Air Asia, hidden costs?
 

Looking at flights on Air Asia, never flown them before and would like to know what hidden costs I need to be aware of. I know of having to pay extra for luggage and buy on board meals.

What other hidden costs are involved?

When booking online can I choose a 25 kg luggage allowance (instead of 20 kgs), the 20 kgs luggage allowance automatically gets added on when I price airfares. When I try to get additional prices (for more than 20 kgs checked luggage, meals, etc) I can't get information online unless I proceed with my booking and enter my personal details.

Does the Air Asia website accept foreign (ie, non Malaysian) credit cards?

Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't buy a meal on Air Asia and most of their flights are short haul as well.

They will take major credit cards from all countries (bank) so no problem there. If you have trouble you can even buy their tickets on Expedia.

Hidden costs:

1. Luggage buy what you think you need and take note that they are strict with carry on so make sure you don't carry on too much and have enough weight purchased.

2. Meal - as I've said IMO I would go for this option.

3. Sport Equipment - if you have a surfboard or golf clubs then yes.

4. Inflight Comfort kit - no IMO.

5. Travel insurance - yes.

6. "Hot Seats" - seats at the front of the plane and exit rows. I would pay extra for exit row seats as the leg room is quite generous.

Oops! For no. 2 Meal - NO IMO!

yes they accept foreign credit cards...

I sometimes have to try different systems like internet explorer to get the AA system to accept my credit cards

seat res and add'l luggage are the main costs... no real hidden costs. they are not flexible if something goes wrong however.

I have been very happy with them

Recently booked on Air Asia site with absolutely no trouble & found the site much clearer than when I used it before. I used a US credit card.

Previously I had difficulty booked on the site. Additionally I opted for insurance last time when I really didn't want it. I wouldn't say it was exactly hidden, but certainly not obvious. I have never gotten the meal as all my flights have been short ones. I do get the additional baggage for one of us. We travel light and with one of us having the additional baggage that has covered us. They have allowed us to combine weight between the two travelers.

as I remember the insurance is dirt cheap

Don't recall, but imagine that might be the case -- just know we didn't want it and it was included unbeknownst to me. So one might consider it a hidden cost.

We recently flew on Air Asia from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to Bangkok. I was able to choose either carry on luggage only or quantity and weight of checked luggage. We originally thought we would do carry on only, but when I discovered that carry on is limited to 7kg (approx 15 lbs) each, we went with only one person with a 25 kg (approx 55 lbs) checked suitcase and packed both our stuff together. Aside from having the option of paying different amounts based on your checked luggage weight, the only thing that surprised me was having to pay a small fee (I think around $2) for each seat I reserved.

The seat charge is if you want to preselect your seat. It's so cheap that I would do it to sit together or have an aisle or window seat if you prefer. The add ons that I did were extra checked baggage weight, fee for scuba bag, pre select seats and one trip I got the insurance but didn't on the others. Even with this I found Air Asia to be very reasonable. Flights short so no meals selected. I used either Visa or Master Card to pay for the flights. There may be a small fee for using a credit card?

seat choice is a way to be at the front too... we choose aisle and window and usually have an empty seat in between

I didn't realize that I had the option of not paying the seat selection fee as it just seemed to be part of the reservation process. But the fee was so minimal, I would have paid it regardless.

BTW, the fee for 'scuba' is if you have tanks or other items that require special handling. I've traveled Air Asia several times with my scuba gear just by paying for the correct weight without the sports equipment surcharge.

As I recall, we had to pay the luggage fee for both legs of our Siem Reap-KL, and KL-HKK flight. Do I recall correctly?

Yes.

Oops - hit post too soon.

Air Asia, like most budget airlines, is a point-to point carrier. They don't sell connecting flights, they don't transfer luggage, etc. So they consider each leg to be an independent flight. Luggage charges, seating charges and such are per flight (leg).

They DO charge a fee to use credit cards (think it is 3%?, not sure.) Debit cards are fee-free. They also let you book in various currencies, so be wary of the exchange rates.

Where does the fee to use a credit card show up? Is that on all bookings via the internet?

When I book online the flights and fare comes up and I pick the flight I want. A final fare comes up and then I use my cc. So if they are charging a fee to use cc when you book online they must bury it in the original fare.

At the very end as you are entering your cc number they add a 'processing fee.'

yestravel-when I received my Air Asia travel itinerary for our flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok the credit card fee was $12 and under "2 x processing fee" in the list of services and fees. First is the flight details. Then travel itinerary. Then you scroll down to page headed "invoice" and on the left under Payment it shows charges for the flight broken down with a sub total and under that charges for Services & Fees broken down with a sub total, then they show the total amount of your charge. On the right under confirmation under is the date ....type visa, master charge, etc.....amount...... Lastly the terms and conditions info is shown

If you book over the internet use the country currency-baht-as it's a little cheaper than choosing the USD option. I checked both the final price in Thai baht and USD and baht was always cheaper.

MichaelBKK-are you sure about that? I called Air Asia and said no tank but BC, regulator, fins, snorkel, wet suit, etc. and that's what I was told. We will also pack in my snorkel gear, our bathing suits, etc. as we are allowed 15 kg for that bag. The charge for that was $21. I'll check again as 20 kg regular check in bag is $14.