Air Asia?
 

Hi,
We've found we could fly one way London Stanstead to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia for less than £450 all in for 2 tickets which is just way too good to miss. Have flown with them before but only within Southeast Asia and am a bit trepiditious about 12 hours in a bucket airline. Anyone flown long haul with Air Asia? Cheers! :)

Re: Air Asia?
 

There are some recent reviews here (for short and long haul flights with Air Asia).


http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_asia.htm (you need to scroll down the page)


The website is operated by Skytrax; they give out airline awards annually and if an airline gets an 'excellent' rating when the awards are issued, they like to put out press releases, adverts etc.

Air Asia is unlikely to win an award anytime soon, I should think.... :unsure:

Re: Air Asia?
 

Thanks for post Englishmum! You're right doesn't look like they'll be picking up any awards soon! You get what you pay for is the only way to get thru budget air travel I know, but am not sure how it would be on a long haul flight....most of the reviews are international but within SE Asia, not many for long haul & also the Stanstead to KL is a new route I think so if it's with the new planes and if they're making extra effort for the new route then maybe worth the comparative discomfort and risk potential delay...can't decide on this one :unsure: :blink: It would be such a big saving!! But clearly with good reason :p
Appreciate your input thanks again!

If anyone out there has done the London to KL flight I'd love to hear your experiences :)

Re: Air Asia?
 

Somebody in the Aussie forums has done Aus-KL with them I think - maybe "bcworld"? Have a quick search and I'm sure you'll find the thread. :)

I've only done the budget airlines once - that was Tiger from Singapore to Hanoi and I swore never again. Changi's Budget Terminal is rather, um, functional; everyone stood right next to the gate and then ran down as soon as it opened so they could get the best seats (not allocated, at least at that time); I swear there were babies asleep on tray tables. I paid extra in advance for a decent luggage allowance and they still tried to get more out of me at Hanoi. Tried, didn't succeed. :frown:

Re: Air Asia?
 

I think you'll find Air Asia is rather better than Tiger. I hated Tiger - no room at all, very claustrophobic. We've done the Air Asia route to Singapore twice and it's pretty good for a budget airline and goes into the main Changi terminal, not the budget terminal. Of course it's not a patch on SQ/Silkair but you pays your money and takes your choice.

Be interesting to see how the Stansted-KL route goes, how popular it is, and there's great connections on Air Asia from KL to Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, all over the place. Good if you're on a budget.

Re: Air Asia?
 

Well now we've used the last of our airmile AND The Geek has lost his Krisflyer status (oh the shame) we're definitely on a budget :lol: and having lost that extra 20kg allowance we'll be doing washing on our UK trip this year if I want to shop as much as I usually do. :sneaky:

Re: Air Asia?
 

He he....I'm flying from Newark (New Jersey/New York) to LHR in a few hours on Virgin and hope to God I'll make the connecting code-share flight on SQ....my first time on the A380...I'm so excited..:D

I feel for you Seasider having a reduced luggage allowance. Anyone flying to or from North America (in economy) gets an allowance of 2 suitcases at 23kg max each. Yet tonight I was still weighing my cases as I was over the limit...:ohmy:

We've had snow today (about 6 inches) and it's bone chillin'....:eek:

Re: Air Asia?
 

You're still commuting between the US and Sg? You poor thing. Enjoy the sweating in Singapore. :)


(Sorry PamE, we totally hijacked this :o )

Re: Air Asia?
 

Thanks for input K-Karen & Seasider. Have read a bunch more AA reviews and while short flights are fine in my experience I think we might give the long haul a miss with those guys. Found Malaysia Airlines to Bangkok for just £100 more each and that suits us better as a starting point anyway - just hope they're still available when we get to booking in a couple of weeks! :)

Re: Air Asia?
 

Malaysia are very good.

Re: Air Asia?
 

hurrah! shall hold you responsible if we go with them and they're rubbish :p

Re: Air Asia?
 

was just researching for flights back to UK in may and Air Asia probably won't work out much cheaper than Qatar Air once paying for bags and food is taken into account. Plus I'd rather break the trip up into 2 equal segments rather than have a short and a long flight.

SQ were by far the most expensive S$500 more than Emirates and $900 more than Qatar

Re: Air Asia?
 

Hi there insel, thanks for input! Proces quoted by me below for AA include all taxes, 20kg baggage each, food, 'comfort pack' etc. Can't see it getting much cheaper than that! Altho of course we were looking at April flights and in opposite direction so prices may differ in your search. Not sure what you mean by breaking trip into 2 equal bits instead of one long one short, it's only one flight to KL, we must be talking different routes :)

We have now booked with Malayia Airlines for just another 100 quid each, flying to Bangkok from Heathrow. Was a short term offer bookable only up to 11th March and travel only between specified dates. Worked out much cheaper than their usual fares.

Hav a good trip back! :)

Re: Air Asia?
 

Thought you were trying to get to KL? :confused:

Re: Air Asia?
 

Sorry to confuse! The only Air Asia flight from UK goes to KL so we were happy just to land there and work our way north, if that was the cheapest and best option for getting over to SE Asia. We'll be in SE Asia for as much as half a year so our plans are very flexible, we don't mind where we start or finish. You'll also see posts by me requesting Indonesian travel tips saying that is our first stop but that has now been moved to end of trip for other reasons. Backpacking is not really something you do with a fixed itinerary :) Purpose of this post was just to get views on Air Asia long haul, as whole have flown with them before on short trips, have never done long haul with a budget airline.