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Tony Fernandez (CEO) should worry a bit less about expanding his brand and more on taking care of the people that keep his company in business. I have been trying to book a flight (online) on Air Asia for 3 days now without success or support from the (outsourced) customer service call center. I have tried 8 times to book the second flight in my travel plans, and each time after inputting all of the information (personal and payment), an onscreen error pops up and I am prompted to contact Air Asia for assistance (a cruel joke). Each time that I call the Air Asia customer service (an obvious oxymoron) hotline, a call center representative blows me off with "we are working on the problem and will have it fixed in an hour" or "you are probably booking at a busy time, keep trying". Obviously a scripted response in order to keep their call response times to a minimum, all the while the seats that I need, on the flight that I need for my family and I, continue to disappear. Air Asia just lost 3 customers. A message for Tony F...You were wise to set up operations in Asia. You have 2 billion people here, so if you treat half of them the way you did me and my family, your business should still succeed, despite the lousy service you provide...
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
![Scandinavian Airlines System [SAS]](/images/business/48-48/127736/scandinavian-airlines-system-sas.png){kind=small}
You are right Air Asia will do well because of the large Asia population.
Now I can add to Air Asia's record of poor service. First I was delayed by another airline and arrived late at the checkin counter to find that there was no staff, they had all gone to the boarding gate. I waited for about one hour and was told, sorry you missed the plane and if you want to fly again you have to purchase another ticket. They told me the cost and also wanted to charge me for a cancellation fee because I missed the plane. I asked about the pre purchased extra luggage and was told that this also was forfeitted as was my meal. My connecting flight was also forfeitted and this would incurr another cancellation charge.In all I left the counter and purchased an ongoing ticket with an other airline as this was more convenieint and cheaper.
One week later our flight was delayed by eight hours, no meal was provided and of course we missed our connecting flight. One week after that another flight was delayed by six hours and again no help was offered.
I wrote to the insurance company, which is administered by Air Asia. and was send some forms to be filled out. I submitted the forms onlt to find out two weeks later that they had send me the wrong forms. The forms asked me to obtain a letter from Air Asia managment where they would explain why there were delays or cancellations otherwise the forms could not be submitted.
I wrote to Air Asia to get the letters bu nothing has appeared. I have written to them and faxed them over twenty two pages of forms, bookings and follow up letters and still haven't heard from them.
Now to put the icing on the cake, my wife took a flight, which was also delayed and so she missed her connecting flight, also booked by Air Asia and she was told to buy another ticket so she could get to her destiantion.
All in all Air Asia are cheats, ill informed, have rude counter staff with an arrogant disposition especially the supervisors and are in urgent need of customer service training. Overall we will never fly with them again and I will do my best to give them a bad name.
Try calling Air Asia from Singapore! There's no number. So to request a wheel chair for my wife, I had to call Air Asia in India. Seriously. And then the agent told me that Air Asia charges $38 for a wheel chair. In most countries that would be discrimination against the handicapped. I will be working with the ADA Act to ensure that Air Asia is not ever permitted to fly to the US.
Air Asia very poor customer service, Always online system errors, very difficult to contact them over the phone, Waist money & Time. Most of the staff members are rude
Who know who I can write to; to file a complaint with regards to the poor customer service provided by Air Asia.
I went on line 23rd March 2011 around 1.15PM to Air Asia website attempting to book a one-way ticket from Singapore to Bandung on 24 March 2011. I completed all details successfully and your website prompted me to proceed to payment. First attempt by credit card payment failed as it was declined. I then repeated attempt and this time your website took a few minutes with NO response. Minute later my computer browser hung and I had no choice but to shut down the computer. At this point I took it as my booking online was not successful as there was no response from your website confirming my payment nor any form of acknowledgement.
4 hours later at 6PM, when I turned on my computer again, I was shocked to receive an email acknowledgement from Air Asia that my earlier online booking was indeed successful with a booking reference T9VVRT. Within minutes, I then immediately called Air Asia Singapore Call centre and reported my problem and requested that the booking be cancelled because I had made alternative travel plan after my bad experience with Air Asia online booking. However, the attendant over the phone told me that the terms and conditions of Air Asia do not allow cancellation unless the booking is before 48 hours. I explained obviously that my booking was done for travel the following day so it is less than 48 hours but that Air Asia browser failed me due to a technical fault. Finally, the attendant over your call centre advised me to write in to your office to appeal for refund consideration.
I sent three online feedback messages using your website feedback service on the same matter but no response so far, although the standard reply message claimed that I would receive a reply within 5 working days.
I also sent a letter to Air Asia sales office in Singapore and after 2 weeks, not a word.
I request Air Asia to check your computer record and verify that the technical error was genuine and my case was the consequence of a technical error on Air Asia website.
I appeal for a refund from Air Asia deducting all administrative cost and service fees..
Thank you for your attention and help.
I have similat problem. Have you received the refund?
Air Asia's staff are unhelpful and impolite. They are rude to us for the booking of flight. Every times the only response is " nothing we can do for you now". I totally agree with the article and never book the flight from air asia again.
I booked a flight to bandung for my family but a month before my travel date, i got a sms from Air Asia saying the flight have been moved to afternoon flight from 1040am to 1425pm. Unfortunately due to unforeseen reason, my mom couldn't make it so i called to push my mom flight to a later date which is 3 months later. Air Asia allowed FREE moved of date due to their changes. I called and spoke to a guy by the name of Ayat on 3/10/11. He said he will make the amendment & send me an email. A day before my flight on 6/10/11, I checked under "Manage my Booking", nothing been done so I called up again and spoke to a lady named Chandini. She still can said, nothing been up in the system, she will make the amendment & send email. After my trip, I checked again and shocked to see my mom booking under "COMPLETED", where else she didn't even travel with us. I called up again on 13/10/11 and spoke to a lady Leela. By then I was quite frustrated and she assured me will be done this time after putting me on hold for 15mins on the line. But again, today I checked, status still same "COMPLETED". I have no choice but to call them up again 14/10/11 and spoke to a guy called Hafiz. The most frustrating thing is everytime I called, I have to repeat all over again my story. This Hafiz told me, in the system my manager indicate only can push flight to 1 month of date. What rubbish! I was told all the while, 3months before it expired. Again he assured, his manager by the name of Alex Sidarha will make the amendment now and today. It's so damn frustrating with just one simple amendment and the airline customer service need me to call them up 4 times and repeat over & over again.! I know it's a budget airline but I also ever travel with other budget airline and never encounter such problem! What a service! This is my first time with Air Asia and very disappointing with their service..!
I had booked flight from Singapore and my original flight was cancelled and I was rescheduled to a 5am flight which I was not able to make. After numerous complaints thru live chat and reform, the customer service staff called and informing I have to pay extra to reschedule my flight and the only way I can changed my flight is to fill in online complaint form again which will take upto a week for them to respond! This company definitely has zero regards for customers and personally I would not be flying with this company anymore.
it's budget airline, no customer service, no baggage allowance, nothing, so what are you complaining about? You get what you pay for.
The Airasia website is simply impossible to use. I don't know how they manage to do any business. They must do all their bookings through office's and agents. I have not been able to book a flight with them online for over a year now. And cannot log in to my account with them nor even fix it. If I try to buy a ticket without logging in the site always declines my payment even though my credit is good and my card is new. When you ring for assistance and wait an hour you just get told to try again. No service on line or off.
Very poor business model.
My maid and her friend was cheched-in online for the 6:45am flight to Phnom Penh. Please see attached flight details.
On the day of travel of travel on 13 April 2104, I sent my maid and her friend to the Sentral Bus Station to take the 3:30am bus to LCCT.
However upon arrival at LCCT at about 4:40am, they went straight to the baggage drop counter to drop the baggage. There were only a few counter opened and they had to queue for very long before the baggages were dropped and tagged. They then proceed to immigration and there too were a long queue and delayed their entry to the boarding gate. Upon arriving at the boarding gate at about 6:20am, they were told that they were 10 minutes late and not allowed to board the plane. They were asked to claim their baggages and buy new ticket to fly in the afternoon.
They had to pay more than RM380.00 each for the trip to Phnom Penh afternoon flight.
The complain I want to make is why there is a long delay in checking in at the LCCT when they have arrived more than 2 hours before departure? This is due to the insufficient counters being opened during this peak period and the small number of immigration counters opened. They should then be not penalised for this missed fight. Therefore I request that the additional payment they made for purchasing the new ticket be refunded and the additional inconveniences compensated.
I yesterday spent 7 hours trying to book a flight from KL to Yogyakarta. Each time after I entered my credit card details the system crashed. I tried multiple variations : different credit cards, paypal etc. I must have tried at least 12 times before I finally got a booking confirmation. Then, when I downloaded my itinerary from my email I discovered that a previous attempt was also successful, unbeknown to me. So now I have two tickets in my name on the same day. When I contacted the feedback centre they told me they would not refund my ticket. I have written back, of course, but has anyone had success fighting this? Is there an ombudsman I can contact or a higher level complaint handling department than the feedback line?
Malcolm, I have been thru same problem. Refund validated to me on 23rd April but to date has not been paid into my credit card and in this time, NOT ONE PERSON, from air asia has contacted me. Good luck. I hope you don't experience what I have been thru over the last 10 weeks. Spent many hours completing e forms (most do not go through ) and have to re type again and again and only receive auto replies. Live chat and call centres don't want to know. Not their area or problem. Air asia have no customer service and only 'get away with it' because it is payment on internet. No organisation would be allowed to trade in this way if they were controlled by relevant statutory regulations of country from where payment made. It's buyer beware. Think twice before payments on internet and certainly buyer beware when dealing with air asia. Never again!
AGGREED air asia has terrible service read my live chat copy paste
Ying
Hello Christina Binti Tulis. Welcome to AirAsia Live Chat Service. Kindly be informed that each chat session lasts for 10 minutes. Please keep your questions reasonably brief.
Christina Binti Tulis
hello
Ying
Good afternoon
Christina Binti Tulis
My question is. My wife got refused at the boarding gate because pregnant 29 weeks yet we had a letter from the doctor saying its ok
now we missed our airplane. and she got reschedualled
for 5pm
your employee said we will have to pay extra! because of this
Ying
Can I have the booking number?
Christina Binti Tulis
i think this is really unfair because it is not at all OUR fault that this happened
yeah
JHMBUX
KOTA KINABALU (bki) - jOHOR bAHRU
time 10.10 (malaysian time)
flight AK5301
name Christina Binti Tulis
They give my wife alot of stress and make her cry
she is a pregnant woman
this is really unnaccaptle way of handling the situation
now they aggreed to have her board at a later time . but her sister and other family already left so now she is alone at the airport waiting because of this
but they want more money
Ying
I have checked your booking and found the passenger was no show. According to the system, passenger was not able to show the document letter. Besides, due to the passenger was not able to reach the boarding gate on time, we shall not be liable to you for your failure to meet any connecting flight. Besides, as gesture of goodwill, the team has offer you to move to the next available flight with flight change fees and fare difference as gesture of goodwill. Therefore, please provide the document letter and approach the counter again, the team will assist you move to next available flight.
Christina Binti Tulis
are you still there?
SHE WAS THERE!
SHE WAS SHOW!
Ying
Christina, the passenger was offload due to no medical report provided.
For pregnancy between 28 weeks to 34 weeks (inclusive): Guest require to submit an approved doctor’s medical certificate confirming the number of weeks of pregnancy and the certificate shall be dated not more than 30 days from either the scheduled outbound or the scheduled inbound flight departure date as the case may be. Passenger also needs to sign AirAsia / AirAsia X Limited Liability Statement at the time of check-in to absolve AirAsia / AirAsia X against any liabilities arising there from. Therefore, kindly inform our crew and submit your medical report upon check in.
Christina Binti Tulis
i have proof of picture if you want
Ying
If you failed to provided the medical documents, we are unable to allow the passenger on board
Christina Binti Tulis
she showed the document
we even made a picture with our phone
so i dont think you can disprove me
plus the actions of your rude employees made my wife cry and stressed
Ying
According to system stated, passenger was failed to provide. If you claimed that passenger has provided, this will need further investigation. Please submit E-form http://www.airasia.com/my/en/e-form.page for further assistance. The team will assist you check and investigate on this issue
Christina Binti Tulis
i will copy paste this conversation
Why are you still selling flights on a service that doesn't exist - Melbourne to Bali. my daughter was off loaded onto a later flight to KL, then the connecting flight to Bali was cancelled. Told to go to a hotel arranged by Airasia. Arrived there and the hotel staff knew nothing of it. No meals and nowhere to buy meals. Now her baggage has been lost.
I urge all Australians with an issue with air asia to contact the ACCC. Let's put this cheap, shoddy, lying airline out of business.
PS she was charged twice for flight from KL to Bali (and two totally different amounts) now will have to wait 30 days for a refund.
I want a personal response from Tony Fernandez.
Air Asia better close your idiotic and useless Call Center ...Call center is to help the customers not to wait after choosing option 1 for Enquiry...Waiting timw is 15-30 minutes...I will never recommend to my community and society of people to board in Air Asia flight...
Worst and very poor response shown by sales executives in chennai Air Asia office.
If you're thinking of flying Air Asia, beware of their outrageous 'refund' policy. I booked some flights from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur return in September/October 2014. In November 2014, Air Asia announced that they would be cancelling this route from January 2015 as it was unprofitable. They suggested in an email to me in December that passengers wanting refunds 'wait until contacted by Air Asia', or words to that effect, before asking for a refund. I immediately contacted them by phone and asked for a refund as I suspected that they were stalling, and after some time they agreed to refund me the money asap. That was on the 12th December 2014. Nothing until mid-January 2015, when I receive an email saying that my refund would be paid 'after 30 business days'. Today is 16th February 2015 and still I have received nothing. This is an outrageous, unauthorised use of my money. Air Asia cancels my flights and then won't refund the money for as long as possible, in effect using my money as a free bank loan without my consent. Trying to get through to their call centre is nearly impossible. Their email forms are hopelessly incompetent, their call centre delays are huge: all in all Air Asia is a very badly run airline that is ripping people off while pretending to 'care' about customer service. Little wonder Tony Fernandes is rich: he's using my money and others without my authority. It will cost me more to fly with other airlines, but it'll be safer and they don't rip people off in the same way that Air Asia does.
I have made a formal complaint about our dealings to airasia and got an unsatisfactory response 3 weeks later.Basically was re a canceled flight without notifying us, rude, uncaring staff at the starting flight, where we were delayed 6 hours with no offer of food /fluids.Missed our airasia connection at KUL, left in transit for 6 hours from 1030PM till 4.30AM while they decided what to do with the 60 stranded people. No food or fluid or even an apology offered and the staff kept telling us lies. Transpires that they had not completed their paperwork so not allowed in India air space [this was a 1 month after their crash]. Finally put into a grotty hotel that was dirty and smoky. To add to our frustration the bus driver said he wouldn't leave the airport until paid in cash so finances were obviously not good.After arriving at MEL 16 hours late, at 12MN our bags were the last off the plane so it was another hour till we left the airport. Missed our domestic flight so at our expense went to airport hotel as Airasia told us it was our problem. They may be a cheap airline but we have travelled with other cheap airlines and never been treated by such incompetence or rudeness.
It is 3 weeks since I responded to their email telling me untrue facts and suggested they read the full complaint not a small component but obviously airasia does not intend to reply. I've sent a copy of email to CEO but not even an acknowledgement from his department.
My advice is not to fly with airasia as there are other budget airlines who support you when things go wrong. When you add everything up they are not that cheap anyway.
Got ripped off ! I bought my tickets for 4 people 7 months in advance. Air Asia cancelled this route (Shanghai-Manila) and offered NOTHING as compensation. With only 2 months left before departure (all hotels and connecting flights being reserved), I could only find flights at double price and at different dates. I asked Air Asia reimbursement and compensation for the extra cost. I got noen of those, NOTHING. Impossible to get actual personal response from their customer service. They let you fill an e-form and you get an automated e-mail response saying they are reviewing your case. One month after, still nothing. Got customer service in Malaysia on the phone (had to call international), just to get a promise of a reply in 48H. Nothing happened. Finally I managed to get in touch with their customer service in China to get the e-mail of a REAL person to talk to: the e-mail address does not actually exist. I have been robbed. My friends who booked the same flight have been robbed (4 tickets also). Their customer service is a facade. It is actually non existent. I never thought one could care less of a customer like Air Asia does. This company is a shame for the whole airline industry. If you are considering flying Air Asia, just DON'T.
Hi, I was very happy that i will take my parents in flight and booked the to and fro from Bangalore to pune on 24th feb flight no I51424 and return ticket 26th Feb 2015 flight no I51424. paying almost 17K. However due to my father demise we could not able to travel and requested for cancel the ticket.
There i made a mistake cos as per some company norms they cant refund entire amount and they told that they can pay some 6K only and it will take 3 months get it refund and i was waiting till now thinking better then nothing i may get some amount.
Perhaps for my surprise i called the customer care today for checking the status on refund, but to me its shocking that i haven't booked the ticket at all and my booking ref was in other name ( Booking number: V7KTUL).
Now i dont know whom to approach for this cheating people and i recommended the friends who is going to read this msg. never ever book the tickets in airasia its cheating airlines and you will never get any response.
Air Asia is not bothered about treating customers well they are rude and impolite, they did not let me get on the flight because I was 5 minutes late, I was a single woman alone in delhi but they dint care.Never fly with Air Asia as you will surely have to pay for the cheap ticket, they will ask you to pay for extra baggage, and they will never board you if you are late
I flied from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpau yesterday. The ground crew even weighted my bottle of water in the backpack costing me AUD 140.00 and I argued with them and they threatened me they could cancel my ticket on that night and call the police. This airline is basically a gangster airline without any sense of customers. I will never fly on this ariline anymore. This airline should be shut down immediately around the world actually.
Another time, they made the mistake on the time of my ticket and I needed to buy another ticket to fly from India back to Macau for meeting. This costs me even more money to fly with Cathay Pacific. Its totally a rubbish airline and should not continue to operate.
Worst airline ever! Currently fighting a credit dispute with them since they're lying to my cc company about never showing up for the flight. When we arrived at the airport our online visas for Vietnam didn't finish processing. So instead of rescheduling our flight due to the visa error they told my friends and I that there was nothing they could do and we had purchase tickets again.
I booked a air ticket from guwahati to Delhi. Didn't get message of flight before journey.
At guwhati air port I was late none of the air Asia staff member is available to attend the customer. And simply some random person telling me counter is closed. What is the function of ground staff.
Worst experience...
Never going to travel in such reckless, mismanaged flight
Hello.
I was travelling on 29th May Sydney to Cochin D7223 & AK39(through Kuala Lumbur)
when I reach @ cochin I have observed a major damages on one of my Baggage(PPT NO: J5448667). I have already raised my complain on the same day.
Request your immediate action on this mater...
Photos & Complaint copy are attached.
They are charging unnecessary fee for online check-in by inappropriately assigning seats and to change seats they charge additional amount. If a group ticket is there ideally they should allocate seats in the same row when seats are plenty available. Why should someone has to pay additional even if same category seats are available in the same row.
Hi im sumati here.My husband have book ticket to Goa from KUL.
But Air Asia cancel the flight and haven't return back our money for next booking.As you all realise this is not our problem at all.
Then why delay in our money?I need the money by this weekdays.Please reponse with good news.
My mother who is 46 years old and was travelling alone from bangalore to new delhi airport, they were harassing her and were not ready to listen to anyone and even they were not ready to talk to me over phone so that some solution could be found. And they were harassing my mother and were telling her to pay a huge amount for a ticket. I have travelled with many other flights and they listen to customer and help customers. But this air Asia people are pathetic in services and their behaviour.
I am waiting for a call when i was told i will get immediate call ofr covering the damage done to my baggage...
Kindly respond to the customer complians
attached is the complained copy
We have booked ticket on air Asia from Bali to New Delhi via Kuala Lumpur. Flight from Bali to KUL got delayed due to some technical fault & we could not get connecting flight from KUL to DELHI. Customer service executives were very rude, did not provide any accommodation & we have to wait inside Airport for the next flight which was next evening. Total of 46 passengers were on the mercy of air Asia
to management /owner :
i was removed from the air craft by air asia staff for not having a visa, causing me to lose my connecting flights, without any need .
the following is a quotation from indian government immigration official regarding my question by email:
"my name aviv tomer .passenger .i would like to receive a comment regarding the question: if possible to be transiting via chennai maa airport, without issuing any indian visa . arriving with air asia to board gulf air; when the passenger only carries hand bag (no checked luggage); only needed to receive gulf air boarding card from the transit desk staff (prior the immigration boot). expecting an answer soon, thank you."
-Visa Support Centre :
" Dear Sir/Madam,
If you stay inside the transit area of International airport, no visa is required. If you wish to go out of airport, you would need transit visa which can be obtained from the concerned Indian Mission abroad."
as to deep the aggravation & costs do to air asia misleading information i claim compensation for you to suggest . mr. aviv tomer.
My husband and I were traveling AirAsia from Chennai, India to Auckland, New Zealand. I’m a U.S. citizen and my husband is an Indian citizen. When we booked the tickets there was no warning about checking our layovers to see if we needed an e-travel visa for any layovers. So we booked the tickets and made sure to have his travel visa for New Zealand ready. No where while booking the ticket does it warn you to check your layovers for e-travel visa’s.
When we got to the ticket desk the India AirAsia customer services was extremely rude. They did not try to help change our flight to accommodate for the issue of not having the Australia travel visa form completed for a 1 hour layover. They said there was nothing they could do to help us and we were on our own. We ended up having to go to a travel agent and book a flight with Cathy Pacific which required a layover to Hong Kong.
AirAsia caused us to miss a full day and half of our honeymoon because they did not properly warn us of where their layovers were. Also, the customer service from Sonia Nagaa while in Chennai was terrible. She was disrespectful and very unaccommodating. I will make sure to write poor reviews on all Air Asia websites (Facebook, Twitter, travel sites, etc) if this is not resolved with credit for the flight or a refund.
I have now also talked to Mahtsh from the AirAsia U.S. Call center and he was also very unhelpful and had no sympathy for the situation.
is poor serice of air asia line chat, need to wait almost 2hr for the live chat, and it only 10 minute for assist customer, will susdenly ask u queue again. what kind of this service, its too bad.
9 June 2017 AK 649 Danang - Kuala Lumpur. My mother in her 70's with a group of senior citizens on group holiday boarded your aircraft which was hot and void of cooling system. Seated at row 11D she was feeling dizzy and nauseous due to the heat and being hit by various carry on luggage by boarding passengers. As she is an experienced traveller, she waited for boarding to be completed and aircraft doors closed before pushback, she saw 2 rows of seats vacant 12 n 13. Since it was not occupied, she tried moved to the aisle seat row 12 to catch her breath. The flight steward at the aft cabin proceeded to SHOUT at her from the Galley to return to her seat. She was so overly traumatised by the uncalled treatment by the said crew . Later after take off several other passengers also tired to move to these seats but was refused. The crew then proceeded to block the seats using the chair tables. If the seats were faulty, an explanation should have been given and not Shouting at an elderly lady. The behaviour of the said crew is indeed uncivilised and of poor taste. His behaviour and attitude towards a paying customer is truly leaves a bitter after taste to a wonderful holiday. I hope this will be looked into, as his behaviour is like that of a Minibus conductor... I guess yr tagline is true... Now Everyone Can Fly...
I have posted on our company website my last and final flight by Air Asia. Semarang to Singapore. DO NOT FLY AIR ASIA. BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT Pay the extra fly with another airline that has trained ground staff.
Yes! Air asia is such an inconsiderate airline. They don't accomodate chance passenger. We arrived at the cebu international airport(3am) in a hope that we could fly earlier than our scheduled flight(10:15pm) but their response is that they only accomodate chance passengers with delayed flights despite our humble request, so we just waited and rest in cold uncomfortable chairs of the airport but around 3pm we are notified via text message that our flight is delayed. We decided to consult our concern to the ground crew but their only response, is they could not do anything about it! OMG! Such a disaster!
Calling them to cancel a flight, but the customer service personnel keeps telling i cannot cancel the flight. I'm just trying to INFORM them that we will not take the flight even if we cannot refund any money from them...but she's like a broken disc that keeps saying i cannot cancel the flight. This is my first time to experience this in any airlines. So rude, AIR ASIA, WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!
Tony Fernandez only concern is how to flirt with airasia stewardess, you can see how nasty are this people web.
HORRIBLE SERVICE IN A TIME OF COVID-19
TECHNICAL INFRACTION
On flight TPE-CNX, ground staff insisted that I check-in slightly oversized luggage (by about 5 cm). I have boarded international flights (including AirAsia) innumerable times with this luggage. This is called discretion. Especially in a time of Covid-19, the staff could have been more flexible instead of being rigid to the point of counting centimeters on a nearly empty flight. Their insistence on rigidity forced me to crowd around the Chiangmai airport longer than usual. In fact, I spotted other passengers (remember there were only 14 passengers on board FD243) with larger carry-on luggage!
UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR
AirAsia ground staff #1024991 (counter staff) and #1015216 (person-in-charge) did not act professionally. In all my years of international travel, I have not witnessed such behaviour.
#1024991 did not wear her badge properly. When asked for her staff ID, she refused. She kept me waiting for 5 minutes while she used her cellphone to summon the "person in charge" #1015216, who for the last half an hour (from my initial dealings at the counter) was never present.
#1015216 appeared. He also did not wear his badge properly. His identity was not visible. When asked for his staff ID, he refused. He claimed he would be the final authority for any complaints, hence I did not need to know his ID. When he realized that he had to fill in his staff ID on a "Payment Notification" (a.k.a. Receipt), he chickened out and revealed his staff ID, and ordered #1024991 to reveal her staff ID. #1015216 requested permission to photograph my luggage, which I agreed to. He appeared to be an "expert" at handling luggage matters. He chucked my luggage at an angle into the steel dimension checker to exaggerate the dimensions.
AIRASIA'S TECHNICAL INFRACTION
Since AirAsia prides itself on being technically strict, I was amazed that for a large payment, which included all Taiwan government taxes, I would only be issued a "Payment Notification". It is not even called a receipt. This is what #1015216 (person-in-charge) says:
"We do not need to issue a receipt."
"Oh, this is a receipt. Our company does not need to issue a Government Uniform Invoice."
The in-flight experience was none better. A flight stewardess, when asked for a pen to fill in the Arrival Card, just turned away and walked off without so much as a "no, sorry." The AirAsia stewardesses had nothing to do on an empty flight, mostly fiddling with their cellphones on board, but they would not lend me a pen or dignify me by saying so. Instead, I had to fight for a pen at the warzone-like quarantine check at CNX.