Nga, An, and I flew on the inaugural flight from
Saigon to Adelaide, Australia via Kuala Lumpur. A major problem in
booking was that the line continuously timed out and dropped off, so
that it took me over five hours to book three tickets.
In Kuala Lumpur, we received a gift of a draw string bag
and flip flops, and on arrival in Adelaide we received small samples of
South Australian products, such as Berenberg jam, from the airline. Our food on the short Saigon
to Kuala Lumpur leg was tasty and the cabin staff were very polite and
helpful.
The AirAsia transit lounge in KL was large and busy, with
rather hard chairs not designed to sit on for a five hour stop over. The
toilets stank and the one shower in the men's toilet had only cold
water, no shower rose, and nowhere to hang my clothes. So I could only
wash and not shower. This is unsatisfactory, especially for a Muslim
country whose Muslimin are supposed to clean themselves before prayers
five times a day.
What was called "Thai green curry" served on the Kuala Lumper to
Adelaide leg was so bad neither Nga nor I could eat it. I was
beginning to have serious doubts about Air Asia.
While in Australia, I decided to extend our stay and tried
to change our bookings, firstly by internet (not possible due to the
webpage not giving this option). Secondly, by phoning (after waiting on a
phone queue for 30 minutes, the line dropped off). Thirdly, by
emailing, only to receive a reply along the lines of, "Thank you for
your email, we will reply with the next two weeks", which was not
helpful, given that we were due to fly out in two days. I finally
succeeded by ringing at three o'clock in the morning and the female
srvice officer was very helpful and friendly.
When checking in to fly back to Vietnam the check-in officer
informed us that 10kg of excess luggage would cost $500 to take as far
as KL only. We declined, and did a quick clothing dump into and large airport bin, conveniently located for lots of passengers to do likewise. We had already paid an additional $100 to buy an extra 20kg luggage allowance and a further $340 to change the date of our return flights. Does this company really want passengers?
On arrival back at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
(sounds grand, doesn't it?), it took one hour and fifteen minutes just
to get int the Air Asia transit lounge. We had to queue to have our boarding passes, passports, and luggage
checked AGAIN. This NOT fun when you are elderly, your wife has a heart
problem, and your young daughter wants to run around and play. Then we
were back to hard chairs, smelly toilets, and a shower that doesn't
work. The food on the two return legs Adelaide-Kuala Lumpur-Saigon was universally terrible, to the point where none of us finished out paid-for meals. Oh, yes, you have to pay extra, as meals - and even water - are not included in the fare.
If you are young, want a cheap fare, and can put up with
poor service, uncomfortable chairs and crap food, AirAsia is the airline
for you. Good luck !
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