KUL to Langkawi
 

Just looking at booking flights from Kuala Lumpur in February return to Langkawi for our vacation.
I have no idea what these flights usually run at? The Malaysian Airlines website has them on for $1300 MYR return for two.

Is this reasonable and should I grab them now? I am not too worried about saving a few dollars as I would rather have the peace of mind of having them booked unless they will go down another $100-$200. I just have no idea.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

That's expensive. You can fly from KUL to LGK for about 170 MYR per person return on Air Asia (plus a few MYR more if you want to check bags and grab better seats.)

Check Air Asia's website for your specific dates....it will be significantly less than 1300 MYR total.

(Edit to add: If you've never navigated Air Asia's website before, be advised that their default is to add luggage charges, travel insurance, etc. It's up to you to remove those additions if you don't want/need them. It's not difficult to do but it's easy to overlook if you aren't aware in advance.)

Thanks very much for your feedback..........I didn't realize Air Asia flew direct from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi!

....on a side note. We are on Cathay Dragon from HKG to KUL and I just wanted to get my confirmation numbers as it was booked through Air Canada. How on earth does a person get through to Cathay Pacific. Every number I tried I have been on hold literally forever. It seems like there is nobody there?

Wow........just looked and a huge difference. Just a couple of questions on Air Asia:
- Are they dependable and not cancelling flights consistently
- I noticed it does ask for the add ons - based on that I will guess that the first pricing does not include any luggage so we would have to choose the 20kg luggage allowance per person etc.,
- Any other feedback would be great!

Thanks again!

MH doesn't really launch fare sales that far advance (February 2018?). They are also upgrading their reservation system to Amadeus 10 June so their fare sales are a bit limited during this crossover (they did have one recently ex-KUL tho).

Having that said, I don't know if you are traveling around Chinese New Year. If you are, then you should book your tickets sooner than later.

Are you flying all the way from Canada or will you have a stopover in HKG or will your Canada-HKG-KUL fight on CX? If it is CX/KA, then you have the benefit of through-check bags from KA to MH (also arrival lounge/domestic departure lounge at KUL if you are eligible).

Air Asia departs from KLIA2 (stupid name for a terminal, but it's Terminal 2). You'll have to collect your bags at KLIA (Terminal 1), buy a MYR 2 train ticket to Terminal 2, then check-in again with Air Asia. That's quite a lot of hassle if you don't know what you are doing and you need to make sure you have enough connecting time (I would say 2 hours at the very minimum) because AK will force you to buy a new ticket if you miss their check-in deadline.

Yes, we are coming through HKG and then actually staying first for a couple of days in KUL before heading to Langkawi. Just our HKG to KUL flight is on CX.

I think I am going to stick with Malaysian Airlines. The more I have read I think it will be more reliable etc., for the extra cost. Hopefully I am correct in that. We are coming along way so don't want to mess around with delays etc., on a budget airline.

Both are reliable. The only airline I'd avoid right now out of KUL is Malindo (OD) due to their delays.

If you are staying in Kuala Lumpur, you can also fly out of SZB (Subang Airport) which is closer to the city. Firefly (subsidiary of MH) and Malindo offers nonstop SZB-Langkawi flights.

However, SZB doesn't have a direct rail link to the city and you have to rely on taxis/grab/uber (very cheap). Depending on the time of your flight, the train to KUL can be faster than your taxi ride to SZB. I'd avoid weekday flights between 1700-2000 from SZB because getting to SZB at that time is a huge pain (or KUL for that matter unless you are staying close to KL Sentral station).

Air Asia is about as reliable as it gets, IMO. I've never had a flight cancelled. Their planes are relatively new and in great condition. There is no operational reason to avoid Air Asia.

You'd fly out of KLIA2 instead of KLIA but that's not particularly consequential - on the KLIA Express train from downtown it's one more stop; it's an extra 10 minutes by taxi.

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback and advice.

I did a lot of reading on reviews (not that you can only go by this as a lot of people only write reviews on something negative and all the positive ones you don't see) I just read so much negative......??

I did decide just to stick with Malaysian and be done with it. A small price to pay to simply fly out of KLIA with a schedule that worked out perfectly. Booking was simply and the price was up front.

Is Air Asia part of any alliance (Star, OneWorld, etc?)

No. They have their own loyalty program.

Which really worth nothing.

Regarding AirAsia - again, this is LCC, with all consequences - you will have to pay for seat assignment, using of credit card during booking, checked luggage, even for a cup of water onboard.

But considering that it is just 45 min flight and assuming that you do not have tons of luggage - you should be fine. Just one word to mention - if you need to check luggage, buy luggage allowance during the booking process not later - anything later would cost you more, sometimes considerably.

But at the and AirAsia is quite reliable - had more than 30 flights over last 5 years and only one flight was delayed more than 4 hours. Delays of 30min-1h are quite common and it is normal.

Don't forget the credit card, hotels, and other partners.

Gosh, you made my spit my drink out! :) No, not in any alliance.

I've had a few Air Asia flights cancelled over the years, usually in advance when they discontinue a route.

Short delays are common, 30-60 minutes.

I actually like Malindo more, and haven't encountered any delays over 30 minutes out of KUL.

Malindo also has first class, which can be cheap if you get it on a sale. I think they also give you 20-30kg luggage allowance per person.