Beware of AirAsia

I scheduled a business meeting with my suppliers in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia on 26 August 2006. Trying to economize, I searched the internet for the cheapest airfare to and from Malaysia and Philippines which services Philippine passengers. I found AirAsia with address at AirAsia Berhad, Mezzanine Floor, LCC Terminal, Jalan KLIA S3, Southern Support Zone, KLIA, 64000 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, offering a price of roughly P11,000.00 to and from Kuala Lumpur and Clark, Pampanga which amount was really a bargain. When I was about to make a personal reservation what I found on its website was a telephone number in the Philippines that do not work and AirAsia only has one office in the Philippines, that is, in Clark, Pampanga but without any telephone number. AirAsia hotline is in Malaysia. Nonetheless, on 11 August 2005, I was forced to make an on-line reservation at AirAsia using my credit card. I was given a confirmation number after I encoded the three (3) digits confirmation number of my card. After the reservation, the website warned me not to book again to avoid double booking. There was no notice on the internet that I have to confirm my reservation any day before the flight or any warning whatsoever that that my reservation would be cancelled. Believing that everything was ok, I went on 25 August 2005 to Clark, Pampanga. To my surprise AirAsia’s Station Manager told me that my name is not in the passenger manifest of Flight No. AK 33. I argued that my credit card has already been debited for the airfare but it was a useless discussion because the Station Manager really has no say in who would be included in the manifest. Because I have previously scheduled meeting on the following day, I was forced to pay for their regular rate which was P28,000.00 more than double than their rate in the website.

When I arrived in Kuala, Lumpur on 25 August 2006 I immediately complained to the desk of AirAsia but I was just given a run-around and in then end I left Malaysia without any explanation, apology and reimbursement to what was charge against my credit card. I am now contemplating of filing a legal action but I would like to warn future passengers of AirAsia or any other low-cost airlines which do not have customer service in the Philippines that be very careful when availing of the service of foreign economy airlines.

I learned it the hard and more expensive way.

I think I come across your posting at virtual tourist.Well thnx for sharing and making us aware.
I am sure anyone who experience like this must be fuming of rage,I would.That sounds like a scam.Apart from the money difference ,time and effort spent sorting things out with them are invaluable plus the enormous stress involve with it,can give one heart attack.Why don't you contact their Main office then try and try again.Give it another go.If you have right evidence specimen ,then file them legal action,that would give them a lesson.But the problem is doing it in the philippines and the legal system involve takes ages n ages,it also rips you off your money on legal fees for awhile.It's up to you.I have a suggestion ,why don't you contact media watchdog if there's any like that in the philippines,and hopefully they will take notice of your case experience and will investigate it for you.I'm just saying if there's any like that over there.Or maybe contact other related government agencies that you can address your complaints against AIR ASIA.Otherwise filing legal action should be your last resort.I am sorry for your experience,it is very consuming and exhausting.

We tried the following low cost airlines(Ryan air,Easy jet,Wizz air,Hemus air)on trips around europe,and bookings were all done online,and lucky we haven't had encountered any single problem at all.I guess Air Asia's problem is systemic,and when the fault happens no one owns it up,so you were passed around.

Thanks, man. I shld have researchd about AirAsia before I bookd. I was not only one who was disgusted by its service. I heard complaints about delays, rude employees, after I experienced that very sad travel in my life.

Totoo, wala kang mggawa dito sa Pinas. Gusto kung magdemanda pero I am thinking hard bout it. it is expensive and you are right, it will take forever, baka wala ng AirAsia di pa tapos kaso.

Grabe pare ang naramdaman kong pang-insulto. I travelled to western countries and I was treated better than our fellow Asians.

YW kababayan.Kalmahin mo yung self mo for few days the most important thing of all or have long weekend off,then put yourself back together and plan another strategy to contact the company.Best is 'di kayu under so much stress kapag nag salita
sa kanila ,and perhaps you can put ur complaint through sa kanila.Let's hope.Try again sa costumer service nila,or walang resulta as b4 kontakin mo ang main office nila,or head office or be there in person to meet up with the manager,perhaps it can make some difference.Best of luck nalang sa 'yo.

i have the same experience with AIR ASIA... they told me that they will make a refund after THREE LONG MONTHS.... but to this date nothing happened... i have my flight May 2006.... This airline was so disgusting...do u still have their clark office number? i just wanted to give it a try...thanks

MDR wrote:

I scheduled a business meeting with my suppliers in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia on 26 August 2006. Trying to economize, I searched the internet for the cheapest airfare to and from Malaysia and Philippines which services Philippine passengers. I found AirAsia with address at AirAsia Berhad, Mezzanine Floor, LCC Terminal, Jalan KLIA S3, Southern Support Zone, KLIA, 64000 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, offering a price of roughly P11,000.00 to and from Kuala Lumpur and Clark, Pampanga which amount was really a bargain. When I was about to make a personal reservation what I found on its website was a telephone number in the Philippines that do not work and AirAsia only has one office in the Philippines, that is, in Clark, Pampanga but without any telephone number. AirAsia hotline is in Malaysia. Nonetheless, on 11 August 2005, I was forced to make an on-line reservation at AirAsia using my credit card. I was given a confirmation number after I encoded the three (3) digits confirmation number of my card. After the reservation, the website warned me not to book again to avoid double booking. There was no notice on the internet that I have to confirm my reservation any day before the flight or any warning whatsoever that that my reservation would be cancelled. Believing that everything was ok, I went on 25 August 2005 to Clark, Pampanga. To my surprise AirAsia’s Station Manager told me that my name is not in the passenger manifest of Flight No. AK 33. I argued that my credit card has already been debited for the airfare but it was a useless discussion because the Station Manager really has no say in who would be included in the manifest. Because I have previously scheduled meeting on the following day, I was forced to pay for their regular rate which was P28,000.00 more than double than their rate in the website.
When I arrived in Kuala, Lumpur on 25 August 2006 I immediately complained to the desk of AirAsia but I was just given a run-around and in then end I left Malaysia without any explanation, apology and reimbursement to what was charge against my credit card. I am now contemplating of filing a legal action but I would like to warn future passengers of AirAsia or any other low-cost airlines which do not have customer service in the Philippines that be very careful when availing of the service of foreign economy airlines.
I learned it the hard and more expensive way.

i have tried other budget airlines too like tiger airways and jetstar...but nothing happened like that...mr MDR why don't we do someting about it.. like the program of Mr. Mike Enriquez...imbestigador hehe...(but i'm serious). i want my money back...i have worked hard for it...i read the comments from our fellows and they are right.... filing a case will be so expensive...

Below is my letter to Datuk Tony Ferdandes (CEO of AirAsia):

Both my self and my collegue were scheduled with a confirmed flight back from Clark to KL LCCT via AK33 on 28 Sep 2006.

To our dismay, we only found out about the flight cancellation when we reached the Clark Field Airport on that morning. No call or sms were relayed to us about this cancellation despite our contact no. were in your on-line booking system when we purchased our flight tickets.(That raise a question if the contact no is not intended to be used in the first place, it should not be required to be provided in the on-line booking system, unless AirAisa is operating a clients database sharing scheme with other "Partners" to send unsolicited spam sms to our cellphone in the name of "Promotions", which we have to pay for each of it when we recieved it while we were overseas). We do not have a standby transportation and hotel booking as it was our schedule departure to Kuala Lumpur on that day.

To furthur aggravate our agony, the AirAsia gound staffs manning the counter could not give a proper explanation to all the stranded AirAsia customers on the cause of the delay. They only keep on saying they were only infomred on that same morning that the flight AK32 from KL LCCT did not depart.

To add salt to our wounds, your AirAsia ground crews keep defending by saying that they could not do anything about the cancellation, which is obvious to us! But what we, the stranded customers need at that point of time is assistance to get a next flight out (by whatever means), arrangement for a transport and accomodation during the stranded period. I must say that they were really skillful in finding an easy way to handle this situation - they just hand us a call card with the email and Malaysia tel no for Guest Support. It means that we must now find a computer to send an email to guestsupport@airaisa.com and hopefully got an auto-reply from the AirAsia email server, or to make an international call back to Malaysia (603-86604343) at our own cost while being diverted to an automatic voice machine & put on hold for as long as we want to wait until a human voice (hopefully there is one) to attend to us. None of these were being provided, except rebooking the next available AirAsia flight back.

Both of us thought we were at least on the safe zone since we always purchase your AirAisa Comprehensive Worldwide GoInsure whenever we purchase our flight tickets online. To our surprise, your gound crews said that they do not cover the basic incidental expenses like reimbursements for transport, accomodation & meals cost while waiting for the next flight out. That dawned on us what is the very purpose of purchasing such insurance at the first place!

Now we are back, GREAT THANKS to your arrangement of next available seat on your pride AirAsia, though we have to endure the wait and many uncertainties, which is definately not what we were looking forward to or recalling in our memories.

We are still hoping to pursue with your GoInsure to at least recover some of the costs that incurred during the stranded period there, at the least. You would probably know there are other incidental costs due to the delay which cannot be measured by dollar & cents.

Appreciate your advise please. Thank you.

Wee Kee

MDR, so sorry for your plight!! You must also consider that this could be a malaysian firm doing business in the Phils. This is what we call a "locator" for foreign businesses situated in Clark and not necessarily a filipino firm. What can I say! Try to address your complain to the Aviation Commission in Malaysia or any similar air travel commission.
I hope you get your refund at least within a year!! NW refunds tickets in 6 months.

Were you able to get your money back? I booked 2 flights for Nov 2 (Clark to KL) through phone. I got the email confirmation for the first booking but I didn't get the 2nd booking (for my friend)! Both bookings were already debitted!!! I am so worried! Is there anyone I can contact to help me with this?

MDR wrote:

I scheduled a business meeting with my suppliers in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia on 26 August 2006. Trying to economize, I searched the internet for the cheapest airfare to and from Malaysia and Philippines which services Philippine passengers. I found AirAsia with address at AirAsia Berhad, Mezzanine Floor, LCC Terminal, Jalan KLIA S3, Southern Support Zone, KLIA, 64000 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, offering a price of roughly P11,000.00 to and from Kuala Lumpur and Clark, Pampanga which amount was really a bargain. When I was about to make a personal reservation what I found on its website was a telephone number in the Philippines that do not work and AirAsia only has one office in the Philippines, that is, in Clark, Pampanga but without any telephone number. AirAsia hotline is in Malaysia. Nonetheless, on 11 August 2005, I was forced to make an on-line reservation at AirAsia using my credit card. I was given a confirmation number after I encoded the three (3) digits confirmation number of my card. After the reservation, the website warned me not to book again to avoid double booking. There was no notice on the internet that I have to confirm my reservation any day before the flight or any warning whatsoever that that my reservation would be cancelled. Believing that everything was ok, I went on 25 August 2005 to Clark, Pampanga. To my surprise AirAsia’s Station Manager told me that my name is not in the passenger manifest of Flight No. AK 33. I argued that my credit card has already been debited for the airfare but it was a useless discussion because the Station Manager really has no say in who would be included in the manifest. Because I have previously scheduled meeting on the following day, I was forced to pay for their regular rate which was P28,000.00 more than double than their rate in the website.
When I arrived in Kuala, Lumpur on 25 August 2006 I immediately complained to the desk of AirAsia but I was just given a run-around and in then end I left Malaysia without any explanation, apology and reimbursement to what was charge against my credit card. I am now contemplating of filing a legal action but I would like to warn future passengers of AirAsia or any other low-cost airlines which do not have customer service in the Philippines that be very careful when availing of the service of foreign economy airlines.
I learned it the hard and more expensive way.

I am sorry for all your disappointing experiences.I hope your problems encountered with Air Asia services will be sorted out if not too soon in the long run.Thanks as well for posting your experiences here,as they help gave us some warnings incase for any future travel transactions with Air Asia.

If this information be disciminated all over the web and the global and local news media ,reaching out to millions of potential Air Asia clients who will be aware of it's poor services and will be put off making travel transactions with them. Eventually it will go bust.That will give them a hard lesson.And that's revenge done!

If that would save a large number of people being scammed by Air Asia,then it is beyond doubt reasonable.

Our flight from Siem Reap to KL was delayed 3 hours 40 minutes. They claimed it was not delayed but "rescheduled", laughing at the same time. Clearly an in-joke that flights are not late but "rescheduled" and so don't pop up in the delayed statistics. Air Asia offered no support, not even a cup of coffee. I now know they are called "Air Delaysia". The simple answer is to never fly with them.

Air Asia is bad. Service = rip off = no refunds if they stuff up. They don't care about service or delivering service. They only care about your money and then won't give it back IF THEY STUFF UP. Why aren't consumer groups looking at the business practices of this airline. They make all their errors the problems of consumers. Why are they allowed to take away consumer rights? When I pay for something I expect to get it or my money back. NOT WITH THIS AIRLINE YOU DON'T as they disclaim themselves from all responsibility.

They say on their site 81% of their planes leave on time. How do they measure this? Is it 15 minutes from the adjusted time or the originally scheduled time? How many are cancelled that don't appear in the delay statistics? Do I care-not any more. I WON'T USE THEM AGAIM.

And....Inform everybody you know how bad this air line is and get them to tell their friends. They are making big money by denying consumers basic rights. Don't be a victim of these "business practices".

I agree with the above comments, the sooner they go bust the better. They are a blot on the landscape of Malaysia and whatever awards they have won are poor judgements.

Dear AirAsia Management,

Due to my recent incident with AirAsia, I find your phrase - Amazing AirAsia very unbelievable.

In July 2006, I made my online bookings with AirAsia for my wife and I to fly Penang-Bangkok departing on 7 Dec06. At the same time, I had onward bookings via Thai Airways from Bangkok-Melbourne for my holiday and also hotel reservations. My son had a booking for Penang-KLIA to visit his grandmother on MAS via their website booking - which came with lots of conditions as well like non-cancellable.

On 5 Dec06, my father-in-law passed away. I had to cancel my holiday - ThaiAirways was very gracious and did not charge a single sen.

So was my hotel, Holiday Inn which allowed me to cancel my booking without any penalty when I told them of the circumstances.

The people at MAS was also very nice - even though the ticket was an internet-booking (it's only RM 20 more than the AirAsia fare) that came with lots of conditions and that included non-cancellable, they allowed me to cancel the flight and gave a 6-months validity for the ticket to be re-used. I would like to say my thanks to Encik Zaini of the MAS Penang Ticketing Office for this. They have compassionate people working at MAS - it's not all about profits.

However, AirAsia was a totally different story. Even after showing the Death Certificate, AirAsia's Penang office insisted that I had to pay a cancellation fee of RM 300 total. I would think that such circumstances would count as extra-ordinary and whatever policies AirAsia have, managers would have the authority to make an exception. It seems like everyone at AirAsia would just say - this is co. policy - which means we can squeeze you for more money now that something happened to you. Normally, that's OK by me - since that's their business model but in such circumstances, I would think that exceptions can be made.

They told me that the balance was a credit which I had to use up within 3 months - and I can only utilise this credit by calling their call-centre and not for internet bookings. There is a reason for this which follows - again it's due to profits for AirAsia.

On calling their call-centre several days later, I was told that call-center fares cost much more than the internet fares - and my AirAsia credit cannot be utilised for internet bookings, even though my original booking was an internet booking.
For a Penang-Bangkok return fare, their call center fare was RM 115 more per person (that's about 35% more than the internet fare)- which means RM 230 more for my wife and I. And if you take into account the RM 300 cancellation fee (which AirAsia charges even if anyone in your family dies - no exceptions!), they got RM 530 out of me because my father-in-law died - and I'm sure they re-sold my 2 return seats of Pen-Bkk and made even more money out of it!

In the future, I will try my best to fly MAS or Thai or any other airline whenever I can, even if I have to pay a bit more - AirAsia would be last on my list.

I have only 1 conclusion.

AirAsia to me is really Heartless AirAsia - as they don't seem to have a heart, unlike Thai Airways, MAS, or Holiday Inn. There's really nothing amazing about them.

Thanks for listening and I hope AirAsia will grow a heart soon for others who may have to endure an unfortunate but similar situation.

wf lee

Yes... AirAsia is very cheap when it comes to airfare. I think or maybe there was a malfunction that happen during your transactions on-line. I bought my airfare (ticket)in AirAsia through internet and it was successful. I traveled (from Clark, Pampanga to Kuala Lumpur)last September 16-30, 2006 and I praise and thank GOD for using AirAsia for me to travel in Malaysia. I believe GOD is using AirAsia for those people who cannot afford to buy airtickets with thousands of worth.

hi..i have another sook story to add. i was disgusted. as you said, the employee was very very rude..
but that is not enough. I have a ticket to go to KLIA from Macau, it was supposed to go at around 2 am and reach KLIA around6 am. I then have another connecting flightfrom KL (at 9 am) to go to Kuching . But 3 days prior to my leaving, I received an e mail from air asia stating that i am confirmed to fly from Macau at 10.50 am reaching KL at around 2.50 pm which means I will miss my flight from KL to Kuching..all that at their convenience...when I called them for clarification, all theys aid is ' manageent decision, nothing we employee can do!!" I had no choice but to take up what they offer, that is to fly at an earlier date from Macau to KL. But because they only allow 1 free change, I cannot change my other ticket ( from KL to KCH sector)hence that means I need to pay for my accomodation in KL.never again travel by Air aisa..Home grwon but world class is their tag line. World class my foot!!

just wondering..did you get any satisfying result from your letter?
i am another unhappy passenger from air asia and have written my story inside this too!
Thnks

Wee Kee wrote:

Below is my letter to Datuk Tony Ferdandes (CEO of AirAsia):
Both my self and my collegue were scheduled with a confirmed flight back from Clark to KL LCCT via AK33 on 28 Sep 2006.
To our dismay, we only found out about the flight cancellation when we reached the Clark Field Airport on that morning. No call or sms were relayed to us about this cancellation despite our contact no. were in your on-line booking system when we purchased our flight tickets.(That raise a question if the contact no is not intended to be used in the first place, it should not be required to be provided in the on-line booking system, unless AirAisa is operating a clients database sharing scheme with other "Partners" to send unsolicited spam sms to our cellphone in the name of "Promotions", which we have to pay for each of it when we recieved it while we were overseas). We do not have a standby transportation and hotel booking as it was our schedule departure to Kuala Lumpur on that day.
To furthur aggravate our agony, the AirAsia gound staffs manning the counter could not give a proper explanation to all the stranded AirAsia customers on the cause of the delay. They only keep on saying they were only infomred on that same morning that the flight AK32 from KL LCCT did not depart.
To add salt to our wounds, your AirAsia ground crews keep defending by saying that they could not do anything about the cancellation, which is obvious to us! But what we, the stranded customers need at that point of time is assistance to get a next flight out (by whatever means), arrangement for a transport and accomodation during the stranded period. I must say that they were really skillful in finding an easy way to handle this situation - they just hand us a call card with the email and Malaysia tel no for Guest Support. It means that we must now find a computer to send an email to guestsupport@airaisa.com and hopefully got an auto-reply from the AirAsia email server, or to make an international call back to Malaysia (603-86604343) at our own cost while being diverted to an automatic voice machine & put on hold for as long as we want to wait until a human voice (hopefully there is one) to attend to us. None of these were being provided, except rebooking the next available AirAsia flight back.
Both of us thought we were at least on the safe zone since we always purchase your AirAisa Comprehensive Worldwide GoInsure whenever we purchase our flight tickets online. To our surprise, your gound crews said that they do not cover the basic incidental expenses like reimbursements for transport, accomodation & meals cost while waiting for the next flight out. That dawned on us what is the very purpose of purchasing such insurance at the first place!
Now we are back, GREAT THANKS to your arrangement of next available seat on your pride AirAsia, though we have to endure the wait and many uncertainties, which is definately not what we were looking forward to or recalling in our memories.
We are still hoping to pursue with your GoInsure to at least recover some of the costs that incurred during the stranded period there, at the least. You would probably know there are other incidental costs due to the delay which cannot be measured by dollar & cents.
Appreciate your advise please. Thank you.
Wee Kee

Dear all,
I understand that most of felt like "cheated" via the AirAsia Online booking system right?
Guess what, my friend attended an job interview session with the AirAsia for the post of Web designer, my friend been given all sort of test and creating all sort of so called "sample" promotion web site for them, but after further inquiry about securing that post for her, the reply as per attach.
Any comment?
Hello XXXXX,
Our second request for another test will be based on your web-designing skills rather then your print-ad skills. We presume your understanding of these two medium differs as well.
Further more, after much debate, a conclusion couldn't be reached with regards of your designing capabilities being on par with our requirements.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.
Suzen
==========
Hi, Ms. Suzen,
According to you request, I can finish it around 2 - 3 days. But I believe what I have done for the previous design work that were requested before my interview should be enough to proof of my capability in design. It does not seem fair to me that I have to keep designing and put a lot of effort but you are not securing a position for me.I hope you can understand my situation.
I hope to hear from your reply soon. Thank you.
==========
Hello XXXXX,
You may do it in photoshop and save as jpeg. Just simple festive elements. It¡¯ll be good if you can show me some of your web design skills. You may change the design layout for the revamp in the same jpeg. Thanks.
Suzen
Webteam
==========
Dear Suzen,
I just have a question about your request, the task 1 & 2 which design for the airasia homepage is it graphic or html coding? For deisgn skills, i think that day i have done two design u requested few weeks ago.
For the third task, do you want me to write in paragraph to describe for the website revamp?
I hope i can get your request more details.
Thank you
==========
Dear Ms See,
Attached is a jpg of our main page, and I left 2 empty spot for you to fill in.
1) Design the website header with Chinese New Year theme.
2) Design a Valentine¡¯s Day Promotion banner. The details are as follows:
Title: Valentine¡¯s Day Specials
Content:
from Kuala Lumpur
- Penang from RM 19.99 one way
- Bali from RM29.99 one way
- Jakarta from RM 39.99 one way
- Bangkok from RM 49.99 one way
Booking period: 1 Feb ¨C 15 Feb 2007
Travel period: 1 Mar ¨C 15 July 2007
3) What do you think of our website? If you are given a chance to revamp it, how would you do it?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Suzen
Webteam