Gone are the days where you can take a business on their word, where their priority is the customer and the goodwill that creates for them.
Airlines are one of the most polarizing businesses around these days. Most treat customers poorly and do as they like when it comes to cancelling and delaying flights. Not one care is given to the customer, it’s all to do with the bottom line, the balance sheet and the stock price.
I recently had such an experience with the budget airline AirAsia. This tale stretches back to the dark days of COVID and a cancelled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. As COVID was starting to kick off and travel became near impossible, airlines were grounded and flights cancelled en masse.
It seemed like AirAsia were doing the right thing!
It was the perfect storm for airlines holding millions of dollars in fares paid for flights that would never happen. This, combined with the total grounding of 95% of all flights, meant almost every airline was looking down the barrel of bankruptcy.
AirAsia issued millions of credit vouchers to customers who were holding cancelled flights, including me. This week I had my first chance to use one of these vouchers. There are so many terms and conditions that led me to believe that they were offered knowing full well that most people would never be able to use them.
AirAsia vouchers are challenging because of their strict terms and conditions, including limited flight allocations, restrictions on Fly-Thru, and a minimum journey length of 4 hours.
My chance to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Bali with my voucher was denied because the flight was only 3 hours. I am livid. Why should it matter the length of the flight? What is owed is owed.
In the end, I paid for a more expensive flight with Malaysian Airlines, just on principle. No way was I going to give AirAsia any of my money. I am not alone in this dilemma — I posted about this in a Facebook group and had other people tell me of their frustration with trying to use AirAsia vouchers and their poor customer service.
AirAsia, it’s poor form to treat your customers this way. This tells me that I will probably never get to use these credit vouchers, and that is what AirAsia wants.
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Can you still use AirAsia COVID credit vouchers?
AirAsia issued credit vouchers to passengers with cancelled COVID-era flights, but using them has proven extremely difficult due to strict terms and conditions. Restrictions include limited flight allocations, Fly-Thru limitations and a minimum journey length of 4 hours. Many passengers have found their vouchers effectively unusable.
What are the terms and conditions on AirAsia credit vouchers?
AirAsia credit vouchers issued during COVID come with significant restrictions including a minimum flight duration of 4 hours, limited availability on certain routes, and restrictions on connecting Fly-Thru flights. Always read the full terms before attempting to book with a voucher to avoid disappointment.
Is AirAsia good for customer service?
In our experience and based on feedback from other travellers, AirAsia’s customer service has been a significant pain point — particularly for passengers trying to use COVID credit vouchers or resolve booking issues. Consumer groups have also ranked AirAsia poorly for customer service in surveys.
What should I do if AirAsia won’t honour my voucher?
Document everything — keep records of all communications with AirAsia. You can escalate through your country’s consumer affairs body or aviation authority. Posting in travel Facebook groups can also help you find others in the same situation and get advice on what has worked. In some cases, credit card chargebacks have been used by passengers who paid by card.
Is AirAsia a good airline?
AirAsia is a budget carrier that generally delivers what you’d expect for a low-cost airline — basic service, cheap fares and a no-frills experience. For short regional flights around Southeast Asia the price can be hard to beat. However their handling of COVID cancellations and credit vouchers has damaged trust with a significant number of travellers.
