Air Asia Oh Air Asia

Read Confession Of A Frequent Air Traveler HERE.

I'm a frequent flier and those who are, would understand the hassle and how stressful flying is.

Especially if with Air Asia.

Delay is nothing new. In fact most people would expect delay when they are travelling with Air Asia.

Of all the times I'm traveling with them, 70% of the time, my flight would be delayed.

Bila orang tanya

"Macam mana la flight? Ada delay ka?"

"Ya. Air Asia ma, memang selalu delay lah. setengah jam delay."

"OMGGG. TAHNIAH! Kira bagus sudah tu delay setengah jam saja."

Air Asia dan delay, ibarat aur dengan tebing. Memang tidak dapat dipisahkan.

Cerita pasal delay memang tidak akan habis lah kan. Tapi kali ni CPPS nak cerita pasal benda lain pulak.

Dalam bulan ni, 2 kali CPPS balik kampung. 

Yang first untuk menghadiri pengebumian uncle iols. 

For Kuching-KL, one day before flight, I received an email to inform me that my flight has been cancelled and given few options. 

So I chose to change to a slightly earlier flight.

Because I had no printer at home to print the boarding pass if I check in online, I decided to check in at the self-service kiosk before departing.

When I was at the airport, I saw a very long queue at the check in kiosk and then I know why.

There was 3 kiosk but only 1 was working. NICE.

Takpa. Kita beratur saja. Tiba-tiba lagi 2 orang nak sampai turn CPPS, kiosk harapan terakhir tiba-tiba OUT OF SERVICE pulak.

DEnnggggggg. CPPS dah panas bontot sebab lagi sejam nak fly.

"Dekat sebelah check in counter ada lagi kiosk" kata cik Air Asia Customer Service. 

Okay fine kita pergi situ.

Sampai sana. ketiga-tiga kiosk OUT OF SERVICE! 

Takpa, iols masih cool. Tanya cik customer service

"Kiosk out of service la. My flight lagi 45 minutes tapi tak check in lagi. How?"

"Oh semua pun tak boleh check in sebab airport blackout so semua system down. Satu airport affected. Tapi dalam keadaan macam ni, biasanya aircraft akan tunggu. Cik boleh la pergi beratur kat counter dulu."

Kemudian CPPS pun mengalihkan pandangan ke arah queue yang dinyatakan tadi.

YA RABBBBIIIII. Panjang macam tembok China uols! Sakit jantung iols.

So CPPS pun ikutlah beratur kan.

Makin lama, makin panjang. Makin lama, makin ramai yang mula gelabah dan tertanya-tanya, bertanya-tanya kepada para staff di kaunter.

Wowwww Wooowwwwww ini tak boleh jadi! 20 minute lagi nak depart tapi tak check in lagi! Beberapa kali jugakla iols berulang alik ke kaunter, ke kiosk tanya nak buat macam mana kan.

20 minutes kemudian bekalan elektrik kembali pulih (how and why airport can afford to blackout is beyond me).

Kita paham sesetengah perkara memang tidak boleh dielakkan. Kita pun tak boleh nak salahkan airline tu.

BUT the situation can be handled better by the ground staff.

Kenapa tak announce saja yang airport power out, system down, tak boleh check in? 

Ini passenger sendiri kena tanya sana sini ulang alik ke kaunter balik semula beratur untuk tanya status penerbangan?

Ye power out, PA system pun out tapi boleh kan pakai inhaler? 

Takde inhaler okay fine, boleh saja kumpul dalam kumpulan kemudian explain apa sebenarnya yang terjadi and reassure passengers kan?

Ini tak. Passenger dibiarkan tertanya-tanya, resah dan gelisah takut tertinggal flight. Ini sebenarnya yang buat orang marah.

Kebetulan the next weekend tu long weekend jadi iols ambik kesempatan untuk balik lagi sekali, untuk luangkan lebih masa dengan famili.

KL-Kuching was uneventful but trouble is Kuching-KL.

It was a rainy evening. First sign of possible delay.

When I was checking in, overheard the auxiliary police talking

"Sine?"

"Hujung runway"

"hmmph. Delay la tok klak."

Hmm tak tau kes tapi takpa. Masih awal lagi. Mungkin dapat settle sebelum flight iols. 

Kalau delay 1-2 jam pun masih okay lagi. Maish boleh baca buku atau main game. Nampak tak tahap cool CPPS tu macam mana. Heh.

Tunggu punya tunggu dalam boarding hall, masih tiada berita. Cuma tau yang semua flight delay. 

All I get was nuggets of information from conversations I overheard.

Tidak lama kemudian CPPS kepochi la tanya orang sebelah-sebelah

"Ohh ada kapal skidded kat runway. So satu airport tutup."

Read about the news HERE. Berita ni pun iols tau dari FB ketika hari kejadian.

Hmmph. Takpa, kita pegi minum dulu. Mana tau boleh fly out jugak malam ni kan.

Selepas 3 jam menunggu (lebih kurang 9.30pm, flight iols 7.45pm), masih tiada maklumat terkini yang penumpang Air Asia terima. 

Malaysia Airlines pulak sudah announce masa-masa retime untuk flight yang delay.

Pukul 10.30 baru nak announce yang semua flight Air Asia malam tu cancel. Lebih kurang 300-400 penumpang yang terkandas mula membanjiri kaunter check in untuk tindakan seterusnya.

Queue dia ya ampuuunnnnn. Tembok China kuasa 10. Sudahla panjang, tidak bergerak langsung.

Mula kedengaran suara-suara merungut yang sangat tidak berpuas hati dengan perkhidmatan Air Asia dalam menangani isu sebegini.

1. Why no information was given?
2. Why can't they email/SMS passengers earlier with options to change flights etc?
3. There are soo many people, why can't they open more counters?

The thing is, passengers do understand that sometimes unavoidable shit happens. But what made people angry was how the issue was handled.

At least give us information that can help us to make a decision. Or update us from time to time and not kept people in the dark like that! 

When I saw how slow and non-moving the queue was, I immediately check for new tickets online for the next day. Couldn't be bothered to queue and cannot imagine how long it will take for my turn.

*the queue for RM10 McDonald's meal voucher earlier was 30-45 minutes even with less than 50 person. 

Can you believe it, the earliest flight for Air Asia was 9am priced at RM600?!?!?!

It's okay. Let's check out MAS.

5.45am (just in time for me to reach the office before 9am) priced at less than RM300 with 30kg baggage allowance, a meal, in flight entertainment, PUNCTUALITY and PEACE OF MIND.

Bought it without hesitation and texted my sister to come pick me up at the airport.

And I get to spend another night at home. What is there to complain huh?

I guess I'm lucky in so many ways. I don't have a luggage checked in so I can leave anytime and don't need to queue to retrieve my luggage.

I have the resources to just buy another ticket. But what about others who don't?

I'm lucky that my home is near that I get to go home. What about those who are from Serian, Sri Aman? Where are they going to stay or who is going to cover their expenses?

There are those who are catching connecting flight to Melbourne, China and they might missed it. 

There are even those who have events to handle at work the next day and one of them jokingly said 

"Maybe my boss will fire me."

Haihhh. Air Asia oh Air Asia. Buck up your customer service and communication please.