Air Asia Cancelld Our Flight Udon Thani-Phuket

[tartempion]

Flying Air Asia 10x year it had to happen one day.

Received a call from air Asia telling our return flight Udon Thani-Phuket return is cancelled.

In fact all flights on this route 14 to 30 September are cancelled, for whatever reason.

An airbus A300 holds around 180 passengers, 17 days, return flight, thus at 100 passengers minimum a flight at least 3400 people are affected.

It must be a hell of a job for employees to offer alternatives for 3400 individuals.

Now we were offered change of dates, but I will be out of country November first, so that's a no-no

Then reschedule through Bangkok with 3.5h on the way out and 6h on the way back

We are traveling with our 18 months young baby, choose Udon-Phuket because it's a direct less than 2h flight, no way I would consider driving to Phuke-it with a toddler.

On the Bangkok-Udon route they also dropped the 11am flight during low season, causing the 6h waiting at Swampy.

Thus I declined the 6h wait and asked to booked on next flight out of Phuke-it which will give us 2h to pick up luggage, check-in again and get out of Swampy which will not be enough according AA staff (because they are not set up for dealing with BKK as a hub). If that fails it will be hard or near impossible to have AA rebook us for free on first flight out next day.

Anyway, in that event I will hit one of the many near-airport hotels with a swimming pool an pay for any flight to Udon (Thai or AA) considering it still is September before AA move out of Swampy.

Note this trip was booked op a promotion 9 months ago and cost 2k baht for 3 including 30kgs of luggage.

But I don't have any further bookings with AA and it might well be the last time I fly them.

October will be Europe, not commuting to DM, flying Thai on the way back to Udon after landing Swampy.

It is possible the move to DM will not affect AA negatively, but it will cause pain for international travelers flying in/out of Swampy.

Just be prepared for some sh*t when booking with AA

[tartempion]

Can't edit first post?

It's October 1st I am out of the country, therefore can't reschedule this vacation.

Hotel booking annulation/change might be a problem for many people also.

Incidentally a friend is flying same route today (last fligth is today) he doesn't know yet there is no return flight next week although I phoned him the news yesterday.

[WilliaminBKK]

What was your date of departure today ? was an e-mail sent or just a phone call ?

[tartempion]

Flight is this Monday, received phone call yesterday, friend flying that route today will find out return cancelled at airport check-in time today I guess.

I am awaiting confirmation mail of re-schedule.

[Mario2008]

You can complain to the consumer protection agency.

[bangkokburning]

AA killed out BKK-DEL-BKK flight as well. Entire route was terminated.

They have also rearranged our schedules and cancelled flights to Udon in Dec when we are going up to Lao. We had to take a later flt which was better for us and same price. But was a hassle and no, they don't care.

I have only flown 2x domestic here (why bother?). This second time was a week ago+. BKK-UBP - flight up they lost money, return we were full. I could easily see AA imploding altogether on all these small domestic rtes.

Edited September 13, 2012 by bangkokburning

[WilliaminBKK]

You can complain to the consumer protection agency.

You can decline the CC charge depending on your bank-most will honour this as you were not notified by e-mail and service was obviously not delivered (make triple sure it isn't in spam). Don't muck about call your CC asap so when the cancellation penalty hits for your hotel they will honour it. Now regarding layover et al ask/demand FD send you the information via e-mail only-cut the call pretend you speak another language you'll need this is e-mail to show the CC you are out of pocket and your holiday was ruined.

Now in terms of AA/FD I get it, airlines change and are bad at informing people of these changes I feel your pain, wait until the dust settles and send an e-mail to AA/FD explaining this was a trip of a lifetime etc and they should honour a new booking at the old rate and if the sky is blue that day they'll comp something.

[IRAOZ]

At least you received notification!

I've flights booked for the 19th Sept and the 6th October.

We rang the call centre after seeing the OP and were informed for the 19th we had 2 choices - reschedule or refund.

6th of October we're OK, though I note a poster has indicated that December to Udon is dodgy which is when we have more flights booked.

We took the refund, though as I paid with a non-Thai cc I doubt that I will get the overseas transaction fees refunded and it will take 30 days for the refund to come through

mmm' 30 days at say 2k baht/passenger times 3400 passenger equals 6,800,000 baht - nice little earner on the short term money market if everyone cancelled!

Bad business practice but when you have a route monoply who cares.

[bangkokburning]

Not to be Johnny Raincloud - but I think the whole AA venture in Thailand is dicey. Can fall apart any day - I question whether 80% of it's routes even break even.

I don't look to AA as a monopoly as there are so many other ways to go. I mean flying is my last option and I think the hassles totally outweigh the benefits. Book me an overnight train any day! :-)

[KED]

Not to be Johnny Raincloud - but I think the whole AA venture in Thailand is dicey. Can fall apart any day - I question whether 80% of it's routes even break even.

I don't look to AA as a monopoly as there are so many other ways to go. I mean flying is my last option and I think the hassles totally outweigh the benefits. Book me an overnight train any day! :-)

When I have time to spare, I don't mind taking the train - but now that the Bangkok-Chiang Mai railway is blocked for sinkholes - that isn't an option. Many years ago, I used to take the overnight busses - but the more news I read of overtired drivers and accidents - I use this as a last resort. AA has been fairly reliable for me - Thai AIrways and Bangkok AIrways are often twice as expensive - but if they are competitive, I chose them first. I like to fly to Bali 1-2 times per year and have never found any airline with fares as low as AA during their sales.

[Sateev]

Not to be Johnny Raincloud - but I think the whole AA venture in Thailand is dicey. Can fall apart any day - I question whether 80% of it's routes even break even.

I don't look to AA as a monopoly as there are so many other ways to go. I mean flying is my last option and I think the hassles totally outweigh the benefits. Book me an overnight train any day! :-)

Would that be because you are the self-proclaimed " most well traveled backpacker on this board"?

Enjoy the roaches.

[IRAOZ]

And now they have sent me a reminder email thanking me for choosing AirAsia and to do a web check-in

[harrry]

THe OP wrote swampy....it will be from Don Mueng.

[tartempion]

You can complain to the consumer protection agency.

I am not going to complain.

This holiday was planned and will occur.

Received mail with re-routing via Bangkok, it's a pain in the *ss alright but we'll still enjoy our beach time.

Harry, this is for next week travel, thus flying to/from Swampy.

My thoughts go to the approx 4000 pax hit by this cancelling.

Now Phuket-Udon is just one daily return flight counting for 5 hours of operation, if this a plane they withdrew from the schedule for two weeks, operating 15 h/day, many more people should be affected