Air asia - possible to change at aorport to earlier flight?

[Sheryl]

Have 2 friends holding tickets on 8:30 PM flight to Phnom Penh tomorrow. They would much rather take the 3 PM flight which does still have seats available.

 

As the departure is less than 48 hours away it is impossible to change online or via the ^%$#(! "Ava" auto thing that now supposedly substitutes for actual customer service (NOT).

 

Also impossible to ask the aforementioned piece of &^$! anything or get it to connect to an actual agent.

 

What used to be the Air Asia office phone number in Thailand no longer works and refers one instead to you-know-what.

 

I am wondering if there is a chance if they just presented at the check in counter for the 3 PM flight of their being boarded.

 

Has anyone had experience with this? I would think if there are at that point still seats available no reason not. But do nto want to have them stuck at the airport for an extra 5 hours if this is a hopeless quest. One of them is a wheelchair bound paraplegic and prolonged sitting is painful for her.

 

Appreciate any expereinces people can share. Thanks.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

Refer to my other reply please.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by 4MyEgo

[Sheryl]

No, that is the useless &^%$* AVA thing. A robotic system which will not connect to a human and cannot make flight changes less than 48 hours before departure.

[4MyEgo]

6 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Appreciate any expereinces people can share. Thanks

I don't know if this link can help:

 

https://support.airasia.com/s/?language=en_GB

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

I would say extremely unlikely, would imagine the 48 hour rule thing is pretty much set in stone no matter what.

 

I've noticed with their phone number sometimes it works sometimes it don;t. Bizarre stuff.

[Sheryl]

6 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I don't know if this link can help:

 

https://support.airasia.com/s/?language=en_GB

 

 

As above, no, that is the useless robot system I refer to.

[Sheryl]

1 minute ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

I would say extremely unlikely, would imagine the 48 hour rule thing is pretty much set in stone no matter what.

 

I've noticed with their phone number sometimes it works sometimes it don;t. Bizarre stuff.

 

Have you known it to work very recently?

 

As far as I know it is officially and permanently disconnected. As of recently the only form of "customer service" is this "AVA" nonsense which effectively means there is no customer service.

[madmen]

They need to go to flight details and manage flight where you can change flights with a fee but when all extra new flight fees are added its mostly not worth it. This is not AVA

 

They may need to register first

Edited November 14, 2019 by madmen

[Sheryl]

2 minutes ago, madmen said:

They need to go to flight details and manage flight where you can change flights with a fee but when all extra new flight fees are added its mostly not worth it. This is not AVA

 

They may need to register first

 

We have done that but no such option appears. I think because it is less than 48 hours.

 

Again, question is whether there is a chance they would get boarded if they show up at the airport with tickets for a later flight but the earlier one still has seats available.

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

Have you known it to work very recently?

 

As far as I know it is officially and permanently disconnected. As of recently the only form of "customer service" is this "AVA" nonsense which effectively means there is no customer service.

Was a while back. I just called it and it is as you say, so obviously that line is useless now. Utterly ridiculous.

 

The only thing I can suggest is to try and find an Air Asia booth, there are a few scattered about in BKK I think.

[SteveK]

That's how they get the tickets so cheap. Replace all the staff with robots.

[Lacessit]

Several times, I have attempted at the airport to change to an earlier Air Asia flight. I have found they are quite inflexible.

Best shot may be to go to an agent, although there may be an extra charge if they are successful.

The "AVA" robot is just an exercise in frustration.

[orchis]

I only tried it once but it didn't work.

[NanLaew]

31 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Again, question is whether there is a chance they would get boarded if they show up at the airport with tickets for a later flight but the earlier one still has seats available.

Highly unlikely IMHO. AirAsia has a very aggressive LCC structure and someone needs to pay for the itinenary change. No cost or low-cost charges for itinerary changes are the norm for the 'full serve' carriers. I have a feeling that they could use the earlier flight only if they purchase new tickets specifically for that flight.

 

...and they don't do refunds either.

[stevenl]

No, can not change.

 

That is on of the advantages of Thai Airways, if place available you can change.

Air Asia, no chance.

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

44 minutes ago, SteveK said:

That's how they get the tickets so cheap. Replace all the staff with robots.

They are not that cheap, flights around Europe are probably cheaper.

[Dante99]

4 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

They are not that cheap, flights around Europe are probably cheaper.

And more expensive than the price of toilet paper in Aruba.

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

17 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

And more expensive than the price of toilet paper in Aruba.

Never give up your day job, pal.

[sanmyintmaung]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

No, that is the useless &^%$* AVA thing. A robotic system which will not connect to a human and cannot make flight changes less than 48 hours before departure.

I managed to connect to human operator by clicking AllStar support from AVA chat window. Bot will then transfer your chat to human operator.

 

[Sheryl]

Thanks, I eventually did too but only when AVA generates that link which is very hard to get it to do. You can't directly request it.

 

Still doesn't answer my question re what check in staff would likely do in this situation though. All I got from Allstar was what I already got from the website: to change a booking you have to do it 48 hours or more in advance. That is not however the same thing as whether, in event of a flight with empty seats, check in staff at airport will board people holding a ticket for the flight afterwards.

 

I know that other airlines usually will, in part because they may have stand by passengers or last minute bookers wanting the next flight so it is in their interests to use seats otherwise going unfilled and thereby free up seats on a later flight. But no idea re Air Asia.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, orchis said:

I only tried it once but it didn't work.

Thanks for the info

[sanmyintmaung]

15 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Thanks, I eventually did too but only when AVA generates that link which is very hard to get it to do. You can't directly request it.

 

Still doesn't answer my question re what check in staff would likely do in this situation though. All I got from Allstar was what I already got from the website: to change a booking you have to do it 48 hours or more in advance. That is not however the same thing as whether, in event of a flight with empty seats, check in staff at airport will board people holding a ticket for the flight afterwards.

 

I know that other airlines usually will, in part because they may have stand by passengers or last minute bookers wanting the next flight so it is in their interests to use seats otherwise going unfilled and thereby free up seats on a later flight. But no idea re Air Asia.

https://www.airasia.com/th/en/book-with-us/our-fares.page

Flight change is allowed but cut off time depends on the type of the ticket purchased.

Low Fare and Value Pack: Allowed for a fee up to 48 hours before scheduled time of departure.
Premium Flex and Premium Flatbed: Allowed up to 2 hours before scheduled time of departure.

 

If the ticket is low fare or value pack, it is not possible to change to earlier flight if departure time is less than 48 hours away.

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by sanmyintmaung

[madmen]

57 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Still doesn't answer my question re what check in staff would likely do in this situation though.

likely ?You have to go by probabilities based on their strict rules. A perfect example is recently I had to cancel a cheap flight but wanted airport tax refunded which is normal. However to get airport tax you must be a " no show' which means that seat went empty, I couldn't cancel..go figure

 

The chances of getting a shift to an early flight IMO would be zero however are they close to an air asia office or the airport? they could give it a shot before departure date but I wouldn't bother. 

 

[Sheryl]

No, nit at all close and U+I am effectively dissuaded from trying this

 

On another Air Asia matter (God do I HATE that airline) can anyone tell me, before I waste precious phone memory space, if the mobile app gives one the Allstar option on the AVA menu automatically? The website definitlly does nto, and I need to do live chat and cannot get "AVA" to give me that option. If it will work on the mobile I'll download it but oitherwise will be a waste of time and already scarce phone memory.

[NanLaew]

3 hours ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

They are not that cheap, flights around Europe are probably cheaper.

LCC's are cheap when you book/pay well in advance and your travel dates are fixed.

 

For example, I have a monthly meeting in Bangkok and if I decide to go at very short notice on Nok Air, it is 2900 baht, a week ahead it's about 1900 baht. If I buy a month ahead its about 1600, 2 months ahead maybe less than 1500 baht. Also avoid weekends as most LCC's fill up fast and more likely to be unavailable than expensive.

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

I know that other airlines usually will, in part because they may have stand by passengers or last minute bookers wanting the next flight so it is in their interests to use seats otherwise going unfilled and thereby free up seats on a later flight. But no idea re Air Asia.

LCC's like AirASia don't have Standby options like full service operators. If there's a seat available at the last minute, it will have already have topped-out at it's highest fare and that will be what needs to be paid. They don't hold seats for release to late booking or Standby types or suddenly discount seats to fill up the flight. It's not in their mechanism.