Originally Posted by
seanthepilot
Doug, have you flown Air Asia much? They seem to me to have clean, well maintained planes, a good safety record, and a dependable and growing fleet/destination base.
They, despite giving NO extras, offer fantastic prices between cities, some of which only had extortionate fares.
The biggest fault of Air Asia is the top end of their sliding fare structure where the final 10 or 20 seats are priced far too high, often far above a full service airline.
Their additional weaknesses are the nitpick charges for selecting a seat adjacent to your travelling partner, and for checked bagage, and the terrible unusability of a ticket if you cannot fly on the day booked (fee structure, or within 48 hours).
However, Air Asia is a winner in my books. They chopped the price of the consumer's airfare, expanded to a great selection of cities (I'm patiently waiting for Vancouver
), and are getting rich in the meantime.
As far as flight delays, I can only comment on FD, Thai Air Asia, but I see no relation with flight delays, other than the rampant problem in Thailand of VIPs temporarily closing airports and delaying every carrier.
I say, Long Live Air Aisa! faults and all.
Sean I have flown them, enough to know I only will fly them if they
severely undercut the competition or the flight times are
significantly better for my needs.
The most recent hassle was checking in for a flight HKT-BKK and being given the window seat in the back of the plane. When I inquired about changing it, i don't like the back of the plane if it can be avoided and we were among the first to check in, was told they cannot. Turns out it was the last row. And, because of a full flight, I sat in a 3/4 seat takign up a sizable chunk of the one next to me.
I've been on some absolutely awful planes being held together by duct tape. Literally.
Had a flight, KUL-BKK, when we were well into Thailand when we turned back to KUL because there was a problem with the navigation system. A 4 hour connection window was missed. My loss.
When combined with general delays i would say that more than half the flights I've taken on AK/FD have had problems.
So, due to these hassles I've limited my exposure to AK/FD to those times when they are my only option (such as BKK-UBP in the morning). I know what to expect, very little. If they deliver more I'll be unexpectedly happy.