My bad experience today! I purchased my flight ticket from Jakarta to Johor Bahru on the 19th September 2013 and tonight is the night before my flight that I and my family have been preparing for, for a few months.
My first suspicion arose when I tried to check in through the web and was unable to, it is usually a trouble free process as per my previous experience. My wife then suggested to me that I contact the Air Asia representative to see if there was a problem.
I then called the Air Asia representative named Bp Andra at 20:48 on the 13th July 2014 and he explained to me that the Jakarta to Johor Bahru flight was suspended and does not exist, from the 1st July 2014.
Bp Andra explained to me that the “Pre Flight” department, who are responsible to communicate flight changes, had called me on the 18th June 2014 at 11:43 with no response. I then questioned why a SMS and email was not sent, as per usual, and the response was that he didn’t know and the responsibility was that of the Pre Flight department.
I then asked if the flight could be changed, because accommodation and other tickets for Johor Bahru had already been purchased long beforehand, and the answer was no. I could only receive a refund for the Jakarta to Johor Bahru tickets. The problem about this so-called solution is that the expenses that have already been paid for, such as accommodation and theme park tickets is more expensive than the flight tickets themselves!!!
After lengthy discussion I realized it was getting nowhere and then I hung up and checked my phone for an SMS or email from Air Asia regarding the changes in the flights.
The funny thing is that I received an email on the 8th July 2014, reminding me about the flight and to web check-in if I wanted to….! The email’s heading is “Booking no: XXXXXX - AirAsia Flight Reminder to Johor Bahru”. This email was after the supposed Pre Flight department’s unsuccessful call to me let me know that the flight was cancelled, which according to Bp Andra was on the 18th June 2014.
In my past experience with Air Asia they always communicate the changes through SMS AND EMAIL! Why was the procedure different this time?? Why wasn’t more effort taked to ENSURE that the customer was told well beforehand, I find this mistake UNACCEPTABLE! Air Asia is usually very good and I have never had one complaint about them previously, but this mistake was fatal in my mind and some responsibility should be taken by Air Asia! Also in my case I live in Riau, so the effort, time, annual leave and expense taken for this trip was a lot, so to then have this experience with Air Asia and the trip cancelled is a HUGE disappointment.
I share my experience to other Air Asia customers so this doesn’t happen to you. Please check and double check you flights so you have a great trip and no hassles like I did.
Sources : http://wisata.kompasiana.com/jalan-jalan/2014/07/13/bad-experience-air-asia-673812.html