You go to the AirAsia website, and if you are not careful, you will -
1. Pay for baggage
2. Pay for seat allocation
3. Pay for travel insurance
These are designed so that you must click "cancel" and not the other way round. Then if you pay by credit card, they charge you a convenience fee. What convenience ? You go to their counter to pay cash, and the price you get is much higher than the internet price.
Then when you go to the airport, they charge you a fee to check in manually. Those who can't read, pay an extra RM 10 for the check in service.
AirAsia has been misleading people for over 10 years. They are too big for this government to regulate.
Godfather
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Received the above comment for my previous posting 'Australia nails 'extraordinary' AirAsia'.
The posting was about the Australian consumer watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's lawsuit against AirAsia filed in the Federal Court in Melbourne.
The Commission claimed that fares sold on AirAsia's website failed to display the actual cost of traveling incurred by AirAsia passengers.
What Godfather says above rings the bell here in Malaysia. If it's true then heads must roll ... or is AirAsia somewhat special just because they 'help bring in the tourists'?
This could be our newly minted (MYCC) Malaysia Competition Commission's first BIGFISH.
p/s Tak kan MYCC tak berani kot! ACCC's charge is very CLEAR.
it's about time to nail the so called cheap airlines
ReplyDeletein air asia everything has to pay and has price.maybe in future we have to pay for using the toilet during the flight on air asia.
ReplyDeleteI bet this govt. doesn't have the balls to bring Airasia in line.
ReplyDeleteDo we have to pay when using the seat-belt in an Air Asia flight?
ReplyDeleteGovernment didn't have the balls before, will it have now?
ReplyDeletePress Releases
6 January 2004
AirAsia and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Malaysia Resolve Issue of “Misleading” Advertisements
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, Malaysia has given AirAsia the “go ahead” to continue with its advertisements of low fares following a meeting held between AirAsia’s Management team with the ministry headed by its Director General of Enforcement, Abdullah Nawawi Mohamad. The decision was given at a meeting held as a fact finding mission, following reports on the airline’s “misleading” advertisements.
Speaking today after the meeting, AirAsia’s Chairman, YBhg. Dato’ Pahamin A. Rajab said, “We are happy that we can put this issue aside and move forward. We would like to thank the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, and the Malaysian Government for resolving the issue quickly and allowing us to focus on our business. We will set–up meetings with officials from the Ministry of Cultural Arts and Tourism, to discuss ways of collaboration to grow tourism and the low fare travel market in Malaysia.
The ministry has acknowledged that there were no issues on the misinterpretation of the advertisements placed by AirAsia and that it (the advertisements) has no intention to mislead. The ministry has however pointed out that confusion may have arisen due to lack of understanding of the advertisements, particularly by first time flyers with AirAsia who are not familiar with the airline’s unique and innovative concept.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin have also commented that AirAsia should explain its low fare scheme to consumers as the concept is still relatively new.
“We welcome the minister’s suggestion and have planned for road shows to reach out to more people and explain our low fares concept. We will continue to advertise our low fares as practiced previously,” said Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia.
He further continues, “It is always a low fare when you book a seat on AirAsia, no matter if you get a RM 1.99 fare or any other fare. Our lowest fare represents as much as 80% savings and the highest fare is still 20% lower compared to other full service airlines. We understand that some people, mostly first timers on our flights, may not be familiar with the concept; hence we will continue our PR efforts to educate the public on this matter.”
For full press release click: http://www5.airasia.com/site/en/pressRelease.jsp?id=2e7ec73f-c0a8c85d-177e6b40-34fe65ea
It's not merely Air Asia.. most travel companies also posted misleading tour fare.. where the actual price is sometimes more than RM1,200 than the advert price. Very2 few tour company actually posted all-in price.
ReplyDeleteI think it is about time Malaysia legislate this. All prices (in advert, menu, signboard) must be the final nett price. At restaurant for instance, they will charge extra 10+6%.. instead ask them to factor the extra charges in the price of the food itself.
Cukup-cukuplah nak tipu pelanggan.. So 3rd world mentality..
i agree 100 % that Air Asia fare is not cheap. At times, the overseas fare is cheaper than the domestic flight. i really think that A.Asia shud review its charges and adhere to its Now Everyone Can Fly tag. -ApaiSwak
ReplyDelete