We’re a Point-to-Point Airline
Asia has some cheap airlines. Cheap airlines in Asia and I am thinking about all the crashes in Indonesia. But I could not resist the unbelievably cheap tickets using Air Asia. Of course, once I got to the payment screen when booking my first flight I saw the price advertized triple due to taxes and “fees”. Plus you pay for your luggage to take the trip. And if it is over 15 kilos then you pay another $10. They even charge for water onboard as well as any snack you may want. But in the end, Air Asia is still a cheap flight (and the flight attendants are hot!). As with everything cheap in this world, cheap may get you in the end.
Air Asia has a simplistic online booking system. It only allows you to book a single flight at a time. So I did four bookings which were agonizingly slow. Pamela witnessed me haggard by time I survived it. I booked a one-way from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, a roundtrip from KL to Kota Kinabalu, a one-way from KL to Ho Chi Minh City and a one-way from Hanoi to Bangkok. When I checked in at Bangkok I asked them to check my bags to Kota Kinabalu, but they could not do that and I figured it was because I had to clear customs in KL. Air Asia has there own terminal in KL – the old airport which is primitive especially after flying out of Bangkok’s modern wonder. The scene at KL’s check-in is something out of a horror movie or maybe a sadomasochist’s comedy. Nothing was organized well and it was just the biggest mob scene I have ever encountered. I’ve been to better organized riots. Did I mention how hot the flight attendants are?
My booking from Kota Kinabalu back to KL left me one hour before the flight on to Ho Chi Minh City. That seemed like a reasonable amount for any connecting flight in a relatively small airport. When I got to KK’s airport, I handed the clerk my passport and then mentioned that I have a second flight to Vietnam and asked to check the baggage all the way through as well as print out the second boarding pass. “Oh no sir, we’re a point-to-point airline.” Stop the music… I have traveled well over 150,000 kilometers on this odyssey using who knows how many airlines including some really rinky-dink operations and no one has told me they are a “point-to-point airline”. As if “point-to-point” is the only way to run a no-frills airline. Well no wonder KL’s check-in scene is such a madhouse – everyone flying through their major hub is checking in. I tell the clerk that I have a big problem because their fairly worthless online system fails to obviously mention this little issue and it will be nearly impossible for me to wait for my luggage, go through the check-in counter lines, clear passport control and get myself to the gate in time plus there is the small problem of getting my baggage onto the plane as well. So she agreed to help and passed me on to another clerk who passed me on to a third after hearing my sob story. This clerk said he could help a little by placing my bag in “Hold Number 1”. I would disembark the plane at KL and my bag would greet me at the bottom of the stairs saving me from having to wait at the belt. Excellent… thank you very much.
I tell the crew onboard the flight about the bag in Hold Number 1 as I was told to do, but they look surprised. I disembark with the flight attendant… did I mention… The ground crew climbs through a small hole into Hold Number 1 and they pull out a baby stroller and nothing else. Uh-oh! So we wait and watch the plane getting emptied and I see no bag of mine. They eventually take me inside to the belt. I will say that the flight attendant did everything possible for me including asking the people at lost and found where there was a terminal to start my check-in procedure. The last bag on the belt was finally mine. I suppose this was due to me checking in early at KK like a good customer. I go to pick up the bag and it won’t budge. It was caught in the conveyor belt and I turned to the flight attendant and mentioned that maybe I am not supposed to make this flight. Maintenance people arrive and they free my bag. No we begin the race to check-in. In the meantime, the flight attendant is telling me that all low-cost airlines are point-to-point as if I am some kid on my first flight to the big city.
Once again the scene is insane. The flight attendant tells me to go to booth 16 which is as far as it gets through the hordes. I push my way through the totally out-of-control mob (they have no mazes for people to queue orderly), but when I get to 16 they tell me that was bad information and I need to go to 38 – back through the throng. It’s about 35 degrees and 90% humidity so I am about to blow a gasket, but I push ahead. 38 doesn’t know who I am other than a very late customer and she tells me that I am two kilos over the limit and takes her time filling out the receipt and collecting my money. I flew through passport control and made the bus in seconds flat… I mean airplane… and boarded with the rest of the cattle. Very grateful to be on this plane – missing it would have been a disaster and Rod would not be too pleased. Flying over the Mekong Delta right now so I must end this story quickly… Air Asia – Proof that you always get what you pay for. Flying in Asia is obviously a different experience than the rest of the world. Did I mention Air Asia’s hot flight attendants?
Tags: Asia
vagabondrick
Ya Air Asia gives cheap flight but few times when I checked on their website, I can’t find the cheap price tickets as what they advertised.. so in actual fact, I think they don’t really give out many cheap tickets for customers.
RNC: Ya, but does it really matter because did I mention the hot flight attendantants 🙂
In light of the recent changes on the US airlines, I am wondering if they are using Air Asia as a model for tripling their fares due to fee too!