LarryU, I look forward to enjoying your report in its full glory, then trying it for myself some time.

Yes I think it's worth sending a mini-report to your favourite travel mags or seeing of you can get paid for a story.

I especially appreciate the food references as it is near the top of my dining wishlist. KL is fast becoming the hub for my planned trips and it would be great to experience Borneo.
(I will try to stop thinking of orange apes in ABBA gear, now..)

fully agree, really enjoyed the previous Bali report as well. Start compiling a book ^

No A for Air _sia

It looked to be a very beautiful day outside as I slowly regained consciousness at the lazy hour of 7:00 AM. How could I not have a deep sense of optimism when I peered outside the window of my suite and noticed that a nearby building was cheerfully inscribed, "Corner of Good Hope," in very large letters?



My very simple objective for my final day in Kuching was to return to Singapore that evening. I was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong on United Airlines the following day at 6:45 AM and from there would be flying to Los Angeles, eventually arriving home in Portland, OR. This fairly straightforward plan was somewhat complicated by the fact that, in order to get to Singapore, I had booked not one but two Air Asia flights! I guess, in retrospect, I really was a glutton for punishment.

The seemingly masochistic decision to make these particular flight arrangements had been especially difficult for me to resist because I had booked the flights during a week in which Air Asia had been peddling numerous zero ringgit fares. With ticket costs comprised only of taxes and fees, I was paying merely $19 USD for the Kuching to Kuala Lumpur segment and only $45 USD for the segment from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The major downside of booking these two flights individually was that, as a point to point carrier, Air Asia considers the two separate travel segments to be completely unrelated. And, to be honest, this airline has a more than ample track record of disavowing any responsibility for accommodating passengers even when a missed connection is entirely their fault.

I must confess that none of these facts were making me feel especially warm and fuzzy about my upcoming itinerary. However, I had scheduled approximately four hours between the arrival of the Kuala Lumpur flight and the departure of the Singapore flight so I figured I should be in relatively good shape just in case the fine folks at Air Asia felt an urgent need to retime one of my flights.

My first Air Asia flight of the day was not scheduled to depart until 3:05 PM and Angela would not be arriving for breakfast until 9:00 AM so I still had a reasonable amount of time to contemplate a final bit of moderate sight seeing. However, just as I had started to read through my notes and plan the day's activities, I received an unexpected call from Idzuan. He informed me that he had just received a text message from Air Asia saying that our flight to Kuala Lumpur had been cancelled! He and Azman had been reaccommodated on an earlier flight so we assumed that the airline had done the same for me. Nevertheless, I learned long ago not to assume anything when it comes to the airline business, and to assume even less when it involves a low cost carrier like Air Asia.

I provided Idzuan with my Air Asia record locator and asked him if he wouldn�t mind calling the airline back in order to confirm that I also had a seat on the earlier flight. A short while later, I met Angela downstairs for breakfast and brought her up to date on the unfolding Air Asia drama. We piled up our respective plates with food from the impressive buffet, mostly western fare for Angela and Asian fare for me. When we returned to our table, Angela presented me with a wonderful gift, the bright red Air Asia hat that had been given out at the ceremony that I had forgone in order to visit Bako National Park! ^

A few minutes later, Idzuan called back to say that Air Asia had not rebooked me on the earlier flight to Kuala Lumpur and refused to do so! Air Asia insisted that the earlier flight was completely full and were only willing to reaccommodate me on a later flight that was not scheduled to depart until 5:35 PM! Even if that flight took off on time, an admittedly unlikely scenario given Air Asia�s dubious track record, it was not scheduled to arrive until 7:15 PM. Once I landed in Kuala Lumpur, I would still need sufficient time to recover my luggage, check in for my next flight and traverse immigration formalities. Obviously, this arrangement was completely unacceptable if I were to have a reasonable prayer of successfully connecting to my 7:50 PM flight to Singapore.

I tried calling Air Asia "customer service" but they would not answer the phone, even after numerous attempts. Angela suggested I call the airport directly but the Air Asia staff there proved to be equally uncommunicative. As a very well networked travel industry professional, Angela had forged quite a few travel-related contacts and she began to marshal some of the forces at the Hilton to see whether they would be able to help out. In particular, we were trying to obtain a phone number where the seemingly taciturn Air Asia staff would be more willing to actually answer the phone. Meanwhile, Idzuan had made another plea on my behalf, with equally negative results and was once again told the earlier flight was completely sold out. Angela suggested that my only chance to sort out this intractable dilemma would be to visit the local Air Asia office in downtown Kuching and plead with them directly.



So we quickly wrapped up breakfast, clambered on board her car parked in the Hilton garage and then sped over to the Air Asia office, where Angela dropped me off in front as she went looking or a place to park. Inside the office, there were three agents behind the counter and two customers being served. As I took a number to wait my turn, none of the customer service agents made eye contact or vocalized a greeting. Soon, other customers entered the office and I learned that quite a few of them were in the very same predicament. I chatted with an American woman and her family from Alaska and another one from Los Angeles, none of whom had been accommodated in any way by Air Asia. My sample size was still admittedly small but it certainly seemed to me at the time that none of the non-Malaysians were being accommodated.

A few minutes later, Angela walked into the office and, as we waited together, I heard a loud crashing sound behind me. When I turned around, I noticed that the second "A" in AirAsia.com had fallen off of the wall. I muttered that I guess I was not the only one who wouldn�t give Air Asia an "A" that day. And, besides, the airline as a whole certainly seemed to be somewhat off the wall.



When one of the customer service agents eventually became available, she acknowledged me with a neutral and indifferent expression. However, she warmed up a little bit when she recognized Angela so I proceeded to explain my current predicament. The agent poked around her computer for a few minutes and then told me that there was nothing at all she could or would do for me. The earlier flight was completely sold out and that was that. The fact that the later flight would almost certainly cause a misconnect for my Singapore flight engendered nothing other than a blank stare.

At that point, I didn�t know what else to do so I looked at the agent squarely in her eyes and told her in a firm but quiet tone that I insist on speaking to her boss, Shan, immediately. Her expression suddenly changed a bit and she nervously asked me how I knew her boss. I explained to her that I had just had dinner with him several nights ago and, in fact, we had entertained the entourage of Indonesian VIPs together! I then repeated that I wanted her to contact him at once. She disappeared into the back office for about 10 minutes and then emerged to say that I was now confirmed on the earlier flight. ^ She explained that I would need to make the final arrangements at the airport and provided me with the name of a person to contact once I got there.

After Angela dropped me off at the Hilton, I returned to my room to gather up my belongings and then dashed up to the club lounge to check out. I explained to the friendly concierge what had just transpired and then asked her to return Rashid�s SIM to him. After a 25 minute cab ride to the airport, I located the check in counter for my new flight and told the check-in agent that I wanted to speak with Frankie, my new Air Asia contact. I also threw around Shan�s name for good measure. The agent made a quick phone call and two minutes later, I held the prize in my hands -- a boarding pass for the 1:55 PM flight!



Even with all of this uncertainty and aggravation, I was the first passenger to arrive in the waiting area so I had quite a bit of time to kill until the flight would begin to board. As the inbound plane finally pulled in and began to disgorge its passengers, all of the outbound passengers arose, seemingly in unison, and immediately formed a very long queue. So much for "Xpress Boarding," I muttered to myself and opted just to stay in my seat and observe the semi-orderly scrum from a comfortable distance. After a few minutes, a gate agent approached me directly, took my boarding pass and invited me to head to the plane.




I settled into my usual first row aisle bulkhead and watched as the other passengers boarded the very crowded plane over the next 15 minutes. Just as the Air Asia staff seemed poised to close the door, Idzuan and Azman finally made their grand entrance, just in the nick of time.



Bag and Baggage

We landed in Kuala Lumpur a little earlier than the scheduled 3:35 PM arrival time and then waited for about 10 minutes in baggage claim for our luggage to materialize. As I retrieved my rollaboard, I watched Azman load up a cart with an impressive mountain of baggage, including a huge rolled up floor mat. Under the circumstances, had I accepted their earlier offer for a ride to the airport in Kuching, I cannot imagine how there would have been sufficient room for me in their diminutive rental car.



Having recovered all of our belongings, we took a seat in the muggy arrivals section of the low cost carrier terminal. Idzuan and Azman had loaned a car to a friend and were waiting for him to pick them up and I had many hours to kill before my flight to SIN. As we waited, I remarked that the two of them had cut things rather close in Kuching and had almost missed the flight.

They explained that they had arrived at the rental car drop-off later than they had planned and that it took much longer to return the car than they expected. I was particularly amused when they said that they had not realized that they were obliged to refill the car with fuel and had just ran off to the terminal without filling it up! I think it�s a safe bet to assume that the rental car agent was not as amused as I was. From what I understood, once he realized that the fuel tank was empty, he beseeched them to come back but they had no time. To exacerbate his probable frustration, there was really nothing he could do about it because the entire transaction had been consummated in cash!

I asked Idzuan and Azman if they wanted to grab a bite to eat but they said that they had ordered some food on the plane, which they had desperately needed because the breakfast served at their hotel was truly horrific. They explained that if one orders food on Air Asia when a flight as booked, the meal is discounted by one ringgit. The problem was that the two of them had ordered two different snacks and neither of their choices had actually been loaded on board.

They agreed to the flight attendant�s request to switch to a different snack, even though one of the meals was actually worth less than what they had prepaid. When I asked them what would have happened if they had not found any of the alternative meals acceptable, they replied, "I guess they would have our money." It would be a mild understatement to say that this would not have been my response.

As we waited, I wandered away from my seat to get a closer look at the flight status board that was positioned just a few feet away. It appeared that it only contained arrivals information but, though it was already 4:00 PM, it did not list any flights earlier than 1:00 PM. So, I guess the sign is accurate for only a few hours each day.



About one hour later, Idzuan and Azman�s ride finally showed up and off they went, Idzuan to Kuala Lumpur and Azman to Malacca. I loitered around the arrivals area for a while longer because the departure hall, though much larger, does not really have a place where one can comfortably sit down. Air Asia flight check-in does not begin until exactly two hours before the scheduled departure so I presented myself at the designated counter precisely at the appointed hour of 5:50 PM.



Air Asia flies into terminal 1 at Changi and I planned to spend the night at the transit hotel before checking in for my UA flight to Hong Kong at 6:45 the following morning. The problem was that I would have no way to retrieve my luggage in baggage claim that evening because I would not yet have a UA boarding pass that would enable me to get back into the terminal. My only reasonable option was to stay airside that night and then retrieve my luggage from lost and found early the following morning.

That may have been the only reasonable option but, as I waited for my turn to check in, I quickly devised an unreasonable alternative. @:-) I explained my situation to the check-in agent, knowing full well that Air Asia has a well-promulgated reputation for being very strict about baggage limitations, in both size and quantity. Specifically, "Passengers (except infants) are allowed only one (1) piece of hand carry luggage on board provided that it does not exceed the dimensions of 56cm X 36cm X 23cm and does not weigh more than 7kg."

I asked the check-in agent if he would consider making an exception for my 13 kg rollaboard under these circumstances and we bantered about it for a bit in a relaxed and friendly tone. Neither wanting to make a decision nor an exception, he suggested that I talk to his boss, who was at another counter. The boss, of course, refused to help out, even after I volunteered to pay a fee for the privilege of carrying on the extra bag. "The fee is not the problem," he explained. Carrying on my "huge" rollaboard would represent a major safety issue because the overhead bins on the A320 are just not designed to carry such a heavy weight. I told him that I have never encountered safety issues when stowing this very same rollaboard on numerous A320s operated by United Airlines and asked him whether that meant that the A320s flown by Air Asia are less safe than those flown by other airlines.

By that point, he was still unwilling to officially make an exception for me so he found a way to defer the decision to yet another entity. He explained that there was no way I would be permitted to bring all of my luggage past immigration and security because they are so strict about the size limitations that I would most certainly be turned away. I asked him if I could try anyway and promised that I would come back to check the bag if I was turned away.

The entrance to the international wing of the low cost carrier terminal was staffed by an Air Asia representative who examined my boarding pass and sent me on my way, with no word or complaint about my two carryons. The security checkpoint was manned by the usual cast of characters and another Air Asia staff member. There too, nobody commented on my excessive baggage, including the "oversized" one that the check-in supervisor was certain would severely damage the overhead bins of their fragile A320. However, just to be on the safe side, I created a minor distraction by smuggling in several dangerous bottles of water hidden within my smaller carryon. As they patiently watched me drink all of the water in front of them, nobody took notice of my larger carryon that was innocently poised on the floor nearby.

After clearing immigration, I emerged into the very crowded departure lounge where I could now look forward to spending a considerable amount of time waiting for my flight to board. This long wait was exacerbated, in no small measure, by the fact that my flight, quite predictably, was "retimed." As is customary with all of my Air Asia flights to date, no announcements were made regarding the delay. The scheduled boarding time came and went and the flight destination never appeared on the overhead monitor and no one ever said a word about it.



As I studied the boarding procedures for flights bound for Bangkok, Jakarta and several other destinations, I soon began to notice a pattern. The regular queue always formed in front of an even numbered gate and the Xpress Boarding queue assembled in front of an adjoining odd numbered gate. Sometimes Air Asia made announcements explaining the two queues and sometimes they did not. When the boarding process appeared to be finished, I was impressed by the fact that they always made announcements regarding no shows. For each departing flight, I heard many repeated missives plaintively paging passengers by name, desperately admonishing that their failure to board on time was causing the flight to be delayed.



A little while later, the skies grew dark and ominous and, shortly thereafter, the heavens let loose with torrential rain accompanied by a massive display of thunder and lightening. Nevertheless, all of the flights -- except mine -- seemed to come and go on time, all unaffected by the inclement weather. Everyone just took it in stride, including both passengers and ground staff.

As I sat there observing the flight operations, I could discern no departure delays whatsoever because of the fierce atmospheric conditions. Given that such tumultuous and energetic weather is endemic to that part of the world, if flights were cancelled or delayed every time there was a severe thunderstorm, very few flights would ever take off. And Air Asia really is a relatively safe airline.



After some time, all of the passengers in my section of the waiting area suddenly arose from their seats and instantly formed a very lengthy queue poised in front of gate T2. It was now nearly an hour past the scheduled boarding time and these passengers had evidently received the secret signal that the time to board was finally at hand. I casually arose from my seat and sauntered towards gate T3, thereby creating a brand new boarding queue all to myself. A few seconds later, the staff announced that passengers holding Xpress Boarding passes were welcome to queue in front of gate T3.

A gate agent quickly collected my boarding pass and I was invited to walk outside, where I was escorted to the plane by a flight attendant who had just flown in from Vietnam. By now, the torrential rain had completely dissipated so I was spared the discomfort of a soggy schlep to my aircraft. After ascending the stairs, I stowed both of my carryons into the gaping maw of the A320�s overhead bin, which adequately sustained the "heavy" weight load of the two bags with neither disaster nor complaint. During the entire boarding process, not a single Air Asia employee had commented on my two bags, including the gate agent, the flight attendant nor anyone else wandering through the departure lounge.

After arriving in SIN, I made a brief stop to check email and surveyed the huddled masses queuing in the immigration hall situated one level below me. I was delighted by the fact that I was not there amongst them nor would I need to hunt down my rollaboard in lost and found the following morning. I then sauntered off to the transit hotel where the friendly staff added a free hour to my reserved six hour block of time because I was such a frequent customer.



Taken for a Ride

I checked out of the terminal 1 transit hotel at the fashionably late hour of 4:30 AM and then walked from there to transfer desk B in terminal 3 in about 10 minutes.



Before UA relocated from terminal 1 to terminal 3 this past March, their old check-in location at transfer desk C was sometimes an unpleasant and chaotic experience. At that time of day, lines were often quite long and dozens of sleepy passengers would be bivouacked in a nearby waiting area. A television would also be noisily blasting a variety of inane fare, presumably a failed attempt at keeping the unfortunate transit passengers from falling asleep.



In contrast, transfer desk B in Terminal 3 was a pure pleasure, quiet, bright and airy. There were no significant lines and not a soul was camped out nearby. After the entire check in process was completed in a mere three minutes, I sauntered off to the Silver Kris Lounge, located at the opposite end of T3.



Within 10 minutes, I was comfortably nestled in front of a computer, armed with a nice plate of munchies harvested from their generous buffet table. A short while later, one of the lounge attendants brought me a cup of freshly brewed coffee to accompany my snack. I had struck up a conversation with the personable fellow while I was out hunting and gathering breakfast and I learned that Rafie had moved to Singapore recently from Sabah. Before the move, it turned out that he had shared an apartment with one of the great concierges at the Le Meridien in Kota Kinabalu!



With 45 minutes to go before the scheduled departure of my UA flight to Hong Kong, I exited the Silver Kris Lounge and began strolling towards gate B2, which I figured was about 10 minutes away. To my great surprise, as soon as I stepped off of the escalator, I could see a motorized cart driving rapidly in my direction. As it pulled up, the driver asked me whether I was heading to Hong Kong and then insisted that I climb aboard. We then embarked upon a fun ride through the entire length of in T3, arriving at the entrance to the departure lounge in just a few minutes. Not that I'm complaining but I still cannot figure out why I was singled out for this privilege when I really had more than ample time to get to the gate on my own.



The Singapore-based crew staffing the short flight to Hong Kong was as delightful as usual. I only lament the fact that the energy and talents of the staff assigned to this crew base cannot be deployed on the longer transpacific flights as well. As we climbed rapidly towards cruising altitude, I was treated to the gorgeous views of a beautiful cloud studded sunrise as we traversed the tip of the Malay Peninsula and flew out over the South China Sea.



We landed in Hong Kong on time and, after traversing a relatively short security line, I made a bee line for the pleasant and comfortable Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge and settled in for an hour or so of Flyertalk, munchies and booze.



My flight to Los Angeles was departing from gate 61, one of the closest gates, so I figured that exiting the lounge 40 minutes before the scheduled departure would be more than enough time to get to the gate. It was so close that I could easily see my plane parked comfortably at the gate, waiting for me.



As soon as I stepped off the escalator, a uniformed woman approached me and offered to personally escort me to the gate, whereupon she took my boarding pass and then directed me towards the jetway. I could not help but wonder why UA felt so obliged to offer such personalized assistance for two flights in a row today. Or did the influence of Shan, Air Asia's Kuching station manager extend far beyond the boundaries of his city and well into the domain of an entirely unrelated airlines?

Safe but no Sound

The flight attendants who staffed this very long flight represented an incongruous combination of inexperience and indifference. I found this to be an especially anomalous amalgamation of traits because the appellation of indifference is traditionally earned only by flight attendants of the very highest seniority. On this flight, they appeared to skip the beverage service entirely and wasted no time initiating a very rushed meal service barely 30 minutes into the 12 hour flight to Los Angeles.

Just as was the case for my outbound trip, none of the audio channels were operational so I killed some time by chatting with my seat opponent for a while. I was quite interested to learn that he works for the company that is responsible for the problematic AVOD system currently under deployment in UA�s renovated international business cabin. In fact, after a few drinks were comfortably under his belt, he even admitted that his company were the ones who screwed up!

As I settled back to enjoy the remaining 11 hours of this very quiet flight, I had ample opportunity to reflect on all of the events that had transpired over the last few days. The bottom line was that, despite the lethargic service and inoperative equipment, I was lucky to be here and happy to be on my way back home.

I realized that had I not strolled into the Malaysia Airlines Travel Fair one morning in late February, I would have never picked up the great map of Sarawak. If I had not picked up the map, I would have not wandered into the Sarawak Visitors Information Centre in Kuching where I met Angela.

Through Angela, I met Idzuan and Azman, who were able to warn me that my Air Asia flight back to Kuala Lumpur had been cancelled. Otherwise, I would have just shown up as originally planned at Kuching airport, only to discover that my flight had been cancelled and that I had no other reasonable way to make my original connection to Singapore that evening.

Because of Angela, I was introduced to Shanmuganathan, the station manager of Air Asia in Kuching. After my original flight was cancelled, I was able to avail myself of Shan�s authority to coerce and compel Air Asia to force me onto the already overbooked alternative flight.

Obtaining a seat on this flight enabled me to successfully connect to my return flight to Singapore, arriving, as planned, the night before my early morning UA flight to Hong Kong. So, here I was comfortably relaxing in seat 15H, my favorite upper deck seat, finally on my way back home. All because of the many people who I met as a result of picking up the map of Sarawak.

And, perhaps most important of all, I now own a spiffy new red hat to protect me from the elements on my next journey.

Great report, Larry! You are a very brave person for booking two Air Asia flights in one day. I would like to second the motion that you turn your report into an article for a travel publication. Good stuff!

tina