Air Asia Overbooking

[peteg68]

Hi, Happened to me and 24 fellow passengers on friday 27.03 AK 873 Phuket - Kuala Lumpur:

Flight Scheduled at 13:30.

Arrived at the airport at 11:55

Passed to check in at 12:01 - a good 1hr29mins before the departure.

Check in was very slow and long, waited at the queue as one of the last passengers.

Sweat staterted to flow as in 45 mins the queue did not go much further, and we started to question what goes on.

We got an answer at 13:00 that check in will close and flight is overbooked, and u'll be flying with next flight, estimated around 17:00

A total of 24 pax started to get quite nervous and sparks flowing.

Airasias both supervisors on duty said sorry, but you are the last in line, firts come , first served. Nothing we can do.

So, they booked us to next flight, which did not exist by AOT neither by monitors.

Even bloody angry and missed my hectic programme in KUL, had to accept as no alternatives to get to KUL.

Airside i spoke with stationmanager, and he assured that flight is coming, but there will be no compensation, and if i am not happy with it, you can contact Airasia headquorters. ( i did, by phone and by mail, no answer other than we will maybe sent you a 1000 thb gifvoucher, and we will reply you within 48 days. )

Among the fellowpassengers, including me, were mostly 2-3 months earlier booked and premium paid passengers, and some had connections from KLIA.

No coffee, no refreshments, and only a slight apology was given during the 4 hrs waiting time.

New Flight was announced to be ready for boarding, and after boarding was completed, there was only us 24 pax onboard, and finally took off 17:28, landed to KUL / LCCT at 19:50 - and of course onboard was none of prebooked meals available. At least we got coffee free during the flight.

Conclusion:

1:If you are about to fly with airasia, i strongly suggest to do the ONLINE checking as early you can ( open 24 hrs before the departure time ) and make sure you leave your checked luggage to baggagedrop minimum 1hr30 mins before your flight.

2:If you do not have possibility for online checking, be at airport as early as possible.

AIRASIA Does not take any responsibility of their mistakes - the guest has to be happy that you got your seat even you have paid and booked and got confirmation AS MENTIONED BELOW:

Air Asias terms and conditions:

6.1.3

Unavailability of Seat: There is a chance a seat may not be available for you on your flight even if your booking is confirmed. This is due to the common practice in the airline industry of overbooking. In the event of such unavailability of seat, we shall at our option, either:

* carry you at the earliest opportunity on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your booking; or

* should you choose to travel at another time, retain the value of your fare in a credit account for your future travel provided that you must re-book within three (3) months therefrom.

[TonySoprano]

its a budget airline... i am sure you will fly again.

mi bpen rai.

get there earlier next time.

etc.

[patatillo]

What's the point?

Sure it must have been annoying for you, but all airlines are overbooking

[BruceMangosteen]

Hi, Happened to me and 24 fellow passengers on friday 27.03 AK 873 Phuket - Kuala Lumpur:

We got an answer at 13:00 that check in will close and flight is overbooked, and u'll be flying with next flight, estimated around 17:00

A total of 24 pax started to get quite nervous and sparks flowing.

So, they booked us to next flight, which did not exist by AOT neither by monitors.

New Flight was announced to be ready for boarding, and after boarding was completed, there was only us 24 pax onboard, and finally took off 17:28, landed to KUL / LCCT at 19:50 - and of course onboard was none of prebooked meals available. At least we got coffee free during the flight.

They sent an aircraft to pick up the 24 passengers who were bumped off the earlier flight? This is news if true. Never heard of an airline spending that kind of money due to an over booking situation and if anything, shows customer care not lack of it.

[samui04]

I'm very impressed by AirAsia. You said that they sent a non scheduled flight for an overbooking?

No airline will ever do that....they give 750$/E coupon and hotel/food untile next day flight...

i'm wondering what will they do on overbooking on a long flight, like Lon/KL....

the real cost of cheap airline is not the missing coffe, who cares, but the fixed ticket.

any delay means missed connection apart Bangkok airline with ticket valid 6 month ...

anyway i will never do a stopover in the middle of the night in the middle east, i usually takes a nice sleeping pills on long flight and I wake up at breakfast time! uhm..I forget they put me in jail for the sleeping pill, nice countries.....

[wileycoyote]

This could be a serious problem when travelling intercontinental,with no chance for online check-in.

[yumidesign]

thanks for the information i have a couple of Air Asia flights booked and will check in on line for sure

[Zpete]

Air Asia has a cheap insurance, but does not seem to have flight delays.

It is a subsiduary of AIG.........<deleted>.

New Hampshire.

[torrenova]

Airlines do overbook but they should be accountable for the consequences of their actions. The further down the airline quality league you travel, the less back up you receive.

Travelling intercontinental with non refundable or changeable tickets would be a serious issue but they would not give a toss.

The last time booked Air Asia I paid an extra Bt50 to pick my seat. Having done so, I do not see how they could allocate that seat to anyone else until all check ins had closed. That said, I have flown Air Asia when it has taken an inordinate amount of time to process people. I know in Singapore once I went to the front and told them that I was here way more than 1 hour before departure just in case they got funny about anything.

On a slightly different note, I was once flying the return leg on Thai to London and I made sure that my connection from Krabi was on Thai as I believe that had Thai been the reason for my missing the London flight, then they would have sorted it out. Had i flown internally with another carrier, then they would have no reason to fix me another flight.

The moral of the story is that if you can risk it and if the fare is cheap enough, then go for the cheapo airline. If you cannot risk it, then you have to work out if the saving on the airfare is really worth the potential losses you face if things go wrong. Too many people focus only on the small change and forget the big picture.