Why We Will Never Fly Air Asia Again (long haul)
We scoured the internet for the best flights to Thailand.
Air Asia X, known as the budget airline, saved us $600. As we are not mega wealthy (yet), we decided to book.
After all, $600 goes a LONG WAY in Thailand. It gets you 75 one hour Thai massages, 150 Singha beers, a weeks worth of accommodation, and 400 fresh coconuts to drink – Things to think about, right?
We have been budget travellers for many years so are used to sucking it up to save money.
More money saved, means more money I can spend in Thailand!
Seemed like a great plan.
Until we boarded the plane with two young children.
We cursed our stinginess all the way to Bangkok and all the way home again.
Air Asia is really not that bad, it’s just not for us with small children. I flew Air Asia X last year to Kuala Lumpur and was relatively happy. But, I was flying solo – a completely different flying experience.
The BAD of Air Asia X
They are a budget airline, which means you will receive budget services.
You have to pay for all your extras: food, drinks, entertainment system, blankets, and pillows. This is okay. It’s not their fault and they don’t hide this. We knew this going in and bought what we thought we’d need.
The long journey begins
Let’s go through what we did not like.
The Entertainment System
Firstly a confession. Craig stuffed up pre-ordering the entertainment systems online prior to departure.
However, do you think they had any spare for us to buy on-board? No. Which was really strange as we thought it would be a great way to earn X-tra money as it seems this is what they like to do.
Why Air Asia, Why?
You could easily store extra systems for “situations” that arise. People change their minds, online booking systems DON”T ALWAYS WORK! What if you ordered one and it broke 30 minutes into your long haul flight?
8 hours on a plane with two kids and no entertainment system is PAINFUL.
On the way back, we had the entertainment systems. I didn’t like them at all. The movie selections were extremely limited – like about 5 crappy choices, except for Pitch Perfect, the only one I watched and loved.
The entertainment system is on a Samsung tablet, which continued to freeze and was very awkward to place somewhere to watch when the meals arrived. Also not good for toddler hands that want to play with bright shiny objects.
We brought an entertainment system for Kalyra, which had no kids’ movies on it. Grrrr.
Lucky we had colouring books on hand
Food
Make sure you pre-book your meals. The selection on board is really bad especially if you are vegetarian!
Mealtimes are one of my favourite things on a plane. It gives me something to do and I love opening the different packages to see what treasures await. I also love having my glass of wine.
Don’t expect this on Air Asia X. There is one small carton of food with no sides. Unless you order more meals 
(Again, I knew this to be the case, I just lamented not having my one piece of luxury amongst two active and irritable children).
And of course, fill up before you get on the plane as it will take at least 2 hours for your first meal to arrive.
The system they have means they have to stop at every row and check off every passengers boarding pass to see what meal they ordered. They then had to accommodate those who were paying for a meal – Don’t hold your breath waiting for your meal if you are not first in line.
Also, cleaning of the tables was extremely slow, one hour after meal time. They were more concerned with bringing around the duty free trolley (cha ching!)
Having rubbish piled up on your table (in front of your kids) means complete mess and objects flying everywhere.
Drinks
As I said, I do love my glass of wine with my meal. I had finished my container of food before I was even offered the chance to buy a glass of wine.
Once again it’s that service thing. I also hated having to dig into the wallet whenever I wanted a drink. I missed ordering drinks on tap. I know-such a diva!
Air Asia X Service
The service on Air Asia X is ridiculously low budget.
I know, you get what you pay for!
I rarely saw the flight attendants. I found them quite rude and acted like you were inconveniencing them if you wanted to ask for something.
I find on other airlines the staff are so caring and accommodating to the children, not so on Air Asia X.
I’m sorry, but to parents it makes a huge difference if you show us you care about their comfort and when they are starving, you kind of work with us to help organize some food, not act as if it is a giant pain in your ARSE!
Trust me; you don’t want screaming kids on the plane.
Air Asia X systems
A long check in process
Check in is slow. Not sure why they offer web check in as you have to line up anyway and baggage drop takes just as long as normal check in.
Their workers seem really stressed and don’t smile much.
We had to check in twice coming home.
After lining up for over 30 minutes, we were checked in with bags labelled all the way to Sydney. We were then asked to move to another check in counter where we had to supply more information. We had to line up there for another 15 minutes for theme to check us through to Sydney again. WTF?
And we couldn’t stand the whole
“Show me your boarding card in order to verify the extras that you’ve paid for.”
With two small kids, toys and books shoved in the pockets, and babies sleeping in arms, it’s really annoying to have to dig them out again.
You’ve got it on your LIST, and I showed you four hours ago, that’s enough!
Craig was highly irritated with them when it came to originally booking the tickets online. The system was buggy and unclear and kept timing out and adding on extras like insurance.
You have to be really on guard to catch it.
Oh, and paper towels work so much better than tissues to wipe your wet hands in the toilet!! #justsayin
They Don’t Fly Direct to Thailand (from Sydney)
Again, we knew this perfectly well and thought we could handle it. We certainly would if it was just Craig and I, but with a 1 and 5 year old forget it.
I met another parent of a one year old while on stop over in Kuala Lumpur. He was regretting his flying choices too.
An 8 hour flight, followed by a four hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, followed by another two hour flight is just ridiculous and unnecessary – lesson learned!
Families don’t do it – It will exhaust your children and yourself. If it’s your one-and-only trip for the year, the trip you’ve been dreaming about for 12 months, pay the $600 and FLY DIRECT!
You, and especially your kids, don’t want to arrive at your destination irritated. And you don’t want to be cursing about the return flight back whilst you are on holidays.
Sure, the journey can be half the fun, but not always! If it’s your one trip of the year and it’s meant to be a relaxing island holiday – get there as quickly and painless as possible!
Check out my children’s meltdown in the most important temple in Thailand the next day because of it.
Their Airports Suck
Air Asia land and fly out of the old airports. Don Meung in Bangkok is not too bad, and you can get into the city fairly easily, although not as great as the swift and efficient new airport rail link from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
But the airport at Kuala Lumpur was the most boring, drab airport in the world. There was nothing for my gluten-free, vegetarian self to eat, nothing really interesting to see, and nowhere comfortable to sit and relax.
Trust me, I know we are being nit-picky, but the nit-picky things add up to make an flight un-enjoyable and I really like enjoyable flights.
All of these would have been bearable without the children, and worth the extra savings.
The Good of Air Asia X
- They are cheap.
- They are time efficient with departures and arrivals.
- They flew us safely.
- Air Asia has lots of cheap options to fly within Asia.
- You can have funny experiences like old ladies using the toilet during take off.
My final Recommendations
Air Asia is an EXCELLENT choice for flights if:
- You are a budget traveller and need to save money. It’s worth sucking it up for.
- If you have oodles of time and patience
- If you are flying short-haul. (They truly are perfect for this)
- If you are travelling long-term (and every penny counts).
Air Asia is a BAD choice if:
- You want to get somewhere in Asia quickly (other than Malaysia)
- You like enjoying a flight, full quality service, and all the trimmings that come with the more expensive, comfortable options.
- You have young children.
- You are flying long-haul.
- You are going on a short-term holiday.
Travel with children is completely different and we are learning many lessons with each new trip.
The most important thing when travelling with kids is that they are comfortable and happy. This usually means being well-fed, entertained, comfortable with ample rest time.
At least she could sleep!
You really have to consider these, especially when flying as it is a drain anyway, without these extra challenges.
Kalyra is a dream flyer and managed beautifully with all our long haul flights we have done to the US. She was still pretty good on Air Asia X, but her patience was tested a lot more! We noticed the difference.
Again its up to you, sometimes a bit of sanity is worth the extra cost.
Your thoughts on Air Asia X?
Share in the comments below!
Disclaimer: Part of our flight costs were covered by Thai Tourism
Caz
Caz Makepeace is the co-founder of y Travel Blog and has been traveling and living around the world since 1997, first solo, then with her husband, and now with her two daughters. Don't miss her 9 best tips to help you travel more. Follow her on Google+
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90 comments on “Why We Will Never Fly Air Asia Again (long haul)”
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What a really useful post when you’re trying to decide which airline to fly with. There are always so many options and as you found out, cheap isn’t always best, although it might be given the right circumstances. Great to have the pros and cons all in one place.
Thanks Jo! I never really took much effort in choosing how to fly before kids, it was always whatever is cheapest. It is so different with kids, there is so much more you need to consider. It’s all about maintaining the sanity levels
We flew Air Asia last year with our 31/2 year old son from Perth to Hong Kong with a layover in Singapore for 6 hours (yikes!). The layover sucked because we arrived in Singapore on schedule – at 3am! Where do you go in an airport terminal with a toddler at 3am? Luckily the super drab and boring terminal we landed in had a shuttle to a nicer (but completely empty, of course!) terminal that did have a great Indian vegetarian restaurant that was actually open! I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found that place! Yes, traveling Air Asia does have its drawbacks (the worst being the flight times), but, like you, we did save a bundle. Would we do it again? Probably not. We learned our lesson too.
6 hours oh my!! If you are on your own you can easily pass that time by, but when you have two small kids you are spending those six hours chasing them around the terminal and trying to entertain them, and they are exhausted. Recipe for disaster!
Singapore is one of the most entertaining airports. It even has a butterfly garden among its many other entertainment options! If I was to have a layover, it would be there.
So funny, it’s one of my all time Fav budget airlines, think they are great. But then I never order any extra’s and travel solo so completely understand.
I agree for solo travel they tick all the boxes for sure, especially if you are a backpacker and long tern traveller. Wish they were around when I was young and doing it.
btw saying when I was young makes me feel so old!!
Reminds me of my honeymoon and the stopover in Jakarta, we didn’t think too much of it when we booked but it ended up taking 12 hours there and 5 hours home. This time, I didn’t care about the savings I insisted on a direct flight with the kids. Great post!
Oh not a great start to your honeymoon! The extra travel time can be taxing and I don’t think a great idea if you are going for a short term break. It took us almost 18 hours door to door to get to Bangkok- killer with kids.
Thanks for sharing this, its a real same how they treat people, treat people nice and they will come back and recommend them to others. Hope u get better service with your kids in other places. thanks for the info, always look forward to seeing all your great pics on Facebook.
Thanks Brad! I think treating people nicely is key for everything. I think a smile is most of the time all that is needed and something that is so simple to do. Thanks for hanging with us on facebook.
GREAT post Caz!
Hmmm my experience of travelling with Air Asia was the one with you to KL – on the way there I slept door to door so thought it was ok, though the line at Sydney airport to check-in was laughable….on the way home nearly every part of it was not good…the check-in was hideous and the extras thing was awful …I felt like I would have to pay to go to the toilet
The worst thing though was the staff, rude, arrogant and unfriendly, not what you want when travelling whether you are flying budget or not and it costs nothing to change this part…maybe they should put ‘smile’ on the extras list
When booking our recent holiday to Bali we considered different ways of getting there for our budget – with five of us and four full priced fares a cheaper flight can make a lot of difference, however I would never consider taking my family Air Asia.
Great review and why I love blogging.
S
I think a night time long haul flight would work because then you could sleep! On this flight I actually kept thinking they were going to come around soon and ask for the toilet tickets!!
You really have to weigh up the costs of the flight with what you are willing to sacrifice. For some the sacrifice is worth it, for others not. I think if you want to save on your costs to even consider flying them return only, that way the start to your holiday isn’t bad.
You know what we love Air Asia, but we have never done a long haul flight. The longest of our 10 flights with them last year was 3.5 hours from Perth to Bali. We never order meals, we use our own entertainment devices (ipads and laptops) and we usually get great seats.
on long haul flights I would have to agree with you. we flew with Bangkok Air just to use the nice Bangkok airport and wow, a playground, free food and drink at the airport and on board… I totally get ya! What a pain!
I love the new Bangkok airport, it has such a light energy. I think Air Asia is perfect for short haul flights, no different to Jet Star or Virgin (except for the grumpy service). With your own entertainment devices you’ve solved half the problems!!
I’m still scarred from that first flight Caz! Mind you that paled in comparison to spending the night on the floor of Melbourne airport waiting for our connecting flights home!
That was hideous I was thinking about that the whole time. Still don’t know why we couldn’t go straight to our home airports. Lucky we had such fun company while we waited!
Thanks for this post. I have always chosen not to go with Air Asia because I just felt like they wouldn’t be great with kids and it turns out that’s right. Thanks for sharing your experience, I”m sorry it was crappy! Very helpful though as we do travel a bit with the kids! x
Travel with kids is such a different and challenging experience. You don’t want to go on your one holiday for the year and start it with a stressful flight. I’d say short haul would be great if it can save you some dollars.
We have had to fly Air Asia A LOT in the past 6 months as they are pretty much always, without fail, the cheapest airline available when booking our flights. But on the rare occasion we can find flights with other airlines within $20USD per ticket, we generally opt for them, as with all the extras you have to buy with AA, they are never as cheap as you think anyway. I haven’t had a problem with the staff, personally, but you definitely know you are flying budget when you fly AA. I think our longest AA flights have been 2.5 or 3 hours, and that’s about as long as I’d want to go with them!
Perfect flying time with them. And I think if you can get a ticket on another airline with the frills then definitely do it. Or even you can do long haul for a night flight because hopefully you’ll be sleeping anyway.
Have never flown Air Asia, but thanks for the hot tip Caz!
No worries Kim! Glad it could help.
I’ve done long-haul with AirAsia including KL-London when they did that route. They are hands down my favourite budget airline. Our last trip to Asia Qantas was only $50 more expensive than Jetstar and AA – so we flew Qantas because the free booze/food/movies made it worthwhile.
If you think they are grumpy and stretched you should try some of the European airline carriers – AA is waaay better.
You could have got a room at Tune hotel for 4 hours – it would be better than hanging around the LCCT
Frankly if your post dissuades families from flying AA that’s cool because I HATE sitting next to other people’s kids. But honestly – surely you have your own entertainment with you? I just bought and iPad mini and that’s a perfect system for kids of all ages and it lasts for 10+ hours.
I think the Lord for AA – otherwise Qantas & Air NZ would be still charging outrageous prices to Asia and elsewhere from our part of the world
Thanks Liz, we actually don’t have our own entertainment system. Kalyra has a leap pad which she used, but she also loves to watch movies. And we had colouring books for them, there is only so much you can have on a plane. We don’t own an ipad and I love to watch movies myself. Not everyone has the latest tech gadgets which might seem surprising given we are travel bloggers. But I don’t feel I need an ipad so I am not about to go and go nuts on consumerism just to have one.
I’m not writing this with the motivation to dissuade parents from flying Air Asia X, as I mention in the post, they are great for short-haul and if you have older kids. My objective is to share my experiences with other families because I want them to have the best family holiday experience.
I’ve flown on so many different airlines on multiple routes and I have never experienced rude and vacant service like I did on Air Asia. As someone mentioned in a comment above, it does not take much for people to smile. It’s pretty easy actually.
This post was written from the standpoint of a family flying with young kids. I’ve been a budget traveller since I was 20. I’ve been and done it all. Travelling with kids is a COMPLETELY different experience, which you won’t understand until you do it. As I said I have done Air Asia X without kids and they were find. With kids is a COMPLETELY different story.
I’ll fly them again, just not long-haul, or with young kids.
Oh and PS I always check in online with them and travel carry on only – so I walk straight past those bag drop queues
The longest I flew with them is 8 hours to Japan from Kuala Lumpur and luckily we brought our own entertainment. It is always a challenge flying long haul with budget airline and it is tougher with children.
For the airport, they are building the new one and expected to be ready in March. The current airport is actually a temporary airport and there had been much debates on the condition of it. In fact, Air Asia wanted to build their own airport initially but it was rejected by the government.
Hope you drop by to Malaysia again and we could meet up and say hi. Hopefully your next Air Asia experience will be better.
Wilson
So great to hear about the new airport Wilson! That will make things so much better. I’m excited for them. I love Malaysia and really want to come back and explore more. It would be great to meet up
I might be coming to Australia soon with a media trip with Tourism Australia. If time and location permits, we can meet up in Australia.
Wilson
Oh great. Where are you going and when?
I flew with Air Asia a number of times during my backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, and even used them to fly from Bali to Darwin, but all my flights were less than 4hrs. I went in knowing they were BUDGET, so I was pleased with the service. But I could totally see the frustrations and disappointments when it comes to anything longer than 4hrs. Especially with 2 young children! Good service and comfort just isn’t there.
Yes a very different experience flying with 2 children, everything regarding travel now is. I’ve flown them before on my own and managed very well. I know they really aren’t that bad otherwise. I do think though, regardless of being budget or not, good service should be a given- I don’t want much, just a smile and a willingness to try and help if needed.
I had a major panic then… but our flights to Thailand are with Thai Airlines. Phew!
Phew! Thai airlines are great and beautiful service. If you have noise cancelling earphones take them. I found the movies hard to hear with their in-flight entertainment system
Oh great to hear. Thanks for the tip, I think we have at least one set..somewhere!
I have flown Air Asia a lot, and I agree with all of the negatives about the airline. While it is a great budget option, I find their system of reserving things — like baggage — inefficient. I had tried to book a bag ahead of time, but the Web site would not let me. When I got to the airport, I tried to explain this to them and they told me I had to pay a ridiculous amount since I did not pre-book. They suggested I should have come to the airport four hours earlier to have avoided the extra fees. However, my flight was the first one out, so that was not an option. I regularly run into issues with the online check-in and baggage payment system. Their customer service isn’t the best, and flights longer than an hour or so get crowded and uncomfortable, but it is still cheap.
They reminded me a lot of Ryan Air although not as bad. Ryan Air defines the term cattle class!!
We tried to jump online as well to order more food for the return trip home but couldn’t do it, so we took food on. I’m not going to have starving children on a 9 hour flight!
So sorry to hear about your experience and I think you made a valid point on the pro and con of Air Asia.
We had flew Air Asia with our 2 kids this past summer but it was totally different experience from yours because like you mentioned in your post it’s good option for short flight.
For us, our flight was from Bangkok to Macau so it was pretty short. The flight was early so we were all asleep as soon as the plane took off. I did order the food online so that took care of the meal. As far as services, since it was such a short flight and most of us were asleep, we didn’t even notice them.
Plus our kids are older than yours so they have more patience and learned more about entertain themselves with their books and ipod.
I totally agree with your post that I probably wouldn’t look into Air Asia for a long haul flight at all. Also we were lucky to fly from the Suvarnabhumi airport before they moved their operation to Don Muang.
Thanks for being the voice of reason and honest opinion. I don’t think this post is gonna dissuade parents from flying Air Asia but giving them more information into making their decision.
Thank you Amy and for sharing your experiences!
I think short flights work really well as most people are used to not really getting much on a short flight so it is so much more bearable and normal.
I think it is important for families to be aware of this. The flight over to Bangkok was way worse than the return, so it was a horrible way to start the holiday. I really don’t want that for any families, especially those who don’t travel much and its a once in a lifetime trip.
We rarely fly with the kids, but when we do, we’ve opted for an airline we know and have had good experiences with. Last time we went to Bali, we paid more but had direct flights with an airline that included every extra. My SIL chose a budget airline (not saving much mind you) and had a 4 hour stopover plus a horrendous flight. We didn’t regret the $$$ we spent
Having Said that, if traveling alone, I tend to save money and go with the cheaper option.
Oh no regrets! that has to be everyone’s motto. Sometimes when you go ultra budget, after the fact, when you look at how much you saved and how much it cost you in other ways, like stress and exhaustion you realize the savings just weren’t worth it.
Going cheaper when you are solo is so much easier!
i agree with you when traveling with kids, comfortable is the key!
my theory is if i am getting another AA flight for more than 4hours, i shall opt for the hot seat so i can have ample space and maybe the best to have the front seat. as for the entertainment, we’ve got our own so that would not be a problem. if i have extra money and could find other opt of airlines that worth of, i’ll sure think about it.
when i’m a single traveller/ with friends, i find it ok to fly with AA.
thanks for sharing
The hot seats look great. I tell you though if you dare try and sit in an empty one they are on you in a flash demanding your credit card!!
Caz, I think I read in the newspaper the other day they are creating a child free zone behind Premium (not sure premium to what level of service). Looks like they know they have a problem with unhappy children / customers. I am not sure customers will be happy to pay extra with the noisy kids a little further away so that they are not seen behind them however still heard! Fran
Yeah a plane is only so big. I wouldn’t pay the extra for seats like that as you can’t really escape the kids, you just have to embrace them
Hi Caz, totally agree with you. For me, I hate the LCCT airport in Kuala Lumpur. I’m ashamed of it! i felt sorry for the budget travelers and myself for this kind of airport. not impress at all. as for the price, for malaysians, to me at least, the price is not that cheap once we add up the baggage fee, food, etc. I rather pay a little more extra for long haul journeys. I would say Airasia is good option for short journeys, preferably within the region, e.g. from Bangkok to Bali, perhaps? I never fly Airasia beyond south east asia. Even when I was traveling to Australia, I choose MAS instead.
Totally agree. Malaysia airlines are a great option for the long haul flight. I enjoyed flying with them last year.
The add ons really do increase the price of the flight, you have to be really careful you don’t keep buying on the plane as well as it can add up quickly.
I heard they are building a new airport though which will be great. The airport that MAS flies into is FABULOUS
I share your pain. Once flew with them from London to Bangkok (12 hr flight) and it was one of the worst flights ever. Tiny seats without legroom, no TV in the whole plane, no blankets and we weren’t allowed to bring our own food or drinks in. Food I understand, but drinks? We took some food and drinks in anyway as we didn’t want to pay for their awful food. Had to sneakily have bites from our sandwich whenever the stewardess wasn’t looking. I now only use them for short flights within Asia.
That’s one good thing about flying with kids you can use them as a cover up for the food. We actually had to be very forceful with them getting on the plane in regards to water. We had to tell them the water was for the baby’s bottle- which it was in some respects!! I think you should be able to take water on there. I drink a lot of water so absolutely hated having to keep forking out for some–it wasn’t much though as I could never get them to come serve me
Thanks for this review! We were considering flying Air Asia to KL with our two kids but have now decided to start in Singapore so are looking at FlyScoot instead. Have you flown them or heard anything? I’m reading mixed reviews online but the saving for us is close to $2000 so it seems like we could suck up a lot for that!
I have not flown with Scoot but have heard positive things about them. Of course they are budget too so I would go into the flight expecting similar experiences. But, being so new and pretty successful I would say they’d have the customer service up to speed with plenty of smiles.
To be honest with savings of $2,000 I’d suck it up too. That is a GREAT deal and well worth it. i’m excited to check them out now!
Couldn’t agree with you more about ALL of this! The meals, the queues, the re-checking of boarding passes…pretty much everything.
I’ve flown Air Asia extensively – they have such great, cheap, quick flights from Perth to Bali.
I’ve also booked them extensively over the past 10 years for my extended family, who go to KL and on to Cambodia at least a couple of times a year.
My family love the big seats in Premium (which is about the extent of the ‘premium’ nature of the service – the big seat, nothing more). At least, they did, until the prices sky rocketed in the past couple of years.
I love Air Asia for short haul because I can pre-book the exact seat I want, and the extra baggage allowance (super important when going on an Asian shopping mission
).
I also used to be a travel agent, not that it really has much relevance to my point. They were a very highly requested airline, but not one that our agency dealt with at the time. It was often hard to explain to Perth Bali lovers why they’d consider paying so much more for Garuda, Jetstar or Virgin, when Air Asia was so cheap for a 3 1/2 hour flight.
Having said all of that – I’ve noticed a distinct decline in Air Asia’s customer service in the past 18 months. Especially with their call centre staff. I personally haven’t had any issues with their in-flight staff – I often feel sorry for them as I watch them struggle to bend, reach, lift in the ridiculously short and tight uniforms they’re given.
We had a terrible experience with Air Asia recently, where they cancelled a flight we were due to take in 4 weeks. We weren’t told. We simply received a new emailed ticket with no notification of any changes made. They’d reduced a 14 day trip to 8 days, to fit in with their revised flight schedule for a minor 40 minute connecting flight.
No contact, no notification, no checking if we maybe had a tour, cruise, business, plans, anything on in the first 6 days of our trip that we couldn’t afford to miss….
Face palm, Air Asia.
I’m now much more wary of booking with them.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with Air Asia as you have had quite a bit. I really think Air Asia need to improve their customer service as it seems this is quite a common complaint, which astounds me really as it is something so simple. It’s amazing how far a smile will go and it astounds me that this is not a priority with companies. Budget should never mean a reduction in this.
I think premium looks like a waste of money, though can’t really say as I did not experience it.
Hi Caz,
I really don’t think I can agree with you on this one. We’ve been flying AirAsia and AirAsiaX for the past 3.5 years including longhaul flights to London from KL, Paris to KL, KL to Christchurch and KL to Gold Coast about 8 times.
While everything you have pointed out is correct, they do have tissues in the toilet on some of the flights, and the queues can get long when checking in etc. what I think most people forget when they are flying on a “budget” airline is that the queue will be large on any booked out flight not just budget airlines … We’re currently in North America and we had to queue for ages to check into this airline. The queue for our full fare airline in Beijing recently was bordering on insanity level with two young children, even with electronic devices to distract them!
What I think it comes down to is expectation levels. We’ve been basically living in South East Asia for the past 3 years so I guess our level of expectation has either dropped or become more realistic. I remember the first month of our travels through Bali I spent most of the time complaining about meals taking too long to come out or the food just not being quite right (when comparing it to Australian standards). Now I think I am way more laid back and just roll with the circumstances and as a result feel much LESS STRESSED about life in general.
I can completely appreciate your experiences and understand that everything is a choice in life so if paying an extra $600 makes sense to you then that’s awesome, for me and my family though I’ll be happy to save the $600 and continue to enjoy my flights with AirAsia knowing what I’ll be getting rather than wishing I was actually flying Qantas.
Cheers,
Colin
Yep can appreciate what you are saying for sure. I think everyone has different experiences. I have a post coming up which explains more about us as travellers and where we come from.
I am a really laid back person and can tolerate more than most people I know. My upcoming post should explain this. I know that the majority of our readers who travel with kids would not enjoy flying Air Asia, so my purpose is to let them know my experience to save them the pain of going through flying stress. Most of my readers would not have lived in Asia for x amount of months to feel not so stressed. Most of my readers would not be like you and me and have travelled for long periods of time. They aren’t used to it.
And yes on this trip I was highly stressed. Right now I run two extremely demanding businesses full time as well as being a full time parent to two children who are highly energetic. We had major site issues while we were away, a family member came down with cancer, my youngest was really sick and I have been suffering health issues this past year that has resulted in four surgeries and ongoing trauma. so you are right in saying I was more stressed than normal and my toleraton levels are lower. After backpacking on a very tight budget for 15 years, travelling with children and running a demanding business I am a little less tolerant these days.
I believe the majority of people flying to an annual holiday are leaving behind a number of stresses in their own life, so the minute they walk onto that plane to head to a better time, they just want to relax and enjoy every moment.
That’s why I wrote this post. Not to whine or hurt Air Asia, but to help the majority of my readers, so they know what to expect, which is what I think I have done a good job of outlining. I’ve said they are great for the short haul and for the long haul I have clearly outlined what they can expect and if they want to save the money, which I am sure a lot of people are willing to do, then they can be prepared. And if my readers make that choice than because of this post they will now know to
# bring their own entertainment system
# be prepared with blankets and pillows
# ensure they have ordered enough food for the plane
# arrive a little earlier to have a smooth check-in
# consider spending a night in KL instead of laying over in the airport
I do appreciate what you are saying for sure. And I think if people can lower their expectations, then they will save by flying Air Asia X and if this is a priority for people then by all means do it and save the money and be prepared. IF it meant that the only way I could travel was to fly them and save the money then I would go again too.
I have been following you guys for some time after accidentally stumbling across you awhile ago, and every new post alwasys seems to touch a chord. Thank you for all that, but todays post is truly remarkable. Not only is it helpful, insightful & useful but to all you wanna be bloggers out there re read this post again and look carefully at how instead of ranting and providing a negative post ytravel was very positive throughout the entire review. This is amazing and I just thought you needed to be acknowledged for that. job well done. Keep up the great work. Love following you guys.
Wow Adam that is so awesome to hear. Thank you for taking the time to tell me that. I am a big believer in empowerment. I don’t believe ranting and being negative helps anybody and I understand that everyone has different views, experiences and beliefs so I have to present things in the best light I can in order to help. I’m just not a fan of complaining for the sake of complaining, I don’t think it helps anyone.
Thank you so much again. This has given me a lovely boost of happiness to the morning
Thank you for the info! I feel the EXACT same way about Alitalia. Left my kids and I to drive 5 hours to our connecting flight, then it was delayed 12 hours. This is one of 3 horror stories with them. I would rather know in advance how horrible an airline is before trying to save a few bucks. Thanks for the review!
I’ve flown Air Asia several times, although I never had a flight longer than 4 hours. I don’t think I could handle them for a long haul flight unless it really was an incredible savings. I can’t imagine how miserable it must have been dealing with all of that with your daughters! Their check-in process, like you said, is rather annoying. I might be remembering this incorrectly, but I’m pretty sure for a flight I had from Singapore to Bali, I still had to go to their counter for some silly requirement even though I checked in online, printed my ticket ahead of time, and only had carry-on. I wish I could remember all the details. I’ve accepted the idea of buying anything extra on board, but it’s such a pain. And I also hate their online booking system that tries to get you to purchase all kinds of extra things like insurance that you have to watch out for along the way.
YES! the online check in is pointless. We discovered that as well. You still have to line up with the hordes of people for some reason. I think it could be more bearable if the flight hostesses were a little nicer. I found their service so un-Asian, if I can say that. There were no smiles or friendliness at all, which I usually find so readily available in Asia.
I really dislike their booking site where they keep asking you to buy insurance. I think they even automatically put it in there and you have to uncheck it.
Last time I flew with them was YEARS ago when they had their old fleet (apparently it’s much nicer now), but it’s the only time I’ve ever seen a cockroach on a plane. That was enough for me.
I just stumbled upon this – great article!!
I find it funny that I agree, yet disagree at the same time
I have flown Air Asia X a few times Mel – KL, including while 20 weeks pregnant with a one year old and had no problems. I guess it comes down to expectation levels, like people have said above, and being prepared. I don’t go anywhere ever without lots of food and activities for the kids (now 2 and 11 months), so I guess I don’t really relate to being caught out like this. We are actually using them again on Friday and many times over the next couple of months. It was only $1200 return for the 4 of us (including seats for both kids – why have the youngest on our laps when its that cheap) Melbourne – KL, so really no way I could justify another airline anyway. The extra seat is worth paying for extras 
My only real complaint about them is that if you don’t pay for your seats, they don’t necessarily sit you together. I was really annoyed when they didn’t sit our one year old with us when we flew with them last – what was the point of paying for a seat for her? People moved (Air Asia wouldnt fix it) and it all worked out, but I find that situation ridiculous. Now I just pay for seats for longer flights. The terminal isn’t much fun but actually bothers me less now we have kids as we’re not moving far anyway.
Yes that was another thing that annoyed me about them. They aren’t family focused, hence their new kid free zones which I think is ludicrous. Because you won’t hear the child a few rows back in the kids allowed section crying?? #confused And they really don’t do what they can to help you which is why I think their customer service sucks. It doesn’t matter how budget you are you can still provide excellent service.
$1200 for 4 people is a pretty GREAT price. I think I could suck it up again just for that bargain and I would have zero expectations. Not even a smile, because I know on Air Asia they don’t come for free.
Oh and i forgot to say that I couldnt agree with you more about paying extra to fly direct. Last trip we flew via Singapore on the way to Thailand. The hanging round in the airport and having to hop on another flight was very painful. I would say this is true of any airline though (and this wasn’t air asia). We didn’t find it nearly so bad on the way back actually, which was with air asia from Penang via KL to Australia. This is purely because we weren’t already totally buggered when we had to deal with the stop though and not to do with the airline. It was more painful from an airline point of view though as we werent officially “connecting” so had to get our luggage and go check in again. This trip, we are just stopping over in KL each way to avoid this.
I flew 45 flights with airasia last year,and no complaints.Try these thing to enjoy a flight.1,leave your grumpy western ideas at home.Save it for your neighbour when you return.2,Take your own entertainment.A 13″ laptop is great and or your own galaxy tab,or ipad.I had all three.This also gives you an extra carry on bag for your stuff.4,airasia is great because it is ontime everytime, they do not wait for foot dragers ie Family.5 always be the last one on,if you can.This way you can pick empty seats if they are available.6,If you do not like your seat,you can upgrade in flight with cash,if available.Long haul cost me $100 extra for a sleeper upgrade.7And just like everyone, stewards have their bad days as well,take B12,it stops stress.8 parents with tired children should have more consideration for others and not just themselves.To this day I cannot understand WHY anyone would go on a long haul trip with young kids??? WHY.Dont you have parents that could look after them,did you never go anywhere before they came along.Myself,I would be spending the money on the house to make it safe for the kids,and save for that trip when they are old enough and gone.So if you cant suck it up,stay home and find someone else to bitch about.Airasia is the BEST!!!
We welcome all opinions Mel. As you can see from above lots of commenters have left valuable opinions based on their positive experiences with Air Asia. We love getting those as it is helpful to our readers. I think we were very clear in the post to outline this was just our opinion and was based on several factors, including that we have small children and a busy business. . We gave our opinion in order to help our readers who travel, especially those with children. We want everyone to enjoy their travels and their flight. WE were very fair and stated clearly why Air Asia is a good choice and why it might not be. This was not a post written just to whinge. Perhaps you should reread it and the comments as well.
Everything is different when you have children. And there is no reason why anyone should stop travelling, including long-haul when they do. My eldest has been travelling long haul since she was a baby and has never had an issue. I’m not sure why you are so scathing towards children and parents. Why would you assume they don’t have consideration for other passengers. I think they have more than those who don’t have kids. And I don’t care how tired a steward is, they are in customer service, therefore they have to wear a smile. Look at the great companies around the world–they all have outstanding customer service.
We do not welcome abuse and insulting comments. You have no right to say how another person can travel. Travel with children is a richly rewarding experience. So we will never leave them at home. We have parents who can look after them yes. But they also have a life they like to enjoy. If your choice is to spend money on a house that is your choice. Not mine. And there is no manual that states, “This is how you should live” written by ME
We like to expose our children to the world so they can grow up to be open minded, tolerant human beings who respect the opinions of others and don’t abuse just because they don’t like one someone else has to say. This is probably not the best website for you to be reading as our children feature a lot in it.
This article made us sad…because we LOVE Air Asia! However, we’re yet to travel with kids, and completely understand some of the problems that may come from that.
Thanks for sharing!
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Yeah totally! I think Air Asia for those without kids is really a great choice. Some of the deals are amazing. As long as you know what to expect you can definitely make the most of it.
I always state you need to really weigh up it’s it worth to travel low cost – especially with kids.
Several years back when I was working for our nations major carrier I young man came to check in at my counter. I could not find him on any flight. Eventually he produced his e-ticket.
“Oh your travelling on “XXX” (the rival low cost carrier”
“What’s the difference” he asked.
I replied, “Well we supply a meal, movie, blanket, pillow, and free drinks. But you have a nice flight now.”
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Ha That is the difference alright. Sometimes you can handle the difference other times you can’t. So much harder when you have kids
Totally agree!
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Hi, have been reading all the above. My husband and I are in our 50′s and have travelled with Air Asia a few times, Sydney – KL and Sydney – KL – Saigon, Hanoi – KL – Sydney. We have had no problems at all. As you know it is a budget flight you take your own in flight entertainment, bought meals when we booked, paid for extra leg room seats and we had excellent seats – but they come at a price. For the prices you pay for these incredible flights it is worth every cent. We have been doing trips for a very long time and are always looking for the cheapest flights possible and making the most of what we pay for. As the saying going “you get what you pay for” – which is so true. I would rather use the extra money saved which is much more than a few dollars towards hotels or day trips etc.
Go Air Asia – you rock and wil be using you to go to Singapore soon.
Thank you for sharing your experiences Carol. Every person has different travel needs so it is great to hear how Air Asia works for you. I’d fly them short haul again and long haul if I was not with the girls. Everything is different when you travel with kids! Air Asia definitely serve a purpose though and saving money is always a good thing
I love Air Asia have flown with them on many occasions solo and most recently with my 8 month old from the Gold Coast to Kl then onto the UK with KL airlines.
I found Air Asia to be 10 times better than the major airlines. We organised a room in the Tune hotel for our 8 hour layover and I think this is a must if you have kids. Our boy was crawling at this stage so also booking the bulkhead gives you more room to let them move around. I would pick Air Asia every time over the major airlines as they are always significantly cheaper and the hostesses were great with our child. You have to be organised with budget airlines and take downloaded movies on your own computer to entertain the kids and pack food. I agree if it is not hugely more expensive a direct flight will always be best but if you are going to save $1000 which is often the case then Air Asia is the way to go!
Thanks for sharing your experiences Mel! It’s always great to hear from a wide range of people, because everyone is different. Great idea about the hotel room for your layover. So good for the kids.
I flew Air Asia from Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur last November and while the on-flight experience was exactly as I expected, the check-in process is what has made me swear off Air Asia.
The “boarding passes” they sent me to print when I bought the ticket weren’t actually boarding passes so I had to stand in line to get “real” ones. Only two counters were open for a fully booked flight, there was no automated check-in or fast lane for people like me who only had carry-on luggage. They were painfully slow checking people’s baggage and were making a point of weighing every last piece of carry-on luggage and charging people to check them if they were .1 kg over the limit. Complicating matters, none of their staff knew how to use the credit card machine so the line came to a screeching halt for 5 minutes every time someone incurred extra fees while they screwed around with it. I nearly missed the flight because of this and I know that lot of people behind me in line wouldn’t have been able to make it.
Nightmare! It’s amazing how they haven’t managed to get good systems in place. It’s an awful way to start your flight, I’m sure if they fixed this they would have happier customers. But it doesn’t really seem like they care much about this as I found service on the plane to be quite rude and unfriendly. Definitely no smiles
you sound like a real pain in the arse and I hate kids on flights. if they aren’t kicking you in the back, they are screaming. KEEP BRATS AT HOME
Thank you for sharing. I hope you have a brighter day today
thanks for sharing your experience
Hi Caz — I feel your frustration Nd you raise some valid points. I’m an ex-employee of AirAsia and it’s a company that works with total discipline to keep cost down so fares are low, and its safety is superb. It knows it isn’t perfect and is making progress to improve, little by little. And lets not forget, AirAsia has changed so much for low wage people in Asia by making civil aviation affordable. The company is a force for positive social change. But it still has room to improve, of course. You should try it again after its IPO later in 2013.
Thanks for sharing Paul. It’s great to hear the positives about Air Asia. We think that it definitely serves a purpose and is a worthy airline. Would love to see the changes that come about. I think up the customer service and it will improve it dramatically, and I don’t think that should cost too much more. A smile is free!
I had booked my flights prior to reading your story. Mel-KL-Penang-KL-Phuket-Melbourne via KL. I paid $2100 for 2 adults 2 kids with bags, seats and food. Your story terrified me prior to going, we always fly Thai Airways but we saved near on $2500 going with AA. But AA were no where as bad as some people have written. Yes 10-30mins extra queue wait, seats and inch smaller, no entertainment etc….. We took extra food and drinks, had iPads, but more importantly we flew night flights between Melbourne and KL and the kids slept for 6 of the 8 hrs. We ate before departing. I think people with kids need to organize themselves better, fly at night. We flew night flights with Thai and same thing. The savings flying with AA paid for 3 1/2 weeks accommodation. Can’t fault AA. I’ve been delayed loads of times with full service airlines, got food poisoning from Singaporevcairlines once. I’ll fly AA every time especially if I get mad deals like they have
Fantastic Dave. So I am hoping that our post helped you prepare for the flight with extra food and entertainment. That was of course our intention, not to stop people from flying AA. If it saves you that much money and you’re prepared than we think it is worth it.
Caz, in fact your post was very very helpful indeed because we did prepare well. Very worried, but like I said I really didn’t have much to worry about. I believe everyone’s preferences and experiences can be very different. I have another family trip to Sth East Asia coming up in the next few weeks flying AA with another huge savings than full service and you just never know what could happen. But I’ll be prepared for anything and be positive and take it as it comes. My family and I love our holidays, as long as we aren’t statistics on Air Crash Investigation we will be happy. Keep up the good work Caz, your travel blogs are a delight to read.
Ha Ha. I am with you there Dave. I think at the end of the day as long as you touch down in one piece, any airline is good!! I hope you enjoy your upcoming trip!
I think the airport that you mentioned in KL was LCCT.. it’s for low cost airport such as Air Asia.. it’s either international or domestic flight as long it’s Air Asia, it would be landed in LCCT.
I agreed with the professionalism shown by Air Asia crew. The management should send their air crew to a call centre/helpdesk training to talk nicely to a customer which on board.
I was travelling to Bangkok with Air Asia last week with my wife and my daughter (3 years old). The time we going back to KL was 4am in the morning and she was napping on my chest all the way into the air plane. During the take off, i was told by the one of air crew to untie my seat beat (because i was tighten it together with my daughter while she sleeping) and the crew advised only to tight the seat belt on me cause anything happen or injury on my daughter will be my responsibility.
The was they talk to me like talking to someone that very stupid and not professional at all. I don’t mind if they talk nicely to me with some smiling on their face.
Loved your writing especially since I flew on a hell flight overnight from Melbourne to KL last night. Plane was so hot and stifling (I thought they liked to freeze you so one was forced to buy their blanket). Having said that, I was in the new child-free section (rows 7 to 12) and it was quiet. My advice to you is just remember its a Malaysian airline and Malaysian cultural logic is sometimes wanting. I have lived in Malaysia for nearly 10 years and try to fly with Singapore Airlines (though I couldnt resist the AUD$470 return on Air Asia. The food is swill so being a Vego and Gluten intolerant you are really pushing your luck. As for the flight attendants, we never saw them from the indifferent slight smile when boarding to the gossiping with each other as you are leaving the plane.
Ah yes. All sounds so familiar!! Glad you survived the flight and at least you got a good deal. That’s an awesome price.