AirAsia anyone?

[creditcardman]

Anyone used this airline before? I found their prices were quite cheap from bangkok to singapore, but there maybe a reason for their cheapness?

 

[futaris]

There are actually four AirAsia's:

AirAsia X - D7 ???? flights between Kuala Lumpur and Australia, etc
AirAsia - AK??? flights based in KL and most flights to/from Malaysia
Thai AirAsia - FD??? flights based in BKK and most flights to/from Thailand
Indonesia AirAsia - QZ??? flights based in JKT and most flights to/from Indonesia

I've flown on all of them except Thai AirAsia. AirAsia X and AirAsia are about par with Tiger Airways Oz. Don't expect much amentities or decent food, but the planes are new and are "reasonably" clean.

Indonesia AirAsia planes are older Boeings.

If you don't select a seat and don't buy food then they're extremely cheap. Even moreso when they have sales.

 

[canabear]

I flew AirAsia internally in Malaysia from KL to Kota Bahru about a year ago (About a 1 hour flight) It was very cheap (RM60 or AUD20 from memory) and i found it to be very similar to flying DJ from MEL-SYD. Biggest downfall was departing from the LCC terminal in KL. Overall you cannot complain for the price when it's shorthall. Would not consider for a flight over 3 hours.

 

[ArseneV]

I did an Air Asia (AK) flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok earlier this year. It was a short flight but it was on time and baggage was out very quickly.

I'm flying them again early next year between KUL and SIN.

 

[BAM1748]

Anyone used this airline before? I found their prices were quite cheap from bangkok to singapore, but there maybe a reason for their cheapness?

Yes, I'd say these is a reason - not all airlines were created equal.

TATA cars and trucks made in India cost less, if you wouldn't buy one yourself then why not?

 

[Keith009]

I've flown Air Asia within Malaysia - they had brand spanking new A320s which was much nicer than the ageing MH 737s. It was only a 45 min flight (JHB-KUL-JHB - i do have family in JHB) each way and the ticket was "free" (had to pay tax/YQ) due to some promo. Paid an extra MYR20 for Express boarding which made the whole experience more civilised.

After all the alternative was MH, with whom I wouldn't have gotten lounge access anyway and no option of quick boarding.

I don't think I'd have flown AK had it been a longer flight and I could earn miles and/or get lounge access with the competition though.

In your case, I'd defo look into the LX fares for BKK-SIN-BKK which are priced v keenly, even the C fares.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I have flown Thai Air Asia nearly two years back. BangKok to Krabi...about 1.5 to 2 hours from memory..

For a LC flight I was quite impressed.

Brand new plane with friendly attendants. Very cheap flight..from memory about $120 all up for 5 of us.

Mind you I got Row 1 with lots of legroom

 

[schomers87]

Flew between Hanoi and Bangkok- old Qantas plane but professional, on-time and we had excess baggage and didn't charge us- about 4kg over. Not bad for a LCC at all.

 

[Keith009]

If you're able to get an LX V fare, it'd cost you all of THB4090 (approx AUD190) +++ (approx USD104.60) return. No min stay requirements as far as I can see for the ex-BKK fare.

For what you're getting LX is certainly the best value on this route. LX flies the route daily with a comfy A340-300 (tag flight from ZRH). The only slight drawback is the rather late(ish) arrival into BKK at 2245.

You can even credit miles to a *A FFP.

 

[Soundguy]

Haven't used AirAsia for a year or so but last time the flight was about 2 hours late leaving and (at that time) this was apparently quite a common thing. Apart from that it was fine although Malaysian Airlines is sometimes not much more expensive and well worth a few extra $ IMO - and you get to use a proper airport terminal. Sitting in a LCC shed for a few hours kinda kills the holiday spirit a bit....

 

[russianrob]

Does anyone know if they actually did start their flights out of Perth Sunday?

 

[oz_mark]

This report says it is happening today.
AirAsia X touches down in Western Australia > AviationRecord.com - Latest and Breaking Aviation and Airline News > Search Results

PERTH: The inaugural AirAsia X flight between Kuala Lumpur and Perth touches down on Western Australian soil today at 2.40pm.


http://ad.au.doubleclick.net/jump/aviationrecord.dfp.au/;tile=2;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?
AirAsia X’s first flight into Perth Airport’s International Terminal using the airline’s new wide-bodied airbus A330 marks its second Australian destination after the Gold Coast.

 

[ethernet]

Good luck trying to pay Air Asia online with a credit card.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience. There has been a problem with the database. An internal error has occurred, or there may be too many users on the server. If you had submitted your payment, please go to Check n Change and Check status of your Credit Card transactions to confirm the booking status. Please do not try to re-book as you may end up with a duplicate booking.
Case Number: AKnnnnnnnnn' goes the failure message.

Plus they probably bill you in US dollars, which can cost you dearly in bank collusion fees. Next time I will use Tiger, which is smart enough to prompt for billing in AussieicelandBugarianLev dollars.

FOUR times, I reached the final step and pressed enter, and FOUR times I got the failed Case Number AK...... message.

Before proceeding I re-checked with my credit card number to avoid the issue of duplicate bookings - and nothing. If VISA are reading this, the AA probably store CC details in violation of the agreement

So I rang 6 times, timed out on 2 occasions, and drop out or deliberate hangup on another 2 - so they are loosing a $$motza$$ on international calls. The fifth asked for credit card details, and not the case number - ehh why bother creating a case if it cant be accessed, and the 6th just wanted say there is an extra $10 booking fee if I wanted to do it on the phone.

Having worked in a callcentre, there are tricks to make your stats look good, and it looks like their call centre knows most of them, using the same technique as used on electronic voting machines.

So then I emailed with case number in the header and mysteriously my last FAILED booking was made successful. As I did not get confirmation the VISA credit card people should also know of the second no-no.

Which is a pity, because Tiger just undercut them by enough to give me buyer remorse. I am informed the quality of the flight drops the fuller it gets, and they cancel flights without telling you - but so does Jetstar.

I am a AK first timer, but expect to be lucky, because my instincts tell me the plane will be emptyish, as nearly all airlines are bluffing that seats will be sold after setting record high baselines. So glad to hear the financial crunch HAS dropped Asian traffic down 6% average.

 

[hedge]

They bill in $AU. I have booked with them before. Worked fine when I booked. (was the popular $0 fare sale + tax)

 

[ethernet]

Out of Australia , I was billed in Aussie , with Australia, English selected.
Out of Singapore is was SIN$
Out of Vietnam it was US dollars.
Even though Australia/English was pre-selected. In ICT usability testing is is unwise to just ignore user preferences.

Tiger is smarter - they either use IP addresses and or credit card numbers to work out nationality, and offer a last second, an option to switch in the cards base currency. Its a good little business secret that dumber airlines and online shops have yet to pick up on.

OTOH it is a blessing that AK do not have pop up 'Insurance' nag screens, which can also loose sales.

 

[oz_mark]

Good luck trying to pay Air Asia online with a credit card.

The transactions that have been made on my credit cards have been charged in MYR for internal Malaysian flights and AUD for flights ex MEL.

Before proceeding I re-checked with my credit card number to avoid the issue of duplicate bookings - and nothing. If VISA are reading this, the AA probably store CC details in violation of the agreement

PCI-DSS allows some of the credit card details to be stored in a secure manner (e.g. the PAN may be stored but not in cleartext, the CVV must not be stored). Without auditing their systems, it would be hard to make a call on whether they comply fully with the standard or not.

 

[FL360]

Tiger's exchange rate is quite bad, when I book from the SIN website I always insist them to charge my wizard credit card.

Also AirAsia is doing specials for next year's travel, ascheap as $189 MEL=>KUL one way per person all inclusive...cheaper from other cities, OOL and PER....

and they arrive in KUL in early morning (7am), from MEL anyway,
so can book a connecting flight on the same day, Tiger / Jetstar always
arrive SIN at night and have to book a hotel for a night...

 

[burmans]

Re: AirAsia anyone? Anyone brave enough to go the whole way with them

Anyone brave enough to go all the way to London with Air Asia? Would have thought with those prices it would be attractive to some.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Re: AirAsia anyone? Anyone brave enough to go the whole way with them

Anyone brave enough to go all the way to London with Air Asia? Would have thought with those prices it would be attractive to some.

I'm looking at flying to London on May 17 and was thinking about being an
Air Asia guinea pig,but I decided I'm not THAT brave.(I might be talked into it if someone else wants to pay! just kidding,:mrgreen

 

[ethernet]

I flew AirAsia X and was very happy given I snared a cheapie ticket.
I paid them extra for legroom being 6'2, and if I had to bear it, spacing in cattle class is doable.

The most outrageous negative is that you cannot upgrade your luggage after booking - or it varies per route. i bag means 15kgs. Not even 6 months ahead. Else usd 5kg. So better to insure against. This rule may vary by route, but for Vietnam - not upgradable.

My luggage took 35 minutes to Arrive in KUL - and huge walking circuit, as I think they were in terminal reservation mode. Scummy holding bay had no power points. Also did a passport micro inspection in departure cell - not sure what that was about.

Luggage: Not as miserable as Tiger.
Food: Generally no choice, choice of one - I wont call it tasty.
Drinks: No drinks included with meal ! Actually AA X did give me a free drink, but I think it varies across routes.

Space: Web price varies all over the shop. I flew Christmas Day and the plane seemed only a 1/3 full - but web showed 3x what I paid for. So very comfy. Dont pay extra if you think the plane may be less than packed.

Other: The Air Asia LCC bus often is 1/2 hourly, and takes and hour to get in town, train much much faster.

Overall, I will fly with them again, and rate them about the same as Tiger.
However Jetstar seem to snipe them pricewise. Their inflexibilty or optimism for extending stays meant I came home with a wallet full of unspent cash.
In contrast MAS treated me well. But I wont be flying MAS anytime soon, as their 'taxes' do them a grave injustice in Australia at least.