12/10/2015

Air Asia

I spent a month in Malaysia about 5 years ago and booked all my International and domestic flights with Air Asia.  This was before the accidents that have given a bad name to the airline. To be honest, very reputed airlines have had also accidents, and others had been put down by terrorists, so you never know when you are going to die, or a plane you travel in is going to fall, even if you pay first class in the best airline in the world there is no guarantee.  Call it destiny. Call it bad luck. Call it you have a heart attack. Whatever.

My experience with Air Asia was fantastic all the way, and I took plenty of domestic flights plus the Perth-Kuala Lumpur-Perth. I booked everything online through their website, way in advance, and I managed my bookings online. Everything was stated clearly and I knew exactly what I was paying for, the seat area and type I was getting and the meal I would have on-board because you can pre-order those at very discounted prices if you want. Also, you can book no check-in luggage but then change your mind and upgrade to check-in luggage, or choose a number of kilos for the check-in luggage and them upgrade because you are carrying more than initially thought. You can do that online as well. I actually did.

This is a budget airline. As you can expect, you will pay extra money for premium seats and for meals on board. However, their planes and the service on board was decent, the punctuality was great, and the pricing was awesome. I did not feel I was travelling with a bad company nor did I have bad flights or anything that disrupted my action-packed holidays.

Air Asia has its own budget airport in Kuala Lumpur, so you don't land on the International airport there. However, this is decently-sized airport, well communicated, with basic services and a good information system. 

I would certainly use Air Asia again when travelling to/fro Asia and within Asia as they have an excellent network of destinations in Asia. 

I thought this budget airline was better than Virgin Australia, and similar to Jetstar, at times better

This was my experience with them. Very good.  

Having said that, Air Asia is a budget airline, you know. Personally, I take for granted that this airline, like any other budget airline, won't be good if problems arise, so I always get travel insurance with comprehensive cover. I do even when I travel with good airlines, even more when I travel with budget airlines as their compensation policies and their ability or willingness to help customers when problems arise is not good most of the time. If you travel with Air Asia you just need travel insurance to go with it as it will give you peace of mind.