar lately?

When I am doing a complicated flight grouping I will always book with a "full service airline". It is worth the extra money to get phone and email assistance for changes or when things go wrong.

 

[ceavoi]

I'm with you Redroo

it really amazes me how people complain when flying a 'no frills' airline. you do get what you pay for.
i've flown the flight from KL to MEL - the check in was not much to be desired especially the security at KLCT. boarding was at least straight forward even if you can't find the actual check in terminal. the flight itself was fine, the meal good well mine was and the plane newish. my only grind was that i couldn't work out there dumb reclining seat. the seats don't actually recline but rather the fax leather you sit on slides up and down giving the appears you have reclined. but look apart from that you do get what you pay for.

i took this trip because i had lack of money at the time and it was cheap and it got me to KL and back to OZ without too much fuss.

 

[k_sheep]

I've flown intraasia and OOL-KUL dozens of times with airasia, and I keep going back. You get exactly what you pay for, and more I think! I've only had one bad flight with them, and that was due to my seat pick, not them.

 

[qf1020]

I am happy to put up with terrible service for the price you pay (my flight coming up with them was $160 return to Kuala Lumpur).

On a side note, does anyone know if you can upgrade from the standard seats to the XL seats at the airport and roughly how much it costs?

 

[k_sheep]

It was about $250 KUL-OOL last time I went to upgrade at check in. Which I think is a bit steep considering you're paying for extra space only, not service.

 

[NYCguy]

They ran out of beer an hour out of Malaysia. No beer on a flight to Australia? Do they not want to make money?

Perhaps they're more interested in avoiding the unpleasant, perhaps even revolting, prospect of a plane full of drunk yobbos?

As others have said, you get what you pay for.

 

[fortymilliondaggers]

Perhaps they're more interested in avoiding the unpleasant, perhaps even revolting, prospect of a plane full of drunk yobbos?

As others have said, you get what you pay for.

Naturally: pay nothing get nothing. Equally, sell nothing, make no money. This matters because onboard sales seem to be a crucial part of their business model. I agree that responsible service of alcohol is always important, particularly in a confined space like an aeroplane.

What do you guys think about the viability of these guys? Will they be around long term?

We've never really seen the likes of $69, $99 or even $149 fares from Australia to Asia before. I understand they don't sell the whole plane at these prices, but what do you think the 'break even' average ticket price you'd need to make a modest profit on this route? I'm concerned because I don't get the impression that many people are prepared to pay enough to offset these 'loss leading' fares, parituclarly with the economy and discounting from the likes Singapore Air.

 

[drron]

The cheap fares are an illusion for most pax.Looking at the run KUL-SIN next year so looked at Air Asia which was advertising a 0 ringgits fare.However when taxes etc and baggage fees were added it turned out to be exactly the same fare as Malaysian whose base price was 132 ringgits.Taxes etc were higher with Air asia than Malaysian.

 

[aikman]

They don't have zero fares anymore. All quoted prices include taxes.

I did MEL-KUL-MEL in last couple of weeks and both legs were 80%+ full. You'd think a few of those people would've paid full price.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

The cheap fares are an illusion for most pax.Looking at the run KUL-SIN next year so looked at Air Asia which was advertising a 0 ringgits fare.However when taxes etc and baggage fees were added it turned out to be exactly the same fare as Malaysian whose base price was 132 ringgits.Taxes etc were higher with Air asia than Malaysian.

I find that hard to believe - Air Asia have zero fuel surcharge and zero admin fees - the taxes they collect are only the government/airport required charges.

Malaysia Airlines still charge quite a high fuel surcharge

 

[serfty]

They don't have zero fares anymore. All quoted prices include taxes.

I did MEL-KUL-MEL in last couple of weeks and both legs were 80%+ full. You'd think a few of those people would've paid full price.

Welcome to AFF.

ddron post was referring to advertisement in Asia where the listed fares do not have to be inclusive.

Advertising in Oz, they do need to be so.

 

[Evan]

Taxes and surcharges here are high everywhere i guess but for sure you know about it in Asia.
When you look at how much of the total cost is even just real govt airport taxes it almost always is a lot more than the base fare.

For example a $40 fare on TR came out to a minimum of $165 (SGD) after all the taxes etc are factored into the mix, and $5 or $25 extra per segment for seating normal or premium.
That was SIN-HKT-SIN if anybody was wondering. (HKT = coughet)

Always look at the total fare on an LCC before you even think they are cheap, all those convenience fee's and seating fees add up ! (Yes you need to have some seating charge just to be assured you will sit next to who your traveling with !)

 

[drron]

They don't have zero fares anymore. All quoted prices include taxes.

I did MEL-KUL-MEL in last couple of weeks and both legs were 80%+ full. You'd think a few of those people would've paid full price.

As serfty said i was looking on their main website.
Dazz81.I had air asia and Malaysian sites both open and the Air Asia taxes were definitely slightly higher than Malaysian-so although they say no admin charges-well .
But the reason there would have to be a significant price differential for me to ever use them again is service.BKK-HKT-wife and I assigned the same seat.HKT-BKK-significant delay.No communication from staff.Even to the change of gate.Fortunately due to the training I received here I was able to surmise a gate change when a TG plane pulled into the advertised gate and so lined up at the only unallocated gate and got the drop on most other pax.Then no organisation when we landed at BKK-parked on tarmac and had to wait for the Air asia busses.
You certainly get what you pay for.And I agree I am not typical of the pax that do use LCCs.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Well, I still say you are wrong, Im on Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines sites right now... here is the fare breakdown on MEL/KUL/MEL... out 27 sep, return 4 Oct which I just got quotes on

Air Asia:
Depart
478.00 AUD1 Guest @ 478.00
67.00 AUD Airport Tax
Return
560.00 AUD1 Guest @ 560.00
23.00 AUD Airport Tax
=$1128 (of which $90 is tax)

Malaysia:


Adult: 1 airfare AUD 945.00 tax: AUD 330.34 (details) AUD 1275.34 each

Now... of the $330.34, fuel surcharge is $234.80, meaning they charge you $95.54 in govt/airport taxes. Which is higher than Air Asia.

So - there you have it. Since Air Asia abolished fuel surcharge/admin fees their fares are very transparent and simple to decipher indeed. And the website quotes you the immediate all-in tax inclusive price on the first page of search results.

 

[drron]

Well, I still say you are wrong, Im on Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines sites right now... here is the fare breakdown on MEL/KUL/MEL... out 27 sep, return 4 Oct which I just got quotes on

Air Asia:
Depart
478.00 AUD1 Guest @ 478.00
67.00 AUD Airport Tax
Return
560.00 AUD1 Guest @ 560.00
23.00 AUD Airport Tax
=$1128 (of which $90 is tax)

Malaysia:


Adult: 1 airfare AUD 945.00 tax: AUD 330.34 (details) AUD 1275.34 each

Now... of the $330.34, fuel surcharge is $234.80, meaning they charge you $95.54 in govt/airport taxes. Which is higher than Air Asia.

So - there you have it. Since Air Asia abolished fuel surcharge/admin fees their fares are very transparent and simple to decipher indeed. And the website quotes you the immediate all-in tax inclusive price on the first page of search results.

Firstly different route,different time.
Secondly very interesting that if MH dropped their fuel surcharge they would be cheaper.
Thirdly add in luggage,CC fee and they are virtually the same even with MH charging that fuel surcharge.