AirAsia

SIN-DPS / DPS-SIN Travelled with my parents last week and had booked wheelchair assistance both ways for our trip. At check in at Changi this was confirmed and my dad was well taken care of right up till he was seated. Cabin crew professional organised and polite. Seat comfort was ok legroom is tight but that was expected. Departure and arrival were both almost 40 mins late. Wheelchair was waiting after deplaning via stairs at Bali. (I did wonder how we would have managed getting my dad down had he not been able to use the stairs..) Fortunately he did and he was met by a friendly ground staff who took him all the way through. Bags were out quickly. Return from bali was equally efficiently handled. No problems with the wheel chair request and early boarding. All in all very impressed with Air Asia's professionalism and well run operation.

Travelled with family on KL-Chiang Mai and thoroughly enjoyed the smooth and on-time flights. The pre-booked meals were ok and the crews service was well above average to my surprise. Entertainment - not applicable.

Return flight from Bangkok to Udon Thanni. The four members of staff at boarding gate were either sleeping or playing with their phones. None took any interest in the customers despite the flight boarding time coming and going with no announcements. On the return flight 5 days later the cabin crew failed to notice 3 extremely drunk passengers who I guess were automatically allocated online emergency exit seats! When I told the cabin crew about this they asked them to move and one of the crew later thanks me. I sat in one of the emergency exit seats and was given no extra information which was unusual as every time prior when seated on such seats the staff took the trouble to make sure I was familiar with how to open the door in the very unlikely event of an emergency.

I flew from Darwin to Bali on 21 April and from Bali to Darwin on 25 April. That was our first time trying Air Asia and we will not try again. On both days Air Asia was delayed for about 2 hour. There would have been no time to have the crew check the plane before it departed again.

7th May from Jakarta to Denpasar Bali. Flight QZ7532. Every single time I flew AA the flight was delayed. They usually use a random excuse like "delay due to the late arrival of the aircraft". This time 15 min before boarding I asked if the flight was on time. I was extremely surprised to hear that yes the flight was on time. 10 min before departure I enquired again as I couldn't see the airplane at the gate. Only then I was told that the flight was 2 hours delayed. As a pilot myself I know that staying on schedule is not always easy but being late by that much without having the ground staff to inform the passengers on PA I thought that was extremely bad. They can't care less about their passengers.

Had the worst travelling experience travelling to and from Sydney to Phuket via KL. Hated every minute of it. Appalling service from the minute of check in both ends. Do not waste your time nor paper checking in beforehand. Do not buy food on board (maybe chips would be ok). Will never recommend nor use again.

Yesterday I flew from Thailand to Malaysia. Air Asia charges extra for every possible option. I booked a "hot seat" which should have priority boarding. No priority was ever offered and I was stuck in a mad rush of people to get on the plane. I also pre-booked food. I saw the flight attendants bring food to several passengers around me but passed by me with the food cart. I had to call the flight attendant with the button and only after my boarding pass was inspected was my food served. The portion was inadequate to say the least. The bathroom was out of soap and when I again used the call button to get out of sight flight attendant's attention she explained that there had been many flight segments and that the soap had run out. No apology was offered although she did suggest I use the bathroom in the back. Trying to explain that the airplane should be serviced at every stop regardless of how many flight segments there are in a day was useless and she felt it was not her or the airline's fault that there was no soap. After about 45 minutes the entire flight crew went to the back of the plane and closed the curtain while they read the newspaper and chatted. No one was in the front of the aircraft until landing. The floor of the plane had bits of trash all about. The worst flight I have ever been on.

Flew with Thai Air Asia from Yangon via Bangkok to Siem Reap and from Saigon via Bangkok back to Yangon. The only major problem was when we had to check in a bag (15kg) in Saigon for a whopping US$72. It was more than I paid for my ticket. Service not bad planes are clean and FAs are friendly. Bought food for US$6 - extremely small portion and not worth it.

Chiang Mai to Krabi. This is by no means a budget carrier due to their increasing prices. They were the only carrier to offer a direct flight less than two hours (avoiding BKK) but at a cost of almost £300 one way for two people. Thai Bangkok and Nokair all stopped at Bangkok. Nothing given for free on board no entertainment. You got to pay for luggage and I couldn't fathom out how not to pay for their insurance! Better and cheaper fares offered with main airline carriers. Although the flight was straightforward.

Air Asia at first glance looks like a great deal but beware! As stated by others on this site they consistently block you from checking in online and pre-paying your bags. So on a domestic flight from Phuket to Bangkok instead of $330 baht per bag (about $10-11 US per bag) we had to pay a whopping $900 per bag (about $30 US per bag!) and it was their fault that we couldn't follow their procedure to check-in and pre-pay online. If you are sick (like I was) on the flight don't expect an air sickness bag in the pocket at your seat nor a blanket you have to buy the blanket. The flight was chaotic! There were toddlers running up and down the aisles screaming the entire flight with the flight attendants allowing it never mind the danger to the children! In-flight entertainment? None. Spend the extra and fly a real airline.