Hooray Hooray! Finally: Air Asia Charges Extra For Every Checked-in Baggage

[siam2007]

Finally !!!

"AirAsia is proud to intruduce its latest GIMMICK"

which is a FEE for any kind if checked-in luggage.....

starting for bookings made after 21st of April, they will charge a fee for every piece of baggage u want to check-in.

though, still a cheapo: 30 Baht if you book that lovely feature online and in advance, 50 Baht if u just show-up with your bag at the airport....

they say "because most budget airlines in US and Euro do so.... now we also want (your money, that is)".

to be fair, the British RyanAir, for example, charges much more: believe it or not, if u just show up at the airport and dont pre-book your checked-in luggage, you will have to hand over no less than 900 Baht for one piece of luggage ! awesome, isnt it ?

so, lets be so happpyyyyyyyy that AirAsia is so CHEAP, and lets happily hand over the 50 Baht in future with a smile and a WAI.......

[Crossy]

At one time the LCCs were suggesting that we should also carry our own checked bags to the aircraft and place them on the loading belt.

What next, reduced rates and a seat with a good view for those who can fly, do that and they won't need to employ pilots

[PeaceBlondie]

I have never forgiven Ryan Air for charging me about twenty pounds sterling for every gram of excess weight when I was traveling internationally. Nor for their absolute refusal to allow drinks carried on board, and then their shills were selling 165 ml of Diet Coke for about five sterling. I am only exaggerating slightly. Then, guess what, the flight to Barcelona is about 85 km away from ......you guessed it....Barcelona.

[asanee]

1.Ryanair is not british, its not even scottish [which might explain their thriftfullness....], its IRISH

2.the ban on liquids on real bottles was not made by Ryanair, but by the British govmt, after some incident with suicidal bombers in-spe and hence was forced on any flight to/fro UK, pretty soon followed up by all EU. But of course I too think all those LCC's love it for the rise in on-board sales.

[torrenova]

No-one forces people to use budget carriers anywhere just as they do not force people to use full service carriers. I think it is a logical progression for budget carriers to charge for everything that the customer uses.

Starting nex month they are going to weigh people and those over the median 75kg will be asked to pay more. Seriously though, fat people should perhaps pay more or get a reduced baggage allowance.

[sjaak327]

^ Yep, maybe not a bad idea.

Last year my Lao partner, after three months had to go home, on a full serviced airline, with 4,5 kilo overweight on bagage. They wanted 30 euro ! per KG.

When my arguments, that on a ticket with 6 months validity and a 3 months stay, it might be normal to have a little bit more then usual, and that last time a 7kg overweight wasn't a problem either, fell on deaf ears, I was wondering the same thing, about that guy at the desk next to me, a whopping 100 KG wall of flesh, and they were complaining about a mere 51 KG guy from Laos I mean that guy brought 100 + 20 KG into the plane, as my partner only brought a mere 51 + 24,5 KG into the same plane, but at 150 euro higher price.

Of course I declined their 150 euro charge, and just made sure we removed 3 kg, changed the counter, the woman at that counter did check him in, and I returned to Bangkok a few weeks later with the 3 kg into my bag (I hardly have more then 12-13 KG luggage anyway).

Edited April 8, 2008 by sjaak327

[torrenova]

I have thought for years that the customer should be weighed. I mean, you could have a 150kg guy and a 50kg girl and they have paid the same fare. It must obviously cost more to transport him.

[britmaveric]

should give you 1 bag free, then anything extra charge.

Airlines have tried charging people with more weight, however they were sued and lost that one. If they could legally do so believe me they would.

[tartempion]

Rules, rules, more rules.

I for one will turn away from Air Asia for this reason (making customers life more complicated)

They have this neat trick of adding insurance on the ticket, which you need to cancel to have it removed. Thus if you fly without luggage you will need to do the same...

I have 10 Air Asia bookings this year, 4 more to go, so the new rule does not apply in my case (booking made before 21st April), but I do have 3 Nok Air bookings. Unfortunately they do not have Nok Plus on the Udon route. I will gladly pay the 850 supplement for Nok Plus on international trips. I checked TG's promotions at Udon Airport a few days ago. Might use them again in the future.

Hmm, Thais are excellent in persuading customers to spend their hard earned cash elsewhere

[jonniebkk]

which is a FEE for any kind if checked-in luggage.....

starting for bookings made after 21st of April, they will charge a fee for every piece of baggage u want to check-in.

though, still a cheapo: 30 Baht if you book that lovely feature online and in advance, 50 Baht if u just show-up with your bag at the airport....

Seems perfectly reasonable to me. All airlines are struggling with increased costs, especially jet fuel, which has doubled in price over that past year. They have to do what is necessary to run a viable business...and this means increasing prices one way or another (we are lucky airfares themselves have not doubled over the past year). One way to do this is to separate out charges/services that used to be included in the ticket price.

I, for one, would rather be given the option to pay for the product/service I am using rather than subsidizing others. Therefore, if I elect/am able to travel light, and have only a carry-on, I don't pay any extra fee. If I have the maximum checked luggage (which will cost the airline in both fuel [increased plane weight] and labour handling costs) then I will have to pay a little [and we really are talking deminimus here] more.

Sounds fair to me...I don't have a problem with it. If one doesn't like it, there are other carriers or modes of transport one can avail oneself of.

Edited April 9, 2008 by jonniebkk

[steelepulse]

I'm surprised that they just didn't bury it in their various "fees" which is a blanket to charge whatever they feel like.  Surely there would be less fuss and commotion if they did this as there are already so many nonsense fees involved that a 299 ticket is suddenly 2300 thanks to these "fees".

[Zpete]

should give you 1 bag free, then anything extra charge.

Airlines have tried charging people with more weight, however they were sued and lost that one. If they could legally do so believe me they would.

New Zealand Herald. Saturday April 05, 2008

One bag up to 30kgs will be free.

Air New Zealand will charge domestic travellers up to $20 for a second bag in sweeping plans to overhaul airport check-in.

Occasional travellers will be allowed one bag free and will be charged between $10 and $20 for a second one - regardless of the weight of the bags.

Hope it goes for international soon as well.

I fly Thai to BKK, usually with about 12 kilos + laptop, return with full 20kgs + laptop.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?...jectid=10502213

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story....jectid=10502534

[asiaworld]

the most incredible is , that anyone in their right mind would honestly beleive, that they do it for any other reason, than pure greed >!>!> to keep costs down/charge you less etc. ..And how willingly most folks accept this (btw. EU tries to forbid it slowly) "business model" ! C'mon , why not anywhere else >> imagine go to 7/11 buy lets say a can of beer/coke/milk etc.. price 10 baht !.> come to the checkout... ok price 10 baht + tax 5 baht + 7/11 "facility charge" 10 baht + electricity(or any other bulls**t) 7 baht >> oh you may choose if you like a plastic bag for your purchase , that'll be extra>> total you pay say 30-40 baht > how'd you LIKE THAT ..

& Hooray you can 'save' 2-3 baht if you don't need a bag .. How sick the world would become eh..

What on earth prevents airlines from quoting real final price of tickets>as they are slowly (not always successfuly) forced to by EU rules .. Say it , AA charges AT least 2+++baht for it's Cheapest 0baht "free" ticket . but it'd be too honest for them to handle, & they'd lose more passengers of course . till than win by deception works out nicer

[chiang mai]

I reallocated from Hong Kong to Bangkok with 88 kgs of luggage and Cathay Pacific waved me through without a request for payment of any kind, granted I was a top tier Club passenger but only traveling on a Bus Class ticket, slightly more expensive than economy and purchased solely because of the excess luggage.

In the same year I relocated from London to Thailand, traveling on a Bus Class ticket for the same reasons as stated above but this time with 45kgs of luggage and was required to pay for 5kgs excess, on British Airways. What's wrong with this picture I ask!

[bkk_mike]

the most incredible is , that anyone in their right mind would honestly beleive, that they do it for any other reason, than pure greed >!>!> to keep costs down/charge you less etc. ..And how willingly most folks accept this (btw. EU tries to forbid it slowly) "business model" ! C'mon , why not anywhere else >> imagine go to 7/11 buy lets say a can of beer/coke/milk etc.. price 10 baht !.> come to the checkout... ok price 10 baht + tax 5 baht + 7/11 "facility charge" 10 baht + electricity(or any other bulls**t) 7 baht >> oh you may choose if you like a plastic bag for your purchase , that'll be extra>> total you pay say 30-40 baht > how'd you LIKE THAT ..

& Hooray you can 'save' 2-3 baht if you don't need a bag .. How sick the world would become eh..

What on earth prevents airlines from quoting real final price of tickets>as they are slowly (not always successfuly) forced to by EU rules .. Say it , AA charges AT least 2+++baht for it's Cheapest 0baht "free" ticket . but it'd be too honest for them to handle, & they'd lose more passengers of course . till than win by deception works out nicer

You've obviously never shopped in New York.

The price on the shelf is the price before tax, and they make a point on the receipt of splitting the city and state taxes out.