On this recent trip to Laos I was unlucky enough to fly what has now topped my list as the worst airline there is. I had booked a Bangkok to Udonthani flight with Air Asia at 7:00 in the morning only to reach the airport and find out that Air Asia had canceled the flight. No one at the check in counter could explain to me why the flight had been canceled or why I had not been contacted to inform me of this cancelation.
At Air Asia’s reception desk, it was explained to me that the flight had been canceled due to not enough people flying to make it worth their while to run the fight. Nobody could give me a good reason why I had not been informed ahead of time that the flight had been canceled however.
I requested that I be put on another fight, the next Air Asia flight being at 5:00 that evening, I made the request that they put me on another airline which they were completely unwilling to entertain. I was now looking at a delay of over ten hours, spent in the airport because Air Asia did not see fit to do me the courtesy of letting me know in advance that the flight would be canceled.
I also requested that because the Airline did not see fit to let me know about the cancelation a hotel room should be provided for me for the duration of the ten hour wait that was ahead of me. The staff kindly informed me that the hotels were all full of people that had been displaced by their morning flights by Air Asia. My flight was not an isolated incident, to the best of my knowledge four other flights were canceled that morning leaving dozens of people stranded in the airport and missing connecting flights, which Air Asia makes very clear that they hold no responsibility for either.
I was given 400 Baht in airport food vouchers, a very monetary sum considering the wait ahead of me. A loss of a complete day of work and for many people, the missing of connecting flights that would not be reimbursed. Air Asia also holds a policy that customers kept waiting over two hours will be automatically emailed a voucher for 55 US dollars. Over a week later, I still have not received my voucher. I will email them but given everything that has happened so far, would expect an excuse that my flight was not two hours late. Simply canceling a flight and making the passengers wait for ten hours at the airport, I am sure, will not fall under their definitions. We shall see.
Upon check in 10 hours later, I was told that I would have to pay an additional 100 Baht for each bag that I was going to be checking in, again, no amount of arguing on my part was going to change their policy. Air Asia was successfully able to recuperate half of what was given to me in exchange for my loss of time. It was explained to me that to be eligible for regular baggage checking fees, I had to check in four hours ahead of the scheduled flight. Of course the Air Asia policy is to open the check out two hours ahead of the flight and close it 45 minutes prior to the flight, leaving a scant one hour and fifteen minutes to make the check in. And of course, leaving no one the ability to check their baggage four hours ahead of time.
On the plane I found that drinks and snacks were not only not complementary, they were highly over priced and with the new airline regulations in place that prevent people from taking liquids onboard passengers are completely at the mercy of the Air Asia’s pricing scheme of 40 Baht for a extremely small bottle of water. This in itself is something that is not unexpected of budget carriers, but in combination with the poor service, complete lack of responsibility, and lack of care for their customers leaves me with a very bitter feeling about Air Asia.
I for one will never be flying Air Asia again, and will happily pay the extra few dollars that other budget carriers charge for such small services as notifying me upon cancelation of a flight and the care for customers that one would expect when paying hard earned money for a service such as a flight.
