Anyone Flown Air Asia ?

[M71]

Hi all - was going to book a flight BKK - Brisbane for later this year with Air Asia.

Have not flown with them before - any horror stories out there or are they fine ?

Cheers.

[jeffer]

In summary there are two points of view. One is that you get what you pay for and as long as you read the terms & conditions when you book, travel lightly, don't expect to be waited on hand and foot and have some time to spare if they are running late as they often are then it's a good way to travel if you don't want to throw your money around.

The opposing point of view is that Air Asia offer poor service, the staff are rude and abusive, that as a low cost carrier the planes aren't properly serviced and despite the impression that they're cheap they're not really because for only a few baht more you can avail yourself of the joy of flying real airlines like Thai.

Have a read of some of the thousands of posts about Air Asia on this forum by using the search engine if you would like more detail

[jingjingna]

Why not try Jetstar?

[jonb]

Flown air asia just once and that was from BKK to Phuket. Put it this way i will never fly with them again. The wife got hassled at the boarding gate because she was pregnant even though i declared this when i bought the tickets at the counter in BKK airport, as for the staff, very rude and unhelpful(as stated before). Most people i know flying to Aussie use Jetstar as post above states.

[toptuan]

Have flown numerous times with them since they started flying. Regarding on-time operations...

Flights later in the 24-hour day tend to be late. All my morning and daytime flights have been on time, but delays up to 2 and 3 hours for night flights are not uncommon.

[b19bry]

I have flown many times on the BKK-Phuket route and have never had a problem. I do always travel 'light' (i.e. only cabin baggage for me t-shirts and shorts ).

[tw25rw]

Don't they fly to the Gold Coast, not Brisbane?

[chickencurry]

I have only flown the Phuket-Singapore route. Both times the flights landed early and, for a "budget" airline, I thought they were very good indeed. Food (snacks) edible. However this route only just over an hour - flying all the way to Brisbane may be a different matter.

[huggybear]

Hi all - was going to book a flight BKK - Brisbane for later this year with Air Asia.

Have not flown with them before - any horror stories out there or are they fine ?

Cheers.

Other than the occasional delays, I've flown with Air Asia 10-20 times and am alright with them.

They are my preferred low budget carrier.

The other poster's suggestion of using the search on the forum is good. There have been a bunch of Air Asia threads in the past.

[M71]

Thanks everyone for your advice - have not flown for some years and sort of lost track of things travel.

Jetstar sounds great but when I check their website the prices are the same as a ticket with Qantas ?

Air Asia - "despite the impression that they're cheap they're not really because for only a few baht more you can avail yourself of the joy of flying real airlines like Thai"

I don't mind paying a bit more but having trouble finding decent prices - can anyone suggest an agent/website ? I'm in Chiang Mai but won't matter where they are of course.

[Bagwain]

Thanks everyone for your advice - have not flown for some years and sort of lost track of things travel.

Jetstar sounds great but when I check their website the prices are the same as a ticket with Qantas ?

Air Asia - "despite the impression that they're cheap they're not really because for only a few baht more you can avail yourself of the joy of flying real airlines like Thai"

I don't mind paying a bit more but having trouble finding decent prices - can anyone suggest an agent/website ? I'm in Chiang Mai but won't matter where they are of course.

SMS this guy who is based in Philipines but does a lot of business in LOS

+639164288687

You will find Jetstar fly only to Melbourne & Sydney. You will have to get a connecting flight to Brissy.

Air Asia land on the Gold Coast which is 1 to 1 1/2 hours from the gold Coast

Cheers

[Straight8]

SMS this guy who is based in Philipines but does a lot of business in LOS

+639164288687

You will find Jetstar fly only to Melbourne & Sydney. You will have to get a connecting flight to Brissy.

Air Asia land on the Gold Coast which is 1 to 1 1/2 hours from the gold Coast

Cheers

Bagwain,

what is this guy meant to be able to do regarding a flight to Sydney or Brisbane??

Is it with Jetstar or Air Asia??

cheers

[jingjoe]

Yeah flying into the Gold Coast not Brizzy, I flew with them and LOVED the OOL - KUL - OOL legs. They do a great service between the two ports, and the price, if your dates are a little flexible will be less than half what Jetstar try to exhort.

[Straight8]

Just checked on AirAsia website, but I see they don't flight BKK - OOL - BKK. ie/ that dont flight to Australia anywhere from BKK.

Is this correct or is the website misleading?

[tw25rw]

Just checked on AirAsia website, but I see they don't flight BKK - OOL - BKK. ie/ that dont flight to Australia anywhere from BKK.

Is this correct or is the website misleading?

It's via KL.

[M71]

Yeah flying into the Gold Coast not Brizzy, I flew with them and LOVED the OOL - KUL - OOL legs. They do a great service between the two ports, and the price, if your dates are a little flexible will be less than half what Jetstar try to exhort.

We are going to the Gold Coast so perfect with Air Asia - the prices do look good if you can fly on the promo dates.

Can't find any full service airlines anywhere near the prices of Air Asia to date at least - suggestions more than welcome.

[Condo]

I've used AirAsia X Gold Coast - Kuala Lumpur return and was very happy with the service. But I have to say the night flight back from KL was pretty uncomfortable trying to sleep. I've just booked again and will fly back in their XL class seats which look huge for $425 AUD still cheaper than Jetstar economy.

Phuket to KL in the afternoon then onto the Gold Coast worked out perfectly and have booked the same flights again this trip. Although I have to admit I was worried about a delay and then missing the second leg from KL to the Gold Coast.

All I suggest is you get good travel insurance then if something goes wrong your covered. e.g. missed or delayed flights and hotel accommodation and so on.

AirAsia is also offering $65AUD at the moment for any flight delayed for more than 3 hours which is enough to book another flight or two on any of their short haul flights.

All in all I've not had a bad experience and have Bangkok --> Ubon --> Bangkok --> Phuket --> Kuala Lumper --> Gold Coast all booked with AirAsia in the coming month. 4 of those flights I paid $26AUD each including Taxes.

Good Luck

[jingjoe]

and will fly back in their XL class seats which look huge

Very comfortable up the front, for those that haven't seen it, CLICK HERE

[wintermute]

If you're going domestic i'd recommend Nok Air over Air Asia. AA is known for delays and sub par service. I guess the belief that they are the #1 discount carrier has gone to their head. Nok Air let me book a flight 15 minutes before it was about to leave at the counter and even called ahead to tell the security to let me check in. Absolutely fantastic service.

[bdenner]

My TW, daughter and I returned from the GC on Air Asia X yesterday, TW will never fly them again, she was livered I was probably a bit more tolerant considering what it would have cost me for one way flights on Thai International. In saying that I was not at all happy with them, the trip to Perth on Tiger was MUCH better.

The Aircraft: A very old Airbus A330 they must have leased from somewhere (the last 3 digits in the call sign was XAA). Thread bare carpets and my well worn seat would not remain upright as well as 4 I could see in my viewing area.

I bought prepaid meals (semi hot Malay rice dish I did not want or enjoy) - A big mistake as there was no choice off the menu although the meals I bought were the same price as the menu meals. DON'T PREPAY FOR THEM.

Our arrival in KL was a shambles, the plane parked a the furtherest point from Immigration a very long uncovered walk, don't know how the elderly got on. Immigration ques were a mile long, the extremely small baggage conveyor was completely overloaded with cases making them hard to find and retrieve as well as them falling off.

According to the board our connecting flight to BKK was to be checked in at departure row R10. There was many of us from the CG flight lined up when someone received SMS saying the plane was an hour late. We waited and waited for it to open with the guy along side in R11 telling us it won't be long. The <deleted> changed the checking point without bothering to come over and tell us so by the time we all got there the que there was a mile long and it took forever to get checked in. Things didn't improve the late flight from KL to BKK was terrible with next to no service. The trolleys were near to empty. Then the bags took at least 45 minutes to appear AFTER we had past thru Immigration.

The whole process took more than 18 hours.