Air Asia Flight Sale

[Guest fountainhall]

For those not living in Asia, you may not know that Air Asia and its subsidiary Thai Air Asia are having a big sale for tickets purchased on or before 15 May. Check them out on this site -

 

http://www.airasia.com/th/en/promotion/rr0801101.page

 

Caveat No. 1 is that these tickets are only available for travel between 1 November 2011 and 18 January 2012. So if you are planning a trip here around Christmas, this might be a good way of seeing other parts of Asia as well - assuming there are seats left when you go online.

 

Caveat No. 2 is that flight timings of almost all flights will change when the winter schedule starts around October. So you need to be allow a lot of flexibility. I also suggest you don't book connecting fights on the same day, as both airlines have the right to cancel flights for almost any reason at all. But if you just want to go to a popular destination like Hong Kong or Bali, you should be pretty safe.

[Guest]

For me, the saving doesn't justify the need to plan & book so far in advance.

 

I may well decide to fly from BKK to Phnom Penh on 6th Dec (for example), however at the moment I haven't thought about it in detail and might work out a better itinerary by then.

 

However, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[TotallyOz]

Wow. There are some amazing fares here. I have never flown on Air Asia. Are they about the same as Thai? or other airlines?

[Guest fountainhall]

Wow. There are some amazing fares here. I have never flown on Air Asia. Are they about the same as Thai? or other airlines?

This is one of my pet subjects – so sit back, and here goes!

 

Air Asia is Asia’s first budget airline. Based out of Kuala Lumpur, it pioneered the low cost model some years ago and has quickly become hugely successful. 3 or 4 years ago, it spun off Thai Air Asia which operates the flights out of Bangkok, although I think Air Asia still has a 49% stake holding.

 

The business model is very similar to Easyjet in the UK and many other budget carriers. Cut costs to the minimum, offer no frills service (but with a smile), make the passenger pay for virtually everything apart from the fare - i.e. fee for booking by credit card, luggage apart from on-board (and that one piece is limited by weight), specific seat if you want one (and on its Airbus A320s that means 6 abreast rather than the usual 5 abreast), early boarding, food and drink (and do not allow passengers to bring their own on board - even water) etc. etc.

 

Then, once it has got rid of the few seats per flight available at its super-cheap promotional fares, which not surprisingly give it wonderful free publicity on Boards like this, it starts on incremental pricing. That's fair enough! But it means if you want to fly the airline at shorter notice, you will often find you have to pay almost as much as legacy carriers which provide a much better deal.

 

According to wikipedia, as of March Air Asia had 105 aircraft in the fleet, with orders for 122 more and options on another 63. It has the world’s lowest operating costs per km flown in 2010.

 

Air Asia and other budget carriers have done wonders in expanding the market for air travel to people who otherwise could not afford it. For regular travellers, it's not quite so simple, though. If you are used to travelling on most legacy carriers like THAI, Cathay Pacific etc., you have mostly fixed schedules which will depart even if the aircraft is only 50% full (although I have read elsewhere that EVA airlines is not averse to cancelling when load factors are not good), slightly larger seats in economy, basic meals, drinks and a 20k baggage allowance. In my experience with Air Asia, I have had flights cancelled several times and merged with others “for operational reasons” – i.e. my flight had too few passengers (see below).

 

Another basic problem is that budget carriers allow a turn-around time of 30 minutes – around half of legacy carriers. So there is constant pressure to get up and away. With most routes being short-haul, one delay in the morning will lead to on-going delays for the aircraft for the rest of that day. Consequently, evening flights can often depart and arrive late. Or non-essential maintenance gets postponed till the aircraft has a few spare hours at base. Here’s one comment from the excellent Skytrax site dated 2 March 2011 –

 

Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. As I boarded I was greeted by an overpowering scent of urine which I presumed wafted in from near the aircraft. I learned during the flight the four toilets in the middle of the plane had blocked and overflowed on the previous flight, leaving the surrounding carpet including around my seat soaked in toilet fluid. Needless to say anything dropped on the floor got wet, and the stench during the flight qualified this as the worst flight in my life.

The friends in Spain for whom I am booking accommodation in Bangkok in July just emailed me this morning to say Air Asia has cancelled their flight from Singapore to Bangkok and the alternative offered is not acceptable. For days now they have been unable to reach Air Asia by phone. When I had flights to Hanoi cancelled last year – after they had been booked for 5 months and I was never even notified of their cancellation (“We sent you an sms,” I was eventually informed, “but it did not go through”!! Did they take the trouble to email me? No!) – I made several attempts calling Kuala Lumpur incurring considerable cost, before I was put through to the Ground Handling Department instead of Customer Services. The lady who answered told me “they do this all the time!”

 

But now they have found a way of squeezing even more money from the passenger. If you really want to talk to Customer Services, you can use a dedicated "Premier" phone line at an extra Ringgit 2 per minute (US0.65 cents)! Once you get someone on the line, they routinely make you hold for 10 or more minutes to increase their profits! As far as service to the customer is concerned, the attitude is quite simple - "Fuck 'em!"

 

I’m far from the only one who has experienced this kind of dreadful service. Here’s a comment from comlaintsboard.com –

 

i have book a ticket from jb to kl on 1 april 2010 at 9.25am. But then i don know why and don know how suddenly the time has been change to 11.55am. The worse is that airasia NEVER INFORM the customer about the changes of the time . . .

Because I could not take the new Hanoi flights and the alternatives offered, I got no refund. Of around 18 Air Asia flights I booked in 3 years, 4 were cancelled, several others were delayed, including one by 4 hours (KL to BKK) and one by 12 hours (Penang to BKK). Of the others, I took, I think, only 4 and just cancelled the others. I now refuse to travel with them.

 

I have seen them called “blood suckers” on several travel sites. I’ll leave you with another comment from Skytrax dated 28 February 2011 (which rather negates the comment in my earlier post about the Hong Kong flights being "safe" –

 

Bangkok to Hong Kong. Plane developed engine failure and landed in Hanoi, Vietnam where we were herded to a lounge and kept for eight hours with no information about when we might leave. Many passengers did not take their money or belongings with them and had no food or water during this time. During that time we were sent to three different gates for take off only to be told that the plane hadn't arrived yet to take us on to Hong Kong. 8 hours later we arrived in Hong Kong in the early morning where everything had closed. No food, taxis, buses, nothing. No compensation or apologies from Air Asia whatsoever then or afterwards. I found out later that Air Asia has no complaint procedures. You write an email to a non replying address. You cannot call them and even if you go to their main terminal to complain, there is nothing you can do.

So, by all means book many months ahead and take advantage of what definitely are great fares. But just be ready to be very flexibile, be aware that all is not as it seems – and be prepared for the unexpected! Happy flying!

[Guest GaySacGuy]

This is just a repost of what I put on GB board so if you read it you can ignore!!

 

Well...I call BULLSHIT. I have used Air Asia for five years and been happy with the service...and some flights were booked on sales months in advance..No Problems

 

But, I have tried for quit some time in many ways to obtains some of these 750 baht fares in November...and the website won't provide that fare...it shows 1199 baht before taxes, not 750 baht. I have called their call center, and was told I have to get the fare on the internet...I explained about a hundred times that I was on the internet and those fares were no where in site!!!

 

If anyone finds these fares online, please let me know how. I have to go to BKK In Novenber to get the stupid embassy letter on income and thought this would be a cheap way to get the flight...NO GO!!

[Guest fountainhall]

I am not quite sure to what the "bullshit" refers - my negative comments or your inability to obtain the cheaper fares.

 

If the former, I stated early in my post that carriers like Air Asia have opened up the air travel market to a vast number of new passengers. They are clearly doing something right. But those like MIchael expecting something similar to THAI should be aware that budget carriers are very different. I fully accept that my experience is at one end of the spectrum of public comments. Others have a different experience. Fine.

 

If the latter, I am certain that only a tiny number of seats on each flight are available at the promotional rate. That is the standard low-cost carrier model. Once these seats have been snapped up, you are forced to pay the higher rates. I believe I know where you live, and just now I have found several inward and outward flights on the Air Asia site in late November. On Nov 30 there is a morning out and evening back at the cheap price. Earlier, it seems you can only get one way at the cheap rate. Hope this helps.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

The bullshit referred to them offering these low fares...I tried for a couple of days for Ubon/BKK and Ubon/Phuket, but no luck. Thanks Fountainahll for looking!!

[Guest fountainhall]

I agree this promotion sucks! Not only are there very limited seats and only on some flights, but the promotion is available throughout almost the entire Air Asia network. So with Thailand being an hour behind much of the rest of the region, others had a head start.

 

I cannot work out why inter-Thailand tickets are so limited, though. I just checked the site again and was really surprised to see there are still seats available from BKK to/from Bali on a lot of days in mid-November for Bt. 950 each way. Yet the promotional fare is Bt. 1,950 each way! Go figure that one out!

[Rogie]

8 hours later we arrived in Hong Kong in the early morning where everything had closed. No food, taxis, buses, nothing.

 

Above taken from a 'Skytrax' quote in an earlier post from Fountainhall.

 

I've been to HK but as I am not an owl cannot confirm the anonymous contributor to Skytrax's experience. Surely HK is a 'city-that-never-sleeps' kind of place buzzing with activity 24 hours a day?

 

As for booking cheap anything, whether they be flights, hotel rooms, hire cars, you name it, I tend to adopt a cynical attitude as to the likelihood of my obtaining whatever I am trying to purchase at anything like the bargain price advertised. If I come anywhere close I am pleasantly surprised, but if not c'est la vie.

[Bob]

I agree this promotion sucks!

 

Generally, I agree with that assessment. I checked flights for 11 days in November and only one flight on one day (the 6:40AM flight on November 2nd) had the low fare. Whenever I have checked their deals before involving flights from Chiangmai to Bangkok, the only flight that I've ever found that is involved is that 6:40AM flight.

 

But, then again, most of the airlines have a lot of bullshit running through their alleged promotions.

 

As to Michael's question, I've used Air Asia almost exclusively for the last few years between BKK and CNX and I've been generally satisfied with the flights and service. Generally on time and the prices beat the hell out of Thai Air and Bangkok Airways (often by half) and even are usually substantially lower than the other (allegedly) low-priced airline (Nok).

[Guest fountainhall]

Surely HK is a 'city-that-never-sleeps' kind of place buzzing with activity 24 hours a day?

Not true, in fact. The central parts of Hong Kong are pretty dead after about 1:00 am. As for the airport, forget it. With no aircraft scheduled to arrive, what taxi driver is going to hang around with little chance of a fare? The airport express train stops at 01:15. Almost all airport buses stop shortly after midnight. Yes, there are overnight buses from the airport, but they are few and far between, and only two go to the centre of the city - Central and Tsimshatsui. I would hate to land and be dumped in Hong Kong after 01:00, especially when it has taken me something like 17+ hours to get there from Bangkok! The least Air Asia could have done was lay on 3 or 4 coaches to get its passengers into the city

 

The other time you don't want to land in Hong Kong - even in daylight - is in a typhoon. Cathay Pacific pilots routinely land their panes when others are diverted. I once arrived on a flight from Singapore around 19:00. Taxis were nowhere to be seen and buses had stopped. Thankfully the train still operated. But on arrival in Central, I had to walk in the lashing rain to a hotel and wait there for an hour to get a taxi. Then I had to pay double fare!

[Guest]

The other time you don't want to land in Hong Kong - even in daylight - is in a typhoon.

 

I wouldn't want to try this...

[Guest fountainhall]

I wouldn't want to try this...

Landing at the old Kai Tak airport from the west was one of the great flying experiences. If you were seated on the left, all you saw on the approach was the plane flying closer to the hills at Lion Rock. Just as you thought the plane had to hit, suddenly it would do a sharp 90 degree bank to the right. On that side, you were sure the wing tip would hit the apartment blocks as the turn seemed never-ending. Finally, the pilot would level out and 'Boom' you were on the runway!

 

Cathay pilots loved that landing. It was said that when they made the 90 degree turn, they could look out of their window and tell not only those apartments with the television on, but the channels to which the televisions were tuned!

 

That Korean pilot didn't even have to contend with a crosswind - to say nothing of a typhoon. So landing in good weather was still a challenge. I once drove past the airport at the end of a spell of heavy monsoon rain. A brand new China Airlines 744 (the Taiwan airline) had touched down slightly too far down the runway, skidded, spun through 90 degrees and then gently slipped right off the end into the water. No-one was hurt, but the aircraft was a virtual US$150 million write-off!

 

This clip gives the pilot