Sunday, March 23, 2008

Air Asia X’s passengers stranded

Air Asia, the budget airline of Malaysia, has been notorious for flight delay. But now, its sister company, Air Asia X, rescheduled its flight to an earlier time. Here is the news from The Star (Saturday, March 22, 2008)…

~~~~~~~~~~

More than 20 passengers were left stranded at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), claiming that the boarding gate for their flight to Brisbane was closed earlier than scheduled.

They claimed that the boarding time for Air Asia X Flight D7-2702 to Gold Coast, Australia, closed at 8.30pm, and the flight took off 10 minutes earlier at 9.40pm.

It is learned that most of the stranded passengers were Australians.

The passengers claimed that airline did not inform them about the re-schedule timing in advance.

One of the stranded passengers, Mark Jason Thomas, 28, who is a local, said no one was allowed to get past the boarding gate after 8.30pm.

He said when they checked with airport personnel, they were told that the flight was re-scheduled earlier by 10 minutes.

Another passenger, Mohd Nasir Mohamad Ashraf, said an Air Asia X official suggested that the passengers wait for the next flight to the Gold Coast on Sunday morning.

He said the airline refused to compensate or arrange any accommodation for the stranded tourists.

Thomas said the passengers had all reconfirmed their tickets earlier.

One of the passengers lodged a report on the incident at the LCCT police station.

~~~~~~~~~~

Was it right for Air Asia X to re-schedule its flight without informing the passengers in advance? Was it the passengers’ fault for not checking with the airline? What do you think?

13 comments:

  1. its the Air Asia's responsibility to tell customer.this called customer service!

    in same time, passanger may came earlier to avoid this incident happend.

    p.s: one case,Air Asia suddenlly cancelled the flight n din gv any refund to passangers.they oso din gv any reason y cancelled the flight,just simply informed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The aviation guideline is all the international passengers have to check-in 2 hours before the flight departure. This apply to the whole world...

    In this case, unless the airline company pull in the schedule of 2 hours in ahead... otherwise, i could not see how the passenger will miss the flight if they are following the guideline.

    A lot of time, i see that Malaysian usually arriving the airport last minutes which the check-in counter has closed... No offense but this happen to most of my friends...

    For me, I usually reach the airport 2 hours before the flight and get myself check in then sit @ the cafe enjoying my coffee and reading.

    ReplyDelete
  3. christine
    In the other case you mentioned, did AirAsia put the passengers in a later flight?

    TZ
    I don't really know the details of the incident, so it is difficult to judge. From the news, it seems that the boarding gate was closed 70 minutes before departure. So even if you check in 2 hours in advance, then go to sip coffee at McDonald's and shop for duty free items, you may still miss the flight.

    Another thing is: in peak seasons when there are too many passengers, sometimes it may take more than 20 minutes to check in...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Continue from my previous comment...

    TZ
    I went to Bangkok last January. On my return trip, in Suvarnabhumi Airport, I spent 30 minutes to check in, and another 20 minutes to clear the immigration. I barely made it to the gate in time...

    ReplyDelete
  5. usually the flights are being delayed...
    i wonder why they are in such a hurry this time XD

    ReplyDelete
  6. 迷迭香
    Yeah, I also don't understand. Maybe they anticipated delay in Gold Coast, so they tried to get there early...

    ReplyDelete
  7. In the case of rescheduling, AirAsia X should inform all the passengers, using sms perhaps. I had received a rescheduling sms from AirAsia before. But this is a problem for foreigner.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As i know they din put passengers to later flight just informed,i heard from my fren.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There were 20 passengers involved so something must be really amiss at Air Asia. This is bad publicity for them unless they can come forward with a valid explanation. Then again, we don't know the specifics to make any judgment.

    With so much unrest in the world, travellers would be wise to be at the airport at least two hours ahead. I received information today that checks at airports in China are very stringent now.

    Well, everything is relative. You get what you pay for. Thanks for sharing the story, KS.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Air asia must responsible on that..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Must inform passengers earlier lar...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks everyone for your input.

    happysurfer said,
    "You get what you pay for."

    Hmm...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I hate it when they cancel flights, always leaves a really bad impression for the customer. I wonder sometimes how much they care.

    airasiareviews.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete