Does Air Asia Have A Policy Of Cancelling Flights Not Full?

[Ossies]

I had flights booked with this lot for tomorrow (Saturday) from BKK to Sinapore and then later in the day from Singapore to Phuket.

Received email LATE this afternoon suggesting my flight to Singapore booked for 7am tomorrow was now later in the morning, which in turn meant I could not fly to Phuket later in the day as the only flight (the one I had booked) would have already left.

I called them but they did not give a dam and rattled out that they are a 'point to point carrier' and could not be responsible for connections even though both flights were booked with them. They said they would re book the flights for another day but that is major inconvenience for my plans.

She said the 7am flight to Singapore was cancelled due to 'technical problems' and implied was due to a fault with the plane.

I noticed there was no early flight to Singapore listed on the website booking service for Monday either and she told me that had also been cancelled even though the one for Sunday is still listed.

My sceptical views of Air Asia (from past problems and the vague excuse for cancellation given) got me thinking that maybe they just cancel flights at the last minute if they have not sold enough seats and bump the customers on to the next flight or give their money back without any thought or care for the customers.

I asked her if this was what was going on and she would not reply and said it was an 'internal matter.'

Is this policy going on? If so I think think it should be made clear when you book that your chances of flying on the flight you booked for very much depend on how many seats they have sold and stuff the customer.

Can anyone provide information about this or had similar problems? If this is their policy I think it is disgraceful and shoud be revealed to the customer at the time of booking and give you a chance to book with an airline who will fly you on a day and time that you have booked and paid for

[tranquillize]

The exact same thing happened to me a few weeks ago for my flight from BKK-Penang. I received an SMS from AirAsia 2 days before the departure date telling me my morning flight had been canceled and moved to the afternoon. A few minutes later i recieved another message saying my return flight had also been canceled and moved to a later time. When i talked to them on the phone about it they told me it was due to technical problems with the plane. I thought to myself that this was a BS, what are the odds that both these planes had techical difficulties that could not be repaired in a few days? (my return flight was a week later!)

I think the tourism slump is affecting them so they are consolidating the flights if they are not near capacity. I noticed that both the flights that i took were not full, so capacity would have been quite low had they run seperate flights.

It was a big inconvenience for me, but it is the first time it has happened to me with AirAsia so i hope the trend does not continues.

[Ossies]

Fair enough if they are up front if this is the policy so you can decide whether the risk of cancellation is worth the hassle, rather than give out BS excuses of technical problems.

I am going to take this up with them via Head Office if it looks like this is what is happening.

[ricklev]

Of course its what's happening. They have been doing this for years. There is no one to complain to and there is no recourse. They are relatively unregulated. You have to factor all this into your decision to purchase from them.

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

[scorecard]

Of course its what's happening. They have been doing this for years. There is no one to complain to and there is no recourse. They are relatively unregulated. You have to factor all this into your decision to purchase from them.

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

Yes, I'm going to do just that.

I've used them many many times and my son flew Bangkok to Singapore and return every second week to go to school, for 2 years, never once had a cancelled flight.

l

[thaiphoon]

Of course its what's happening. They have been doing this for years. There is no one to complain to and there is no recourse. They are relatively unregulated. You have to factor all this into your decision to purchase from them.

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

Yes, I'm going to do just that.

I've used them many many times and my son flew Bangkok to Singapore and return every second week to go to school, for 2 years, never once had a cancelled flight.

l

Well, maybe you have yet to be unlucky . I use Air Asia a lot. Generally the service is pretty good, but I have had one instant of receiving a phone call from then cancelling the flight because there were not enough people on the flight. Yes they are a point to point carrier. The flight they changed was the outbound flight, so I insisted they had to change the return fight too as was a day return ticket I had - which they did (at no charge).

[wood]

You know it's not just the low cost carriers doing this, happened to me a couple of weeks ago with singapore.

I can only suggest that everyone keeps their insurance up to date, it is a sign of the times .

[khunjake]

This is an airline tactic to save $$$ and is nothing new. They pull this trick if there is a flight that is only 60% full and if there is another flight available later in the day at 30% booking, they just bump all of the passengers to the later flight and cancel the earlier one. Even if it meant waiting at the airport for 5 hours or more, they save the company $$$. Nice ehhh...

Edited July 25, 2009 by khunjake

[flightcrew1]

Even for flight crew it is happening. It happened to me, especially lately and not just budget carriers but 5 star carriers as well. Last week I was scheduled to work BKK - AUH - CDG morning flight but 2 days before I was to work my schedule was changed to work afternoon flight as well as my working position on aircraft. On the morning flight I was the senior flight crew member working number 1 position but when changed to the afternoon I was now number 2. Lately both our flights from BKK to AUH have been 40pct full mid week. When I checked in that evening to work flight the load was near 95pct. I was told we had cancelled and consolidated both flights for both the out going and return. That evening I spoke to many irate passengers who did not find out until checking in that morrning but it also cost 15 crew to miss out on working as well.

When speaking to other flight crew friends I've been told this has been happening more and more out of BKK and not just with Air Asia but with full service carriers. So if your travelling mid week and you know the carrier has more than one flight to that destination you may receive a call or a surprise when you reach the airport.

This time last year our flights in and out of BKK were near full every day. Coming in last night which was a Friday we had a 60pct load which for a Friday was near 35pct off.

[antony77]

Of course its what's happening. They have been doing this for years. There is no one to complain to and there is no recourse. They are relatively unregulated. You have to factor all this into your decision to purchase from them.

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

You can not blame the airline. They are only trying to stay in business. I have had one flight canceled and one long delay (4hours). Thier terms are clearly stated on thier website. I am flying to Australia with them for only Bt5000 via Kuala Lumpur. I do not expect much at these prices. I take out travel insurance for about BT750 which will compensate me if I do not make my connection and have to travel on another airline.

[Ossies]

Thanks FlightCrew for your comments, very interesting to get a view from inside the industry. Is your airline up front with the customers as to the reason for the re-scheduling?

What annoyed me more was the careless attitude of the Air Asia rep on the phone, the lame excuse given and refusal to comment when I questioned what I was being told/fed. If this is what happened in this case then they are effectively lying/not telling the whole truth when they say 'technical problems' (implying problems with the aircraft) as opposed to 'your flight was not full so we have bumped you off to the next flight, tough luck.'

Not good customer service in my eyes but at least I now know what to expect if I chose to book with them again!

@ Antony77. Does the Air Asia insurance policy cover the cost of booking on another airline for any connection missed or is it a different, higher level policy which is needed? If the latter I would be grateful for details of the policy you use. Thanks

Edited July 25, 2009 by bluemoon

[Macx]

Airasia was very good when they first started out.

Things began to go downhill once they became popular, and worse in the economic crunch.

Overall, it's a 50/50 experience for me. Half the time, it's OK as a budget airline. The other half of the time, it's down right rotten.

Now, I wouldn't choose them even if their fares were 50% cheaper than their competitors'.

[theoldgit]

That's indeed an intersting perspective from flightcrew.

A couple of friends of mine travel reularly by Thai to Hong Kong, both Gold Card holders, have actually noticed that one of them often rings the other saying that they are at Swampy, and suprise suprise we seem to be flying today.

[bojo]

We have to assume they have a policy of cancelling. I know Bangkok airways do, I've been caught out twice at BKK and had to wait hours, once until midnight before we took off. At least the check in lounge at BKK is great, a pleasure to wait in, delicious snacks sometimes! However, not what you need after longhaul. Shame on them all really and never any compensation. A complimentary ticket for the trouble would heal the wounds.

Regards Bojo

[bobright]

You know it's not just the low cost carriers doing this, happened to me a couple of weeks ago with singapore.

I can only suggest that everyone keeps their insurance up to date, it is a sign of the times .

airasia? lots of showmanship but pathetic service. no future airline if any normal airline lower their prices. one complain leads you no where . no solutions provided too. they just want to grab your money no matter end yyou are flying from and too. see other comments here. appear their staff can send 20 replies to your one complaint.

[bobright]

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

right on. replies likely from their staff too.

[britmaveric]

Air Asia is a great airline and let their success continue!!!

[F4UCorsair]

From first hand experience, yes they do cancel flights if numbers are down, but many airlines do the very same thiing.

I worked with one of their station managers a few years back, and recently had dinner with him. Over dinner we talked about my flight back to Bangkok the next day and he told me it had been cancelled; I hadn't been notified even though AA had my hotel details. The reason was low pax numbers.

This is the world of low cost carriers where there is nobody to complain to, just a computer booking system. Many lCC's operate like this, and they don;t want to have pax contact, just collect the $$ and give as little as possible in return.

I'd be more concerned about the standard of their flight crews and training. They have had a lot of potentially serious incidents, runway over runs on landing particularly.

Edited July 25, 2009 by F4UCorsair

[Milo]

We now recommend our guests use Thai Airways rather than Air Asia for the domestic hop from Bkk to Cnx as they cancel so many of those flights in favour of a later one.

[torrenova]

If you look at their schedules you will see say on the SIN-BKK one for example, that the plane goes there and back about 4 times each day, making 8 trips. So if they cancel a plane, they will have to cancel the corresponding return leg as the plane will be out of position.

It would not surprise me that if a plane did have a technical problem and the passengers were bumped, that a corresponding return leg would also be cancelled and they'd just play catch up.

I don't like them passing the business risk of not selling enough tickets onto the customer. It should be outlawed or entitle you to like $1000 compensation for every $100 spent on the ticket.

[laceyjane]

I saw this thread a few days ago and have put off buying some plane tickets from AirAsia because of it.

Just moments ago I got a text message saying that our August 4th flight from BKK to Penang (Malaysia) has been canceled and moved to the afternoon. It was originally scheduled for 7:20am. On their website you can view how many seats are available and I saw as recently as yesterday that there were only about seven people on the flight, two of which were my girlfriend and I.

It's disappointing that this kind of thing happens, but pretty understandable given the situation. At least now I know for sure that they will cancel underbooked flights and that if I have to be somewhere in the morning, then I'd better arrive there the night before.

On the plus side, it's nice to get a notification of cancelation a few days in advance. I commend them for that.

So thanks to everyone in this thread. You made me be cautious with my ticket purchases and thus saved my from missing the first day of a 5 day dive package at Sipadan. I still plan to fly AirAsia, but I am going to arrive there the night before instead of relying on an early morning flight.

Thanks again!

Edited July 30, 2009 by laceyjane

[spongeman]

Moral of this story ? D'ont use a low cost carrier on the first leg of a journey where you have to then take a connecting flight.

Does not make sense.

[rolypie]

Moral of the story.

Dont book cheap charlie flights then moan when they go wrong.

Compare the meercat.com

Simples!!!

[nookiebear]

Of course its what's happening. They have been doing this for years. There is no one to complain to and there is no recourse. They are relatively unregulated.

Now 20 people are going to post about how they never had a problem and you get what you pay for..........

Yes, I'm going to do just that.

I've used them many many times and my son flew Bangkok to Singapore and return every second week to go to school, for 2 years, never once had a cancelled flight.

l

I was at Swampy a fortnight ago & whilst looking at the arrival/departure boards could not help but notice at how many Air Asia flights were either cancelled or delayed!!!!

[PattayaParent]

This is an airline tactic to save $$$ and is nothing new. They pull this trick if there is a flight that is only 60% full and if there is another flight available later in the day at 30% booking, they just bump all of the passengers to the later flight and cancel the earlier one. Even if it meant waiting at the airport for 5 hours or more, they save the company $$$. Nice ehhh...

A trick they must have learnt from British Airways.

So far I've never been on an Air Asia flight that was not completely full.

[PattayaParent]

On their website you can view how many seats are available and I saw as recently as yesterday that there were only about seven people on the flight, two of which were my girlfriend and I.

Correction.

On their website you can see how many people have paid to prebook their seats.

The remaining seats may have been sold but not prebooked.