Music stops for Ipoh folks who travel AirAsia
Ipoh folks who cheered for AirAsia has stopped cheering. They are also baffled and then some, angry.
December 06, 2005, the Transport Ministry anoounced that it was planning to turn the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport in Ipoh as a hub for low fare flights for domestic and south East Asia flights. The direct beneficiary would have been Malaysia's sole low-fare carrier, AirAsia.
January 2006, AirAsia announced that it was to launch flights to Ipoh, Tawau, Kota Bharu and Sandakan from its hub in Johor Bahru, which was established in December 2003.
It was good news for Ipoh folks. The sleepy hollow that's reeling from the good old glorious days tin-mining boom suddenly found itself connected to the national trunk route on air again after MAS flights were cut when the North -South Highway was opened.
Beginning February 6, 2006, AirAsia was to have started operating 4 flights weekly (every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) to Ipoh and Tawau; 3 flights weekly (every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) to Kota Bharu and Sandakan.
Besides the introduction of the new routes, AirAsia was also reported to have boosted frequencies to several of its existing destinations, namely from Johor to Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Penang. The airline was to have started operating 10 flights a week to Kuching, 11 flights a week to Kota Kinabalu , and 10 flights a week to Penang. All flights depart from Senai International Airport, in Johor Bahru.
Due to the expansion in Johor, AirAsia was also reported to have deployed a second aircraft to Johor to serve the new routes and added frequencies.
To commemorate the expansion in Johor, AirAsia is offering the following online fare promotions for travel between February 6, 2006 to October 28, 2006. The promotional fare for Johor to Ipoh, for example, starts from RM9.99 one way.
All in all, AirAsia gave hope to Ipoh, and folks over there had been drummed up anticipation for the multiplier effects of a revived air passenger transit hub.
Some wrote to Screenshots, thanking AirAsia for the fact that the IPH-JHB-IPH route will give them much convenience and travel option, not forgetting the ease in making air transit to towns in Sabah and Sarawak.
No more IPH-JHB flight after September 18
Somehow, the music stops for Ipoh, and all too soon.
Visitors to Web Forum on Ipoh.com.my are now grimacing painfully at the prospect that AirAsia is going to cancel the IPH-JHB flight from September 18, 2006.
The thread, which was started on August 23, has attracted 37 responses so far. The affected AirAsia travellers claimed that they were only notified of their flight cancellation after September 18 via SMS, and no words on refund and other forms of compensation were given.
This is despite the fact that AirAsia has maintained on its official website that all flights booked-and-paid for the route will remain valid till October 28, 2006.
Reader KK Kwan wrote to Screenshots yesterday, saying that the situation warrants a clear explanation by AirAsia.
The reader's email is published below, verbatim.
Mailbag From: Kwan KK To: jeffooi.screenshots@gmail.com Date: Aug 26, 2006 9:18 PM Subject: A can of maggots ...AirAsia
Jeff, I don't know Jeff, hope this turns out to be a juicy find .... What’s bad has just turned worse. Follow up to the current airlines delay fracas – here we have what is known as the business practice by AirAsia.I’ve booked, and paid in full, for my IPH-JHB-IPH flight well ahead of schedule; only to find out that all flights on this sector will be cancelled as of 18/9/06. I only came to know abt this cancellation thru words of mouth !!!
Why doesn’t AirAsia make an official announcement through the press ? I can’t even find a hint of this cancellation in their website !!
I called up their hotline to ask and the rumour is indeed true. When I questioned them abt the lack of publicity on this matter, they just answered that SMS will be sent out to passengers ‘very soon’. What is this ? Are they thinking that SMS is a foolproof , ‘silver bullet’ method of getting msg across to us ! Do they expect a single SMS will solve everything ?
This is really frustrating, because it does not just wrecked my family’s vacation, but I have to now think of a way to get myself to JHB and back to IPH as I still have an onward flight to BKI with AirAsia. Are they bothered to refund me ? If they do are they going to pay for my time, money and effort wasted in salvaging my family's vacation ? Is it in their Standard Operating Procedures to mess around with passengers’ itinerary ?
Oh..wait, there’s more, here’s the icing of the cake ….
take a look at the screenshots taken from their homapage here : http://forum.ipoh.com.my/forum/showpost.php?p=79459&postcount=32
and AirAsia's schedule for this particular sector published on their website, here.Why do they bother to advertise the availability of that particular flight (their schedule says it's valid will Oct 28) when they've already taken it off the shelf ? Does this mean AirAsia is resorting to false advertising to fish for business here? Will AirAsia be subjected to any legal implications?
I'm sure many others are still unaware abt this.....
truly,
KK
Comments
Refund is a word unknown in the Air Aisia dictionary!
I asked for a refund of the airport tax paid for four of us for a flight booked prior to moving to KLCCT.
Sorry sir no refund was the answer (the minister has stated differently) we can credit it into your account.
After 3 month or so still no answer from AA on this matter.
Their monopoly makes them arrogant!
Posted by: Albert![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 27, 2006 08:22 PM
I have warned people AA is not the angel they project themselves to be.
Their business model is purely profit, not service. In other words, they will sacrifice service for profits.
They have cancelled and pooled flights when loads are low. Cancel schedules when loads are low and seasonal. They are already messing up Sarawak and Sabah's rural service. These cannot make money, but is pure social service. It got so bad, the state G had to send 2 truck loads of food on a 2 day land/river/land journey to Bario, because Fax Air cancelled the cargo service MAS used to operate. The freight charge went up some 4 times, before complaints brought it down to the previous level.
There is NO refund from any AA bookings. I am also similarly affected by the LCCT move, and never got any refund.
The bad news is, MAS has learnt the bad habits from AA. In the past, on full fare, one can change schedule without penalty more than 24 hours before. Now, even with the increased full fares, one is penalised RM65 for any change.
Caveat Emptor.
Posted by: limeuu![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 27, 2006 10:50 PM
One more thing. The G cannot wash its hands of the air services. They must step in to ensure predatory practices is controlled.
Deregulation can only work is there is REAL competition. At the moment, there is none; AA and MAS are NOT competiting with each other, they operate in different segments of the market.
To stop regulating the 2 under the present circumstances is to invite predatory practices.
Posted by: limeuu![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 27, 2006 10:56 PM
small towns like Ipoh, kuantan, Langkawi should be served by smaller turbo-props and not 737's. Pelangi should be revived for this purpose. I was informed SIA or its subsidiary was interested in pelangi license when it went belly up several years ago. Using jet aircraft to serve small towns is suicide.
Posted by: sydput![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 28, 2006 10:49 AM