Air Asia Rant

The following; in verbatim; is my open letter to Datuk Tony Fernandes.

"28th November 2008

Datuk Anthony Francis Fernandes
c/o Air Asia Bhd.

Dear Datuk Tony,

Re: Crisis in Thailand - Air Asia’s Lackadaisical Attitude


It is with much disappointment that I have to write this letter of complaint regarding the incoherent action by Air Asia to the current crisis in Thailand.

My I first congratulate Datuk on transforming the aviation industry; from being a staid industry to one where innovative ideas and marketing strategies are regularly implemented.

It was therefore highly disappointing to find that Air Asia has not been pro-active when dealing with the current state of emergency in Thailand.

My situation is:

• My family and I have booked a holiday in Thailand flying by Air Asia and Air Asia Thailand with the following schedule.
o 9th December 2008 Kul – CNX AK896 Booking Ref: SLPZDE
o 12th December 2008 CNX – BKK FD3239 Booking Ref: U3LTBE
o 16th December 2008 BKK – Kul AK883 Booking Ref: REMJEB
• With the current situation in Thailand, my family and I have decided that it may be prudent to change our holiday to a different destination.
• On Thursday the 27th of November 2008, the second day of the occupation of Bangkok Airport, I called up Air Asia’s support line, waited the inevitable 25 minutes to be attended to by a distressed Help Line Assistant and requested that I be allowed to change the destination of my holiday, for which I would be willing to pay any difference in the fares and administration fees.
• Unfortunately the only options available are
o the dates of the flights (within a 3 month period)
o and/or the name of traveler.
o forfeiting in full the fares herein paid.
• Bearing in mind that my family members are travelling from New Zealand and do not have the luxury of changing their schedule or revisiting the region within the next year, these options are not satisfying.

It is obvious that the top management of Air Asia has given no thought to an extremely serious situation that has developed in the industry. It also baffles me that the said management has also not been able to see that if they allow travelers to change their destinations (under emergency circumstances), not only will travelers feel more comfortable with the destinations they are travelling to but Air Asia would probably gain financially as the fares will inevitably be higher as travelers change their cheaper tickets (bought during the early booking period) with “prime fare period” tickets.

I believe that unless issues such as these are addressed, Air Asia’s hope of being a fully integrated airline for the global market shall be stymied as long haul travelers will not be comfortable booking regional connections as there are too many restrictions concerning the change of destinations on flights which have to be booked well in advance. Especially in emergencies like we are facing in Thailand and India.

Air Asia may actually be known as a “fair weather” airline. Fine when everything goes well, but absolutely clueless in event of an emergency.

I hope the feedback in this letter serves to improve the service offered by Air Asia to all your customers who are probably facing more trying situation then myself.

Yours sincerely,



Seet Cheng Khim "

As expected, I did not even get an acknowledgement of this letter.