Air Asia X stops flights to/from Adelaide

[Diane]

Bloody typical - just when I have booked flights with them from February, they decide to stop all flights from 25/26 January!

 

Saw it in the Tiser today and was hoping they'd got it wrong, but just got an email from them confirming it is true.

 

Another nail in the Adelaide coffin

[sidestep]

What was the reason given?

 

Edit: forget that.

[Diane]

In the Tiser it says they can't compete with Malaysian Airlines now that the Malaysian government have stepped in with heavy subsidies for them, after their awful year.

 

I've never seen hugely cheap prices from Adelaide to KL with Malaysian though so not sure why Adelaide has been singled out. They are offering to re-route us via either Perth or Melbourne I think

 

The decision to withdraw from Adelaide was made taking into account our business imperative to improve operating cost efficiencies and to build sustainable and profitable routes. Despite our efforts in building route awareness, external factors such as the depreciation of Asian currencies against the US dollar also contributed to this decision.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Diane

[jim and adel]

Leon Bignell reckons it's because of Malaysia Airlines but he's talking ****e. MA has cut 30% of its own workforce in the last three months because passenger numbers on its flights have tumbled following its double disaster.

 

AAX is shutting the door on Adelaide simply because they've been flying half full (at best) for many of their flights since they started in Adelaide. I remember commenting on this very matter about a year ago ... here it is:

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/barbie/40040-off-our-99-airasia-flight-morning.html

[OKMorris]

Flights have not been going out full at all and they flights between Xmas and NY due to lack of numbers so if you cant fill them at that time of year then there was never much hope!

 

I dont think its anything to do with Malaysian - although they are the cheapest they have ever been for travel to Asia they are not exactly chocca block themselves

 

Also might be something to do with the fact that the government subsidised the traffic rights and landing permits to encourage them in to Adelaide but they only do this for the first 18 months so if business isnt booming and then there operating costs go up they were never going to stay

 

must say it makes my life a bit easier as they were always a little unpredictable!!!

[Rich & Chit]

We've had the same email. We fly out on Jan 6 which should be OK but fly back to Adelaide on Jan 26th so again will probably be re routed via Perth or Melbourne, bummer.

[Diane]

We've had the same email. We fly out on Jan 6 which should be OK but fly back to Adelaide on Jan 26th so again will probably be re routed via Perth or Melbourne, bummer.

 

If you haven't already done so @Rich & Chit, might be a good idea to ring up Air Asia - I just did and apparently they are not "re-routing via Melbourne or Perth at no extra cost" but "re-routing FROM Melbourne or Perth at no extra cost" - in other words, you have to pay to get yourself to/from Melbourne or Perth - which I think is pretty shabby!

 

On the plus side, Malaysian Airlines have some good prices at the moment, so before you decide what you want to do as regards Air Asia, check the price to fly back with Malaysian instead. For us it worked out cheaper to do this and get a refund from Air Asia (about $200 more total to book with Malaysian than it had cost with Air Asia) than to re-route and pay for flights to/from Melbourne (about $335 for both of us). Plus the connection times are a lot better with Malaysian than Air Asia were offering us back to Melbourne. Oh, and you get complimentary food and drinks on Malaysia Airlines!

 

I'm pretty p***ed off with Air Asia - I know it's out of their control that they are not flying from Adelaide any more, but I booked in good faith with them to/from Adelaide so I would have expected them to honour that. I also found reasonable connecting Air Asia flights HKT-KUL-MEL but they would not even consider putting us on those - we would have had a 7 hour wait at KL with the times they were offering.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know in case you haven't decided what to do yet!

[jim and adel]

I'm pretty p***ed off with Air Asia - I know it's out of their control that they are not flying from Adelaide any more, but I booked in good faith with them to/from Adelaide so I would have expected them to honour that.

 

How is it out of their control that they are stopping flying from Adelaide? Surely it's their decision!

[Diane]

How is it out of their control that they are stopping flying from Adelaide? Surely it's their decision!

 

Sorry I meant out of Customer Service people's control. But yes, you're right, it's the airlines decision so my view is that as we booked in good faith for them to get us from Adelaide to Phuket, and they took our money and confirmed our flights at the time, they should be still covering the costs of getting us from Adelaide to Phuket, even though we would now have to go ADL-MEL-KUL-HKT, not just getting us from Melbourne to Phuket!

[Rich & Chit]

Thanks Diane, was on to them straight away. Have cut short our hols by a day to get flights directly to Adelaide, probably on the last flight for this route. Not too bad as it gives the kids an extra day to recover and get ready for start of school.

[Lazy Cow]

my view is that as we booked in good faith for them to get us from Adelaide to Phuket, and they took our money and confirmed our flights at the time, they should be still covering the costs of getting us from Adelaide to Phuket, even though we would now have to go ADL-MEL-KUL-HKT, not just getting us from Melbourne to Phuket!

 

I totally agree, Diane.

 

I mean, I know when I choose a flight, price and convenience are priorities. So for the company to seemingly shrug off the effects of their change in airport, leaving you to pay for additional flights, lose time, convenience, seems very high-handed of them and not at all customer friendly. If it were me I'm pretty sure I'd be ropable, tbh.

 

All that to one side, I hope you all have a very happy, safe holiday.

 

LC

[Rammygirl]

Not surprised. We had our Thursday flight from Phuket on the 11th dec ,cancelled and consolidated with a Friday flight.

 

it was still just over half full. Not enough custom fro Adelaide to be viable. Shame though the plane and flight was good for the price.