Air Asia Suvanabumi Departures

[tommytouch]

I'm planning to take an Air Asia flight soon. The flight (hopefully) leaves at 11:35 and there won't be much time once I've arrived at the destination before my onward travel commences.

I'm interested in peoples experiences regarding Air Asia's stated departure times; whether they're pretty reliable in this department or whether flights are often delayed.

Thanks

[Atmos]

for me - 14 flights with AA in 18mths; think the worst delay was under 20 min; have spent over 2hrs waiting in KL when using another airline, but maybe I have just been lucky, have read here of people complaining about lengthy delays.

It's all relative to how important catching your next flight is. Like getting a puncture while driving to a job interview. And it's raining as well.

[knocka]

If your connection is a high cost international connection I would allow for a min connection time of 3 hours. U don't mention whether u will have to clear immigration and customs at the connection or not?

Min 3 hour gap has always worked out for me.

Done over 2 dozen AA flights, all landed within 30mins of scheduled time except one (BKK to HatYai) which was 1.5 hours late.

[roamer]

I allowed 3 hours transit time with AA to fly from Langkawi to KL, got in 45 minutes late and AA told me we had missed our Bali connection. When they realised the delay was their fault the flight suddenly turned out not to have departed at all but was still at the gate, reopened the checkin for us and rushed us through. On the return from Bali we missed the check in by 5 minutes (our fault) and they refused to check us in. Had to buy alternative tickets on Garuda which cost us £300. Got upstairs to find the AA flight still not boarded....our Garuda flight departed on time and the AA flight was still on the ground 90 mins after its scheduled departure time.

I've also had AA flights that did depart on time as well obviously. What I would be very wary of doing would be an onward connection with a different airline, especially an international one. AA are a point to point airline and if they get you somewhere late, that's your problem. If immigration is involved, as at KL for example, caution is advisable.

[Klaasvaak]

according to flightstats airasia has an 45% on time departure stats on the moment.

so that's not really good if you ask me.

link

45% departure

[el jefe]

I can no longer count how many times I've flown Air Asia. They've taken off 5-10 minutes early as often as 5-10 minutes late. I've only had one flight take off more than 15 minutes late and that was over an hour. It was from BKK to CNX and the reason for the delay was because the flight from CNX could not depart because of the weather there.

That's the risk you're going to run if you book a short connecting time.

[keeniau96]

Here in Phuket the AirAsia departure times tend to be delayed as the day progresses, can be over an hour late on last flight. Also have some heavy weather coming in right off the Indian Ocean, so can have delays due to that. Note that airline delay statistics do not include delays due to weather or mechanical problems.

[1huahin]

flown twice with Air Asia to KL and been delayed by around 1 hour each time however have flown with them to other destinations and have never had a delay so ......... I would always leave around 2 or 3 hours between connecting flights especially if there is a chance you might have to change terminals if your onward flight is not with Air Asia.

[fstarbkk]

In my experience their on-time performance (which used to be horrendous!) has improved considerably. They still seem to have a habit of cancelling flights entirely when they can't fill the seats. This happens a lot more often with specific routes. Recently I've been told that it happens a lot between BKK and Phnom Penh, for example. Based on my overall experience in the last 5 years, I would not take a chance on a critical connection with AA.

[bangkokburning]

pretty much on time, perhaps a few minutes late - out of bkk.

[SantiSuk]

Based on about 50 AA flights out of Swampy over 5 years, I've had one notable delay of one hour. Cannot remember any one other single delay. They usually leave on time or up to 15 minutes early. If they can get everyone on board, having closed check-in about 35 minutes pre-flight schedule, they'll close the doors and they're off! Early departures have been less frequently achieved in recent years though, probably Swampy is busier and less flexible on take-off slots.

40 of those 50 flights were to Ubon - maybe more heavily trafficked or international routes (CM/Phuket) are less reliable?

Your incoming flight needs to land 90 minutes before AA's scheduled take off if you need to collect luggage on arrival at Swampy. Anything less than that is chancy and anything less than 60 minutes is suicidal.

[wileycoyote]

Generally on time ,once delayed an hour going to Chiang Rai,due to delays at Suvanabhumi, change of gate etc

[jdinasia]

My experience with Air Aisia has been mixed. Flights departing early in the day have genereally been great. They seem to fly long multi-stop routes with the same plane so later in the day I have frequently had long delays (over an hour) and one flight cancelled (They did get me on TG though) ... They were never any good at giving delay info to waiting passengers. I have switched almost exclusively to BKK Air and TG now.

[adammike]

If you think that a delay in take-off will mean they keep the check in open think again.

The check in closes I think 45 min before the scheduled time,and it will close.

[darcys]

Can anyone tell me that how to check delayed flight info online for Air Asia?

[asiaexpat]

Recent flight to KL delayed 30 minutes. return from KL delayed 45 minutes. Not a good record.

[tartempion]

30 AA flights over the last 3 years, had 3 delays, all afternoon.

One BKK-Phuket 1h delayed

One Udon-Phuket 45 minutes delayed

On Udon-Bangkok 45 minutes late

[onionluke]

If you are flying AA from Suvarnapoom early in the morning expect chaos, as they usually have one desk open for Denpaksar and the passengers for all other flights are left to guess what desk will open next . The crowd just mills around forming and reforming lines hoping to end up somewhere near the front at opening time .

[mdechgan]

None of the airasia flights park or leave at the gates.

All the passengers are bused to the planes, so that will waste some time.