Over the past 15 years, I have travelled to over 80 countries around the world and this is this first complaint to an airline I have ever made.
We purchased 2 Air Asia tickets for a flight 8 months in the future, then 6 months later (and half way through our around the world trip) we received an email stating that this flight route was terminated (not cancelled but entire route terminated not to be flown again).
However, this was known by Air Asia for at least 6 months prior to informing its customers as per online news articles, that means Air Asia knew of this termination within 2 weeks of us booking the flight! Why wait 6 months before informing customers of a terminated flight? They didn’t care about how it affects their customers having to rebook air fares 6 month later making the availability less and therefore prices higher (4 times in our case). Not to mention the incredible inconvenience it causes 6 months later when we were mid travel (in our case, in the Middle East with little means of communication, costing us 2 days of our holiday trying to sort this mess out and purchase replacement flights).
No Sensible Alternatives were given - Air Asia could have so easily offered / arranged flights on existing Air Asia flights via another city, preventing a massive amount of time and expense for its customers having to arrange alternatives and then have to deal with travel insurance claims and chase Air Asia for a refund.
From the time of Air Asia knowing the route was terminated, it took a year to finally receive the refund (and 6 months after requesting a refund). Why did I have to chase this multiple times, further wasting even more of my time? I did not receive a call back about this matter when requested.
Why weren’t we refunded all that we paid (who refunds the loss in exchange rate from when we booked the flights compared to the refund date?). Who refunds our travel insurance excess? Where is the money interest on Air Asia having our money for 1 year?
Why send only an email in a hope that the customer receives it? What if we hadn’t – what if it was marked by a spam filter as junk? If sending an email, why not allow your customers to reply by email since it is a critical issue and they are asking their customers a question about a refund or credit? Why include phone numbers in the email that do not exist? Why force customers to make contact only by phone and therefore force customers to incur toll call costs from another country?
After having to send this compliant twice, they took a month to reply with a typical ‘sorry but go away’ half baked answer reflecting the way they have handled this from the start.
Air Asia is an embarrassment to the airline industry with NO regard for their customers.
In summary, flight booked, terminated 2 weeks later, informed customers 6 months later, held money for 6 more months after multiple requests for payment. Nothing short of corrupt conmen and who regulates this? What can I do about it?

"Buzz, buzz buzz... blah blah blah... but don't worry, all our systems working". So says Air Asia's website when they're swamped. Understandably, site traffic is increased during sale promotions, but after years in a business that capitalizes on DIY bookings, shouldn't the website be able to cope by now?

I have been booted out of the booking pages uncountable times now after spending hours trying to get flights on more than one occassion. As a member, I'm not even able to log in! The only times I seem to have no problems making a booking is when I'm buying FULL PRICE. I for one don't think all systems are working at Air Asia.

(A recent experience attached. Even when I click 'Continue' as I know from previously accessing the page on Step 3 that the default flight is the one I'm after, I get booted to the damn bee AGAIN, and have to try start from scratch AGAIN.)

The following was writtne 7 days after the incident and after several emails and a number of calls I have had no satisfaction or comment with regard to this incident. Probably not unusual for Air Asia as they believe in not answering any serious inquiries. Most Asian passengers would not complain about this. I am not asain and feel I was treated very poorly under the circumstances and should have at least been called by someone to explain what happened on the Flight No one did and I will never fly Air Asia again I believe it not a safe airline. Why are they hiding This is what happened .

On Thu 24 Sep 2009, 1525 hrs I took a flight from Bangkok Thailand to Macau (MFM). In large part the flight was uneventful landing at about
1855 local time. However developments on touchdown have not only created great fear within me but also concern on how your flight attendants and crew handled the situation.

First let me point out that I have flown well over 1 million kilometers in my life and was actually a traffic reporter flying a single engine Cessna for a Radio station when I was in my 20s So I have a little working knowledge of aircraft albeit not as much with large aircraft however enough to know if there is a problem when I see sparks and flames coming from a wing housing.
Having said that I experience what I would consider a major problem in your aircraft on touchdown and I have had trouble dealing with it ever since the incident occurred On the right hand side of the aircraft under the wing and ailerons about midsection on touchdown there was what I would describe as a major potentially devastating incident that occurred on your aircraft

A large stream of Sparks started to fly from mid section of your aircraft on touchdown. Since my eyes focused on the sparks themselves and not the runway I was unable to tell if it was the bottom of the wing touching the runway or an electrical problem under the wing or both However within a few second the sparks turned to a huge plume of flames as the plane was speeding down the runway on touchdown. I am quite certain other passengers saw the same thing I did as my fiancé who was with me at the time confirmed she had witnessed but at the time was not aware it was a serious situation. Buy the time the flames from under the wing had subsided it looked like a light housing or other round object was now dangling from the wing on what looked like loose wires and had come partially unattached from the aircraft. By the time the aircraft had parked on the tarmac there where many ground personal that where aware of the general problem and had signaled there was a problem to other ground crew by pointing to the dangling piece of aircraft with their fingers. Although at that point no other passengers seemed to know there had been a fire under the wing or thought it was the afterburners in the jets (which it was not)

The plum of FIRE was not visible by the time we taxied to a complete stop however the emotional anxiety I was feeling at the time was and still is fierce. I had to resist the feeling of fleeing the aircraft
for the safety of everyone concerned Since I have had pilot training
one thing I was aware of is not to do something to panic the other passengers however once there is a fire in or on a plane the cabin crew should have started emergency evacuation of the aircraft rather than allow it taxiing off the runway to the tarmac. At this point I am aware that the Captain of the aircraft was aware there was a problem however his lack of action and the lack of action by the cabin crew still create a chilling affect on me. To confirm what I had seen I asked my fiancé once we had come to a complete stop if she saw the fire. She confirmed that she did. I told her to wait as I wanted to make clear what I had seen to the captain. Since the fire seemed to be out by this point I waited for all the passengers to disembark and then went to a flight attendant in the front of the plane and told her I wanted to speak with the Captain and there had been some sort of mechanical problem with the plane. I needed to let him know about my observation.
At that point she notified the Captain. The captain exited the cockpit and I proceeded to explain to him exactly what I had witnessed He then said to me “it was this side of the plain” gesturing to the right hand side I said yes. He then said thanks and proceeded to use his cell phone to make a call I assume it was to someone on the ground with Air Asia but that is an assumption on my part I then exited the plane and joined my Fiancé who was already far away from the plane as I told her to go

I have a few questions I need answered. The first is why Air Asia’s Cabin Crew did not do anything. The second question is why the Captain and Co-Pilot Did not inform the cabin crew there was a problem and why there was not an evacuation of the aircraft rather than business as usual. And of course what actions where taken after the plane was on the ground to fix whatever started the sparking and fire to begin with.
This was the content of the email I sent to customer care and got no response I sent it 3 times
So now I will take legal action

I went on line 23rd March 2011 around 1.15PM to Air Asia website attempting to book a one-way ticket from Singapore to Bandung on 24 March 2011. I completed all details successfully and your website prompted me to proceed to payment. First attempt by credit card payment failed as it was declined. I then repeated attempt and this time your website took a few minutes with NO response. Minute later my computer browser hung and I had no choice but to shut down the computer. At this point I took it as my booking online was not successful as there was no response from your website confirming my payment nor any form of acknowledgement.

4 hours later at 6PM, when I turned on my computer again, I was shocked to receive an email acknowledgement from Air Asia that my earlier online booking was indeed successful with a booking reference T9VVRT. Within minutes, I then immediately called Air Asia Singapore Call centre and reported my problem and requested that the booking be cancelled because I had made alternative travel plan after my bad experience with Air Asia online booking. However, the attendant over the phone told me that the terms and conditions of Air Asia do not allow cancellation unless the booking is before 48 hours. I explained obviously that my booking was done for travel the following day so it is less than 48 hours but that Air Asia browser failed me due to a technical fault. Finally, the attendant over your call centre advised me to write in to your office to appeal for refund consideration.

I sent three online feedback messages using your website feedback service on the same matter but no response so far, although the standard reply message claimed that I would receive a reply within 5 working days.

I also sent a letter to Air Asia sales office in Singapore and after 2 weeks, not a word.

I request Air Asia to check your computer record and verify that the technical error was genuine and my case was the consequence of a technical error on Air Asia website.

I appeal for a refund from Air Asia deducting all administrative cost and service fees..

Thank you for your attention and help.

I booked for a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai & back for two on 23/02/2011 via internet. Booking No.V12NFB ( Confirmed ). Paid with my EON Bank credit card RM 1, 642+10=1, 652. When I received my February credit card bill yesterday, Air Asia charged EON Bank for RM 1, 642 for AAX3DSSL (EC) SEPANG & RM 1, 642 for AIRASIA X-NOV12NFB6437 SEPANG.