Well Known Discounted Air Line

[toenail]

Ok, I made up my mind. No more internet bookings witih Air Asia. Yes, I have booked on Air Asia many times over the past 5 years, but it seems each time I go to book, there is a new "trick" to try to get one to over look an added charge. One needs to be alert and savy to know the lay out of the various extra charges and how to deny them.... the extra luggage allowance or not checking a bag at all; next, it is always the insurance that is written in a sly-fox way; after that it is the booked seating that seemed to come automatic without a sharp eye.... In order to get the origninal amount without the add ons (it was the seating this time) I had to close the booking twice. Too time consuming for me and makes me angry because of the various ways they try to get added charges on your booking. Sorry, I will book with someone else that is more to the point and not trying to trick the customer. It shouldn't take over 30 minutes to book an easy flight , meanwhile using a magnifying glass to filter out the company's tricks. If they don't know how to make it more simplier, then they need to get a different programmer.

[BlueSmurf]

I dont think they would get away with it in the wrst.Had the same problem 3 weeks ago and I use them all the time.I could not understand why the final price went up but it was the way they had already booked the hot seats for us.We did not want them. ..Wasted our time as well. Lets see if they make it more customer friendly next time I book or I will just check the price then pay soneobe else in a travel agents to do it gor me

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Yes it is irritating, but if they are cheaper overall and suit your circumstances, don't bite off your nose to spite your face.

[Farang0tang]

I was thinking of booking with Air Asia for an upcoming jolly to Hong Kong.

Now I am put right off the idea.

So if not them, can anybody suggest the next best/cheapest option? (BKK-HK return)

[Jiu-Jitsu]

I was thinking of booking with Air Asia for an upcoming jolly to Hong Kong.

Now I am put right off the idea.

So if not them, can anybody suggest the next best/cheapest option? (BKK-HK return)

Be serious. Try going in to a travel agent and asking a similar question. What is the first question they will ask?

Edited June 14, 2011 by Jiu-Jitsu

[tw25rw]

I was thinking of booking with Air Asia for an upcoming jolly to Hong Kong.

Now I am put right off the idea.

So if not them, can anybody suggest the next best/cheapest option? (BKK-HK return)

Emirates. Similar price and you get to fly on an A380.

[Farang0tang]

I was thinking of booking with Air Asia for an upcoming jolly to Hong Kong.

Now I am put right off the idea.

So if not them, can anybody suggest the next best/cheapest option? (BKK-HK return)

Be serious. Try going in to a travel agent and asking a similar question. What is the first question they will ask?

Pass............. What is the first question they will ask?

Unless you mean "Do you want the next best or next cheapest?"

Edited June 14, 2011 by Farang0tang

[Squigy]

I concur with the OP. Air Asia are getting far too greedy. To me it seems that they are going down the mobile phone path where as they attempt to baffle the customers with complex mobile phone plans that if you sign up for will be costing you and arm and leg!

No Air Asia need to be told through us the customers that it ain't right and that we will go elsewhere for flights.. The Air Asia web site sucks and I really think they have shot themselves in the foot.

B

[endure]

I always seem to manage to book the flights I want with the luggage I want and the seats I want without being lumbered with any superfluous charges. What am I doing wrong?

Edited June 14, 2011 by endure

[SantiSuk]

Their business approach is of course well-suited to the SE Asian market - try to cheat your way to more money ..... oooh I am feeling cynical this morning

I like Air Asia a lot for what they have done to open up the Thai and Asian airline market. But I agree absolutely with the comments about their website.

At first I thought it was maybe mostly bad design but now I realise that they are just thoroughly unethical. That leaves me with a problem as I have to decide whether to follow my principles and pay more money or abandon principles and save money.

I have had maybe 100 flights with them so I thought I knew the ins and outs of their online booking process, but the last time I booked with them I managed to end up with a comfort kit on the return leg. 250 baht - who wants an <deleted> comfort kit??!! Got my own back though - I was so furious that I booked my connecting flight with Bangkok Airways and not with them (both were an option on that route), even though it cost 2,000 baht more .

[bangkokburning]

I can't disagree with the comments. AA site is a bit of a trick, but I can now use my SCB ATM card online so I am stoked on that. I do hate the site and I have had my issues with it. One time it disallowed me to enter the system - then they denied me a refund on that basis. I had to swear and scream murder before the IT people would even look at it. Oh yeah...it IS broken (still!), no money back only credit.

Calling them used to be on hold for 40mns and if the call dropped or you ran out on money - oh well

Latest bullshit - Cheap price, fuel surcharge. Really glad most of the real world has done away with "fuel charges".

I will totally agree - check all the airlines. Check the airlines site and the bucket sites. You never know.

To the OP, try the kiosks/shops if you are in BKK

[RHCP]

It also would surprise me why anyone would bother booking flights on a budget airline that flies, for most people, into a less convenient London airport of Stansted with fares comparable to the established Middle Eastern airlines both in economy and business class.

[Atmos]

I will 'soldier on' through what is becoming a more and more complex (shouldn't it be becoming more simple?) when they have their sales, have flights booked ahead till early 2012 within Asia.

The 'upselling' is just like a fast food place - 'you want chips with that?'

[kuffki]

It is a budget airline for a reason

You do not want the hassles, just pay the "full" price which is sometimes double and problem solved.

You want to save some money, spend little time on the website.

I really do not see the fuss and i use it 4-6 times per year, even with extra so called charges it still 25%-40% cheaper than other airlines on the same route.

Cambodia is a perfect example

AA return usually around 3000 baht

TG is around 6000baht

[PattayaParent]

I always seem to manage to book the flights I want with the luggage I want and the seats I want without being lumbered with any superfluous charges. What am I doing wrong?

Me too.

Looks like there'll be more cheap seats available to us that read the instructions and work out how to operate the website.

[redsquare]

Booking a cheap ticket on Airasia isn't rocket science. Just a matter of either not ticking or deselecting any options that you don't want. Of course they are trying to sell add-ons - same as any budget airline dies. Ever flown Ryan Air?

[FritsSikkink]

If you pay peanuts

you get monkeys

[paulchiangmai]

There are a number of Air Asia shops here in Chiang Mai, I went in to one recently and the fare quoted was seven thousand Baht more than a booking on the internet, in fact considerably more than on Thai airways. How do they sell tickets at these shops when the price is higher than on full service airlines? I went home an spent hours booking A/A on line, the first time I have been succesfull ever, it seems my dealings with Bangkok Bank re how to pay using a debit card finally paid off.

[Latindancer]

I agree with your comments about their website....I was naive enough to not realize that I was to be given a surcharge for using a credit card, whereas I could have used direct debit.

I have never had a problem with actually flying with them though..... about 10 times so far.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Latindancer

[TPI]

I used to fly with Jet Star/AA a lot , I don't think that they even pretend to give value for money....seat spacing is for dieting biafrens and the food isn't fit to be called swill. Of course I'm upset, everyone is jampacked in, getting booked in is always a problem and the waiting area is away in the boonies and does the lower (not cheap) price mean that all products sold on the airline come at a premium price??

Bah! Humbug! A pox on all their houses!

[jdinasia]

I always seem to manage to book the flights I want with the luggage I want and the seats I want without being lumbered with any superfluous charges. What am I doing wrong?

Reading? Then picking the options you want? That MUST be it.

I fail to see any scam in this thread at all.

[Wavefloater]

... I managed to end up with a comfort kit on the return leg. 250 baht - who wants an <deleted> comfort kit??!! Got my own back though - I was so furious that I booked my connecting flight with Bangkok Airways and not with them (both were an option on that route), even though it cost 2,000 baht more .

Let me see if I've got this right. You ended up paying 250 baht more than expected because they tacked on an unwanted comfort kit. So to get back at them, you paid another airline 2000 baht more than the Air Asia fare.

I can understand being upset with Air Asia and not wanting them to get your business, but in my way of thinking, you're rewarding a competitor who (some may argue) is asking an unreasonable price. Is that more or less the story, or did I miss something?

Edited June 15, 2011 by Wavefloater

[PattayaParent]

If you pay peanuts

you get monkeys

Shouldn't that be

If you charge peanuts

You get monkeys?

[SantiSuk]

... I managed to end up with a comfort kit on the return leg. 250 baht - who wants an <deleted> comfort kit??!! Got my own back though - I was so furious that I booked my connecting flight with Bangkok Airways and not with them (both were an option on that route), even though it cost 2,000 baht more .

Let me see if I've got this right. You ended up paying 250 baht more than expected because they tacked on an unwanted comfort kit. So to get back at them, you paid another airline 2000 baht more than the Air Asia fare.

I can understand being upset with Air Asia and not wanting them to get your business, but in my way of thinking, you're rewarding a competitor who (some may argue) is asking an unreasonable price. Is that more or less the story, or did I miss something?

Yes, those are the facts and it was meant to be a self-deprecating joke. In reality I was just about prepared to pay the additional amount because it saved me a stopover in Bangkok. So it was a marginal decision and the annoyance over AA's trickery was the swing factor.

Sort of loses its impact when its given the full explanation eh? The trouble with blogs is you cannot express 'tongue in cheek' humour too easily.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

It also would surprise me why anyone would bother booking flights on a budget airline that flies, for most people, into a less convenient London airport of Stansted with fares comparable to the established Middle Eastern airlines both in economy and business class.

Stansted is not inconvenient for most. Do you actually live in London?

But certainly, I would not choose to travel with Air Asia X is the price was similar to one of the decent Middle East airlines. Flying into Stansted is certainly not an impediment. Paying less is the reason why I would choose them.

They can create as many add-ons as they like, as long as the fare at the end is significantly less than a decent full fare airline. Otherwise, where is the incentive?

[bobfish]

Personally I like to save every baht I can.

That's why I recommend this guy's airline

http://www.investigateudom.com/

And he only charges peanuts!

[Sam Drucker]

Get used to it only getting worse. Seems I recently read an article about them re-introducing the fuel surcharge on international flights. The Thai government banned fuel surcharges on domestic flights about a year ago. Some official from Air Asia said they would be pushing the ancillary products and services harder to try to make up profitability lost due to higher fuel prices.

My thought is to just knock off hustling and huckstering all the extra crap they're pushing, and just raise the fares if necessary. Transparency . . . what a concept!

[el jefe]

I always seem to manage to book the flights I want with the luggage I want and the seats I want without being lumbered with any superfluous charges. What am I doing wrong?

Me too.

Looks like there'll be more cheap seats available to us that read the instructions and work out how to operate the website.

Me three.

I've booked enough tickets with Air Asia that i can click through their website as quickly as with any other airline.

YMMV and others can feel free to pay full fare airlines.

[Richbrown]

Can someone explain to me as if i was a 6 year old child what this post is talking about?

I honestly have no idea. something about AA ripping you off?

if so how are they doing this? where are they doing this? how can i avoid these things?

as far as i can tell they give you a total cost via their website and you can compare that to another air line via their website. so i dont see how they are taking advantage?

[theoldgit]

^^^^^

No they are not ripping you off and, yes, they do give you the total price for the flight.

But what they do make you jump through hoops, and by that I mean deselecting the "add ons" rather than actually adding them on. As an example I made some bookings during their recent promotion, amongst the booking I made were return flights for four people to Chiang Mai next year, all was going well, I managed to book the flights at 100 Baht for each person, each way, as I progressed the total price kept going up as the add ons were automatically added on. I was charged for insurance, comfort kits and then we were automatically allocated hot seats at 700 Baht each for the return trip, seem to recall that added in the region of 1150 Baht each, on top of the fare of 200 Baht. OK, I was able to deselect all these items, but they were pretty well hidden, and the web page was working painfully slow as everyone was attempting to grab the cheap fares. Also deselected the checked bags.

Don't think it's necessarily a scam, but Air Asia certainly want to maximise the price of the tickets, and why wouldn't they? but if you persevere you can take advantage of their deeply discounted fares, it did take me an nearly an hour to book last time.

At the end of the process I was still able to book return flights to Chiang Mai for four of us for 2482.40 Baht, including a 770.40 convenience fee for paying by credit card, just need to open one of those SCB accounts to avoid their convenience fee.