If you were planning a trip to SE Asia and had the time, energy and inclination, you might want to travel to as many different cities as possible within, say, 3 weeks. In that case, your best bet would be to get the very reasonably-priced Cathay Pacific’s All Asia Pass ($1599, 23 cities, 21 days). But if you have to stay in one place for most of the time (as we did in Hong Kong, on account of a family wedding and meeting up with old friends) and only had a week or so to spend traveling to other cities, then Air Asia may well be your budget-friendly answer.

My husband had booked us a Valentine’s Special package online with Go Holiday, the vacation imprint of Air Asia. Our 3-hour return flights (from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Bali, Indonesia) were included with 4 days and 3 nights’ accommodation at the hotel, Sunari Villas and Spa Resort. The price of the package was more than reasonable and turned out to be of extremely good value.

INTRODUCTION

Launched as a budget carrier in 2002, Air Asia operates out of Malaysia, recently branching into Thailand. Its tagline—Now Everyone Can Fly—alludes to the incredibly low fares that allow native Malaysians (as well as everyone else) to fly international as well as domestic flights.

EXOTIC DESTINATIONS

Based in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia flies to local Malaysian destinations such as the beautiful island of Langkawi as well as Ipoh and Penang. It also offers flights to Bangkok, Chiangmai and Phuket in Thailand, to Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia, to Hanoi in Vietnam, to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (near the ancient temple of Angkor Wat) in Cambodia, to Brunei, to Singapore, and to Macau (near Hong Kong).

PACKAGES

From the informative website www.airasia.com, you can book different types of packages directly from Go Holiday, Air Asia’s vacation imprint. There are two types of packages offered: a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) package and Theme packages. The latter include Spa Retreat, Golf packages, Valentine’s Special, and so on.

HOW CAN IT BE SO CHEAP?

IT'S TICKETLESS
Passengers are not issued paper tickets. Once you’ve booked your flight or package online, you are sent (by e-mail) an itinerary and a confirmation number. If you booked a package, you get a Package Confirmation with your Package Booking Number including the Flight Booking Number and Hotel Booking Number.
The Package Confirmation number is all you need to present at the check-in counter together with your passport.

IT'S SMALL SCALE
AirAsia operates only 2 types of aircrafts, the Boeing 737-300 and Airbus 320. They’re fairly small, seating only 148 passengers (plus 2 flight crew and 3 cabin crew) or 180 passengers (plus 2 flight crew and 4 cabin crew) respectively, so there’s a pretty good likelihood of all the seats being filled, thereby maximizing flight utilization, something they also do with the tight turnaround times.

LOWER FUEL CONSUMPTION
Very low baggage allowance: up to a maximum of only 15kg for checked luggage and only 7kg for carry-on cabin bag that must conform to the dimensions allowed--56cm x 36cm x 23cm--and either fit under the seat or in the overhead locker.
Personal experience showed that this is strictly enforced. They have scales which they will use to weigh your carry-on bags, and only one is allowed per passenger, so make sure you can stuff your handbag into your rucksack! We had to!

TIGHT TURNAROUND TIMES
Turnaround times are purposefully tight, so boarding time is strictly adhered to. Check-in counters are open two hours before scheduled flight departure time and close 45 minutes before the scheduled flight departure time. You must be at the boarding gate at least 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. God help you if you’re late! You won’t be allowed to board! And you won’t get a refund either! Also, fares are based on supply and demand, so prices usually increase as seats on any one flight become sold, so the earlier you book, the cheaper the fare.

NO-FRILLS
There are no complimentary meals or even drinks, and you’re not allowed to bring your own food on board. We didn’t know this and took our own water and other drinks onboard. No-one stopped us from consuming our provisions, but then there were only 3 flight attendants on our flight and the seat configuration was 3 by 3 and we were away from the aisle, so maybe no-one in charge saw us. My husband bought me a tuna sandwich during the outbound flight (soggy and not recommended) and on the return flight he got himself an instant noodle and I had a Milo milk carton with me that I drank—-again, no-one stopped me. There is a fair selection of food and drinks and they are reasonably priced.

FREE-FOR-ALL SEATING
There is only one class and no designated seating, so we had been worried about a crush. However, there is a policy (enforced) that the elderly, handicapped and families with children are allowed to board first, and the rest merely stood stoically in line around the time of boarding at the gate and there was no pushing or shoving at all.

NO FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAMMES
Apparently, these are expensive and Air Asia simply does not subscribe to one.

SEPARATE TERMINAL--the LCCT
Air Asia operates from its own low-budget terminal (LCCT--low-cost carrier terminal) situated in a far corner of KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport). Shuttle buses from hotels will take you straight to the main building of KLIA, but you will have to find your own way inside to the LCC departure gates where shuttle buses will take you to the LCC terminal. As this takes time (easily 30 minutes), you must allow for the extra time. Also, the LCC terminal departure area is not well sign-posted, and we had to ask half a dozen people (including airport staff who really should know, but didn't) before we were pointed in the right direction. Even when we got there, we were told to wait at the wrong departure gate. Luckily, my husband kept asking and checking, and we finally found ourselves at the correct departure gate.

CONCLUSION
My husband and I were very impressed by the services provided by Air Asia. Reminiscent of UK’s budget airline RyanAir, Air Asia is the airline for Everyman and Everywoman in or visiting SE Asia. Keeping in mind that it is a budget no-frills airline, we could find no fault in our first time traveling with Air Asia. We’ve heard of delays but were thankfully spared the experience ourselves. But since it’s relatively new, chances are that it’ll continue to improve and provide quality service as well as value for money for the budget-conscious traveler.

Recommended: Yes