Air Asia

[nonthaburial]

A friend of mine in BKK asked me what would be the cheapest likely price for a 7 day ticket BKK-HK return, I told him told him to check out the Air Asia online booking. I was amazed to hear that their prices are 6000 Baht more expensive than China Airlines for the same dates. For CI you get full baggage allowance plus free lunch etc, where for AA everything is extra.

This one has stumped me for sure

[Totster]

Their cheap flights do seem to have been getting less cheap recently. It's getting to the point that for an extra couple of thousand baht you can have food, IFE and baggage allowance all thrown in without the extra hassle of booking it.

Totster

[apetley]

To get the really good deals on AA you have to book early and take advantage of their special offers.

Booking close to the time of travel rarely yields bargains.

[ignis]

They are still cheap, but often checking I find there cheap only if you book 6 - 9 months in advance..

If you book for next month then there more than double the price + often more expensive than main airlines..

couple of things I looked at.

AA to Perth AUS, book now for March = 11,000 baht more than 6 months ago + 4,000 baht more than 'Promotion' with TG direct.. I have booked TG 20,850 baht for next week.

No idea if something new in the price but 15kg baggage with AA 6 months ago was 200 baht each way for KL - PER = 400 baht.

Now is 500 baht each way for March. + BKK to KL is also doubled.

KL book for March then Malaysia Air is 277 baht cheaper than AA

[Zpete]

I use "Orient Thai Airlines " for Honkers.

http://www.orient-thai.com/new/flightSchedule.html

Flight is on a 747, ya get eats etc.

Leaves Bangers late afternoon for Honkers.

I often stay feed up at the airport and get first bus into Causeway Bay where I stay.

Crazy, but that is me........LOL.... love airports.

Lots to do at airport, good for sleeping too.

Return is the opposite, leaves early, I go to airport real late, last bus, stay there.

6am check in.

This is a cheapie way, but suits me.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Zpete

[apetley]

Zpete, your brave. Orient Die parent of One 2 Die I believe. Wouldn't get me into one of their death traps.

[Zpete]

Zpete, your brave. Orient Die parent of One 2 Die I believe. Wouldn't get me into one of their death traps.

I am a fatalist, when my time comes, I go.

Whether in bed, a plane or on a ship.

Actually, sitting in any aluminium pipe and everthing is out of my control, scares me no end.

As Alfred E Newman says....

"Why me worry"

You talk as if they crash regularly, get a life.

[apetley]

Zpete, your brave. Orient Die parent of One 2 Die I believe. Wouldn't get me into one of their death traps.

I am a fatalist, when my time comes, I go.

Whether in bed, a plane or on a ship.

Actually, sitting in any aluminium pipe and everthing is out of my control, scares me no end.

As Alfred E Newman says....

"Why me worry"

You talk as if they crash regularly, get a life.

Yes I have a life and would never put it in the hands of Orient Die.

Have a look at the damning Phuket Air Crash report into the shoddy way the airline is run.

[sealy]

To get the really good deals on AA you have to book early and take advantage of their special offers.

Booking close to the time of travel rarely yields bargains.

only catch here is if you change your flight, you have to pay much more than you expect.

remember, there is no refund for no-show on flight date.

last time i missed a flight when airport was seized by yellow shirts, no refund was given.

last time i remembered having a coffe on board, it cost me some three (3) extra dollars!

some cheap flights, really!!!!

suggestion? try tigerairway via other airports besides bkk.

or try other airlines flying from utapao airport or chiangmai to hkk.

they may not be as cheap as aa, but they are definitely not full of all kinds of hassles.

anyway, bkk may be seized again with the army on red alert now.

the highways from bkk may be blockaded again as happened the last time.

welcome to loswhere being lost is part of the fun!

[cameran]

Their cheap flights do seem to have been getting less cheap recently. It's getting to the point that for an extra couple of thousand baht you can have food, IFE and baggage allowance all thrown in without the extra hassle of booking it.

Totster

plus food,ife n baggage -with lots of hassles in between - airasia may cost a few thousand bahts more and that's on top of your "..extra couple of thousand baht...", not to mention problems from other sources during flight-time .

[apetley]

19k bht return BKK-KL_STN last November.

Have a trip for wifey and I in May to HK, 2500 bht return each.

I am very happy with AA.

As I said before, plan ahead and you can get real bargains.

[tass]

what about nokair or orient air or jetstar or tigerairways? or thaiairways? malaysian airways offer good deals for bkk-kl sector sometimes plus free goodfood,plus,plus like thai inter.

[j_mack]

what about nokair or orient air or jetstar or tigerairways? or thaiairways? malaysian airways offer good deals for bkk-kl sector sometimes plus free goodfood,plus,plus like thai inter.

another point with AA is you cant book under 24hrs from anyware, Sinapore etc, I was stuck at New Years Day

I to like to travell [and have too] at short notice, like 48 hr before,

other than that I find them good to fly with, and Large seats with a little more room then oter Budgets A/L's

[Gonsalviz]

Sometimes they are cheap.

I have nothing good to say about Air Asia.

[nakachalet]

I use "Orient Thai Airlines " for Honkers.

http://www.orient-thai.com/new/flightSchedule.html

Flight is on a 747, ya get eats etc.

Leaves Bangers late afternoon for Honkers.

I often stay feed up at the airport and get first bus into Causeway Bay where I stay.

Crazy, but that is me........LOL.... love airports.

Lots to do at airport, good for sleeping too.

Return is the opposite, leaves early, I go to airport real late, last bus, stay there.

6am check in.

This is a cheapie way, but suits me.

pete....

u r so very cheap.... LOL

sleeping standing up at airport.... so as to save a night lodging....

yes, i also did that.... but that was when i was a poor neglected grad student around 1970....

what are you going to do with all the money saved....? LOL

[Totster]

Their cheap flights do seem to have been getting less cheap recently. It's getting to the point that for an extra couple of thousand baht you can have food, IFE and baggage allowance all thrown in without the extra hassle of booking it.

Totster

plus food,ife n baggage -with lots of hassles in between - airasia may cost a few thousand bahts more and that's on top of your "..extra couple of thousand baht...", not to mention problems from other sources during flight-time .

Sorry mate, don't think you quite got the gist of my post.

Another thing is AA like to change the flight times with short notice - yes they will email you, but if you have made plans with onward flights.. you are buggered !

totster

[fxe1200]

Sometimes they are cheap.

I have nothing good to say about Air Asia.

on a night flight they keep the aircon on full power. Thus guests are being forced to buy their comfort set, which includes a blanket. Disgusting.

[ovenman]

Another thing is AA like to change the flight times with short notice - yes they will email you, but if you have made plans with onward flights.. you are buggered !

In that situation (i.e. schedule change resulting in a mis-connection), I've always found AirAsia to be very accommodating in regards "fixing" my flights.

[Niman]

Not only is Air Asia often more expensive than ordinary airlines, they are also grossly misleading their passengers.

I went to their homepage in order to book a oneway ticket from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, departure 12.30.

The first thing you are welcomed with is a sign saying:

NO ADMIN FEE - PAY ONLY FARE +AIRPORT TAX

I went in to book and here is what they charged:

1 Guest 1,671.96 Baht

Airport tax 100.00 Baht

VAT 124.04 Baht

And then:

Services and fees 288.90 Baht

Total convenience Fee: 50.00 Baht

Total 2,334.90 Baht.

So much for Air Asia's NO ADMIN FEE, in fact you pay 338.90 Baht in ADMIN FEE's, they just try to mislead you by calling it SERVICE and CONVENIENCE FEE's.

Very inconvenient indeed!

On top Air Asia try to lure you to an unnecessary insurance and to pay for a reserved seat by making it difficult and unlogical to cancel it, when you do the booking.

I then called Thai and booked a 11.20 departure from Chiang Mai to Bangkok same day.

No nonsense, no extras and the total came to 2,015 Baht.

or 319,90 Baht cheaper than the so called low cost airline Air Asia.

On top I get a cup of coffee, snack and a newspaper.

I will strongly recommend you compare prices in the future, as Air Asia think they have established that they are low cost and people automatically will book them to save on the fare.

[SPLIT]

If any of you guys live in sydney or melbourne pop along to the travel XPO, be preparred to book flights on the day and you can pick up some good deals on decent airlines.

v australia from brisbane yesterday was AUD$700 return. cathay pacific was just a tad over AUD$1000. Thai airways cost me and the missus AUD$1200 from brisbane to bkk to ko samui then to phuket and return. just bne to hkt is AUD$1350 throught the websites for those dates.

Edited March 1, 2010 by SPLIT

[game4shame]

I'm not an airasia fan but I've just snapped up a one-way flight chiang mai-phuket for 1550THB.

the only competition on that route is thai air - over 7000THB for the same date (26/06/10).

personally, its bangkok airways all the way where I can but sometimes airasia come up with prices that you just can't ignore and unlike 1-2-death I feel safe flying with them.

[Millard]

A few month ago, I flew AA from Hong Kong to BKK and had a positive experience. Their price was well below their competitors and service was also good. I booked 4 months in advance and prices actually decreased as my flight date grew closer.

[thornybird]

There's a real AirAsia sale on now:

http://www.airasia.com/au/en/home.html?gcl...CFcYvpAod6FSydg

[LuckyLew]

There's a real AirAsia sale on now:

http://www.airasia.com/au/en/home.html?gcl...CFcYvpAod6FSydg

Real sale?

Even this sale is not as good as in prior similar sales

Usually when Air Asia open up new months for sale

they offer discounts on all flights across the board.

Cannot find as many values as previous sales events

There desire to nail customers to increase their

ancillary income is becoming expensive

Edited March 3, 2010 by LuckyLew

[britmaveric]

Dunno just over 3K per person to Saigon r/t is cheap as chips. Honestly I do not know how they do it.

[game4shame]

Dunno just over 3K per person to Saigon r/t is cheap as chips. Honestly I do not know how they do it.

I checked a price from phuket to hong kong for around the end of june and that was coming in at approx 3000THB return too.

airasia are by no means my friend but some of those prices are just too good to ignore.

[britmaveric]

^check Thai Air and r/t to Saigon was 13K.

[KhunDave]

I don't think this "Big Sale" is quite as good as the ones last year. The real bargains are a bit thin on the ground, especially for domestic travel. There's a few gems in there though - got a couple of seats to Bali and back in October at 1700Bt each all in.

[bendejo]

I think AA's 'Big Sale' is in June or July.

Last year for a trip to Borneo from KL I opted for Malaysian Airlines over AA for a very similar price. Nice to get to use the real airport (KLIA over KLCC, I've seen bus stations more elegant than the latter) and be given food and drink, just like in the old days. I was disappointed though that the MAS seating was just as constricting and claustrophobic as the budget airline's cattle cars.

As someone said above, it's hard to like AA but their prices are too good to resist, and I truly hate the way they present their pricing, though it is now slightly more reputable now than it was a few years ago (but don't get carried away in interpreting that). Administration fee? You mean company overhead for maintaining a staff and reservation system? If you can't opt out on the fee, just add it to the fare as part of the cost!

I recently had a flight canceled, route was canceled. I had to call in to get the credit; I was surprised at how courteous the person on the other end of the line was, used to be they'd give you that lovable 'you pay now!' attitude we've all come to know and love in this part of the world, any hint of challenge and they would hang up on you.

However, when I went to use the credit (booking online) I was charged a 50 baht 'convenience fee.' Pissed me off. I thought about calling in and making a fuss over it, but figured I'd spend as much on the phone calls and just get myself aggravated.

Other than for prices, I don't see it possible for them to build brand loyalty, and I think they know that.

Yeah, unless you're getting a bargain with a ridiculously low price always look around for the possibility of flying with a real airline, as opposed to a flying version of a Third World bus.

Edited March 4, 2010 by bendejo

[jamieson]

They are still cheap, but often checking I find there cheap only if you book 6 - 9 months in advance..

If you book for next month then there more than double the price + often more expensive than main airlines..

couple of things I looked at.

AA to Perth AUS, book now for March = 11,000 baht more than 6 months ago + 4,000 baht more than 'Promotion' with TG direct.. I have booked TG 20,850 baht for next week.

No idea if something new in the price but 15kg baggage with AA 6 months ago was 200 baht each way for KL - PER = 400 baht.

Now is 500 baht each way for March. + BKK to KL is also doubled.

KL book for March then Malaysia Air is 277 baht cheaper than AA

yes , book 6 to 9 months early.

but when you try to change your flight, you will be the most sorry person to think air asia is cheap.

the penalty fee is so sky high that you are better off throwing away your airasia airticket.......

airasia is a wash-out case long before the laundry is put out to dry....

Edited March 4, 2010 by jamieson