If Air Asia is expensive- check the MAS Airline

I am planning for another trip to Bangkok by flying from Kuala Lumpur. By default, most of us would book our travel tickets from Air Asia as we would automatically assume Air Asia has the cheapest airfare.

When I try to book for some tickets in a few months’ time, I found the air ticket price for Air Asia is very expensive- the fare itself was about RM371- that is haven’t include fuel surcharge and airport tax which comes up to another additional few hundred ringgit. In total after adding all the luggage allowance (20kg when going and 15kg when coming back), it cost about RM871. And the booking is tricky- I had to remember to remove the seat allocation (RM69) and GoInsure (RM23).

I was going to put in the booking (because I remembered seeing the fare was lower few days back) as I did not want to risk the price increasing further till I decided to check out the MAS Airlines at masairlines.com.

Surprise, surprise, when I saw the air fare price below- airfare RM42 (actually when I booked yesterday the fare was RM14):

Needless to say, I quicky made the booking using my credit card (yippie, I am not charged any convenience fees).

What I like about MAS is that MAS is more straightforward when it comes to charges- it’s not that they will suddenly put it as part of the itemized bill. For example, if you want to pay extra to choose your seats (so that you can get to sit with your friends), or to have the option to upgrade…. you need to manually select these options. MAS is not going to sneakily put into part of your bill total.

In total, here’s my ticket breakdown for my travel from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi): RM506 for a round trip (total fare RM83 + total tax and surcharges RM477).

It has been years since I’ve travelled with MAS. There are some advantages when  flying with MAS:

• complimentary food and drinks would be served during the flight
• departing from KLIA instead of LCCT (airport is more comfortable). You can also get there via feeder bus for RM10- straight bus from KL Sentral to KLIA
• should I be really strapped for time, you can use the KLIA ERL that takes only 28 minutes from KLIA to KL Sentral and vice versa but cost  more per trip (RM35 if I am not mistaken)
• automatically allow up to 20kg of luggage- no need to buy. If book via Air Asia, it’s RM35 for 15kg luggage and RM40 for 20kg luggage.
• flight will arrive at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport instead of Don Meaung. Air Asia would arrive at Don Meaung (old Bangkok airport) effective 1 October 2012- for tourist it may be more beneficial as you need not pay so much cab fare to get to city- as the old airport is already in the city.
• With MAS, I need not pay for “convenience fee” (in other words, credit card surcharge) when I book using my credit card. If the fare is RM506, only RM506 will be deducted from my card.

But overall, I also must thank Air Asia for giving so many people, in Malaysia and worldwide …affordable way to fly. Had it not been for Air Asia, I will not have the chance to travel overseas few times a year. If you are booking early, you can get quite reasonable rates. Still, no harm to check out MAS’s website to see….. just in case… you be lucky and get some good deals as well. Especially few weeks before MATTA fair.