You’d think so too if your flight from Jakarta to Bali is delayed for about eight hours, and the idiots couldn’t even have the courtesy to sms or call you so you do not have to make the long trek to the dreaded domestic flights terminal of the Soekarno Hatta airport.
If there was more choice I would never fly Air Asia again. So LCCs out there please get your act together and give Air Asia a run for their money.
Unspun 
I second you. I took Air Asia once from KL to Medan and I did not like it that much. First I have to queue for a long time, once in Grand Central, another in the LCC terminal, to get ticket. Then, I found out about their unreasonable baggage facility. Luckily I was told by my uncle to carry as little as possible so I don’t have to pay expensive charges.
To be fair, the flight was ok and safe. Perhaps in Indonesia safety is enough, considering other airlines.
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I think I said this to you before when I met you at the airport before the Chinese New Year holidays…”Now Everyone Can WAIT” that should be the tagline of AirAsia.
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Of course, it sucks. How else can one describe an airline where being on time is an exception and not the norm?
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u gotta undersand the no of delays per day and therefore makes it almost impossible to send the sms. even then, each flight can be resecheduled numerous times so you at times dont know when is the real boarding time. ask the poor travellers who have experienced the exasperation.
as for my experience, I have used Air Asia three times and none of which is on time. But, at least the maximum delay was less than 1.5 hours.
gotta live with it at least for now until a more efficient LCC comes along.
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What is the cause of all the delays? Operating on a minimum number of planes? So if there is a delay somewhere the problem snowballs to the later flights? Poor planning?
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I fly AirAsia about 6 – 8 times a month, mainly Jakarta-KL-Jakarta, and sometimes on domestic routes in Malaysia as well. My personal experience is that the flights are about 80% on time.
I believe the delays occur because AirAsia aims for a turnaround time of 20 minutes, so if the aircraft was delayed for whatever reason on an earlier flight then the delay would be carried forward to the next sectors.
In general, morning flights are not delayed (except out of LCCT in KL – there the delays are caused by flight congestion, so that’s not within the control of AirAsia. The Malaysian government spent a huge amount building KLIA but they neglected the most important item – building enough runways!) But as the day goes on the chances of delay increases.
Now that AirAsia Malaysia has switched to the new Airbuses I find the seats are actually more comfortable than economy class on MAS. As for the rest, well you get what you pay for. I eat in the terminal before boarding and just buy a drink in flight to quench my thirst.
To be honest in the 5 years I’ve been flying AirAsia I’ve had only a few horror flights. Two or three were delayed for more than 2 hours, but the worst one was out of Jakarta sometime last year. The flight was delayed by about 1 hour, then the plane ran out of food and drink! They tell you that you cannot take your own food and drink on board. Then they tell you – we ran out, so too bad. Two hours on board without coffee, tea, Coke, Sprite, drinking water…just smiling stewardesses saying “we do not upload food and drinks from Jakarta…”
I know I’m paying 25-40% of the price of MAS so most of the time I console myself – “I paid peanuts, so AirAsia treats me like a monkey”.
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Opah’s explanation is true and by far the most accurate that I know of.
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I hate searching for vacant seats and flight delays.
If you fly KL-Jakarta frequently, try KLM. If you buy thru the website, it’s only slightly more expensive than AirAsia. But considering that you get better facilities at KLIA than LCCT and free food onboard, I would say it’s worth it.
Anyway, LCCT is only low cost for carrier, passengers still have to pay premium for foods, taxi, etc.
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I spoke to Tony myself during one of my KL-Jakarta flights… apparenty they were just short of aircrafts. One delay early in the morning somewhere will cause ripple effect to the rest of the flights for the whole day. With the Airbus coming into services maybe it will improve… poor AirAsia crews who had to put with the anger by frustrated customers while the big bosses are sitting in the airconditioned rooms looking at their share prices.
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All: I think no one expects first class treatment in a low-cost carrier. Some delay is forgivable given the tight schedules they have to turn around flights. That can’t be helped. But what can be helped is now they inform (or not inform) their customers whenever there is a delay. The response to delays, not the delays themselves, is the issue here.
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air asia is meant for its cheapness…
if u all wnt good quality of servise u should pay for it..
thats why MAS can provide a very good service because u r paying it.
pay for what u want..
money talks here..
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they are not really cheap either.they charge for everything.i’d rather pay a bit more for MAS. AirAsia SUCKS!!!
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yes, it really sucks…i also have been delayed for more than 1 hour.its too embarassing.and the food is 2 expensive too.1 kotak of milo is RM5.damn expensive.i tell u no one should purchase airasia as their travel option.they said it is low cost but they cucuk belakang again and claim it back through in flight food they sell.
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They are plain (plane?) thieves. I just purchased a ticket. At the beginning of the process there’s a message warning you that you have to complete the whole process within 9 minutes, otherwise you’ll be re-directed to the starting page. So I hurried and ended up paying for luggage (one way – because I de-selected the only possible option available and it turned out to be for the flight there but not back) and an insurance that I hadn’t chosen. Isn’t it theft, or what? How can you force customers to complete anything within anytime? Why do I have to pay for options I haven’t selected? So it’s gonna be the last time I’ll use the AAsia and within my limited means I’ll try to make sure no one I know ever will. Just venting, arghhh…
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