Air Asia Update

[Thaiguy]

Well Guys I have just flown AirAsia direct to the Gold Coast (Australia) twice in the last 2 weeks .Twice = first and last.
Sure we know its a budget airline but with a few cute tricks.
Now listen to my tale and see what you think ?
First Tee rak and I have decided to go back to Aus. by Airasia instead of Thai International or Jetstar because it goes direct to Coolangatta from Kuala Lumpur.
I try to book online as follows :Udon Thani /Bkk/KL/Gold Coast , no problem, worked out all the connections and commenced to book using my trusty mastercard.
No problem Udon to Bkk, card accepted and confirmed , now tried to book BKK to KL and KL to Gold Coast -ah no ! card not accepted , try again several times , no go, card not accepted also now connections have been lost because of the delay in booking? ( remember Udon is booked and not refundable) .
I then ring AirAsia direct , no problem , suddenly the connections can still be ,made Ok say I lets do it.
Now originally the whole connection one way for me and return for Tee Rak was 42000 Bht (Including Udon/BKK) but now the price is 47700 without Udon which has already been paid for?
No way say I, to dear I will try again -nope card not accepted again , back on the phone -Oh yes no problems we can book you through ( this is 15mins later) price is now 49900 (and Udon is not included having already been paid) a difference of 7900Bht Plus Udon of 4000bht all up an increase of 11900bht? - reason? ,because I did not book online for promo rate?
Mind you THE CARD THAT WAS REFUSED ONLINE WAS ACCEPTED ON THE PHONE BOOKING?
I asked for refund in Australia and you can imagine the reply.
Somehow I seem to smell a very dead rat around AirAsia - am I being unjust in thinking this?
Oh yes I nearly forgot , anyone who thinks they are going to land in Kuala Lampur International are in for a rude shock , you go to the LCC terminal ( Low Cost Carrier) should be Low Quality Carrier, No covered walkway , long walk in the rough , no air conditioning, hot as hell , and then we check in ! Opens 40 mins late , not a chair in site , ( pull up a tile and sit down) and an area like a low class Chook shed.
Pilots and onboard staff all good and deserve to work for a better airline.
Enjoy.

[good2bhappy]

I just flew return to Penang.
Excelent

[MeMock]

I have had many CC booking problems with AA. Once they charged me three times for the same flight. It took 4 international phone calls and 3 months later to get my money back.

[Marmite the Dog]

I'm doing the KL to Gold Coast trip with them over Songkran. Considering I only paid 10,000 Baht return, I don't care if I have to sit in a shed for a wee while.

[MeMock]

Thats the bottom line isn't it Marmers, I will still use them if I can get a cheap ticket. 10,000 baht return...sweet.

[Marmite the Dog]

Thats the bottom line isn't it Marmers, I will still use them if I can get a cheap ticket. 10,000 baht return...sweet.

Aye, trousers.

[Chili Pepper]

Never had any complaints with Air Asia, booking online efficient as well. I think you can even pay at 7 Eleven.

They also just added a direct Bali route and a really cheap KL to London flight recently although I wouldn't really fly them long haul as you know what you get with AirAsia, cheap and cheerful.

That sucks that the price jumped online but to be honest if it was late notice its to be expected. For example I wished I'd booked a flight to Bali for Songkran which was initially as little as 6k return, now looking at about 9k. Its still around 50% cheaper than any other airline for that route.

I think you get what you pay for with AA. Did you mean 50k for 2 people to AUS? If so that sounds reasonable?

[ThaiSpy]

,

Oh yes I nearly forgot , anyone who thinks they are going to land in Kuala Lampur International are in for a rude shock , you go to the LCC terminal ( Low Cost Carrier) should be Low Quality Carrier, No covered walkway , long walk in the rough , no air conditioning, hot as hell , and then we check in ! Opens 40 mins late , not a chair in site , ( pull up a tile and sit down) and an area like a low class Chook shed.

The AirAsia website pretty clearly shows KUL as "Kuala Lumpur LCCT".

Have been through that place at least a dozen times and can't recall every seat being full in the terminal; you must have hit it at an especially bad time. The worst stroll from the plane to the terminal or vice versa is just a few hundred meters and usually a lot less at least for the typical Bangkok flight.

One of the reasons their flights are so cheap is that they don't have to pay a ton of money so pax can park their butts in a fancy terminal. Frankly it seemed no worse than a scaled-up version of Udon Thani International.

[terry57]

I have been flying Air Asia for years and have not had a problem. The thing is one cannot deviate from the rules or your fair will be altered and you will pay full price.

All specials are INTERNET booking only, if you use a call center you will pay premium.
As far as the low cost terminal goes in KL they have just opened there new terminal or close to it so thats sorted.

Perth to KL they are using a new A330, I flew in September and it was excellent, i fly again next week return was $ 360 piss all.

A tip for your credit card. If its not accepted re enter your password as Ive had to do this myself and all has been good.

Thing with all low cost carriers is one has to be very flexible to get the cheapest fairs, thats the name of the game, DON'T EXPECT FOK ALL EXCEPT A SEAT.

The alternative is to fly full price airlines, up to you.

[Norton]

^What he said.

There is one big improvement Air Asia could make in it's website. In this case, the site requires one book Udon/BKK, BKK/KUL, KUL/Goldcoast as separate bookings. Why not just give the capability to book Udon to Goldcoast? All are on Air Asia and it would be easy enough to have the fare segment costs listed separately but have only one total price paid with a single credit card payment.

[Marmite the Dog]

^ Because them it would mean AirAsia would have to make an effort to fly on-time and would be responsible if you miss your connecting flight.

[nevets]

Air Asia still owe me money for a nonexistant flight from Sing to phuket, i will not go with them again, not to be trusted.

[phuketbound]

^That's so true. Air Delaysia, I've heard it called. I've had a few delayed flights. I've also had problems with booking with the credit card, and issues with their website. I still don't mind flying with them now and again.

Is the fare 10,000 baht, an average price to fly from KL to Aus? That seems awfully cheap..how long is the flight?

[ThaiSpy]

^What he said.

There is one big improvement Air Asia could make in it's website. In this case, the site requires one book Udon/BKK, BKK/KUL, KUL/Goldcoast as separate bookings. Why not just give the capability to book Udon to Goldcoast? All are on Air Asia and it would be easy enough to have the fare segment costs listed separately but have only one total price paid with a single credit card payment.:confused:

There's a bit more to it than that. Thai AirAsia is in some ways a separate corporate entity than AirAsia of Malaysia. If they plant one in the side of a mountain you'll be just as dead, but the difference does matter to the accountants and tax men. Making a booking all the way through would probably complicate their status somehow.

[kingwilly]

should be Low Quality Carrier, No covered walkway , long walk in the rough , no air conditioning, hot as hell , and then we check in ! Opens 40 mins late , not a chair in site , ( pull up a tile and sit down) and an area like a low class Chook shed.

whaddya expect?

[DrivingForce]

seems you should step up next time and pay Thai or someone else IMO if your that unhappy.. We just booked 3 months worth of round trips from Bkk to Phuket for Mrs. DF and it only cost us 4000b, that's 6 trips in total 1 each way for the next 3 months so we're clear, and I'm not complaining one bit, normally that is more than 10,000b easily, especially in high season (or what used to be high season anyway).. guess this thread isn't exactly going the direction you had hoped for huh??

[panama hat]

LCCT is ok, nothing flash, but certainly has aircon . . . used cebu Pacific last week and no problems at all with anything . . . though I would try any alternative to AirAsia, I do believe Tony Fernandes has done an excellent job making flying available to most people.


(The above sounds disjointed . . . )

[Norton]

Making a booking all the way through would probably complicate their status somehow.

Yes. I am aware of they are separate companies.

Still the disbursement of funds to the appropriate company and other accounting issues would be a small price to pay to make it easier for a customer to give Air Asia their money.

[kingwilly]

AirAsia rang me yesterday, blattered on in Indo far too fast for me to understand, i just handed over the phone to the wifey, apparently, and i quote, I am their best customer in Indonesia and they want to offer me a credit card





mrsKW sent them packing, stupid fuckers, I think I've flown them about 3 times in the past 12 months out of about a dozen flights.

[daox]

Have also used AA quite a lot between BKK and KL and also smaller hops around malaysia and to and from phuket etc . Have experienced problems with there online booking but if you call them you can keep the booking open untill a few hours before the flight leaves and then pay at the airport cash or credit card i have done this on quite a few occasions. I agree the low cost terminal isnt that good but i happy to take the cheap seats

[dirtydog]

I have had many CC booking problems with AA. Once they charged me three times for the same flight. It took 4 international phone calls and 3 months later to get my money back.

When logging into the site open a extra window that is also logged in, I have to do that to quite a few sites just to stay logged in, otherwise you get kicked out half way through.

[boatboy]

Have booked With AA for GC-KL, KL-Pket, Pket-KL, KL-Penang, Penang-KL, KL-GC.

Including extra fees for changing flight details it came to the grand total of $677AUD each or 16,072THB

Try that with MAS or Thai Airways

Found the booking and changes very easy to perform, would a uber fast broadband conection or lack of have anything to do with booking issues reported here?

As far as LCCT being crappy, want crappy try Luganville international at Espiritu Santo.

[longtom]

Please some one may help me to book ticket online with airasia from BKK to Gold coast and return to BKK.
I have a bank west debit master card .

[Marmite the Dog]

Please some one may help me to book ticket online with airasia from BKK to Gold coast and return to BKK.

Go to New Line Travel in the Honey Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 19. They'll book AirAsia tickets for you. Alternatively, there is an AirAsia outlet at Tesco On Nut.

[Thaiguy]

Hey Guys I'm happy with cheap seats also , but when I say there are no seats at the check in I don't mean all full I mean there are NO seats at all either full or empty its just bare tile.
and its not air conditioned and it hasn't been updated because I am talking about a trip on the 6-7th January this year 2009.
don't tell me about re-entering passwords that didn't work the only way the card worked was when I agreed to pay the extra fare on the phone.