Regarded as one of the most spectacular airline success stories in the world, AirAsia has, nevertheless, had its share of criticisms: frequent flight cancellations, harsh terms and conditions for ticket purchases, deceptive behaviour and poor customer service. Recent events have thrown these flaws into sharper relief and provided some quite astonishing insight into its business ethics.
On 12 January 2012, AirAsia X announced the closure of flights from Kuala Lumpur to London, Paris, Mumbai and Delhi. Since then, affected AAX customers have suffered immense stress due to the airline’s mishandling of their needs.
These customers were initially overjoyed when AAX offered them not just a refund or a credit shell for future flights, but also the option of re-booking to another airline at no additional cost. The last option was a surprise because it generously went beyond the airline’s standard terms and conditions for ticket purchases. Furthermore, they would be travelling on a regular airline despite having paid for a discount one. It was almost unbelievable.
True to its promise, AAX soon sent out offers of alternative flights on MAS. The last of its European flights occurring on March 31, those scheduled to fly in April received them in late January with a seven-day period for acceptance. Unfortunately, that was the last piece of good news for these customers for, then, the game changed dramatically.
Vague replies
Despite many customers losing no time in eagerly accepting the offered MAS flights, no valid e-tickets appeared as the days and weeks went by. E-mails to AAX went unanswered no matter how many were sent, and its contact centre was notoriously difficult to get through. Those who did manage to get through were given vague replies that kept changing. One fed-up person who persisted has this to say:
"First I was told I would get tickets "within 3 days". Then it changed to "an e-mail offering alternatives within 3 days". That then changed to "within one week". I was then told tickets "2 months before departure". Then it changed again to only the e-mail offering the alternatives 2 months before departure, and the e-ticket within a week of responding to that. Now, once again the rules have changed, and we're being told that the actual e-ticket is coming out 1 month before departure."
The delay was blamed on the inefficiency of MAS in breaking up AAX’s block bookings into individual reservations, a trivial exercise, in fact. AAX finally settled on the “one-month before departure” promise which it advertised on its Facebook/AirasiaUK page, in a general circulation e-mail to all those affected, through direct communication with its CEO and customer care team. This tight margin did not satisfy those from some countries such as India because they needed valid tickets to apply for European visas. They were cruelly told to opt for refunds if they could not wait.
Then, even those who did not need to apply for visas started feeling the chill when it gradually sank in that what the airline meant was not one month before one’s outbound flight, but one month before the flight date on the re-booked ticket.
The difference is crucial. There are those leaving on an unaffected flight in March but returning after flight closure, say in May. This means that they are unable to get a return ticket before they leave with potential problems that this might cause at immigration checkpoints in London and Paris.
This situation will also befall any traveller with forward and return journeys more than a month apart after AAX closes its European flights. Even if they clear immigration, it means that they face the stress and worry of continually having to check their e-mails for a ticket home while on holiday, an unacceptable situation. Many desperate pleas to get AAX to redress this issue fell on deaf ears.
In some cases, AAX would only have needed to advance the delivery of return tickets by only a few days ahead of the promised dateline to enable these customers to fly out with return tickets. This can hardly be considered a big favour towards paying customers and the lack of response and inaction were astounding. But worse was to come.
Failed to deliver
The associated online community watched with bated breath as March 1 approached, when AAX would have to deliver valid e-tickets for the first of its cancelled flights on April 1. The day arrived but not the e-tickets. There was no official apology from AAX, no reason given and no official promise to redress the issue or provide a new timeline.
The situation prompted an online fury as customers vented their disgust and frustrations. In a tweet issued immediately past the dateline, the CEO of AAX, Azran Osman Rani, incomprehensibly blamed the delay on MAS being busy with Board meetings with the implication that the deal had yet to meet with official approval, despite all the promises. When pressed later in an e-mail exchange with an affected customer, Azran laid the blame squarely on MAS as follows:
“I’ve been sending the same message to MAS in the same upper-case letters, demanding the same answers.”
“We’re already dealing with passengers in the same predicament, already flown off, and not having e-tickets. Everyone’s upset. We’re upset.”
"... I am fighting. We are going to MAS physically. Everyday. ..."
Azran then offered the astonishing opinion that, “Right now, it looks like it (the e-tickets) may only come a few days before the actual flight,” an assessment so drastically different from the confidence of his previous “one month before departure” that it can scarcely be explained in terms of mere workload or the inefficiency of MAS. Observers could not fathom how any process could be so sluggish as to be unable to issue even a single re-booked ticket for the cancelled London and Paris flights and some begin to doubt if the mythic e-ticket would ever appear.
Indeed, many believe the real reason to be AAX’s purposeful slowness in paying MAS for these tickets in order to ease its cash flow requirements. And, by delaying the issue of e-tickets, by creating anxiety and uncertainty, AAX is intentionally driving many waiting customers to the refund option which is cheaper for the airline compared to the purchase of seats on MAS. At time of writing, no one with cancelled European flights in April is known to have received e-tickets.
Dirty tricks?
Observers now suspect that AAX’s offer to re-book affected customers on alternative flights at no additional cost was not unusually good customer service but, rather, a financial ploy. According to this hypothesis, the airline cannot afford to refund an estimated 30,000 customers all at once but, by stringing them along in this unpleasant way, it can pay out refunds slowly and progressively, only needing to provide re-booked tickets for those last few remaining. This allows AAX the benefit of a continuing, interest-free loan from ticket holders for as long as practical. Some who opted early for the refund option complained that they received significantly less than what they originally paid for as a result of not having been refunded in the same currency as in their booking. There are also inconsistent reports of how fast refunds are processed, from nine to well over 30 days.
Having suffered a 56% fall in net profit in the last quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year, the airline may reasonably have an eye on its cash flow. Yet, the alienation of customers and trashing of its brand name can hardly be considered a reasonable price to pay.
AAX has a long period of cancelled flights to Europe, stretching perhaps till the end of this year. These ticket holders are told that offers (not tickets) of alternative flights will be made only two months before departure. For many, this is insufficient as they do not know if the alternative flights will align with their connections and, hence, are unable to plan their holidays in detail. This already drives many to prefer refunds instead. But those who are still waiting for offers do not yet know the horror of waiting for their e-tickets after they accept these desirable flights. Yet, they might learn from the strident anger and desperation of those on
AirAsiaUK | Facebook
Malaysia Chronicle..Kumar Gan