Air Asia X - review

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

just got back today on Air Aisa X to OOL then onto SYD. Yes, the fare cost me $100 inc a meal and picking my own seat, but that's about the best of it

Have to say the total experience was one I hope not to repeat.

At check in I was faced with 3 counters that were empty. 1 had 3 girls chatting, 2 other had staff that just looked at me. Eventually 1 of them sighed and indicated i could approach.

Boarding was a nightmare. They dont get those at the back of the plane on 1st, so it seemed to take forever. They also have u standing out on the tarmac for most of the boarding time. Fortunately the deluge had stopped minutes before.

The seats are incredibly narrow, esp when you have someone next to you who seems to feel they're entitled to more space and spread over into your seat area. The seats were bloody uncomfortable. The way they "recline" is a joke, esp for someone 6'1" in height. I've never heard a plane filled with the creaking of seats as people try to get in a comfortable position thru the night, or had to get up so many times top stretch and ease the pain.

All in all i doubt I will fly long haul with Air Asia again. 2-3 hrs i can survive in cramped seating, but 8 hrs is just too much torture:!:

 

[MelUser]

i can understand creaking seats, no food, boarding chaos, charge to ckeck luggage etc with LCC but I can never understand why their staff are rude and lack the customer service ethic of most qantas staff.

 

[dajop]

i can understand creaking seats, no food, boarding chaos, charge to ckeck luggage etc with LCC but I can never understand why their staff are rude and lack the customer service ethic of most qantas staff.

Because, when people are paying $100 to fly from KUL to OOL, it probably means staffing levels are a lot less than QF, and therefore staff are overworked (and underpaid).

 

[JerseyVics]

I must have been incredibly lucky with my Air Asia X experience.

in KL there were 4 or 5 counters open, with an extra counter open for the XL seat holders. The line moved quickly but since there was a line I figured the plane was relatively packed which was unlike my experience coming up where I had a whole row to myself (and used it appropriately by sleeping across the three seats most of the flight)

That process went quickly and I was able to request a window seat close to the front of the plane. Boarding was not a problem at all, a bit of the walk out to the tarmac but nobody was rushing you... and picture taking was allowed so plenty of people were posing with the brand new A330.

Luckily I had the seat next to me empty which was useful because the seats indeed are very narrow, and pretty close to the seat in front of you. I'm fairly short but my knees were touching the seat in front of me.


Generally the whole experience with Air Asia X, Air Asia within Malaysia and FireFly were much better than what I had expected.

--Russ

 

[MrGreg]

I am going to be flying on 6 short haul and 2 long haul air asia flights in feb/march, so this was an interesting read

I maintain that you get what you pay for. I don't really care about the service or comfort. Providing me and my baggage arrive in one piece I'm happy.

Without the competition from budget airlines, we would all be paying much much more for full service flights.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

i've had many air asia short haul flights and nearly think those seats are more comfortable than the air asia x torture ones

for a day flight the seats are bearable, but overnight i wouldn't subject myself to them again.

for me i'd like to see budget airlines offer similar comfort to a full service carier. surely with lower overheads they can give u a standard sized seat.

 

[Alanslegal]

The fares D7 sometimes offer are extremely good value. I have purchased a KUL-OOL-KUL for 488MYR which includes meals, 15kg baggage and seat selection - that's pretty hard to knock back, when you'd have to pay at least 4 times that much to fly someone else.

I know it sucks when they only give you one bottle of water for the entire flight though

 

[kilavuz]

I just bought tickets online in Singapore, to find they have introduced a new fee called "Convenience Fee" of$10 if you buy online and pay online. What sort of convenience is this? They already charge if you choose your seat in advanc, on exit row, extra legroom.
What new fee next, "Toilet Use", "Clean seat", "refreshed and recirculated air"?:shock::?:

 

[dajop]

I just bought tickets online in Singapore, to find they have introduced a new fee called "Convenience Fee" of$10 if you buy online and pay online. What sort of convenience is this?

Firstly, welcome to AFF.

If you want the history of this, Air Asia always had an Adminstration Fee, theoretically to cover credit card payment - and make some profit on the side. Then in June, with a big fanfare this fee was removed, and all inclusive pricing was put on the website.

Unfortunately, I suspect what happened was that this put Air Asia at a competitive disadvantage to Tiger and Jetstar (especially Tiger) who continued with their "convenience fees" and advertising ridiculously low prices and adding in taxes - Tiger being the absolute worst offender here, often offering $10 fares with up to $90 in taxes. BS in my opinion, but unfortunately this is allowed in Singapore.

So Air Asia quietly reintroduced tax exclusive lead in pricing and then a couple of weeks later (re)introduced their adminstration fee, this time using the exact terminology of Tiger - the "convenience fee". In short Air Asia were trying to be more transparent (I suspect to sell as an advantage), but the message never got through to dumb/ignorant consumers and as a result they reverted back to the practices of their competitors.

FWIW, for Singapore based passengers on Jetstar at least this "convenience fee" can be avoiding by paying in person at Singpost or via NETS at SAM machines.

 

[trooper]

Air Asia X DO offer "similar comfort to a full service carrier"....

It is called XL seating...

..and they charge more for it....:mrgreen:

 

[Teagz8686]

I actually found Air Asia X to be really good ... especially for the price! I got really cheap flights; my partner and I flew to Kuala Lumpur and back for about $450 (yes, for both of us!!). I found everything to be quite similar to Jetstar or Virgin. Yes, the seats are a bit thinner, but it's really not that big an issue. I didn't care at all because I'm only little, but even my partner didn't mind so much. We were lucky on the way over because we got a 3 seater to ourselves, but even on the way back we were in the two seaters and my partner said that it was fine (he's over 6 foot). I guess it's that old thing of "you get what you pay for"! I would prefer though to spend less on flights and perhaps not be as comfortable as I would on, say Qantas, and then have more money when I actually got to my destination!

Overall I was very happy. The hosties were really nice, the food left a little to be desired but it was ok, and for those who can't entertain themselves for the flight you can hire little tv screens for about AU$10. All in all, I thought Air Asia was great value and certainly won't hesitate to fly with them again.

 

[fortymilliondaggers]

That's my view exactly. I won't hesitate to fly them, as long as the price makes it worthwhile right.

A bit ridiculous that it's cheaper to fly interstate to Melbourne or the Gold Coast to pick up an Air Asia flight to KL than it is to go to eg Singapore with Jetstar, Bali with Virgin or Macau with Viva Macau etc.

 

[bushtuckerman]

Here is a copy of my post following my AirAsiaX flight from MEL:arrow:KUL and KUL:arrow:HKT on the A330 in August 2009.

The flights were free except for taxes, which lessens the burden of flying in a truck.

SEATS: Narrow, hard and uncomfortable. At the end of 8hrs I was chewing my leg off. If you are big framed don't even consider this plane. AirAsia admitted the seats were less than satisfactory, and is working at replacing them all.
FOOD: AirAsiaX set the low bar for in-flight food. They served something that resembled calf-dung in a plastic dish plus some water. Even by budget airline standards it was cough. I've spent a lot of time backpacking in Asia and will eat almost anything...except that swill.
FLIGHT: Delayed departure 1/2 hr, and once in the air it was OK but glad I brought ear-plugs. Interestingly, I flew with AirAsia twice more whilst away, and the seats on these planes were far superior to those on the A330.

Oh, and in-flight entertainment consisted of wiggling my toe through the hole in my sock (when I wasn't looking around for a chiropractor).

I guess, if the price is right AirAsiaX is worth considering, but its not a patch on its cousin AirAsia.

Cheers
Bush

 

[clifford]

That's my view exactly. I won't hesitate to fly them, as long as the price makes it worthwhile right.

A bit ridiculous that it's cheaper to fly interstate to Melbourne or the Gold Coast to pick up an Air Asia flight to KL than it is to go to eg Singapore with Jetstar, Bali with Virgin or Macau with Viva Macau etc.

Ah, the greedy Australian carriers, can't help themselves.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

bushtuckerman - i have to agree that i thought the standard air asia seat were more comfortable. it's like AA-X decided to find the designer of those horrid macdonalds seats, and comissioned them to make something even more uncomfrotable :mrgreen:

if only they could fly into sydney i'd be tempted to get a promo fare over to kl and then make my way back on jetstar or QF via points redemption.
http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/members/bushtuckerman.html

 

[bushtuckerman]

bushtuckerman - if only they could fly into sydney i'd be tempted to get a promo fare over to kl and then make my way back on jetstar or QF via points redemption.

I'm looking at splitting my next trip in the same way.

However, I love Qantas's scam when using points on a return flight from BKK to SYD. You sacrifice more points, have a much longer flight because it goes via Melb, and get Jetstar flight back from Bangkok rather than a QF flight.

Cheers
Bush

 

[drron]

I'm looking at splitting my next trip in the same way.

However, I love Qantas's scam when using points on a return flight from BKK to SYD. You sacrifice more points, have a much longer flight because it goes via Melb, and get Jetstar flight back from Bangkok rather than a QF flight.

Cheers
Bush

Not always.I just flew an award BKK-SYD on QF2-though it was an Aaward.QFF offered me BA9 direct.

 

[bushtuckerman]

Sure, I generally get the same flight home.

But currently all that's on offer from BKK to SYD in mid July 2010 is Jet* via Melb to CBR, which costs 33,000 points and takes in excess of 12hrs.

So it costs more points for the pleasure of flying longer with a budget carrier, than with full service BA or QF.

Reminds me of the confectionary scam where manufacturers reduce product size, but increase the price.

Cheers
Bush

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

i think the way to get around it is to book 1 way flights rather than return

the added bonus of this was the taxes back were calcuated at ~4800 BHT, but QF in BKK can't charge my card so I called QF in Sydney and they charged me $103 which was a $30 saving

I got BKK SYD direct on BA

 

[Mrmaxwell]

This thread is making me seriously consider not taking up the current Air Asia X sale ($240 return MEL-KUL) and just flying JQ or QF.

I've flown Air Asia before from KUL LCCT to Bangkok and the flights were great - new planes, great seats, cute FA's. Sure Air Asia X is the same company?