We bought our air tickets for a trip to Bangkok from Air Asia. Yeah, yeah, I know you’re asking why since Air Asia really sucks. MAS tickets for the period we wanted weren’t cheap and we would rather spend the money on shopping so we decided to go low cost with the flight and chose Air Asia. But since the trip is now cancelled due to the unrest in Bangkok, we were looking at options of what to do with the flight.
I read that MAS is offering its passangers who bought flights to Bangkok during this period to cancel their flights without incurring any fees. I thought it was very nice of MAS, and if I were a customer, I would be happy with this option. After all it is not because of my fickle mindedness that is causing the cancellation.
Upon a check on Air Asia, I found that they aren’t offering any free cancellations. Instead, it says that the flights will continue, but customers can choose to do 2 things should they want to cancel their trips. They can either postpone and choose another flight of a later date, or they can get credit for the flight and choose to fly to some other destination with those credits given.
While that is also quite a good option, in the sense that you don’t completely lose out on the money paid, it is rather limiting compared to what MAS is offering. I would imagine that for holiday makers like us, it is possible to plan another holiday to some other destination. But what if someone booked the flight for a business trip and won’t need any trip anywhere else?
It does seem like once you book with Air Asia, they aren’t willing to let you go no matter what the circumstance. They’d rather you be forced to make use of the credit than to make you a happy customer by letting you cancel.
Anyway, now that we have this credit and it’s valid for the next 3 months, we will have to start looking for some destinations that Air Asia flies to just so that we don’t burn the credit.
How does Bandung sound? Anyone been there and would recommend it? I hear it doesn’t have that much to offer other than some 20-something factory outlet stores! But that alone sounds like good shopping for me.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
hi there,
Bandung is good for shopping since you initially wanted to go shopping in Bangkok too.
Bandung has lotsa factory outlets and you can get brands liek A& FItch, Paul Frank etc at the Factory outlets. Real cheap too!
Weather there is slightly cool as it’s a mountainside area, sun shines in the dya but it does not burn and nights are cool.
You might want to give it a try.
Oh and while you’re there, why not pay a visit to Tangkuban Perahu, it’s live volcano…you can smell the sulfur! DOn;t worry it won’t erupt, lots of hotsprings nearby there too!
Enjoy!
-jolene-
Jolene, thanks for sharing these very useful tips on Bandung! Yes, my trip is all about shopping, that’s why I thought Bandung was the next best choice for affordable shopping
ha…. i guess thats the case with most asian companies..
they wont refund your money, but they will let u use it for something else instead..
just keep that in mind…
^^