Air Asia, I Love You Still...

 February 11th 2011

(Aha! Nice date. 2112011)

As told to do on AirAsia Indonesia's Facebook here, today I went to Air Asia's sales office in Kelapa Gading to solve the problem which I've mentioned about in previous post. I was met by Pak Agung. I got my itinerary revised by zero cost.

My flight Sandakan - Kinabalu was revised to Sandakan - Kuala Lumpur.

The flight Kinabalu - Jakarta which was canceled by Air Asia, was revised to Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta.

There are only 2 flights in 1 day from Sandakan to KL which are 10:25 and 20:35. If I had to take the 10:25, I would have to cancel my plans and some bookings for that morning. Moreover to catch a 10:25 means that I have to leave the hotel in the morning. It would be pointless then to stay overnight. Hence, I chose the 20:35 flight which is scheduled to arrive in KL at 23:20. This meant also canceling the previous plan for sightseeing in Kinabalu before heading for the airport.

Arriving in KL at 23:20 means that I will have to stay overnight in KL. Needless to say, I have to eat. By this time, 12 o'clock by midnight, taxi fares in KL are on special rate. Special rate here isn't like Air Asia's special rate. Special rate here means higher than the normal price.

I tried to explain this to Pak Agung, but for the third time he said that I can't receive any compensation other than a rerouted ticket. He told me that if I want a compensation, I should contact Air Asia's head office.

"By what?" I asked. "By email? You know why I'm here? Let me tell you the story. I received an email telling that my flight is canceled. In that email was a link which said that I could send an email for refund and further information. However, I never got a respond. And then people on Facebook told me to go here. Now here I am. And now you are telling me to email Air Asia again?"

Pak Agung told me to wait. While waiting, a lady came in complaining about her canceled flight to Melbourne. She said that she tried to call since morning until afternoon but never could get through. Aha! In the email notification I received there were 2 options for refund: to call or email. Luckily I didn't waste my time for the first. My friend already experienced it. Some people on Facebook also commented so.

Pak Agung assured me that my new tickets are in process but cannot be printed out right away. He said that it would take an hour or two to get the ticket ready and also that I would receive the new itinerary by email within the latest 4 hours. Well... you really have to be patient when you pay less, don't you? So I left or else I would be sitting there counting the customers coming to complaint. And oh ya, no compensation for sure. I had Pak Agung sign on it.

Less than an hour later, Pak Agung called me and said that my new tickets were ready. I told him that I don't want to waste more time going back to Air Asia's office. I'll just print them from my email.

"It will take quite awhile for you to get the email," Pak Agung said.

"How come? You said the tickets are ready. Why can't you email them right away? What's the problem?"

"It's related to our system. Sometimes it takes time."

"What kind of system? I don't understand how can email take that long. I'm not asking you to send them by snail mail."

"Okay, I'll try to email them to you as soon as possible," said Pak Agung finally. He did keep his word. Thanks a lot, Pak Agung.

Air Asia, I love you still...
but I'm not satisfied. You are not fair.
When I change my schedule, you charge me.
But when you change the schedule on the ticket I've purchased, you care less.
Do you think that everyone has the whole time to travel with you? You think that if I cannot fly with you on this day, I can fly with on the next day. No problem. Even if I have to work the next day, it would be worthwhile to skip it for the sake of Air Asia.

Moreover, if I am supposed to get your refund / revise at your sales office only, why didn't you mention it in your email of notification? Your option was only to call or to email and neither of them worked! You didn't even give the addresses of your sales offices. I had to check them out by myself. And, still no compensation!

Air Asia, I love you still...
simply because I have no other choice
yet.