Air Asia have a good promo on for travel to end Septmeber

[Konini]

If you want to see who has the biggest willy....

Ryan Air and Easy Jet in England practically invented add on charges. They leave AirAsia somewhere in their jet-stream. When we pay 50 baht, the Brits pay 50 pounds.

I was told by someone who works for AirAsia that they make a lot of money from no shows. They overbook most flights, people see the cheap, cheap deal and can't resist booking it. Then when the time comes they can't get the time off work or it's inconvenient in some way so they just throw the ticket away - it was cheap enough to do so. These no shows still pay all of the admin fees and airport fees when they book, pure profit for AA if someone else wants the same seat. This way years ago when AA was just Malaysia and a few overseas destinations, but I believe it's the same today. I have a lot of Malaysian friends who tell me they have booked but won't bother going for whatever reason. They are not unusual.

Repeat from earlier in the thread, AA is a budget airline. You get what you pay for. I am obviously not alone in getting very good deals. They are there if you have the patience to look for them and the flexibility to go on cheaper days.

You can always fly on a full service airline if you like.

[jacksam]

What the heck is a full service airline. Yes call aa budget....mainly because they are cheap.

If you need check in luggage to be included then fine. Maybe other options better. This is more about carry on and AirAsia is the stand out.

[elektrified]

^You have to be alert,and book 5 minutes before the offer starts .

That works too but you have to be diligent as the server is bogged down and you get put in a queue and need to be hanging around close to your computer for up to an hour. If you disappear for a few minutes you are kicked out of the queue.

[elektrified]

So true elekrified. I booked about 30 return flights last late June that go through till august 31this year.

No long ago ripped one up for the 2 of us to Surat thani....big deal they were so cheap.

Like you have flown with aa almost every other week. Never had cancelled flight. Not long ago had one to Saigon delayed for an hour.

As per every airline.

We have had a few shuffling around of the flights, but usually by only 1-3 hours, never a different day. I believe in the event of a change of more than about 3 hours, they give you a choice of your money back when this happens.

[jacksam]

^You have to be alert,and book 5 minutes before the offer starts .

That works too but you have to be diligent as the server is bogged down and you get put in a queue and need to be hanging around close to your computer for up to an hour. If you disappear for a few minutes you are kicked out of the queue.

Never had that experience. Also back to op who posted altert about current promo.

Earlier I posted that I did random search ....destination that i randon selected (krabi) flights with promo available. Got through to "pay now" in about 2 minutes. The sales often last over a week and unlike what some people post there are many available. Perhaps try random search...not difficult

[Konini]

What the heck is a full service airline. Yes call aa budget....mainly because they are cheap.

If you need check in luggage to be included then fine. Maybe other options better. This is more about carry on and AirAsia is the stand out.

Full service being the likes of Qantas, British Airways, Emirites etc. Checked luggage, food and drink, blankets and pillows for long haul and very flexible with changing your fight if you get held up in a traffic jam (happened to me once, everybody was late for their check-in as it was a bad accident and a massive hold up) and don't make it to the airport on time, or putting you in a hotel if your plane is delayed for many hours or getting you onto another airline if the flight has been overbooked.

As I said, you get what you pay for. I would never go budget carrier for a 12 hour flight to EU, too many things can go wrong (we've been put in very nice hotels a couple of times and taken the very generous compensation for taking a different flight on another airline if they are overbooked - once, London to Hong Kong, transfered fom Copenhagen back to London and straight on a flight with Cathay Pacific. Compensation as airline credit was double that of the cash in hand, and gave us enough credit to fly back Melbourne to Manchester the following year for free, we landed in Hong Kong around 6 hours later than we would have and as we were on a 3 day stopover on the way back to Melbourne, those 6 hours we missed out on in Hong Kong were very worth it). But for short flights, it's budget airlines all the way, and mostly we travel without checked luggage unless we are going for more than a few days.

[wooloomooloo]

If you pay AA with your Thai Pannich debit card, it is totally free.

It is not totally free (though still the cheapest).

Here are the current fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 180 THB per guest per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

I'm happy to settle 40 baht on internet banking through my Bangkok Bank account and I live in the UK. Try settling the fare with a UK credit or debit card and the fee is invariably more than the cost of two flights.

[elektrified]

If you pay AA with your Thai Pannich debit card, it is totally free.

It is not totally free (though still the cheapest).

Here are the current fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 180 THB per guest per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

I'm happy to settle 40 baht on internet banking through my Bangkok Bank account and I live in the UK. Try settling the fare with a UK credit or debit card and the fee is invariably more than the cost of two flights.

You can't use your Bangkok Bank account for 40 THB...

[hyperdimension]

I just paid for a ticket at 7/11 the other day because it was cheaper than using my SCB debit card. Read the fine print.

There is a difference between using an SCB debit card and SCB internet banking. You should choose "Internet banking (Direct debit)" instead of the "Credit card / Debit card" option. A prerequisite is that your bank account at SCB needs to have internet banking enabled (from which you get a username and password to log in to the SCB web site or internet payment gateway).

[hyperdimension]

You can't use your Bangkok Bank account for 40 THB...

Bangkok Bank is listed as one of the banks that are participating in the GHL Thai Debit system. So I assume that he chooses the GHL option instead of SCB in the Internet Banking payment method.

[hyperdimension]

and add 7% VAT on those fees....but last night they were going to charge me 96.30 thb for a one way using a visa card.

I don't see the VAT on the fees. Where do you see them? The "total" number on the right plus the processing fee gives exactly the same value as the "Total amount due" number in the center.

You are right about the 90 THB card processing fee for a one-way flight.

So here are my revised list of fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 90 THB per guest per way (or "leg") per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

So the card payment fee amount depends on 3 different factors. They certainly haven't made it clear on the page.

So it's best just to use the internet banking method as the fee is the same regardless of number of guests (if it's under 10) and ways.

Edited April 28, 2016 by hyperdimension

[hyperdimension]

I was told by someone who works for AirAsia that they make a lot of money from no shows.

The strange thing about Air Asia is that a booking cannot be cancelled:

Once your booking is confirmed, it cannot be cancelled and the payment you made is not refundable. However, you can get a refund on airport taxes.

Source: If I do not wish to fly after purchasing a flight or if I could not show up for flight, what can I refund?

There is no function on their web site that allows you to cancel one of your bookings.

It instinctively would feel a bit more courteous / professional / respectful to inform them in advance that you do not intend to take the flight instead of simply not turning up (e.g. a bit like a restaurant or hotel reservation). I would also think that such information (e.g. knowing that a total of 20 passengers do not intend to board) would be useful for capacity planning. It may free up seats for other people who really do need or want to fly at that date and time (instead of being unavailable when they do a flight search). Air Asia should consider allowing guests to freely cancel bookings.

[Blue Muton]

If you pay AA with your Thai Pannich debit card, it is totally free.

It is not totally free (though still the cheapest).

Here are the current fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 180 THB per guest per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

Not correct on the 7/11. The charge is per transaction, not "per guest", if by "per guest" you mean "per passenger". I recently paid for flights for five passengers, one booking and one 7/11 counter transaction card.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

and add 7% VAT on those fees....but last night they were going to charge me 96.30 thb for a one way using a visa card.

I don't see the VAT on the fees. Where do you see them? The "total" number on the right plus the processing fee gives exactly the same value as the "Total amount due" number in the center.

You are right about the 90 THB card processing fee for a one-way flight.

So here are my revised list of fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 90 THB per guest per way (or "leg") per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

So the card payment fee amount depends on 3 different factors. They certainly haven't made it clear on the page.

So it's best just to use the internet banking method as the fee is the same regardless of number of guests (if it's under 10) and ways.

I've bought 4 tickets in the last three days...

42.80

53.50

96.30....

were what they added to the ticket price for the three different methods...I used AAGo, and it was 192.60 for rt....and sometimes it's better to pay in Malaysian, other times THB, if you are letting your cc company do the exchange.

Edited April 28, 2016 by KhonKaenKowboy

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Next.

[Konini]

You can (or used to be able to) cancel or change your flight by phoning them, but the admin fee was almost as much as the flight, so not worth your time or effort.

[wooloomooloo]

If you pay AA with your Thai Pannich debit card, it is totally free.

It is not totally free (though still the cheapest).

Here are the current fees for each payment method:

Internet banking (Direct debit): 40 THB per booking (max 9 guests)

Credit card / Debit card: 180 THB per guest per booking

Counter payment (7-11): 50 THB per guest per booking

I'm happy to settle 40 baht on internet banking through my Bangkok Bank account and I live in the UK. Try settling the fare with a UK credit or debit card and the fee is invariably more than the cost of two flights.

You can't use your Bangkok Bank account for 40 THB...

Yes I can. As hyperdimension correctly states, it's GHL. Why don't you try a dummy run on their website before providing incorrect information.

[Konini]

I have to admit that I had never looked at that either. Clicked direct bank transfer, not my bank, oh well, 7-11 because it's the next cheapest on the list. I didn't even know about GHL. I do now though, so thank you to hyperdimension for pointing it out and wooloomooloo for confirming.

[hyperdimension]

Not correct on the 7/11. The charge is per transaction, not "per guest", if by "per guest" you mean "per passenger". I recently paid for flights for five passengers, one booking and one 7/11 counter transaction card.

It actually does say "per guest" on the Air Asia web site, which does mean "per passenger". See the attached screen capture. Maybe Air Asia are showing wrong information.

Edited May 5, 2016 by hyperdimension

[hyperdimension]

and add 7% VAT on those fees....but last night they were going to charge me 96.30 thb for a one way using a visa card.

I don't see the VAT on the fees. Where do you see them? The "total" number on the right plus the processing fee gives exactly the same value as the "Total amount due" number in the center.

I've bought 4 tickets in the last three days...

42.80

53.50

96.30....

were what they added to the ticket price for the three different methods...I used AAGo, and it was 192.60 for rt....and sometimes it's better to pay in Malaysian, other times THB, if you are letting your cc company do the exchange.

That's very strange. Maybe you have a different kind of account with Air Asia. I only ever see 40, 50, 90, 180 THB amounts for the prcoessing fee. e.g. see the attached screen capture.

Edited May 5, 2016 by hyperdimension

[Blue Muton]

Not correct on the 7/11. The charge is per transaction, not "per guest", if by "per guest" you mean "per passenger". I recently paid for flights for five passengers, one booking and one 7/11 counter transaction card.

It actually does say "per guest" on the Air Asia web site, which does mean "per passenger". See the attached screen capture. Maybe Air Asia are showing wrong information.

Sorry, I meant the processing charge from 7/11, not the charges from AA, looks like I confused things.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

and add 7% VAT on those fees....but last night they were going to charge me 96.30 thb for a one way using a visa card.

I don't see the VAT on the fees. Where do you see them? The "total" number on the right plus the processing fee gives exactly the same value as the "Total amount due" number in the center.

I've bought 4 tickets in the last three days...

42.80

53.50

96.30....

were what they added to the ticket price for the three different methods...I used AAGo, and it was 192.60 for rt....and sometimes it's better to pay in Malaysian, other times THB, if you are letting your cc company do the exchange.

That's very strange. Maybe you have a different kind of account with Air Asia. I only ever see 40, 50, 90, 180 THB amounts for the prcoessing fee. e.g. see the attached screen capture.

2016-05-05_15-55-46.png

It likely knows I am in Thailand...although my Visa card is us based...also my ticket was domestic, originating in Chiang Mai.....it is strange.