Can AirAsiaX get away with this?

[anat0l]

Aviation seems to be the only business where if you buy their product, and decide not to use it, they keep your money anyway. I can order goods from stores and pay in advance, and if they arrive I can say I dont want them and get my money back. Could you imagine losing your car deposit if you change your mind?
Maybe the ACCC should look into the airlines?

Maybe you should also put accommodation into the same basket. Non-refundable, advance purchase bookings ring any bells?

Same thing with event hire companies (non-refundable deposits for events once you sign the contract to have your event).

Qantas like MAS has some of the highest taxes in the world.And how come flying the same trip with someone else the taxes are lower.Do they turn a motor off??

A handful of searches going to Europe shows that there are a fair few airlines with the same levels of taxes as Qantas and Malaysia Airlines. Only a minority of other carriers have smaller taxes (read: no fuel surcharges; incorporated into the base fare). It is certainly not as polar as every airline has a very different tax profile.

It is downright thievery. I am quite willing to contact the ACCc what about some others joining with me. They have your fare for the cancellation why they still rob you.

What is downright thievery? I don't get this statement.

I had a question here . If Alan Joyce knew about it then he authorised dishonest practice?
If he didn't know about it? Does that make him incompetent?
Did the Board know about it? If thet did AZTIC should be laying charges.
If they didn't they should be asking their CEO to resign.

And that's discussion for another thread.


Anyway, most of this discussion isn't relevant to the topic.

 

[Sumnerned]

Why not claim on your travel insurance?

 

[Onepoppa]

Many people are missing some points. Firstly - fuel surcharges are costs imposed by the AIRLINE, not by any external authority, so they are just part of the fare. It is fact totally ridiculous and absolutely misleading that airlines are able to show them as additional to the fare. The downside of accepting this is that I guess that they are then governed by whatever refund rules the airline attaches to the tickets.

However most of the other charges - airport taxes, security levies, and the like are costs which the airline is passing on to the passenger. Quite obviously if the passenger doesn't fly on the ticket there are no taxes imposed in respect of that passenger, no charges paid by the airline - ergo, no costs to be reimbursed - they will be charged in respect of whoever occupies the seat on the particular flight, and recovered that way.

Trouble is that these charges are the least part of the problem, and not of sufficient magnitude to chase, although someone who booked , say, 4 tickets and then cancelled, would have evidence of a scam the extent which might be able to be appreciated by the ACCC. Legally I do not believe that an airline, or anyone else, can seek to retain an amount which which is to recover a fee which they have not been charged.

 

[danmate]

They do refund airport tax - fill in this form

airasia.com/my/en/faqdetailsform.page

select the option for refund!

 

[ethernet]

All airline cases going to court are only tried to be resolved at the extreme very last minute by phone, with the compo being more airline tix.

I think maximum damage would be to have each clause tested in .au under unfair contract conditions, and if they did not supply some BS reason why - it could go against them.

Mind you, they have done *SFA* against hire car contract and partial insurance yet - you know - no underbody or roof insurance.

I would not recommend turning up on the day, checking in many pieces disposable, irregular shaped luggage, then walking out so they get delayed with an unload.

That is a good enough safety reason for airlines not to swindle pax with contract money grubbing. Is there a name change option? Also fare prices THIS year are out of step, so something could change later if they have some BS promo.

Finally, to rub it in, I moved to a cheaper date/overall price, and all the excess was called 'spoilage' - yep they keep my money
both ways.

 

[gphamor]

Regarding Air Asia, we booked several flights with them on a forthcoming trip to SE Asia. One of these flights was from Yangon to Bangkok. We then had a connecting flight, from BKK which was the airport nominated as the arrival airport on the original flight.
Some time later Air Asia sent an SMS that the arrival airport in Bangkok had changed and as a result we no longer had time to catch the following flight out of BKK.
We therefore had to re-book that flight later in the day via Bangkok Airlines. This incurred a loss as a result of having to cancel the original second flight out of BKK.
I emailed Air Asia on numerous occasions, had a "live chat" with one of their reps at least 3 times,, requesting a refund, and received no response apart from a request for "more information".
The airline is an absolute disgrace and I would urge any prospective traveller not to fly with them.

 

[banger2]

Having read through all the posts, I feel somewhat wiser about what to expect.
I only recently travelled for the first time with an LCC, on a great deal from Scoot to SIN return.
It was a pleasant enough experience, because nothing went wrong!
Aviation seems to be the only business where if you buy their product, and decide not to use it,
they keep your money anyway. I can order goods from stores and pay in advance, and if they arrive I can say I dont want them and get my money back. Could you imagine losing your car deposit if you change your mind?
Maybe the ACCC should look into the airlines?

Actually, on every MTA motor vehicle sale contract, in NSW at least, the dealer CAN claim up to 5% cancellation fee should you cancel the sales contract outside of a finance declinal. If you left $1k dep on a 20k car and then cancel the sales contract, the dealer is within its rights to claim the 5% (1k).....and the contract is signed by the customer accepting those T&C...much the same way we tick "I accept..." an airlines T&C when booking a fare.

Depending on the severity of the T&C this may or may not be fair (or reasonable) for one of the parties.....

But I am with the OP, after a very sour taste from my first AAX experience, I will not book them again unless there really is no other acceptable choice (and certainly I couldn't care less about how cheap their fare would be because of my previous experience).