Budget Travel - AirAsia Xpress Boarding

Hi
I am planning to purchase a ticket with Indonesia AirAsia flight from CGK to DPS. While looking at their website I find that they offered Xpress Boarding (http://www.airasia.com/site/my/EN/page.jsp;jsessionid=3C222A6D8D7783B3D199796F16539C FE?name=Xpress+Boarding&id=78e6f19b-ac1e00ae-1535a580-73831533&nav=2-3), that they claim it will allow me to board the aircraft first. So I wanted to know if anyone ever use this service and how effective is it?
Thanks.

Express boarding usually works OK. Air Asia have gotten better at making sure the express boarders do get on first.

Air Asia boarding at CGK is almost always via a bus and express boarders board the bus first and sit up the front. When the bus gets to the plane they only open the front door of the bus to allow express boarders to get on the plane first.

If you are quick on your feet there isn't really much advantage to this service. I have never used it but I almost always get the seat I want anyway (row 1).

If you do decide to do it make sure you are right by the gate when the flight is called because they will only call you once or twice before starting general boarding.

Xpress boarding is effective in the sense that AirAsia gate agents seem to be doing a decent job making sure those folks who have fronted the extra money for Xpress boarding do get to board first. That said, I have flown approximately one hundred AirAsia flights, have never paid for Xpress boarding, and only rarely do not sit in my desired seat (exit row aisle).

Thanks to camsean and ovenman for your answer. And from your answer I won't buy it and just use my luck to get the best seat.:p

Good decision! There are better things to spend 55,000rp on ;)

Express boarding is simply a money making scam that makes people like you feel you have earnt your seat until people like me come along and sit next to you and spoil your fun

everytime I fly Air Asia there are very few early boarders..seems like a waste of money

Good decision! There are better things to spend 55,000rp on ;)
like 5 packs of cigarettes

everytime I fly Air Asia there are very few early boarders..seems like a waste of money

I also notice they're mostly foreigners...locals seem too frugal.

That said, if they're running a full flight it can be as uncivilized as Southwest was sometimes. Though in an "Asian" kind of way (they have different notions about personal space but are quieter and more polite about jostling. You can still get squeezed like a grape).

Lines also are dysfunctional. "An Air Asia boarding line never gets longer, only wider."

I also notice they're mostly foreigners...locals seem too frugal.

That said, if they're running a full flight it can be as uncivilized as Southwest was sometimes. Though in an "Asian" kind of way (they have different notions about personal space but are quieter and more polite about jostling. You can still get squeezed like a grape).

Lines also are dysfunctional. "An Air Asia boarding line never gets longer, only wider."

only wider is right..... i just get up after the initial rush..and always go for the back of the plane....usually get a nice window seat...and most times....an empty next to me.

i was once given early boarding by a ticket agent because of my age...but after they started charging for it...now us old farts have to pay too....so i just rush on like everyone else.

The only way I'd consider paying for it is if your flying in the middle of high season with a family and are taking several bags on board. Otherwise its just a waste of money. From the flights I've been on and seen departing about 5-10 people will have paid, and if your really worried about overhead space or seats just arrive about 2 hours before the flight and park youself in the seats nearest the boarding gate door.

like 5 packs of cigarettes

Like 3 large bintang.

This past spring, I flew on Air Asia from Hanoi to Bangkok. I had paid in advance for the Express Boarding. As check-in time approached, an employee brought out two stand-up signs. One read: Check In; the other read: Express Check-In.

Most passengers, local and Western, were in the Check-In line; only a few of us Westerners were in the Express Check-In line. Meanwhile one local woman, pregnant and with 2 other little kiddies in tow, came over to the Express Check-In line where I was number one and told me that as a pregnant woman she was entitled to Express boarding first and inserted herself into the line ahead of me.

As the employees began the actual boarding, they insisted on checking the local woman's ticket & paperwork. It seems that she didn't pay for the Express Check-In, so they told her to return to the regular Check-In line! Bravo for the Air Asia staff at Hanoi Airport!

Well, well, well: it did my heart good to see her pregnant heinie marched back over to the line where it truly belonged. Oh, yes. I was then the first person to be checked in at the Express Check-In. After all, I paid for it and so it was only right that I received it.

I've never bought the Xpress boarding. To me, the fun part of boarding an AirAsia flight is the racing to the plane to pick your favorite seat. :)

Take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xjY709B-LU