Air Asia
 

Has anyone flown on Air Asia or bought online tickets? How reliable was it? We are considering it for a trip from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. Thanks!

they have on time problems...many have reported problems, but others swear by it...

nok air gets better marks...

I fly Air Asia quite often and yes they have delays but they are cheap! If you can put up with the delays then I would recommend them and their online reservation system is ok.

I would say that I've experienced delays on about 20 - 30% of their flights. Right now they have their 99 baht per flight promotion for their domestic destinations in Thailand and 299 for the international destinations from Thailand.

To get those rates, you generally have to book 3 months in advance, and be very quick about it. Don't think, book!

Those rates also exclude taxes, service charges and 'administrative fees'.

Hi Poliana

We have used them quite a bit and yes as everyone says they do seem to have more delays than others but you can't beat the price.

We paid by CC on the internet. Don't expect too much help if things go wrong though.

Eek

Also used them several times already. They have another promotion almost every month. Just look at the Internet site. I booked just a few weeks ahead(all promotions are valid for booking several weeks only) and did not have any problems in getting a seat. And on my flights they had a slight delay only.
But the problem with Air Asia (also with other budget airlines) is, that you have to be very careful with every detail. Last year I made a booking by phone. There was a misunderstanding regarding the departure date. In arriving at their counter we got to know that we were booked 2 days earlier already. And not regarding the fact that there were empty seats they did not take us. We had to buy new tickets
, go back to town for another overnight and fly the next day.
Only after some harsh complaints we got about half of the price of the unused tickets back.
And go to check-in well in advance. Air Asia doesnt issue any papers. You have to show your passport to get the boarding pass and they check every detail. If there is any discrepancy between your booking details and those in your passport, you got some problems.
But as the others already stated, their prices (even incl. taxes and other charges) are unbeatable. And Nokair is not going out of Thailand, as far as I know.

I have used them several times and they have been good - but, there are a couple of things I must warn you about:1. They close gates 45 min before flight, so you need a lot of connect time, 2. If you miss a flight, you money is GONE,and they will not help you in anyway re-booking, and 3. Their terminals are often some distance from where your int'l flt landed, so you need to really watch terminals and distances betw. I missed a flt by minutes due to weather at my starting point - nothing I could do about that - first flt I ever missed in 63 yrs. They could not have been more hostile and unhelpful - just move away from the counter and drop dead please.

I agree somewhat with what others have said here.

2 flights into our vacation, so far, and we have had excellent luck with them...on time to within 15 minutes, and comfortable. Because mom is over 75 we do get priority seating.

Also to everyone's comments on..you miss the flight..you lose the money...absolutely! We actually tried to cancel our flight the day before and they wouldn't...it was within 24 hours of departure so forfeited. All because our United flight was a day late through no fault of our own. Speaking of airlines...Im not particularly impressed with United....heck...they DID rebook us, but we ended up having to pay the hotel in Chicago, AND we missd several things here because of the delay and they couldn't have cared less.

Mark-

We have flown Air Asia several times and agree you have to give up some "class" for the great prices. We bought all our tickets online from the USA.
Just hate the boarding process, It's a free for all and people "detect" a sign that they will shortly board, and crowd the boarding area for 30 plus mins.
We have had a couple of late departures and many on time flights with them. Just be sure of your dates, and, be prepared to arrive at the airport with plenty of time for their boarding.

We would fly them again, especially if we got one of the great super bargain air fares.
Sue

I have used them twice-not again.Be very careful on excess baggage. They stick it to you big time!

We haven't had a problem with excess luggage, yet...tho mom's luggage was only 1.5 kilos too heavy. We see many people with multiple carry ons and certainly have seen som very heavy checked baggage, with nobody being charged from what we can tell.

Because mom is over 75 we have been getting priority boarding, and therefore, getting the front seats (first 2-5 rows every flight)

As said before, though, we've taken our hits with Air Asia, though, and learned from it.

Mark-

While Air Asia is often the cheapest it isn't always and many times there isn't much difference between their prices and other airlines. I used to always fly AirAsia but l did tire of all the delayed flights so l've been using Tiger and JetStar a lot lately, so far always on time and good prices. In Bangkok there always seem to be long lines for the AA check-in counters while JS and Tiger hardly have anyone in line when l've gone to check-in even when the flight turns out to be fairly full.

Purchasing online has always been trouble free for me, an e-mail confirmation is usually sent within minutes.

The enforcement of weight limits must vary from airport to airport as l've yet to have a problem and haven't seen anyone else having problems.

On AA's site it says that 85% of their flights (March) are on time. It would be interesting to know what constitutes "on time" because somehow l always end up on the 15% of delayed flights whatever time of the day l fly. :(

Used them for the Bangkok - Cambodia return segment of my recent trip.
I was fortunate to get one of their 'free trip' deals a few months ago and only paid taxes.
They online booking was hassle free, as was turning up at check-in with the copy of their email to receive my boarding pass.
Although i had no problem getting my preferred near front row seats even on a full plane, i notice they now have 'x-press' seating which allows 'x-press' passengers to get on the plane before other passengers for a small extra charge.
The flights i took left exactly on time.

NOK Air is another alternative discount airline. I flew to Phuket from BKK with them. Most of their domestic flights are out of Don Muang Airport.

Used them for Penang - Bangkok sector and we didn't have any problems. The free-for-all boarding is a little annoying though. Online booking was easy and the flight was on time.

I flew with them from Bangkok to Krabi and everything seems fine. It's similar to EasyJet and RyanAir in Europe where you don't get a seat assignment so it's a free-for-all. For the price, I don't mind not getting a meal service or entertainment, but I wouldn't trust making a tight connection with them or any other budget airline.