Air Asia - An alternative airline to MAS or just another budget airline?

After my complaint about Air Asia X last month, two other friends also encountered the similar problem of flight delay in Melbourne. And when I sent my family back to Kuala Lumpur earlier this month, we also encountered the very same issue but this time it was a total of 4 hours delay at Melbourne airport that left my family including Chin Fei and I fuming! Once arrived home, my frustrated brother sent a complaint letter to The Star but unfortunately it wasn't published (several days after he submitted, The Star published a letter from someone else complimenting her flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur in December!! What an irony!). Today, I stumbled across his complaint letter and boy, I was laughing non-stop at his sarcasm but I guess he was really very frustrated with the delayed flight that supposedly have them arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 5 pm but instead delayed to about 11 pm. So since The Star does not want to publish his letter, allow me to use the power of blogging to publish and make known to everyone what Air Asia X service really is. Hehe.

Initially Air Asia gave me a good impression as a budget airline that ‘makes everyone can fly’. It also made me wonder whether it can serve as an alternative airline to MAS. However, all my thoughts came to a conclusion after my flight from Melbourne, Australia back to Kuala Lumpur on 3^rd of January this year. The flight number I took was D7 2729. I was totally dissatisfied of the services Air Asia X provided on that day.

The first and the most important thing of all which made me frustrated was the flight delay waiting for ever-late plane to arrive. The flight was scheduled at 12.40pm.As it was an international flight, I was bound to arrive two hours to check-in. However, upon arrival at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, I was stunned to see the departure time of the flight had been changed to 2.40pm. And there goes my two hours into garbage bin. Later when the counter was opened for check-in, the lady in-charged told me that the flight had been further delayed for another one and a half hour, which made it 4.10pm, without a reason. In spite of the three and a half hour delay, Air Asia was still not satisfied of the “delay game” they were playing, and delayed for another half an hour. How can this be compared to Virgin Blue airline I sat many times for interstate purposes in Australia, which departs on the dot? What did Air Asia think our time was? Entertainment for Tony Fernandez? Furthermore, what did Air Asia do to compensate the flight delay? Just a mere apology from the cabin crew. An apology through the PA system for the four hours delay? Do they know their Mathematics? How can they be equal? In my opinion, Air Asia should give us a complimentary meal or a drink on top of the apology.

Besides that, what system is Air Asia still adopting in Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport? A system which whines the time back to the 80’s? Technologies nowadays are so advanced, but they prefer to do everything manually. Boarding passes were hand-written and not printed. Is it because Air Asia had to buy too many pens during the year-end sale? Air Asia should be aware that the system they are currently using will waste time. We are in the 21^st century! Stop taking Doraemon’s time machine back to the past! Moreover, upon boarding the plane, Air Asia should adapt to the system other airlines are using, which is to scan the barcode on the boarding pass to ensure the passengers are boarding the right plane, and not to search through the list for the passengers’ names. That would definitely cut down the time spent!

In addition, the cabin temperature was ultimately hot. Was Air Asia trying to boil us alive? It was pretty ironic to look at the temperature difference inside and outside of the cabin. Outside of the plane was freezing cold but the inside the plane, I was sweating. Although I made a request to the air stewardess to decrease the cabin temperature, not much difference was felt.

On top of that, the small screen in front of the seat tends to be malfunctioning. What is the point for that screen to be there? Decoration purposes or for the passengers to pretend it is a high class airline?

Besides the broken English used by the crew members of Air Asia, the crew members were also unfriendly. When I visited the toilet, the air hostesses were gathering around chatting. They did not acknowledge my presence at all. Not even a greeting or a smile! Am I invisible? Well, I am glad that they did not stare at me as if I had invaded their privacy!

Additionally, how can an aeroplane flying for 7 hours and 50 minutes run out of food! After boiling us alive, Air Asia still wants us to starve to death? We were told that there isn’t anymore food for dinner (although we have prepaid our dinner online), that we have to take instant noodles and sandwiches, which cost a bomb, for dinner! How ridiculous can that be?

I strongly urge Air Asia to improve on their services. There are many ways for a company to be famous or to boost their image, so why choose the bad way? I guess when one talk about Air Asia, the first thing that strikes his mind is “Air Asia-now everyone must wait!”

Another absurd thing that happened to Chin Fei the day he wanted to fly back to Alor Setar from Kuala Lumpur LCCT was that he got apprehended by the person manning the check-in counter because his luggage bag was overweight by 19 kg! We were so shocked because he paid for TWO luggage bags and we read in the terms and conditions that one luggage bag cannot exceed 15 kg. So we thought that paying for two luggage bags means he can carry 30 kg of his things back home. Unfortunately, the man said that one person cannot check-in exceeding 15 kg! I was quite furious because that meant that Chin Fei paying for the second luggage bag is a complete waste of money because he only can carry 15 kg in total, ie 7.5 kg in two bags each. So I asked the person sarcastically whether if a person pays for 4 bags online (yes, there is an option to check in 4 bags), that would mean that each bag would have to be 3.75 kg! What nonsense is that?! Who in their right minds would want to carry 4 bags of 3.75 kg when he/she can carry one bag totalling up to 15 kg that is more convenient? Ahh, we didn't want to continue arguing with them and so Chin Fei had to repack his luggage and left the unimportant ones at my home and yes, it is still sitting at my home. I just don't understand Air Asia at all. What a total disappointment. Sigh.

Update: The above-posted letter by my brother was actually his first draft. He said that he cut down on his sarcasm before submitting to The Star.