Once again I have been lured by an AirAsia sale and find myself in Kuala Lumpur. I didn’t intend to book a flight when I checked the AirAsia page, I was just checking if there was anything new on the site. Next thing you know the flashing $149 AUD one way sale banner was hypnotizing me and I had my credit card out ready to go.
Being not too dependent on time my criteria for booking flights is to find the cheapest available. The two cheapest flights I could find were 2 and a half months apart. So for the next 80 days Southeast Asia is my living and working playground.
I’ve been through KL a few times this year due to AirAsia flying from here to Melbourne. It’s been a handy hub for connecting to destinations around Asia.
AirAsia X
Air Asia was voted as world’s best low-cost airline for 2009. I’ve been writing plenty about AirAsia, but how can I not when they keep offering up great fares. A return fare from Melbourne to KL for $292 AUD is an offer too good to refuse, so I have taken up the offer and will be basing myself in Indonesia for a month.
World's best low cost airline - Air Asia Kuala Lumpur
AirAsiaX has inter-seat chat available on some of its flights. The service is free, even if you don’t buy the entertainment service.
To get started select the chat option, then select the seat of the person you want to chat with.
Chat seat selection
You then get a message box where you type via the touch screen.
Write message
When you send the message the recipient will get a message like this.
You have a chat message
I guess it would be handy if you have a friend sitting in another row, but I wonder how it goes with talking to strangers?
I was flying solo so I had no one to try it out on. I don’t know what the inter-seat chat etiquette is with sending a message to a stranger. Do you walk up and down the isles first checking out anyone you fancy and note down their seat number?
Have you used this service before on AirAsia, or any other airline? Share your experience in the comments.
I had originally intended to get the bus from Padang to Jakarta, until I discovered that the cost of flying was only a few dollars more than the bus. Seeing that the bus was also going to cost me 30 hours, flying was an easy choice.
There are plenty of flights between Padang and Jakarta so the tickets are reasonably priced evena few days before flying.
Jakarta air lift - Padang Airport
What I like about AirAsia is that seating is assigned, so there is no mad rush for seats like on Ryanair and easyJest.
When you book online you can pay to pick a seat. You can also pick your own seat at check-in without having to pay. I was fortunate enough to get window seat behind the exit row. This is possibly the best seat of the lot as there is no seat in front of you.
The best seat in the house - behind the emergency row
If you are going to be flying to Jakarta, get a window seat so you can see the Thousand Islands chain. This evocatively titled island group is closer to 100 islands than 1000, but it looks great from above no matter how many there are.
Thousand Islands - more than just a salad dressing
Seeing that my AirAsia flight was already rescheduled twice I got to the airport early to make sure I had a seat. I needn’t have worried as the flight was 1/3 full.
AirAsiaX Seats
I ended up sort of lying down in the middle rows so all in all it was a good flight. They do exactly what say say they will, that is offer a no frills budget long haul service. I just hope they fill more seats as the service becomes more known.
I just got round to changing my accommodation details after my flight was moved two days forward then I got another text from AirAsiaX saying my flight is moved to a different day!
AirAsiaX Text Message
They have sent me a new e-ticket, but I wont be confident about actually flying until I am onboard.
I am due to fly to Kuala Lumpur next week with AirAsiaX. I am looking forward to trying out this airline that started flights to Melbourne in 2008. Actually I’m just looking forward to going away, so my heart sank briefly when I got this text message from the airline:
AirAsiaX Text Message
There is no explanation why this flight is cancelled, but fortunately I’m on the next flight 2 days after.
