YOURSAY | Now not everyone can fly on time

YOURSAY | ‘Insufficient aircraft not a good excuse, you must deliver what you sell.’

Minister demands answers from AirAsia after complaints mount

OCT: It looks like AirAsia doesn’t have enough planes to operate its business (based on reports of many complaints involving flight delays and rescheduling experienced by passengers, which also gained the attention of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi).

It also looks like one plane served multiple routes, so if there is a delay at one airport, there will be subsequent delays at other airports along the route due to chain impact or domino effect.

AirAsia didn't have the same available fleet of planes before Covid-19 due to overhead costs of holding idle planes.

This problem of delays is expected when there are not enough planes to service the routes. It is poor planning - too few planes to serve all the airports along the route. Planes were overstretched.

The other factor is AirAsia couldn't lease more planes to meet the demand. It has screwed up big time.

BlackTiger4134: It is better for the flights to be rescheduled than expose patrons to risks.

The Wakandan: @BlackTiger4134, you probably did not use AirAsia. The delays were not due to technical factors. They were waiting for the planes to arrive from heaven knows where. There were no planes. The plane was still ferrying passengers to Tawau, Sabah, while you were waiting at KLIA2.

Refuelling, loading and reloading, not to mention the flight hours themselves, take time. They must be in a hurry to reach the destination so that the plane can be prepared for another flight. Probably the technical checks were done hurriedly too. There is more exposure of patrons to risks there.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is equally bad; it also delayed flights. The number is only less because there are fewer flights.

When is AirAsia going to stop rescheduling flights? In good times, you would think that they would simply cancel flights if the plane is not full and transfer the passengers to another flight.

In busy times, they simply use the same number of planes knowing they could not cope but hoping to get payment from passengers all the same.

There is no refund in AirAsia. Many of us at least had experienced money loss because the refunding process is either too complicated or too long that eventually it is all lost and forgotten in the waiting.

Insufficient aircraft is not a good excuse. There will bound to be maintenance and repair. A good planner will take this into account and if you increase your flight numbers, the possibility of repair will be higher. Nevertheless, you must deliver what you sell.

Therefore, it is not enough just to have the actual number of planes for the flights, there should be the flexibility of using spare aircraft to avoid flight cancellation or long rescheduling.

As per the Malaysian Aviation Commission’s rule, the airline should compensate the customers' meals where there are more than two hours of delay and hotel accommodation for more than five hours of delay, besides providing internet access and telephone calls.

Malaysier: Any delays exceeding two hours should be refunded in full. If I miss a flight due to my own fault the full amount is forfeited. If the airlines are at fault for whatever reason, then the airline should fully compensate the affected passengers.

Rules should be formulated to ensure justice for consumers. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, which side are you on? Don't just blow hot air.

Fred Flint Stone: This is just simply extremely bad planning by the flight operations department of AirAsia.

They are creaming it in at both ends - higher prices followed by late departures and rescheduling with zero passenger compensation.

I had a flight rescheduled from 9.30am departure out of KLIA2, which eventually departed at 2pm - that's a full-on joke.

AirAsia can do far better than this - there's no excuse for massive price hikes if they are performing like this.

Reflective: It's a disgrace. AirAsia must be made to fully compensate passengers delayed for more than two hours with amounts increasing as delays lengthen; and, as a part of standard operating procedures, they should provide clear and transparent communications to delayed passengers.

Mandatory regulations should be introduced to prevent AirAsia from short-changing passengers on these matters.

Iphonezours: The government has to be firm in dealing with airlines operating in Malaysia whether they are legacy or low-cost carriers.

When the consumer affairs minister has to step in, clearly this is a slap in the face to the Transport Ministry which has to be more proactive in dealing with airlines.

Drngsc: Just fine AirAsia, RM10,000 for every passenger complaint. That will encourage people to come forward, compensate them and teach AirAsia a lesson.

And set up a consumer bureau to look into all complaints.

MarioT: AirAsia was truly a long-awaited welcome sight, offering cheap flights to allow everyone to fly.

The menacing Covid-19 virus has disrupted its smooth operations and it needs a bit more time to regain its former glory. Many of its crew members were laid off and have to be recruited back. Until then, we should bear with their struggles and shortcomings.

It is still a budget airline for us to be proud of. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, I believe you can restore the airline to its past glory.

LimeSinga1592: Did they say “now everyone can fly” or “now everyone can fly on time”?

I think AirAsia is a disruptive concept - it allowed for the ordinary folks to even dream of flying and some folks actually book weekly fights for the year in advance even if it meant forfeiting some flights since it is ridiculously cheap. I think those who fly this airline are treating it like the standard airlines that charge a normal fee.

Further, airlines are in a struggling industry made worse with Covid and the addition of two more airlines, and I respect AirAsia for doing it independently to stay afloat.

I would give them a break or a few more breaks to get themselves back on their feet.

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