A couple of brickbats for AK

[Naim 6]

Two recent items at malaysiakini.com.

 

AirAsia pushing its planes beyond the limit?

 

Has AirAsia forgotten its client's charter?

 

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[Walter Sim 1]

Tony Fernandez is now busy dabbling in other ventures. As the next Richard Branson, he has his hands full with ‘Tune This Sdn Bhd’ and ‘Tune That Sdn Bhd’. He is now playing many different tunes. Perhaps he needs some tuning himself.

 

[Naim 6]

So I decided to check how's AK doing tonight 11/4/07, on the arrival side (live from www.klia.com.my):

 

 

Not too good. Lotsa confirmed delays. Some indicated as 'AT LCCT' can still be delayed. For e.g. I know that AK6301, from PEN which should land 2115, is still in the air at 2130.

 

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[Keith T 2]

Is there really such a high probability of delays for AK flights?

 

Am booked on them for July JHB-KUL-JHB, on the "0 dollar" promo. [early morning flights too...yikes]

 

Beginning to get nervous now and wondering if I should forfeit the 80MYR in taxes and YQ and book MH instead...

Edited April 11, 2007 by Keith T

[Naim 6]

Is there really such a high probability of delays for AK flights?

 

Am booked on them for July JHB-KUL-JHB, on the "0 dollar" promo. [early morning flights too...yikes]

 

Beginning to get nervous now and wondering if I should forfeit the 80MYR in taxes and YQ and book MH instead...

 

Morning flights normally OK, it's the later-in-the-day flights which are prone to lateness.

 

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[Keith T 2]

Morning flights normally OK, it's the later-in-the-day flights which are prone to lateness.

 

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Cheers for the reassurance.

Now I'll have to figure out how to wake myself up in time for the flights...

 

I hear the delays are due to their timetables structured around extremely tight turnaround times which leave little or no margin for error?

Edited April 11, 2007 by Keith T

[Walter Sim 1]

well, the morning flight has no delays cos they're 'fresh'. IMO AirAsia's plane are always back at their base at nightstops, so early in the morning it would not have any accumulated delays hence its on time.

 

As for the afternoon - evening ones, there are sometimes, missing passengers, technical problem, once a flight delays it should be like a domino, the next flight is delayed as well. Bit by bit it adds on and the normally the flights at night will be delayed. Mind you if the passengers are all here, they'll takeoff early, my dad experienced once 20minutes earlier than scheduled..

 

And i had an experience where it was delayed for an hour, while the passengers are dissembarking through the front door, we are making our way towards the stairs at the back already. After that close door, taxi at the speed of light and takeoff.

Edited April 11, 2007 by Walter Sim

[Edwin Yii 0]

i reckon the delays thingy will be solved once Airbus delivered all airasia's aircraft...at least thats what ive heard

[Seth K 3]

OMG, it's LCC, what do you guyz expect? Supply more, demand rise, price gone wild! Basic principle, to supply more, means less time on the ground.

May be AK should've not offer real time flight, like 9:40AM to BKI, they shoud've say flight between 9:40:pardon:

 

As for the afternoon - evening ones, there are sometimes, missing passengers, technical problem, once a flight delays it should be like a domino, the next flight is delayed as well. Bit by bit it adds on and the normally the flights at night will be delayed. Mind you if the passengers are all here, they'll takeoff early, my dad experienced once 20minutes earlier than scheduled..

This hv been practice a lot of time not in LCC only except we fly out early twice to avoid snowstorms. No gates when arrived early thou, still hv to wait for ur assigned gates available, better than stuck at the airport during the snow storm

Edited April 11, 2007 by Seth K

[Naim 6]

i reckon the delays thingy will be solved once Airbus delivered all airasia's aircraft...at least thats what ive heard

 

Most routes are using Airbus already. Only the odd routes are using B733, such as KUL/KBR. But as Walter said, the tight turn-around (just enough time to cool off the brakes?) is the main culprit. Late passengers, bad weather, queues at take-off/landing, faults, etc, all add up as the day progresses.

 

Btw on a couple of evening flights I had early departures when all passengers were at the gates early.

 

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[Sri Ramani K. 0]

perhaps single runway usage also causes the delay? or are they using both runways now?

[Walter Sim 1]

Well, atc clearance, 'traffic jam' also contributes to the delay also...

[Naim 6]

So I decided to check how's AK doing tonight 11/4/07, on the arrival side (live from www.klia.com.my):

 

...

 

Not too good. Lotsa confirmed delays. Some indicated as 'AT LCCT' can still be delayed. For e.g. I know that AK6301, from PEN which should land 2115, is still in the air at 2130.

 

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AK 6329 from KBR due to land at 2235, finally landed 2 hrs later!

 

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[Daniel Ng 0]

Flew from KUL to PEN last Friday on the 13:40 flight.

We were still sitting at waiting for the plane to arrive at 13:30.

At 13:40, we were finally called to queue at Gate P10, which the display was still showing another flight to BKI.

It took them another 30 minutes before they start taxiing to the runway. We finally depart from KUL at 14:15, which is a 35 minute delay. What I am most disappointed was not a single word of apology came from either the crew or the captain. This, I find quite unprofessional. It's like 'You get what you pay for, so don't complain if we are late'

 

In contrast, MH is always apologetic even if there is a 5 minute delay taxiing from the runway to the terminal.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Daniel Ng

[KK Lee 5]

 

As LCC business model calls for tight scheduling, delay is inevitable when the day progress.

 

 

[Radzi 2]

These delays are caused both by Air Asia and external factors.

 

Flights could be delayed by lots of reasons: passanger, airport, ATC, weather etc. Not uncommon for a flight with a 1:00 block time becomes 1:05 for example. Assume you depart on time, then have to queue for takeoff, have to queue for landing etc. When you landed you are 5 minutes behind schedule.

 

Now, if you have 45 minutes transit time, maybe you can cut it off to 40 minutes. Therefore for the next sector you still depart on time.

 

But if your transit time is only 25 minutes, you'll need every second of it to prepare for the next flight. Therefore you will depart 5 minutes behind schedule. Keep on adding it up, evening flights you could be very well delayed, maybe hours.

[Radzi 2]

In contrast, MH is always apologetic even if there is a 5 minute delay taxiing from the runway to the terminal.

 

Thank you. Part of our procedure, actually.

 

[Pieter C. 5]

Not uncommon for a flight with a 1:00 block time becomes 1:05 for example. Assume you depart on time, then have to queue for takeoff, have to queue for landing etc. When you landed you are 5 minutes behind schedule........

...... Therefore you will depart 5 minutes behind schedule. Keep on adding it up, evening flights you could be very well delayed, maybe hours.

 

The only way to reduce delays is to extend the blocktimes, like Easyjet is doing...

AMS-STN airtime approx 40 mins = blocktime 55 mins, but they 'publish' 65 mins...is AK also scheduling this way ?

IMHO 25mins turn-around time for an A320 is very tight, especially when you've to (re)fuel and/or cater

We, at KLC, do 30mins for the F50, 40 mins for the F70 and 50 mins for the F100 as a minimum...

[Min Chun 0]

Being apologetic is part of the procedure huh?

Apology out of courtesy ya

[Radzi 2]

You can extend the block time, or extend the transit time.(At MAS we are paid productivity based on block time, so any block time extension is always welcome)

Generally the block time given is enough if there is no delay.

 

Delay over 5 minutes, we will try to keep the passangers in the loop. That is why there is an announcement, usually from the pilots if we are not too busy. I don't know how the situation is within Air Asia.

[Naim 6]

This case is pretty bad!

 

AirAsia’s ‘serial delay’ strikes at KK

 

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[Keith T 2]

This case is pretty bad!

 

AirAsia’s ‘serial delay’ strikes at KK

 

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Indeed.

 

The duty supervisor responded that it would take 30 working days for the refund to be affected.

 

I was told by Jetstar that it'd take 6-8 weeks to process my refund after I canceled a ticket to Bangkok. Found a much cheaper fare (by 500 bucks!) for the same class of service (premium economy) on BA - so much for JQ being an LCC! The JQ fare was fully refundable, minus some admin fees. The guy on the phone said that it's because they have so much refunds to process. I reminded him that he's working for an airline that mainly sells non-refundable fares. Thankfully I used a debit card as a credit card would mean I'd be liable for interest on the amount owed.

 

Unfortunately this seems to be a common practice in the industry.

 

I can think of 2 reasons :

1) to hold on to your money and earn interest on it

2) to make people think twice before booking on a whim and canceling, as a friend who works for SQ so kindly pointed out - which brings into question the whole point of purchasing a flexible fare

Edited April 12, 2007 by Keith T

[Leo 0]

LCC = pay less = no flexi = no complain because cost do not permit a person to complain and to follow terms and condition.

 

Full fare = pay more = flexi = can complain until what you want it to be but also have limit to terms and condition.

 

my equation pay more to complain more, pay less don't complain lot. A bit is welcome to improve service.

[Keith T 2]

LCC = pay less = no flexi = no complain because cost do not permit a person to complain and to follow terms and condition.

 

Full fare = pay more = flexi = can complain until what you want it to be but also have limit to terms and condition.

 

my equation pay more to complain more, pay less don't complain lot. A bit is welcome to improve service.

 

Hence the golden rule of LCC - if you need flexibility, they immediately turn into HCC.

Or if you check in 20.000000001+ kg of luggage, or even dare to drag hand luggage onboard.

 

I once managed to negotiate with QF to transport 80kg of equipment for free - I'd now rather pay more for a real airline. Organised it before departure and they'd inserted a msg into my PNR. The facial expression of the check in agent is another story of course.

 

Not saying all LCCs r inherently evil - but my experience so far with DJ, JQ (who after 4 weeks has not come up with my refund!), U2 and from what I've read about carriers like AK and Liar(oops I mean Ryan)Air, have been negative.

 

Will be on AK on the 0 dollar fare in July - so will I be expecting 0 dollar service...we'll see. It'd be an eyeopener one way or the other, into this AK phenomenon that seems to have stricken fear into the hearts of legacy airlines in Asia (and might I add - travelers).

 

And of course - the fact that the same class of service is AUD500 more expensive on JQ than BA proves that sometimes the L in LCC really means nothing.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Keith T

[Pieter C. 5]

"The other observation was that there were three AirAsia aircraft parked in front of the departure lounge. To my mind, if AirAsia is really interested in minimising delays, the management could easily use one of the aircraft as a replacement."

 

That will only work when there's stand-by crew also available or based at BKI; apparently, it was not a fleet, but rather a crew problem causing these cancellations/delays...