Air Asia Rubbish

[dickie58]

We have a flight booked with Air Asia next week to go to Krabi, as its pouring with rain down there we are not going to bother, I phoned Air Asia's call centre earlier this week & asked if I could get a refund, the answer was "NO REFUND".

I admit this was one of there promtional fares, but the 1600 baht fare for all 3 of us ended being 5500 baht with all there taxes & surcharges.

There is the option on there web site to change your flight by logging onto your booking, I tried this morning, you cannot change routes on this promtional fare which is fare enough, but you can change dates, I changed the date to Feb 2008 the amount extra they wanted was 6500 baht ++, I closed that section, & just tried to book a flight for the 3 of us on there normal fare in Feb, that works out cheaper.

Talk about a rip of, more expensive to change a flight than book a complete new itenary, Air Asia total rip off

[bmanly]

The opposite to that is earlier this year I flew return with Air Asia from Bangkok to Phuket for 2,190 baht all inclusive. I knew there was no refunds but at that price I took my chances. A VIP bus from Phuket to the Southern Terminal is 1,000 baht these days. Thank God for Air Asia, bringing the prices down for all.

[Briggsy]

I cannot understand your complaint. Air Asia offered you a very cheap ticket with conditions, one of which was no refund. If you choose not to take the flight, you lose the money. If you wanted the option of a refund or free date change, you could have bought a different class of ticket.

I'll give you an example. When I visit the UK, a standard saver train fare bought on the day from London to my home is 60 quid. If I book well in advance, the price is 13.50 but I cannot change the date or get a refund. I accept that sometimes I will lose 13.50 to avoid paying the 60 quid.

Air Asia, love 'em or hate 'em, have revolutionised travel in and around Thailand.

[ProThaiExpat]

AirAsia is in the business to make money, anyway they can. I booked a CNX to BKK for connection to BA to Sydney next March!. Booked it with only one hours and 15 minute connection, all advised to allow more time.

So, I moved the flight to earlier in the same day withing three days of the original booking. Original promotional fare, 600 Baht plus fuel surcharge etc. total cost 1100 Baht. Change booking fee 500 Baht, earlier flight cost 200 Baht more than later flight, so after all said and done, cost was 1800+Baht, about the same had I booked Thai Airways, however, Thai Airways has very few flights CNX to BKK New Airport so it was not an option. Air Asia is the only budget carrier into new airport now.

[tartempion]

You need to know the rules before you commit funds.

Thus Air Asia is not rubbish.

I booked Udon-Bangkok return for two over the year-end at 2461 baht, the bus is hardly cheaper but takes somewhat longer.

I did fly them two weeks ago Bangkok-Udon after an international flight (no need to change airport - stupid they run two airports) and had to pay an additional 400 baht for excess luggage, but then I knew this. If they would run just one airport I would have flown Nok Air plus with 30kgs of luggage. (no way I would enjoy pushing 30kgs from one airport to the other, really a bunch of idots re-opening and old airport months after opening the most "beautifull" airport on the planet.

Edited November 10, 2007 by tartempion

[jackr]

Yep, sorry, you have no complaint as it specifies 'No Refund' and the weather certainly ain't down to them. The taxes and surcharges are a pain but that's the way it is and you will often end up having to pay more to change flight dates due to the admin costs, which is also specified. I think Nok Air allow you to change flight dates for free? Anyway, still a useful airline and also have the best dollybirds

[Pink Mist]

I wont be using them again, the re-booking fee is exhorborant and the excess baggage fee is usually unavoidable, due to the strict 15kg weight limit

[Tod Daniels]

Air Asia has done wonders with their promotional fares, and plans for more routes. That being said, they are known as a “budget carrier”; and as a previous poster mentioned, in the business to make money, be it by prohibitive penalties to change cheap tickets, over-weight surcharges, or what have you.

IF you buy a promotional fare, READ the fine print. Most carriers have a no refunds policy on their cheapest price point tickets, as well as prohibitive penalties for changing times/dates after you've purchased them.

I've flown Air Asia many times, and have had occasion to change my flight times, etc. It was often cheaper to buy another ticket rather than change the itinerary of the promotional priced ticket I already held.

As to the comment about the "easy-on-the-eyes" air hostesses, I just read in the Nation Newspaper this morning that Malaysian politicians critized the uniforms worn by Air Asia's flight attendants saying; "the skirts were too short and exposed the wearers' genitals".

Love 'em or hate 'em, I agree, they've opened affordable air travel in Asia to the masses.

Edited November 10, 2007 by tod-daniels

[HarryHacker]

I'm amazed at the complaints about this airline, its a budget airline run on the least amount of admin as possible. As soon as you start to change your itinerary or taking excess baggage of course you will be penalized, thats how it works.

Air Asia has opened up cheap travel for the region, well done to Air Asia!

[mr_lob]

We have a flight booked with Air Asia next week to go to Krabi, as its pouring with rain down there we are not going to bother, I phoned Air Asia's call centre earlier this week & asked if I could get a refund, the answer was "NO REFUND".

I admit this was one of there promtional fares, but the 1600 baht fare for all 3 of us ended being 5500 baht with all there taxes & surcharges.

There is the option on there web site to change your flight by logging onto your booking, I tried this morning, you cannot change routes on this promtional fare which is fare enough, but you can change dates, I changed the date to Feb 2008 the amount extra they wanted was 6500 baht ++, I closed that section, & just tried to book a flight for the 3 of us on there normal fare in Feb, that works out cheaper.

Talk about a rip of, more expensive to change a flight than book a complete new itenary, Air Asia total rip off

just going to pull you up on the first sentence - 'its pouring with rain down there'.

really? i must live in a rain shadow then buddy.

[britmaveric]

Lot of whingers - never had a problem with Air Asia. Great Airline and I have flown them many times and will do so in the future.

[kitwit]

Another endorsement for Air Asia, far and away the best of the region's budget carriers and filling that previous non-existant niche several years ago. Add to the list of those potentially dissatisfied, in addition to, documented here, fair-weather travellers and those yet to master the art of packing light, habitually-late arrivals to check-in because outside of 45 minutes fergidd about it! In my experience, however, I also appreciate its on-time performance.

[PhilHarries]

Used AirAsia many times KUL to BKK and have no complaints whatsoever about the airline. You get what you pay for.

[pfk98]

i think AirAsia is trash, also:

1. 23Jul07 - I paid AirAsia THB7,436 for BKK-RGN tickets.
   
2. 02Oct07 - AirAsia canceled our flight without notice. We learned about it at 5:00AM at the airport, the day of the flight.
   
3. 02Oct07 - AirAsia issued a signed and chopped Refund Authority that stated, "Refund to credit card within 14 work days".
   
4. 11Nov07 - AirAsia still has not paid.
   

I am now told the credit to my card could take 30 to 60 days from the date Thai AirAsia said they had processed my refund of THB7,436. That processing date was November 2nd.....exactly one month after Thai AirAsia cancelled my Bangkok to Rangoon flight without notice on October 2nd. Customer Service no help....just lies and excuses...no way to build a brand.

Does anyone know somebody at Thai AirAsia who could help me with this?

Be careful when dealing with these people. It's "Mai Pen Rai".......bigtime!

[britmaveric]

i think AirAsia is trash, also:

[*]23Jul07 - I paid AirAsia THB7,436 for BKK-RGN tickets.

[*]02Oct07 - AirAsia canceled our flight without notice. We learned about it at 5:00AM at the airport, the day of the flight.

[*]02Oct07 - AirAsia issued a signed and chopped Refund Authority that stated, "Refund to credit card within 14 work days".

Well Burma was being crushed again by the Junta once again....

[007]

I admit this was one of there promtional fares, but the 1600 baht fare for all 3 of us ended being 5500 baht with all there taxes & surcharges.

I would just 'eat' the 5K baht. After all a pretty low price for 3. It's a budget airline, and they make it clear in their conditions that there is "no refund" whatsoever...

I took a risk too recently when I booked a flight to Penang for a visa run. Had the plane been late just one hour, I would have had to stay one day longer in Penang, missing my return flight.

[pfk98]

~~~

I fly Air Asia a lot.

I don't know of any airline that issues a "refund" unless you buy a full fare ticket -- usually quite expensive. I don't think Air Asia even offers this type of fare.

The pluses: price, convenient flight times (usually) on some routes, fly into BKK, only 500 baht to change a flight.

Minuses: "cattle car" loading, the use of buses at BKK instead of gates, slow baggage delivery at BKK, minimal telephone "help" to support their website.

If Nok, Tiger, etc., had better websites, more flights and lower fares, I'd probably fly them more often. But for now, Air Asia meets my needs most of the time.

pics of isaan from 25,000 feet

~~~

They gave me a document entitled: (Refund Authority). The flight was not cancelled because of the demonstrations in Rangoon. They were over by then. I suspect the cancellation was due to a low load factor that particular day. I have the refund document in front of me right now. I sent copies of it to the customer service people. I even sent a copy with my letter to Tony Fernandes, the Chief Honcho. Nobody from AirAsia disputes they owe me the money. They just won't pay until it's convenient for them. I'm just posting here, in hopes that an AirAsia person will see it and do something. My biggest fear is they will do nothing.

Edited November 11, 2007 by pfk98

[jaidee]

If the Air Asia cancels your flifght they will do their best to accomodate you.

My experience ? A while ago our flight to Ubon Ratchatani was canceled. Air Asia rebooked us without additional fee on the next Tha Airlins flight, 40 minutes later, to Ubon !

I believe the previous writer Rangoon experience was du to the fact that ALL carriers canceled ALL their flights.

[legag]

I cannot understand your complaint. Air Asia offered you a very cheap ticket with conditions, one of which was no refund. If you choose not to take the flight, you lose the money. If you wanted the option of a refund or free date change, you could have bought a different class of ticket.

Totally agree with ya! It can be cheap and fast (booking) but it won't be good.

I booked a ticket from Bali to Jakata and wanted to change routh but you know what ticket costed about $60 something and actually it's my fault not being certain where I wanted to go. I called AirAsia and nothing I could do to get it changed (regular booking can be changed two days prior fly) so I have learned a lesson, paid the price, dumped it and booked another one.

[pfk98]

If the Air Asia cancels your flifght they will do their best to accomodate you.

My experience ? A while ago our flight to Ubon Ratchatani was canceled. Air Asia rebooked us without additional fee on the next Tha Airlins flight, 40 minutes later, to Ubon !

I believe the previous writer Rangoon experience was du to the fact that ALL carriers canceled ALL their flights.

I'm not talking about the flight being cancelled. I'm talking about money. I paid for the tickets the instant I booked them online. On October 2nd, AirAsia told me (in writing) they would "Refund to Credit Card within 14 working days". That's an exact quote. It is now November 11th and I have not been paid. How difficult is it to electronically make a refund to a credit card? I called them yesterday and they said they will pay within the next month or two. I don't trust them. Hopefully, I'm a poor judge of character.

[dickie58]

As I started this Forum section, I have flown Air Asia numerous times & as yet have not really had any problems with them, the main problem is there delayed & late running flights, but as a number of you have said & I agree, you get what you pay for.

My argument is why should they charge you double to change a flight to another date, the actuall diffrence in the flight cost for all 3 of us was less than 1000 baht, air asia wanted another 6500 baht

No problem with the no refund policy, "you pays your money you take your chances"

Anyway the bottom line is were not going to fly to Krabi & I'll swallow the 5500 baht

[fxe1200]

Until today I was quite satisfied with the pricing and the punctuality of Air Asia.

But one thing bothered me: I tried to book a trip to BKK from Hat Yai with my family (2 adults, 2 kids) online, using a promotional fare, but I could not. I learned, that promotional fares can only be booked up to 2 persons.

There was no response on my letter to Air Asia complaining about their policy regarding travelling families.

[khunandy]

I have found Air Asia to be exactly what they are, a budget carrier. I find their inflexability sometimes very bad business ethics though. I had seven family members booked on two legs a few weeks ago. Khon Kaen to Bangkok and then Bangkok to Krabi.

There was 90 minutes to transfer at Bangkok which although was a bit tight it certainly should have been "do-able". Unfortunately my wife and I couldnt make it and I was OK with forfeiting our fares, the other 5 people took off from Khon Kaen 45 minutes late and were told that they would have to re purchase tickets in Bangkok for the Krabi flight.

All appeals to the companies sense of responsibility fell on deaf ears even though it was their delay and they were pre paid Air Asia flights etc. The party of 5 made the second leg with minutes to spare but there luggage went AWOL. Not much help there either, costs for a taxi back to the airport the next day along with 5 baggage tickets etc were a hassle and another case of "not our fault"

I feel they should carry more responsibility for their own flight delays and the consequences of those delays, even if only for an onward Air Asia flight. personally I think they tend to be very business and not consumer driven.

One leg may be ok but why should you have to allow at least 3 hours between flights to allow for Air Asias late departures.

You get what you pay for I guess

Khun Andy

[legag]

I think we are talking about Thai AirAsia (domestic) here. I have never tired before and don't think I will from what I saw my flight from KL to BKK by Thai AirAsia I have a pretty good idea how they operate AirAsia in Thailand. Plane was sooooo old and small and flight attendents with low-trainned manner.

[mrmarkBKK]

My first trip on Air Asia:

Partied all night, got up late - jumped in a cab, gave him my ticket showing Air Asia, flight #, etc... Driving like a mad man he get's me to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I run in, and to my suprise - no Air Asia... he had brought me to the old airport. He said, "all local flights go from here for sure for sure..." (I was heading to Ubon)

None the less, I missed my flight - There was no refund, and no next day booking on the next flight as it must be done 48 hours in advance by phone.

Hung over as hel_l I poured myself into another taxi, and off to the bus station I went where I was told there was only one bus going to Ubon Ratchathame and it was at 9pm. After 8 more hours of waiting, and for the same price I paid for the airplane ticket for the missed flight, I was on my way to what became a 13 hour bus ride over night in the rain. FUN! Only to find out from my Thai friend upon my arrival that I could have taken one of many busses (which they didn't tell me about @ MoChit) and that they also sold me a ticket that was double the price of everyone elses on the same bus. Beautiful Thailand.

Do your research folks! I fly Air Asia a lot & have never had any problems or complaints with them yet - just be on time...

[Mahout Angrit]

Until today I was quite satisfied with the pricing and the punctuality of Air Asia.

But one thing bothered me: I tried to book a trip to BKK from Hat Yai with my family (2 adults, 2 kids) online, using a promotional fare, but I could not. I learned, that promotional fares can only be booked up to 2 persons.

So why not book the promotional fare for two persons TWICE?

[hotgeekus]

I have flown air asia several times in the last couple years. While everyone points out the negative, this is my experience.

I was flying back from Macau to BKK and got an SMS from Air Asia telling me that my flight was delayed for 3 hours (Thai number). So, I saved myself the three hours of waiting for the plane that was late. Great service and great price.

If you want, go fly Thai. Just got back from Chiangmai, they might as well lower the price and save the food, as it is a waist.... and terrible

[tigerbeer]

Until today I was quite satisfied with the pricing and the punctuality of Air Asia.

But one thing bothered me: I tried to book a trip to BKK from Hat Yai with my family (2 adults, 2 kids) online, using a promotional fare, but I could not. I learned, that promotional fares can only be booked up to 2 persons.

So why not book the promotional fare for two persons TWICE?

they have different fare prices per any flight. a quota is maintained for each price level. if only 2 persons could get the promotional fare, means the seats for the price has been sold out. i'd book 2 persons with the promotional fare and the other 2 at a higher rate, overall i still save when averaged out.

i used to hate airasia for all its strict policies. i still hate them at times. but have learned to deal accordingly instead of getting all worked up. my frequent flights from chiang mai direct to KL mostly costs me between 3000 to 4,000 return with airport tax and everything included. just plan early enough and look out for promotions. its a wonderful airline which thats opened up the joy of flying for many people.

someone mentioned their planes are old. not anymore. thai airasia got one new airbus and another one this month. 40 planes have been ordered for delivery up to 2009. airasia malaysia has 100 airbus on order. maybe more. and most of all i love about airasia are their short short skirts

[mr_lob]

just getting back to the reason for cancelling your trip - you said it is raining alot down here. NOT TRUE. yesterday was lovely - no rain at all. today - not a drop.

[gentman]

Travellers here used to take things for granted and never plan properly when it come to travel arrangement. If you opt for cheap flights, you have to look at the fine exclusion clauses. If you want to have the benefits of all, then pay full fare. Thats all.