Air Asia Rubbish

[Thailand]

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.

Agreed ,used them many times, no probs.

Only once I had promotional fare Chiangmai / Bangkok which I could not use owing to other commitments , lost almost 400 baht.

Great airline and it looks like they are going longhaul next year.

[legag]

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.

Right oooonnnnnn!

[jeffer]

Using the budget airlines on a regular basis even if you were to miss the odd flight you're usually still a long way in front with all the money saved before.

Here's to all the punters out there too lazy to read the terms and conditions and in doing so helping keep prices low for those of us who can read.

[arco27]

I fly Air Asia all the time and never had any problems. Granted, there where some flight delays sometimes, I don't like the buses to the plane in BKK and the odd time I have to pay a few Bath for overweight luggage, but all this is no real problem because I save tons of money each year by flying Air Asia. Thai Airways "special" return fare from Brisbane to Bkk in October this year was 40000 Bath and this for departing at 1am from Brisbane and a return flight leaving Bkk at 8 am (who likes to get up at 4am to get to an airport) and then flying via Sydney back to Brisbane, all up a 9 hour flight that takes 15 hours at a premium price. So I took Ethiad to Singapore with a direct Air Asia connection to Bkk and the same for the return, all up 30000 Bath. Yesterday I booked my BKK flight for January 08 and guess what Air AsiaX now flies to the Gold Coast 60km from my home and I can fly Gold Coast to KL to BKK and return for 20000 Bath all up. This is the cheapest I have booked in years and definitely the most convenient. So I am a Air Asia fan and don't mind buying my own food on the plane, rush to get a good seat as long as my flights are cheap, convenient and cheerful.

[Digitalbanana]

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.

Well one doesn't actually pay for being late so I would be annoyed with that, though I in recent years their timing has been very good from my experience

My argument is why should they charge you double to change a flight to another date,

Because they can. It's the market rate you agree to before buying or rejecting the fare. Take it or leave it.

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

Enjoy your trip:-)

[zink]

I can't believe that people are complaining about these kind of things. In Europe, legacy carriers will often charge 5000B (100e) per PERSON for changing dates of the ticket. And on most promotion fares, no changes are permitted at all.

In addition: Air Asia just like most of low cost carriers is a POINT-TO-POINT carrier. Air Asia doesn't offer connecting flights, you can't have "two legs" on Air Asia, you just have a two completely separate tickets. If you miss your flight, then you are the only one to blame and the airline isn't responsible.

[torrenova]

I cannot accept the OP's claim that it is somehow Air Asia's fault. They are great at what they do and they have opened up a whole new world for many people.

Now one thing I do not agree with is the total no refund bit. If you don't fly then you don't need the fuel surcharge nor any taxes due to the airport or government. These bits are a piss take I admit but the overall package is very good.

[ThaidleHands]

I cannot accept the OP's claim that it is somehow Air Asia's fault. They are great at what they do and they have opened up a whole new world for many people.

Now one thing I do not agree with is the total no refund bit. If you don't fly then you don't need the fuel surcharge nor any taxes due to the airport or government. These bits are a piss take I admit but the overall package is very good.

You have an interesting take on it. It would be interesting to see the looks on their faces if you asked them to take "your" fuel out of the plane and send it to your house since you wouldn't actually be using it to fly. If it wasn't AirAsia maybe you could get them to bring your in-flight snack as well.

My only real complaint with AirAsia is the occasional bad attitudes among the cabin crew on the Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur flight. The domestic flights have never been a source of problems.

[torrenova]

I cannot accept the OP's claim that it is somehow Air Asia's fault. They are great at what they do and they have opened up a whole new world for many people.

Now one thing I do not agree with is the total no refund bit. If you don't fly then you don't need the fuel surcharge nor any taxes due to the airport or government. These bits are a piss take I admit but the overall package is very good.

You have an interesting take on it. It would be interesting to see the looks on their faces if you asked them to take "your" fuel out of the plane and send it to your house since you wouldn't actually be using it to fly. If it wasn't AirAsia maybe you could get them to bring your in-flight snack as well.

My only real complaint with AirAsia is the occasional bad attitudes among the cabin crew on the Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur flight. The domestic flights have never been a source of problems.

My argument is valid I think. If we fly we have to pay the tax and all the other stuff which is not supposed to be a profit centre for the airline so if we don't fly then we should be reimbursed. I had this agreed long ago by British Midland. Their profit comes from the variable fare structure.

[ThaidleHands]

I cannot accept the OP's claim that it is somehow Air Asia's fault. They are great at what they do and they have opened up a whole new world for many people.

Now one thing I do not agree with is the total no refund bit. If you don't fly then you don't need the fuel surcharge nor any taxes due to the airport or government. These bits are a piss take I admit but the overall package is very good.

You have an interesting take on it. It would be interesting to see the looks on their faces if you asked them to take "your" fuel out of the plane and send it to your house since you wouldn't actually be using it to fly. If it wasn't AirAsia maybe you could get them to bring your in-flight snack as well.

My only real complaint with AirAsia is the occasional bad attitudes among the cabin crew on the Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur flight. The domestic flights have never been a source of problems.

My argument is valid I think. If we fly we have to pay the tax and all the other stuff which is not supposed to be a profit centre for the airline so if we don't fly then we should be reimbursed. I had this agreed long ago by British Midland. Their profit comes from the variable fare structure.

I think that depends on which tax you mean, if in fact it is a tax and not a fee assessed by the airport authority.

The VAT is not going to be refunded. The ticket was sold and the airline still must render unto Caesar.

The airport fees, as I understand it, are set on a per-aircraft basis based on aircraft model or weight, whether it uses a bus gate or contact gate, how long it is parked and so on through all the variables. Those costs are then apportioned to each ticket based on estimates of how many passengers will actually buy tickets on that plane or all planes. So it is fair in a sense that you need to pay something for a plane that was ready to carry you if you'd just carried through with your travel plans.

Don't get me wrong, I can see the point you're making. I'd just suggest that in the final analysis determining which (small) amount you're entitled to get back would probably exceed the amount of the refund.

In general, people who cancel early and give the airline another chance to sell that seat deserve every consideration. People who no-show don't have nearly as much of a claim.

[billp]

Plane was sooooo old and small and flight attendents with low-trainned manner.

Nonsense! I've flown numerous times both inside and outside Thailand with Air Asia and each time the plane has been new and in good condition, and the gate and flight crew competent, friendly and attractive.

Yes, they are a budget airline. Point to point and no refunds. So what?

[Hugh Jarse]

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

[Hugh Jarse]

Yes agree I had similar problem with cancelled flights a while back and complained then but got nowhere. It is good you started this off as Air Asia do not survey their customers for their views and they need to to improve their service. Competition is fierce and will get more intense. The refund policy is inexcusable and no doubt due to incompetent administration.

Last time I flew them from Had Yai BKK CNX they phoned me the day before departure to say the flight would be delayed by 4 hours. That was good service indeed.

There are at least 2 ways Air Asia could be better: provide better training for staff, especially in English language training as this is generally poor and customers dont always understand why they are being delayed for their flights. Second be less strict on the baggage allowance.Wo betide you if you are as much as a donut overweight. Even Thai's fume at the parsimonious policy here.

Finally on dress. The female stewardesses have to wear ridiculouly tight clothing . Is this in the interest of safety or what? Perhaps this is Fernandes being too influenced by his side-kick Richard Branson who has always liked to tart up his in flight stewardesses. Good for business he thinks but some faiths may find this tatty and cheap.

Overall I'd give AirAsia a 5 out of 10 and Thai a 6 for internal flights.

[gentman]

I have no complaint paying inflight meals. You save a lot and you pay a little for food. So what is the complaint? The more people eat-in, it will survive to create more ideas on how to serve better.

AirAsia is phasing out all Boeings and new airbus coming in stages. Just need to be patience.

Flight Attendents are smarts. I like their miniskirts.

Safety standard. Ok no problem. Otherwise they would have been grounded.

Opening up for more routes..thats great....

Online booking/checkin now everyone follow suite...

The guys in AA are very innovatives, lots of new ideas...more mature day by day..

[asiaworld]

Well nice to see the variety ofopinions here,. actually i do fly with Air Asia, wheni have no other choice, but i dohateit from the bottom of my heart ! Especially after i have tried Tiger Air & Jetstar ! Which just proves, that it's not the system, thats at fault (ie. budget carriers) but individual players... air asia . Also comparing to Ryanair or easyjet/wizz they still suck !

Now as for the OP greviance, in my opinion (and my opinion based on me being a travel agent years ago ! ) Taxes are NOT the part of the fare, and are supposed to be paid to the airport authorities , so NO FLY>>NO TAX .. Now i wish op try to have a word with someone in Air Asia ( if at all possible ) and see if he can get the taxes back .. No refund on fare ! fair enough !, but keeping , what doesn't belong to them at the first place is pure thievery !! Nice if travellers will start pointing that out to them , don't worry they do make enough profit, to stop stealing

[zink]

Now as for the OP greviance, in my opinion (and my opinion based on me being a travel agent years ago ! ) Taxes are NOT the part of the fare, and are supposed to be paid to the airport authorities , so NO FLY>>NO TAX .. Now i wish op try to have a word with someone in Air Asia ( if at all possible ) and see if he can get the taxes back .. No refund on fare ! fair enough !, but keeping , what doesn't belong to them at the first place is pure thievery !! Nice if travellers will start pointing that out to them , don't worry they do make enough profit, to stop stealing

"Taxes" ARE PART OF THE FARE. Actually there aren't "taxes" at all, they are just way for airlines to conduct misleading advertisement and raise prices for their "free" frequent flier award tickets (which can be very expensive actually and are never free).

No refund policy means simply: NO REFUND. It doesn't matter if you book a "no refund" fare from a low cost carrier or not. You will not get anything back if you cancel your flight. This applies to all airlines in the world.

[asiaworld]

Oups.. Not so fast zink ! i used to be a travel agent, and also i know for sure, that with any normal airline taxes are refundable incase u do not fly ! Just ask around now if you look at all this "amazing" air asia fares, you'll clearly notice something like .. fare 0 baht .. good one to atract gullibles .. than fuel/insurance >>what else NOT part of fare (coz no passenger, no expense) like 1,200 baht.. than airport tax 700 (only due to AOT , IF & when passenger uses airport !) .. So now think.. i may presume, that air asia have Invented the clause, that whatever money it can get it dirty hands on it will never refund .. But do try something normal like thaiair for a change, and if you'll dump the ticket, good chance you may still get some taxes back .

[Lancashirelad]

"Taxes" ARE PART OF THE FARE. Actually there aren't "taxes" at all, they are just way for airlines to conduct misleading advertisement and raise prices for their "free" frequent flier award tickets (which can be very expensive actually and are never free).

not quite true. On an international flight there's at least the International departure tax of 700 bht. (remember the 500 you used to have to pay at the old airport?)

Edited November 13, 2007 by Lancashirelad

[billp]

Airport tax is 100 baht on a domestic flight, by the way.

Here's the breakdown on a 399 baht special to Udon Thani:

1 Guest 399.00 THB

Airport Tax 100.00 THB

Insurance Surcharge 50.00 THB

Administration Fee 50.00 THB

Value Added Tax 69.93 THB

Fuel Surcharge 400.00 THB

Total Package Price

1,068.93 THB

Still pretty damned cheap.

[gentman]

Airport tax is refundable. The airline pay the airport based on the number of passenges going on board their plane. Fuel surcharge maybe not refundable. Even though you purchase a seat and if you dont travel the plane still have to fly. They make more money if they are able to sell your seat last minute. In most cases they cant sell it unless there is a full load with waiting list.

The thing i dont like about budget airline is their prices are misleading. They advertise at low low price (big sign) but there are lots of added costs...eg. fuel surcharge...

Law should be put up to get airlines to show only net price.

[britmaveric]

All airlines do this, and they have taxes/extras in small print not included.

[lomatopo]

As mentioned all the fare rules, maybe running to two+ pages, should be available for your review prior to purchase. Many people purchase vacation insurance, when planning a trip, which allows you to recover some or all of your expenses were you to cancel your trip for any number of reasons (weather, illness, etc.).

[zink]

Oups.. Not so fast zink ! i used to be a travel agent, and also i know for sure, that with any normal airline taxes are refundable incase u do not fly ! Just ask around now if you look at all this "amazing" air asia fares, you'll clearly notice something like .. fare 0 baht .. good one to atract gullibles .. than fuel/insurance >>what else NOT part of fare (coz no passenger, no expense) like 1,200 baht.. than airport tax 700 (only due to AOT , IF & when passenger uses airport !) .. So now think.. i may presume, that air asia have Invented the clause, that whatever money it can get it dirty hands on it will never refund .. But do try something normal like thaiair for a change, and if you'll dump the ticket, good chance you may still get some taxes back .

Please give an example of a normal airlines that return "taxes" for a "no refund" fare. This definitely doesn't happen with European airlines. For example if you book an award ticket, you have to pay "taxes" + FF points, if you cancel award ticket, you will be returned points but the airline will keep "taxes"...

For example, I tried to make a booking on a British Airways website and got the following:

"Changes: Time/date changes permitted at any time before each flight departure for a change fee of €50 or an upgrade fee of €50 plus any difference in fare.Changes subject to availability.If you cancel the fare is not refundable."

by booking a business class I got:

"Changes: Time/date changes permitted at any time for difference in fare. Changes subject to availability If you cancel a refund is permitted, subject to recalculation of fare for any journey flown. There are no cancellation fees."

Btw, Airport "tax" or fuel "surchage" are part of airlines expenses like the "aircraft leasing cost", "cabin crew fee" or "marketing costs".

[zink]

All airlines do this, and they have taxes/extras in small print not included.

Not all airlines do that. For example in EU it's illegal to advertise prices without "taxes"/"extras".

[asiaworld]

All airlines do this, and they have taxes/extras in small print not included.

Not all airlines do that. For example in EU it's illegal to advertise prices without "taxes"/"extras".

And that is correct actually theymade some euro survey, & found out, that not every airline complied ... Anyway, what pisses me off is air asia's impudence & attitude.. if they recover, & showeveryone that their cheapest international fare is way over 2,000 baht one way, i wouldn't write anything bad about them !! Until now i do feel, they get most of their customers by deceit ..

And sorry about your experience with BA , I USED TO GET MY PAID TAXES BACK, on quite a few occasions... Hong Kong is quite good in that aspect, be it Thai/CX or some others ! Fare IS NONREFUNDABLE !>correct, but ONLY fare (which in airasia's case ..

pay peanuts get monkeys.. lose fare on another carrier,still could costyouless than airasia on a long run;)

[zink]

All airlines do this, and they have taxes/extras in small print not included.

Not all airlines do that. For example in EU it's illegal to advertise prices without "taxes"/"extras".

And that is correct actually theymade some euro survey, & found out, that not every airline complied ... Anyway, what pisses me off is air asia's impudence & attitude.. if they recover, & showeveryone that their cheapest international fare is way over 2,000 baht one way, i wouldn't write anything bad about them !! Until now i do feel, they get most of their customers by deceit ..

And sorry about your experience with BA , I USED TO GET MY PAID TAXES BACK, on quite a few occasions... Hong Kong is quite good in that aspect, be it Thai/CX or some others ! Fare IS NONREFUNDABLE !>correct, but ONLY fare (which in airasia's case ..

pay peanuts get monkeys.. lose fare on another carrier,still could costyouless than airasia on a long run;)

The BA fare that was shown on their webpage was the total fare including all fees (I didn't make any booking with them, just looked at their terms), thus fare is nonrefundable => customer would get 0€ back.

Are you sure that your Thai/CX fare was really nonrefundable fare? I checked Thai Airways website and it seems that even "economy restricted" tickets are usually cancellable for 60USD fee.

However on their "super deals" page they say:

"- Ticket cannot be refunded.

- After the ticket is issued, flight / date change is not permitted. "

Has anyone ever got taxes and fees back from Thai Airways super deal fare?

[torrenova]

It has probably been argued before but technically, the airline collects the tax for the government. If the passenger refuses to fly, at whatever point, then that tax is not payable. At Don Muang, you simply would not have bought the Bt500 ticket. I am not just talking about Thailand here.

So if you cannot reclaim the tax which, on a long hauil return fare, could be worthwhile in itself, even if you agree to losing the flight costs, then who gets the money. If the airline keeps it, then it cannot be legal as it has no right to collect tax and retain it. If the government gets it, then I hazard that is illegal as you have been taxed on something you did not use. A complicated issue I think.

Airport landing fees which I understand are part aircraft and part passenger charges should also be refunded as should any other charge which is specifically related to the pasenger. Under this argument, fuel surcharges or more realistically, fuel costs, should be refunded as they are totaly specific to the weight of the plane and thus, if someone does not fly, that fuel is neither bought nor loaded.

[gentman]

In the ticket that i hold, The words tax/fee/charge that is stated in the ticket maybe mislending. The amount print there Its not tax that go to the government. Its airport tax, Its the charge that imposed to passengers using the airport. The money goes to the Airport Authority and not the government.

[Robbie Dye]

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

I met the Air Asia sales team the other day, they have just recruited a guy ex Ryan Air for those of us from UK who know this market leader in no frills travel, and things will change for the better, BUT my own experiences with Air Asia since they got Suvarnabhumi almost to themselves now in that corner of the departures have been great, on time flights, even early occasioanlly. Correct bottom line is you get what you pay for.

[Ernesto]

I have used Air Asia quite a lot recently with mixed levels of satisfaction. I have to say that as a budget airline Air Asia are ok. The attitude of the biggest airline in Europe, Ryanair, to its customers is set by its CEO. "its cheap, so stop whinging."

Air Asia are significantly better in the T&C's and customer services than Ryanair, who set the industry standard for budget airlines. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that budget airlines are hugely removed from the standards of service set by traditional carriers. Its just a fact of life that we are paying for a cheap, but quick, bus ride