AirAsia X

Most recently my wife and I were stranded in Abu Dhabi when AirAsiaX announced they were canceling service to/from Abu Dhabi in January this year. They didn’t notify us their stranded passengers until Feb 10th. Neither did they offer any accommodation nor answer our emails asking for help. We had to get back to Malaysia on our own. They won’t reimburse our additional expenses either. They said they would refund the Abu Dhabi/Kuala Lumpur portion of our trip but it will take them 30-50 days to process the refund. Such an attitude! Watch out for these guys. If you are considering booking AirAsiaX it might be a good idea to develop a plan B - just in case.

KUL to MEL. Check-in at LCCT was a breeze but lack of Duty Free shops at midnight was a minus. A330-330 nicely cushioned seats. Crews professional and friendly. But it seemed that AirAsia X will remove its on-seat TV and replace with portable E-player. Unfortunately not a single E- player was available on that flight and no reason was given. Food choice limited. Liked the idea of paying more to get 30kg baggage allowance.

MEL-KUL Return. I initially paid $730 for the ticket but with the additional extra kgs and meals ticket price was close to $850 not that different price wise with MAS. Aircraft was new and clean seats and infotainment on each seats with USB food was delicious and service was good. MEL-KUL older A330 aircraft with no infotainment service generally good. Would fly again if price was cheap - happy to fly MAS or Emirates at a slightly premium price.

London to KL on AirAsia. Night flight out so slept fair bit. Booked extra leg room seat - worth it for the low cost. That said if the extra leg room is the 2 middle seats behind bulkhead not so good. Also the left hand seat to bulkhead is next to the entrance to the staff rest area so if you are spread out and asleep they will wake you to get in if necessary. Plane was older and the seats we had didn't retain much back support. Service ok. Its a flight at base cost after all. Return with same leg room seats. Day flight which always seems longer. Took the Malaysian meal package - great value decent food (less than £2) for 2 dishes and 2 small bottles of water. I would travel again. Also flew internally KL-Phuket newer planes great service. They fly to KLIA LCCT terminal which is not the main international KLIA terminal. If getting a connection next day again with Air Asia they use exclusively LCCT and hotels generally advertised are at the international KLIA a 25 min £10 drive in a taxi (pan Pacific Concord etc). Try Tunes hotel directly opposite LCCT on web cheap good clean like ibis etc.

KUL-STN: Comfortable seats delicious food (as always with Air Asia) and a bigger legroom than many other carriers! At this price Air Asia X is a great deal indeed. Just bring enough books/magazines/etc as there is no entertainment on board.

KUL-MEL Pre-booked exit row 15 for a fee. First impressions were good. My seat had ample legroom. However the flight deteriorated and got tedious. Cabin crew were unprofessional could hear them talking in the galley with their crew curtain shut. They disappeared partially in the flight and recline was non-existing only glide. I also found the XCite touchscreen irritating. Online chat feature had a glitch that kept jumping the messages back to the top and touchscreen sensitivity was very inferior. Overall Air Asia provides value for their cheap flights and would recommend it only if fare is cheap.

STN-KUL-STN on a clearly older aircraft - seats generally comfortable (row 13 pre-booked both ways). Both flights on time (return arrived early). Check-in ok at both airports (impressed with LCCT - fast security passport control etc and luggage arrived very quickly). Pre-booked meals were reasonable and pretty good value. Cup of coffee for 5RM was reasonable and a decent size. Cabin crew friendly and attentive and very well presented. Cabin temperature fine and toilets clean. Pretty full outward flight less busy on return. Impressed for the money - booked 10 months in advance for lowest price.

STN-KUL on Air Asia "Oakland Raider" aircraft. Our window seats row 16 were dreadful no padding we were sitting on metal. Headrests fell off tray in front would fall open when the passenger in front moved and as you can imagine not very good when sleeping. Food okay. the portable entertainment things were okay kept you distracted on a long flight. I don't believe all seats were as bad as ours. I spoke to Air Asia who say that they would be refurbishing this aircraft. Can anyone suggest a row which the seats were okay? I only know to avoid row 16. I have also travelled many times with Air Asia on the smaller flights were the service was great and have no other complaints.

STN-KUL-PER return. For the price we paid for December travel it was a bargain. Oldish ex Air Canada airbus on STD to KL route with no seat back IFE. E-players OK but limited choice. Take a good book. Asian food not great from Stansted but better on all other legs. Under 45 minutes to reclaim bags go through immigration and check in again at KL. Much better than expected. New Airbus KL to Perth with in seat IFE at a minimal cost. All in all apart from the lack of free drinks food and IFE everything was much the same as a full service airline.