Flight Review: Air Asia A320 (multiple trips throughout Asia)
This flight review is actually a fusion of my experiences flying several times on Air Asia in January 2024.
I must say that the experience was pretty consistent across the board, with just a few differences in some cabin elements that we shall soon review.
So, I have grouped the different elements of Air Asia’s offering with the aim of providing, both, a general view of the product and also highlight some specificities that you may come across.
Flight#: AK6247
From: Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
To: Langkawi (LGK)
Flight time: 1h
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
Flight#: AK6247
From: Langkawi (LGK)
To: Penang (PEN)
Flight time: 45min
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
Flight#: AK273
From: Bandar Seri Begawan (BWN)
To: Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Flight time: 2h 20min
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
Flight#: AK272
From: Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
To: Bandar Seri Begawan (BWN)
Flight time: 2h 20min
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
About Air Asia
Air Asia’s business is based on the tried and tested low cost airline formula: cheap base fares (really, really cheap in some cases!) plus plenty of add-on ancillaries.
The particularity of Air Asia compared to its European and US peers is that it is part of a larger group of businesses, called Capital A, which, under the leadership of charismatic entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, has grown into a diversified conglomerate the offers also digital and financial services and logistics, among other activities. Air Asia used to have also a long-haul, low-cost arm, but this has now merged with the rest of the airlines of the group, which operate through business units based in several countries across Asia.
I have no direct experience with the other Capital A businesses or the long haul airline, so my review concerns only the short haul flights operated by Air Asia’s Malaysia-based core airline business.
Pre-flight experience
This is possibly the part of the experience that I would rate the lowest and for two reasons:
Air Asia app
I was looking forward to testing the AirAsia app (since renamed to “Air Asia Move”, since this is one of Capital A’s flagship assets. In fact, the strategy for a long time has been to make of the app a platform from where to access seamlessly all the different services and businesses under the Capital A umbrella. In oterh words, to turn it into a “super-app” as the concept is commonly known in Asia.
My experience with the Air Asia app was, however, kind of underwhelming, so I resorted to doing everything through the regular website.
Why was it underwhelming? Perhaps, having heard a lot about this digital platform, I was expecting a lot more from Air Asia’s app, but the fact is that, even after registering on Air Asia’s loyalty program, I found little benefit in operating through the app compared to operating through the website, no specific offers or bundles or features that made me gravitate towards it.
I actually had some issues with my registration, since for a while after registering for the rewards program, the app didn’t seem to recognize me. It may have been a temporary glitch, but, long story short, I ended up doing everything on the website and gave up using the app.
Air Asia’s app is certainly popular in its core markets, so maybe it was just me doing something wrong, experiencing some one-off technical issue or simply not being familiar enough with some of its features.
NOTE: this may have changed since then, since I am aware that Air Asia and Capital A are implementing some changes, starting by the use of the “Move” brand across its businesses!
Ancillaries and luggage
The other thing that is important to bear in mind when preparing a trip with Air Asia is that it enforces VERY strictly the carry on luggage rules. On the positive side, checking in luggage is very reasonably priced.
Also, carry-on bags are limited to 7kg, which is a threshold that is quite easy to get over.
We did pay to check in a couple of suitcases, but, even then we were about 1kg over the limit and had to reshuffle a couple of things to be let through. I get the logic, but, tbh, found this observance of the regulations to the very last gram a bit over the top.
I understand the need to enforce some limits, after all there are always some people blatantly above the limits, but I really doubt there is much revenue to be gained from these borderline cases. When the weight above the limit is so little, it is quite easy to just rearrange a couple of things. It just spoils the experience a bit with little to show in return, particularly when one has paid already for the bulk of the luggage,
In any case, if you are really going to go much above the 7kg threshold, there is also an option called “Fast Pass” that gives you access to the cabin with carry on and priority boarding for a little extra (around $10 or so), so this is definitely an option to consider if travelling with more than 7kg, but don’t want to check in your luggage.
The Cabin
Air Asia operates a single cabin, all-economy model. Interestingly, while the inflight experience is pretty consistent, I came across quite some diversity of seats and cabin fittings onboard, likely the result of growing the fleet organically over many years and having different suppliers along the line.
So, I would say the picture above shows the “standard” and possibly latest cabin style, with the slim leather seats in this grey-red colour scheme.
There are also seats with extra space or at the front of the cabin, which cost more. I think those are the fully red ones you can find on some aircraft, as shown below. Note also that on this particular aircraft all seats (not just the red ones) were fitted with small seat back screens (which were not in service, btw!).
But some aircraft also sport what I think are older generation seats. See below on the right the much bulkier seats, with seat back screens and a much darker colour scheme and compare it with the one on the left.
Here you can see the cabin with the bulkier seats as it looks from the back of the aisle. Note that the screens are not working, it is possibly some legacy system that is no longer in use. These seats must be quite heavy compared to the slim ones, though!
And next you can see the pitch with the different types of seats I encountered, as well as the disposition of the tray, literature pockets and other seat elements:
Some more observations from my Air Asia flights:
Ambient music is played while boarding.
At least part of the Air Asia fleet has inflight internet connectivity, but it appeared to be active on only two of the flights I took (between Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, and back). I am not sure whether on the others was not available because it was not fitted or because Air Asia does not activate it on very short domestic flights.
Another interesting phenomenon that I have almost never seen in Europe is that there was water vapour being dispensed through the upper reaches of the cabin while the aircraft was on the ground (see the picture below). I had seen it very occasionally on other airlines, but in Air Asia it seems to be the norm, perhaps is something typical in a tropical environment?
Food and Amenities
As a proper low-cost airline, you need to pay extra for food. I flew really short segments, so didn’t get to experience much of the food onboard. However, I am adding here some snaps to provide an idea of what is available.
Food and drink is not free, but, tbh, the choice and selection is quite good, including quite a few Asian specialities that look really good.
Here are a couple of pics of the food on the Brunei to Kuala Lumpur flight. You can also pre-order.
The inflight shop and duty free seem to be quite a big thing at Air Asia. There is a shopping magazine by each seat and, unlike on intra-European flights, I noticed quite a few passengers were ordering stuff, even on the very short Malaysian domestic flights.
There is a whole section with Air Asia merchandising too. Strong brand!
Our Take
Air Asia is one of the great low cost airlines of the world, it is efficient, it offers great value and it delivers. It’s strict with the baggage allowances, but, on the plus side, the add-ons are quite reasonably priced.
There’s no doubt I will consider it again if I travel again in its home region!