Sharp Practice By Air Asia

[gennisis]

On Saturday I tried an internet booking for a flight Hong Kong -Bangkok in November....got as far as the payment page but before I could enter my details an error message,,,try again later.

So I did,again on Sunday,same message...error..try again later.

Today I tried the booking again...all OK...BUT...the price had risen from the Saturday and Sunday quoted price of 1,242 baht to 4,935 baht.

These error's are expensive arn't they!!...but very profitable for Air Asia.

[aarn]

Sharp? More like shifty.

I went to rebook a SYD/KUL flight, for which I had paid the bs 'sporting goods' baggage fee. On trying to rebook, couldn't cancel this add-on (let alone get a refund), would have had to pay a second time. Would have been cheaper to go flyscoot.com SYD/SIN, than rebook AAsia. AA

[54321]

It has happened to me and while it is annoying I guess they have x flights at the promo rate, and once all the seats are taken and someone is halfway through a booking the system shows up an error in order for the price to update in the system. It would be nice if they would "honour" a price when the booking is in progress, but clearly they don't. It would be nice if the error message was honest and said sorry, all seats at this promotional flights have now sold out, please try to book again, but they don't.

That's Air Asia take them or leave them.

[pomchop]

I don't mind air asia site trying to sell you additional nonsense like preferred seats, boardin, meals, etc...

What i do mind is that their website makes it close to impossible to record your plus a friend info so when you book again you don't go round and round in circle trying your best to BUY some tickets. Tony, if you're reading this try it sometime. It's one of the worst websites to "be easy to buy a ticke" on the web. And this from a guy who was in the travel biz for over thirty years. It is obvious the execs at air asia never actually test their website to see if it user friendly. DUMB.

[ricklev]

I don't mind air asia site trying to sell you additional nonsense like preferred seats, boardin, meals, etc...

What i do mind is that their website makes it close to impossible to record your plus a friend info so when you book again you don't go round and round in circle trying your best to BUY some tickets. Tony, if you're reading this try it sometime. It's one of the worst websites to "be easy to buy a ticke" on the web. And this from a guy who was in the travel biz for over thirty years. It is obvious the execs at air asia never actually test their website to see if it user friendly. DUMB.

I think they know exactly what the website is like and what they are doing!

[sscsamui]

As i have said before... The worse Airlines Ever. Don't waste your time and money with them.....

[yougivemebaby]

I don't mind air asia site trying to sell you additional nonsense like preferred seats, boardin, meals, etc...

What i do mind is that their website makes it close to impossible to record your plus a friend info so when you book again you don't go round and round in circle trying your best to BUY some tickets. Tony, if you're reading this try it sometime. It's one of the worst websites to "be easy to buy a ticke" on the web. And this from a guy who was in the travel biz for over thirty years. It is obvious the execs at air asia never actually test their website to see if it user friendly. DUMB.

Agreed. Can log in but does not give me credit for miles on my account. I won't even try again.

[Meisgq]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

[rfukata]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

Yes, no problems with AA, but I do experience a lot of user error on their site.

[LongTimeLurker]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

Yes, no problems with AA, but I do experience a lot of user error on their site.

Never had a problem booking with them myself but when there are special fares deals on offer the website can get overloaded and transactions sometimes fail part way through due to sheer volume of punters. I suspect that's what happened in the OPs case.

[lovelaos]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

Yes, no problems with AA, but I do experience a lot of user error on their site.

Never had a problem booking with them myself but when there are special fares deals on offer the website can get overloaded and transactions sometimes fail part way through due to sheer volume of punters. I suspect that's what happened in the OPs case.

I agree. If you have an ounce of intelligence you can navigate your way out of extras like seats, insurance, baggage etc and still pick up a good price.

[gennisis]

As i have said before... The worse Airlines Ever. Don't waste your time and money with them.....

I wont disagree with you,but their moving to Dm has made it difficult to fly and conveniently link up with other airlines. In my case I had booked a very reasonable return flight CM-HK with Dragonair,but was forced to change my return trip. Dragonair didnt fly on that day,and the Air Asia flight left HK at 6 in the morning on a nonstop flight to CM...no way far too early !! So ,at a reasonable cost it had to be Air Asia via DM.

[smokie36]

I book Nok Air when I can simply due to the shambolic and annoying website with Air Asia.

[fstarbkk]

I book Nok Air when I can simply due to the shambolic and annoying website with Air Asia.

I'm with you there! I like a bargain as much as the next guy. But in most cases with AA it's just not worth the hassle. If I'm that desperate for the few Baht I may end up saving in the end, I'd rather stay home.

Oh, and to lovelaos: It is a scientific fact that I have more than "an ounce of intelligence". So, I'm pretty sure that's not the problem here

[Rancid]

Got the AA cheap flights email today for the period I want to fly, so thought this time I will get one. Went straight in and low and behold on my preferred day it was much more expensive. So out of curiosity I checked every day of the discounted period and not one of them had the flight for less than 60% over what the email claimed, in fact most days were double the advertised price.

I know some have gotten the bargains, but seems to me it is often pure BS, maybe one seat on the flight at the bargain price. This sort of activity just turns me off them, if they didn't raise expectations then I would probably just pay the asked price. So think next time will fly Scoot and see what they are like.

[pomchop]

I don't mind air asia site trying to sell you additional nonsense like preferred seats, boardin, meals, etc...

What i do mind is that their website makes it close to impossible to record your plus a friend info so when you book again you don't go round and round in circle trying your best to BUY some tickets. Tony, if you're reading this try it sometime. It's one of the worst websites to "be easy to buy a ticke" on the web. And this from a guy who was in the travel biz for over thirty years. It is obvious the execs at air asia never actually test their website to see if it user friendly. DUMB.

I think they know exactly what the website is like and what they are doing!

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

[stevenl]

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

Considering the amount of flyers it really can't be that bad and they really can't be that dumb.

[The Dancer]

I love AA. Every time they announce a deal I'm into their website like a dog in heat. Now, I've got about 8 trips lined up all the way to Aug. of next year at prices about half of regular fare.

And I've been using them now for about 5 years already. Never had a problem - on time, no technical issues and eye candy parading the aisles. Of course, the website's a maze of hoops. But it's not impossible to negotiate once you catch on - takes me about 5 mins. now in and out. I'll happily forgive them for trying to make a buck as long as they keep the service up and fares down.

[yermanee]

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

Considering the amount of flyers it really can't be that bad and they really can't be that dumb.

And do you think that all these flyers got the cheap fares?

I don't think so.

Many people book because they think its cheap and don't check other possibilities.

Yermanee

[stevenl]

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

Considering the amount of flyers it really can't be that bad and they really can't be that dumb.

And do you think that all these flyers got the cheap fares?

I don't think so.

Many people book because they think its cheap and don't check other possibilities.

Yermanee

No, why do you think I presume that?

All I am saying is: somebody judging the Air Asia businessmodel from their armchair and reaching conclusions like "BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB" is really missing the fact that many people book the company and contribute to the considerable growth and profit of the company.

[yermanee]

No, why do you think I presume that?

All I am saying is: somebody judging the Air Asia businessmodel from their armchair and reaching conclusions like "BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB" is really missing the fact that many people book the company and contribute to the considerable growth and profit of the company.

And all I am saying is that maybe if they made their booking engine more easy to navigate and user friendly, they might even have a bigger success. As it is now, many many potential customers are switching to other airlines just because of their (on purpose) difficult booking process. Some (including me) even find it to be more than a little bit dishonest.

Yermanee

[stevenl]

No, why do you think I presume that?

All I am saying is: somebody judging the Air Asia businessmodel from their armchair and reaching conclusions like "BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB" is really missing the fact that many people book the company and contribute to the considerable growth and profit of the company.

And all I am saying is that maybe if they made their booking engine more easy to navigate and user friendly, they might even have a bigger success. As it is now, many many potential customers are switching to other airlines just because of their (on purpose) difficult booking process. Some (including me) even find it to be more than a little bit dishonest.

Yermanee

Yes, could be they would get even more bookings. Or could be they would have less margin because they'd miss out on all the extra's people are now buying unwillingly.

[yermanee]

No, why do you think I presume that?

All I am saying is: somebody judging the Air Asia businessmodel from their armchair and reaching conclusions like "BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB" is really missing the fact that many people book the company and contribute to the considerable growth and profit of the company.

And all I am saying is that maybe if they made their booking engine more easy to navigate and user friendly, they might even have a bigger success. As it is now, many many potential customers are switching to other airlines just because of their (on purpose) difficult booking process. Some (including me) even find it to be more than a little bit dishonest.

Yermanee

Yes, could be they would get even more bookings. Or could be they would have less margin because they'd miss out on all the extra's people are now buying unwillingly.

Exactly buying unwillingly.

Those practices do not get my vote. I despise dishonest business practices, and that's the main reason they'll never see me on board one of their aircraft.

Yermanee

[SantiSuk]

Im a big fan of AA in opening the skies and giving reasonable priced-fares to those who can book well ahead and not change plans. However, anyone who says they don't have a problem with their booking systems and web-site loses all credibility for me. I agree 100% that their web-site structure is deliberately obtuse, bordering on the unethical.

... and I admire Yermanee's principled approach - wish I could emulate it!

[hagler]

78 flights with em so far for business this year. Everyone on time or delayed by no more than 20 minutes. Everyone at least 50% of the price of anyone else (some of them were less than 15% of full service airlines). All of them booked by me or my PA on their website and every booking no problems at all. Already got 4 free KL-SIN flights this year out of their BIG rewards system.

And I bought a stack of shares in em at the original IPO.

[pomchop]

I don't mind air asia site trying to sell you additional nonsense like preferred seats, boardin, meals, etc...

What i do mind is that their website makes it close to impossible to record your plus a friend info so when you book again you don't go round and round in circle trying your best to BUY some tickets. Tony, if you're reading this try it sometime. It's one of the worst websites to "be easy to buy a ticke" on the web. And this from a guy who was in the travel biz for over thirty years. It is obvious the execs at air asia never actually test their website to see if it user friendly. DUMB.

I think they know exactly what the website is like and what they are doing!

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

the airline biz is one of the most competitive of all....bankruptcy courts are littered with thousands of airlines that once did very well but got a bit cocky and did not concentrate on making it as easy as possible to buy a ticket from them...yes air asia has done very very well and i actually enjoy the fares and flying with them...but that does not change the fact that they COULD certainly make their website more user friendly ang get even more customers....when it takes two years for them to make it possible to check a STATE in the usa as your residence rather than when you click USA you would get a list of provinces in malaysia i would say that somebody is a little lax....i finally gave up and would check that yes i lived in a malaysian province if that would make it possible for me to actually BUY a ticket and not go round and round on their website trying to tell them that those malaysian provinces are not in the usa last time i checked......read the comments on any forum and they are literally full of people complaining about how difficult it is to use the website....some of course are people who don't read the info or check or uncheck items...but there are PLENTY of them complaining about other problems like credit card denials or the site taking you round and round in circles .....i WANT air asia to do well and just hope that they don't get cocky and end up in the bankrupt ash heap of airlines....

[Ajaan]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

I have to agree (yes, on the flight attendants too...not my personal cup of tea--way too skinny!!--but definitely quite hot, haha), there are countless accounts on countless forums from people having problems with AirAsia's website: unwanted add-ons, problems with payment, blah blah blah...but in about 8 years of using them, exclusively online (basically, ever since they started operating in Thailand), I have had 0 problems. And nowadays, most of my bookings are done from the US, with US debit cards. You got problems? User error all the way!!

You must be very patient, but also FAST, haha...and pay very careful attention to each step of the process (especially as regards those unwanted add-ons! They're evil!). Most people nowadays do not possess this level of patience, composure or attention to detail. Hence all the user errors. Pay attention, people. Be in the moment.

I love Air Asia, I use them for all my regional travel within SEAsia, and I have NEVER been disappointed by them. True, if you started using their website back in 2004 like I did, you have seen it grow into more of a maze to be carefully negotiated, haha...but I have never had problems with my flights with them, I have found all staff members professional in every way. I'm also glad they've relocated to Don Meuang: no more of those infernal bus rides across the tarmac at Swampy when arriving from domestic flights or from Phnom Penh...that's probably the only thing I would have had to complain about, and it's gone now, woo-hoo!!

[pomchop]

No problems with Air Asia or their hot flight attendants. Website works just fine for everyone else in the world. Problems? User error.

Shawn

I have to agree (yes, on the flight attendants too...not my personal cup of tea--way too skinny!!--but definitely quite hot, haha), there are countless accounts on countless forums from people having problems with AirAsia's website: unwanted add-ons, problems with payment, blah blah blah...but in about 8 years of using them, exclusively online (basically, ever since they started operating in Thailand), I have had 0 problems. And nowadays, most of my bookings are done from the US, with US debit cards. You got problems? User error all the way!!

You must be very patient, but also FAST, haha...and pay very careful attention to each step of the process (especially as regards those unwanted add-ons! They're evil!). Most people nowadays do not possess this level of patience, composure or attention to detail. Hence all the user errors. Pay attention, people. Be in the moment.

I love Air Asia, I use them for all my regional travel within SEAsia, and I have NEVER been disappointed by them. True, if you started using their website back in 2004 like I did, you have seen it grow into more of a maze to be carefully negotiated, haha...but I have never had problems with my flights with them, I have found all staff members professional in every way. I'm also glad they've relocated to Don Meuang: no more of those infernal bus rides across the tarmac at Swampy when arriving from domestic flights or from Phnom Penh...that's probably the only thing I would have had to complain about, and it's gone now, woo-hoo!!

quite smug to say all problems are user errors....i was IN the travel biz for 30 years and booked thousands of flights so i do believe i might have a bit of experience on booking flights....i once went to the air asia office re a website problem and the air asia girl herself using her computer COULD NOT GET IT TO WORK....she finally gave up.

i too like flying air asia and don't have THAT many problems but i can assure you that there are some glitches in their website that NEED to be fixed.

[LongTimeLurker]

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

Considering the amount of flyers it really can't be that bad and they really can't be that dumb.

Anyone who thinks that they deliberately make it impossible to buy a ticket is the one who is DUMB.

The error mesages are due to the high volume of traffic trying to book, it's like being in a queue at checkout, if there's a lot of people you wait, if you don't want to wait you leave empty handed.

I've never seen an empty Air Asia flight yet.

[stevenl]

It is one thing to try and get you to buy extras with checking and unchecking things...BUT when you make it almost impossible to BUY a ticket because of "error messages" etc that is DUMB. The number one rule of business is to make it EASY for someone who actually is all ready to BUY something to BUY it. Air Asia also has a major problem with a LOT of credit card companies who will routinely DENY a transaction. I would guess that Air Asia does not work well with the credit card companies re fraud etc. I can use the exact same credit card with no problems on most any other site but enter it into air asia and denied. Have experienced this many times. Have had friends call and ask HOW THE HELL do you buy a ticket from these people? Yes some people don't know how to navigate their add ons and extras but that is not what i am talking about. I am talking about ok i WANT to buy this ticket on this date and i have filled out every single item and now i hit BUY and get hassled to death. Only recently after a year or two when you entered a USA address and it came time to click what state you got a list of provinces in malaysia...no USA states. Which as i stated shows me that the air asia execs really don't look at their website much but just allow some computer geeks to do it ...and in the end they do sell a lot of tickets BUT how many more could they sell if they made it a bit more user friendly when it comes time to BUY??

Considering the amount of flyers it really can't be that bad and they really can't be that dumb.

Anyone who thinks that they deliberately make it impossible to buy a ticket is the one who is DUMB.

The error mesages are due to the high volume of traffic trying to book, it's like being in a queue at checkout, if there's a lot of people you wait, if you don't want to wait you leave empty handed.

I've never seen an empty Air Asia flight yet.

Please don't quote me when your text is directed at somebody else, in this case pomchop.