Air Asia is a popular airline in south east asia, known for it's cheap flights in and out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the last couple years, I have flown with Air Asia at least a dozen times, as it typically proves to be 100's of dollars cheaper than its competitors. However, after my recent experiences with them, I will choose to pay the extra couple bucks and stick with an airline with a little more service and competence. Let me explain...
Yes, I understand that Air Asia is a budget airline, and I have low expectations, believe me. You get a cheap flight, then add on all the extras - taxes, service charges, baggage, food, etc. Once you are on the plane, there is not a single thing provided. Travelers can, however, pay for drinks (including water - not free), rent blankets and headphones. I am actually shocked there is not an additional fee if you use the toilet during your flight. So I have come to expect little from an airline that provides nothing short of a cheap flight.
Back in September, Ayesha and I booked our flights to India through Air Asia. It was by far the cheapest, but still cost us a little more than 700 USD. We had booked the trip as one flight with a short lay over in Kuala Lumpur before reaching our destination. When Ayesha was unable to get a visa for India, we had to change our plans last minute - like one week last minute. Although I figured there was not much they could do for us, Ayesha and I went to the Air Asia service office in Shanghai one week before our departure. As I expected, they were not able to help us in any way. They told us that we could reschedule the entire flight to a later date, and pay the difference in ticket cost, but we were not able to change the flight route or destination. Annoyed by the situation, but Ayesha and I went ahead a booked another round trip flight through Air Asia that would take us from Kuala Lumpur to Bali, forfeiting the second leg of the original journey to India - adding an additional cost of 140 USD.
Previously, Air Asia only flew out of HangZhou, so the morning of our flight, we had to take a taxi to the HongQiao train station, a train to HangZhou, then a taxi to the HangZhou airport - a journey I have made with each Air Asia trip. However, that morning, everything seemed to be working against us. We left right on our scheduled time, but it was raining in Shanghai and traffic was terrible getting to the train station. Because we were late getting to the train station, we missed the earlier train and had to take the train one hour later. We were now cutting into the two-hour check in window, but were still doing ok for time. Once we arrived in HangZhou, there was a long wait before getting a taxi, lots of rain and traffic, and suddenly, Ayesha and I began to panic! We were watching the clock as we sat in parking lot traffic, begging our taxi driver to hurry!
When we finally arrived at the airport (after over an hour taxi ride), we ran straight to the gate only to discover that check-in had closed. So we ran to the information desk and they put me on the phone with the Air Asia representative. Although we had made it to the check in desk before the 30 minute mark, they had decided to close the check in early (we missed them by two minutes). I pleaded with the women to just let us on, we didn't even have baggage to check, but she started yelling at me saying, "There is no way you are getting on that flight! Do you just want us to hold a plane of 300 people waiting for you?" I have honestly never been treated more poorly by someone in costume service. I was so angry that I yelled back, "Thanks for nothing" as I slammed down the phone. Then the costume service person called someone else, who then told us that we could get on the flight. After we hung up with him, she called back the evil bitch lady from Air Asia, and she continued to yell at me, telling me that I was stupid for missing the flight and that there was nothing anyone could do to help us.
This is your costumer service person, Air Asia... really?
As the flight began boarding without us, we were frantically exhausting our limited resources in an airport without internet or a service desk to book tickets (what kind of airport doesn't have a ticket office). We were left with no other options than to call back Air Asia's costumer service to try and change the flight. Thankfully we ended up talking to a girl that was as helpful as she could be (even though Air Asia sucks), and was much more kind.
In the end, Air Asia wanted to charge us 400 USD to change our flight to a later day. Unfortunately, there is only one flight from HangZhou to KL, and it wasn't leaving until 11:00pm the next night (it was around 2:00pm on Monday). Then, we needed to stay the night in KL and catch the flight out to Bali the next morning - loosing two days of our Bali trip, and two days of a hotel that was already paid for (yup, the money just keeps going...). We had even bought the flight insurance for the Bali flight. Turns out the insurance only protects lost baggages, and nothing else. On the other hand, for us to book an entirely new one-way trip from Shanghai to Bali (with a layover in KL) was only 300 USD. Please tell me how that even makes sense?!?! So again we booked another flight with Air Asia - we didn't really have many options at this point that wouldn't leave us completely broke during our actually vacation.
So we got on a bus to go back to the HangZhou train station, bought a new train ticket back to Shanghai, took the train then a taxi back to my apartment, where we hung out for a couple hours before we had to head to the Shanghai airport. All in all expenses...
700 - original flight to India
140 - round trip from KL to Bali
300 - a new flight from Shanghai to Bali
50 - round trip train ride to and from HangZhou
15 - taxi ride in HZ
15 taxi ride in SH
... more than 1200 USD for our BUGDET AIRLINE!
So some of those extra expenses were our fault. I understand that we missed our flight, due to many circumstances out of our control. What really killed me about the situation was how unwilling all of the Air Asia costumer service people were to help us in anyway. They either laughed or yelled at us. I get that it is a budget airline and to not have high expectations, but I do require a little bit of costumer service and a willingness to work with a rather loyal costumer.
So thank you, Air Aisa, for your three years of shitty flights, tiny ass planes and cranky staff. Enjoy pissing people off for many years to come!
Yes, I understand that Air Asia is a budget airline, and I have low expectations, believe me. You get a cheap flight, then add on all the extras - taxes, service charges, baggage, food, etc. Once you are on the plane, there is not a single thing provided. Travelers can, however, pay for drinks (including water - not free), rent blankets and headphones. I am actually shocked there is not an additional fee if you use the toilet during your flight. So I have come to expect little from an airline that provides nothing short of a cheap flight.
Back in September, Ayesha and I booked our flights to India through Air Asia. It was by far the cheapest, but still cost us a little more than 700 USD. We had booked the trip as one flight with a short lay over in Kuala Lumpur before reaching our destination. When Ayesha was unable to get a visa for India, we had to change our plans last minute - like one week last minute. Although I figured there was not much they could do for us, Ayesha and I went to the Air Asia service office in Shanghai one week before our departure. As I expected, they were not able to help us in any way. They told us that we could reschedule the entire flight to a later date, and pay the difference in ticket cost, but we were not able to change the flight route or destination. Annoyed by the situation, but Ayesha and I went ahead a booked another round trip flight through Air Asia that would take us from Kuala Lumpur to Bali, forfeiting the second leg of the original journey to India - adding an additional cost of 140 USD.
Previously, Air Asia only flew out of HangZhou, so the morning of our flight, we had to take a taxi to the HongQiao train station, a train to HangZhou, then a taxi to the HangZhou airport - a journey I have made with each Air Asia trip. However, that morning, everything seemed to be working against us. We left right on our scheduled time, but it was raining in Shanghai and traffic was terrible getting to the train station. Because we were late getting to the train station, we missed the earlier train and had to take the train one hour later. We were now cutting into the two-hour check in window, but were still doing ok for time. Once we arrived in HangZhou, there was a long wait before getting a taxi, lots of rain and traffic, and suddenly, Ayesha and I began to panic! We were watching the clock as we sat in parking lot traffic, begging our taxi driver to hurry!
When we finally arrived at the airport (after over an hour taxi ride), we ran straight to the gate only to discover that check-in had closed. So we ran to the information desk and they put me on the phone with the Air Asia representative. Although we had made it to the check in desk before the 30 minute mark, they had decided to close the check in early (we missed them by two minutes). I pleaded with the women to just let us on, we didn't even have baggage to check, but she started yelling at me saying, "There is no way you are getting on that flight! Do you just want us to hold a plane of 300 people waiting for you?" I have honestly never been treated more poorly by someone in costume service. I was so angry that I yelled back, "Thanks for nothing" as I slammed down the phone. Then the costume service person called someone else, who then told us that we could get on the flight. After we hung up with him, she called back the evil bitch lady from Air Asia, and she continued to yell at me, telling me that I was stupid for missing the flight and that there was nothing anyone could do to help us.
This is your costumer service person, Air Asia... really?
As the flight began boarding without us, we were frantically exhausting our limited resources in an airport without internet or a service desk to book tickets (what kind of airport doesn't have a ticket office). We were left with no other options than to call back Air Asia's costumer service to try and change the flight. Thankfully we ended up talking to a girl that was as helpful as she could be (even though Air Asia sucks), and was much more kind.
In the end, Air Asia wanted to charge us 400 USD to change our flight to a later day. Unfortunately, there is only one flight from HangZhou to KL, and it wasn't leaving until 11:00pm the next night (it was around 2:00pm on Monday). Then, we needed to stay the night in KL and catch the flight out to Bali the next morning - loosing two days of our Bali trip, and two days of a hotel that was already paid for (yup, the money just keeps going...). We had even bought the flight insurance for the Bali flight. Turns out the insurance only protects lost baggages, and nothing else. On the other hand, for us to book an entirely new one-way trip from Shanghai to Bali (with a layover in KL) was only 300 USD. Please tell me how that even makes sense?!?! So again we booked another flight with Air Asia - we didn't really have many options at this point that wouldn't leave us completely broke during our actually vacation.
So we got on a bus to go back to the HangZhou train station, bought a new train ticket back to Shanghai, took the train then a taxi back to my apartment, where we hung out for a couple hours before we had to head to the Shanghai airport. All in all expenses...
700 - original flight to India
140 - round trip from KL to Bali
300 - a new flight from Shanghai to Bali
50 - round trip train ride to and from HangZhou
15 - taxi ride in HZ
15 taxi ride in SH
... more than 1200 USD for our BUGDET AIRLINE!
So some of those extra expenses were our fault. I understand that we missed our flight, due to many circumstances out of our control. What really killed me about the situation was how unwilling all of the Air Asia costumer service people were to help us in anyway. They either laughed or yelled at us. I get that it is a budget airline and to not have high expectations, but I do require a little bit of costumer service and a willingness to work with a rather loyal costumer.
So thank you, Air Aisa, for your three years of shitty flights, tiny ass planes and cranky staff. Enjoy pissing people off for many years to come!
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