What say U...

The aviation industry is developing very well since the last decade. Flying is getting cheaper and cheaper with budget airlines mushrooming the industry. It makes me ponder; can I still fly if the prices were still as expensive as before? I still remembered, tickets to UK in 1998 cost about RM2500 one way for an economy seat with Malaysia Airlines (MAS).  Thank goodness the government had it all sponsored.  Now, you can get a return ticket with less than RM2500. My tickets to UK back in 2009 cost me less than RM2000 per return ticket.

Farah n Faris on the way to
Langkawi with our 0 fare tix .

Acu, momie n the kids sending us to
 LCC for our flight to Jakarta
(RM3o return)

CHEAP TICKETS 
Cheap tickets make me so tempted to book and travel. Tickets that cost you a fortune once upon a time, are only a few hundreds now. Who wouldn’t want t o fly? I never  book my tickets unless it is a promo fare. My tickets to Tianjin was booked under promo fare (RM350 return), tickets to Bali cost me RM150 return , Gold Coast (RM645 return) and tickets to Langkawi cost me only RM60 return. All the prices were inclusive of tax and other expenses. I even flew from Basel to Gatwick with Easyjet with promo tickets that cost me 9.99 euro per person.

NOT SO CHEAP TICKETS

Papa n Faris on the Red Bus @ Perth.

In 2007, I booked my tickets with MAS for a maiden oversea family trip to Perth, Australia. MAS was having a promo that time. Air Asia still did not have any hubs in Australia. The cost was RM3300 (around that figure) for the three of us, return tickets. At that time, I could consider it as cheap since tickets to Perth was more expensive than that. Now, if you search into Air Asia website, you can get the same tickets for less than half the price….:(   I just checked the tickets to Perth with Air Asia, the cost is only RM712 per person (return). I can bring my whole family of 4 (instead of 3) with the price less than RM3300.

On our way back from HK.  Lapar gilosss! Papa paid RM150
for extra food, even though I had ordered pre-booked meals.  

In 2008, I booked the tickets to Hong Kong for 4 with Air Asia during Matta Fair. I thought Matta Fair was supposed to be cheaper, but it was certainly not for Air Asia. Air Asia Mega Sales are normally twice a year, somewhere in October and May. My tickets to Hong Kong cost me RM3300 (4 people). Part of it may be because of the school holidays. Tickets to Hong Kong now is way much cheaper than RM3300. Under normal circumstances, you can get tickets to HK for 4 with RM2300. You will get cheaper prices during sales period…

WHAT’S THE SECRET?

Farah n I @ Pine Resort, Kundasang. We got our 0 fare tix
buy purchasing them a year in advanced.

Plan ahead. That’s the key word. Promo tickets are usually booked very far in advanced. My tickets to Tianjin and GC were booked a year in advanced. Of course, you never know what will happen to u in a year, u can even give birth in a year time but that is the risk you have to take. I let go my second time trip to Bandung on my birthday just because I had a stupid meeting in Malaysia. But, that just cost me RM30 (return). So, I didn’t bother to get a refund or anything!  

 I don't know about other cards, but  I pay with AA Citibank Cr Card (mcm promotion la plak...). You'll get vouchers by collecting points. I'd got my AA vouchers, nearly RM1k with AA citibank.


COMFY VS PRICE?

Which one is more important to u? Some people want the coziness of travelling. Well, that’s just not me! Even if I had the extra money, why bother paying for the tickets? Air Asia X has bigger leg room than Air Asia. Unless you are born 6 feet and above, then you will have problems with AAX seats. Malaysians are born  small in size. We are not like the Americans or Europeans. To me, AAX leg room is more than adequate.

     

      Better service? I don’t know about others. I’d been flying with MAS and AAX for long haul travels and I can say that they are similar.  AAX flight crews are very very nice and approachable. My last trip to Tianjin, for instance, the flight attendances were so nice and even helped us find empty seats to sit. We didn’t buy the seatings, so we need to rely on empty seats in order to sit together.  They were also very friendly with the kids. Overall, I have no problems with AAX staff. 

At Basel Airport: waiting for  my flight to Gatwick. You
get free rides on all the buses and trams if you stay in
any of the hotels here. 

     Delay? My flight with AA from Shenzhen was delayed almost 2 hours. We sat in the air plane waiting to depart. But that was the problem with the airport and not the airline. Even my flight with Easyjet was delayed an hour or so. Well, I can live with that! There were a few other short delays in the past, but over these past few years, I never encountered any critical delays except for 5-10 minutes.  I think budget airlines have improved a lot on this matter.

     Difficult to contact? Do not call them. It's a suicide! U end up paying hundreds waiting on the line. If it is not urgent, just email them. You can even contact them thru FB. If it's urgent and interactive matters, you can tweet or live chat with them. It will not cost u even a cent for those. 

WHAT’S NEXT?

Countries that are far away are now within our reach. It makes me feel more determined to plan and plan ahead. Well, GC next year and also planning for umrah at the end of 2012. I ‘m still waiting for AAX to launch its Jeddah's route. Definitely tickets for umrah will be much lesser with AAX..:) Hope so…

I am a person who loves to plan ahead. I already have my plan for 2013. I might be going to Seoul (with AAX of course!). Have hinted Uva about the Seoul trip. Might ask other friends if they wanna join.  I’m also waiting for AAX to launch its flight to Istanbul (my dream city).  And, may be to Europe again after Faris finishes his UPSR.  Well, can go to Istanbul too if we do go to Europe again. I even dream of going to Orlando and New York. That’s a lil bit of suicide plan, though! Well, where there is a will, there is a way,  I’ll work it out someday.  Been eyeing Air Lingus for the flight to US via Dublin… I guess, I need to manage expenditure well for all these trips...:)