Do Not Be Fooled By Air Asia

Many seem to have the perception that air carriers such as Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International are bloody expensive while Air Asia is just cheap, cheap, cheap. If you are one such person then you are one ignorant idiot. I don't feel sorry at all by calling you an idiot because you really are.

For the budget-conscious traveler, most do not bother to check out the air fares on the full service carriers such as Malaysia Airlines when booking a ticket. Many simply logon to www.airasia.com and book whatever air tickets they see right away.

Anyways, i got a call from a friend last week. A group of people are planning a trip overseas later this year and they are asking me to come along. Among the suggested destinations are Melbourne, Perth, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Taipei. Most of them are in favored of Chinese cities as costs are considerable lower than Aussie cities. They told me just how cheap Air Asia X is. Which is why all the suggested destinations are actually cities that Air Asia X fly to because they plan to go there on Tony Fernandes' so-called no-frills ultra-cheap airline.

I wasn't really interested as i got a plan all lined up for later this year but decided to check the air fare to certain cities anyway.

I decided to do a dummy booking to Taipei from Kuala Lumpur in November and guess what ? China Airlines is actually cheaper. The fare quoted by China Airlines for 3 passengers is only RM2031 (tax and surcharge included). Air Asia on the other hand, turned out to be RM2214 (inclusive of applicable tax and surcharge) for 3 people. And bear in mind that for the Air Asia X ticket, the fare quoted consists of only a plane ticket. If you want a meal, to watch a movie or to check-in your luggage, you will have to pay no less than RM40 extra per person.

So the bottom line is that you should do your homework before buying something. Be a smart consumer. Do not simply fall into some fancy ads you saw.