It's the first time I've encountered an airline fee structure so detailed as AirAsia's. For Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur... (AUD (though slightly stronger) = approx. 1 USD)
Baggage fees depending on weight of luggage,
e.g. 15 kg = 17 AUD, 20 kg = 25 AUD, etc.
Select a [standard] seat (vs having them assigned during check in) ("hot seats" cost more)
= 15 AUD (per person per seat)
Check-in at airport counter (vs online)
= 3 AUD (per person)
Pay with credit or debit card (vs directly from bank through PayPal)
= 8 AUD (per person per leg)
(And other fees, but those are probably the ones that affect us two the most.)
As indicated above, the fees are charged *per* xyz and they give you quite a bit of flexibility in only paying for what you deem important. For baggage fees, it's per leg per person, so if you have one connection, i.e. two flights, you pay fees for each leg. For selecting a seat, it's per seat. For two people traveling on two legs, you would pay for each of the four seats if you were to select four seats. But, you may choose to only select one seat, or two, or three, etc. Checking in at the airport is charged per person. I don't know why two people traveling together would decide to have one person check in online and the other check in at the airport, but they do give you that flexibility.
I've quoted the fees in Australian dollars above, but the fees actually differ according to the actual flight. The fees are less when, for example, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok: baggage 35 RM (~11 USD), 40 RM (~13 USD), seat 6 RM (~2 USD), check-in 10 RM (~3 USD), and credit card 8 RM (~2.5 USD), respectively. At first, I thought the fees were based on point of origin, but analytically-minded K noted that it would, for example, make more sense if seats were charged based on the duration of the flight. After checking out the fee schedule on AirAsia's site a bit more, it seems he may indeed be right!
It also costs drastically more to add the baggage at the airport vs doing it online ahead of time. Jetstar actually takes this one step further, with a 3-tier fee structure: while booking the flight, online after booking the flight (slightly more $), and at the airport (much much more $$$). Also, these baggage fees are non-refundable, so if your bag ends up weighing less than you paid, tough luck. Can you just have carry-on luggage and skip the baggage fees? That's what I do in the U.S., but supposedly AirAsia can be quite strict about following their carry-on weight (7kg = ~15.4 lbs) and size (56cm X 36cm X 23cm = ~22in x 14in x 9in) limits. Our one suitcase is carry-on size but it would definitely go over the 7kg weight limit. (I haven't paid much attention to it in the past, but I think it's usually between 15 and 20kg.)
We take a lot of the costs of flying for granted. I certainly didn't expect to pay "extra" for selecting a seat, paying by credit card, and checking in at the airport (a new fee since this September). But, beyond getting a traveler from point A to point B, there's a lot more that's "hidden" in the fares we pay. The fares that we're used in seeing do include all these other factors; it's just that we're all paying for everything. AirAsia simply splits out each "additional luxury" from its base fare. It was a little shocking at first as I discovered each little fee, but now that I've had some time to digest it, it [somewhat] makes sense.
It'll take some getting used to and it certainly makes comparing airfares a little more difficult. I guess something we'll have to think about while traveling now is the cost of internet (in terms of both time & money) to check in online vs the fee for checking in at the airport...
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
2011 trip?
(I thought I was going to write about travel-related stuff in the previous post, but apparently I had a jumble of other thoughts.)
I'm planning our next trip.
I haven't posted much about our travels from last year. I want to. See, it would have been fine if not for a mishap during our final night in the Pantanal region (actually back in Cuiaba), which was about halfway through our trip (that's nearly a month). I accidentally deleted my journal entries. It's ironic (and I think this actually would be a correct usage of "ironic"). My intention that night was actually 1. backup, 2. copy into drafts on blog. Unfortunately, I never did get to 2. I lost them while trying to back them up, the details of which I won't go into. I used to write my thoughts on paper and then type them up later. During the Europe trip two years ago, I started just directly typing them up and foregoing the paper >_< So, "digitally lost" really is lost. I did try recovery software to no avail. I knew my best bet was to re-write them right away while everything was still somewhat fresh in my mind, but I had lost my motivation for writing. (I think it's a general personal weakness I need to work on, getting over emotional baggage humps.)
Anyways, so here I am now, planning our next trip while only having written a little about the previous trip. I really should have just timeboxed it. <sigh>
This next trip is, well, I hope I can make it happen. Time to get back to work ^-^
I'm planning our next trip.
I haven't posted much about our travels from last year. I want to. See, it would have been fine if not for a mishap during our final night in the Pantanal region (actually back in Cuiaba), which was about halfway through our trip (that's nearly a month). I accidentally deleted my journal entries. It's ironic (and I think this actually would be a correct usage of "ironic"). My intention that night was actually 1. backup, 2. copy into drafts on blog. Unfortunately, I never did get to 2. I lost them while trying to back them up, the details of which I won't go into. I used to write my thoughts on paper and then type them up later. During the Europe trip two years ago, I started just directly typing them up and foregoing the paper >_< So, "digitally lost" really is lost. I did try recovery software to no avail. I knew my best bet was to re-write them right away while everything was still somewhat fresh in my mind, but I had lost my motivation for writing. (I think it's a general personal weakness I need to work on, getting over emotional baggage humps.)
Anyways, so here I am now, planning our next trip while only having written a little about the previous trip. I really should have just timeboxed it. <sigh>
This next trip is, well, I hope I can make it happen. Time to get back to work ^-^
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
ramblings on a blog
Less than a month later and I'm already writing another post? (Not to mention the update I added to my previous post) <pat myself on the back> ^-^
I was reading back on a few of my previous posts... some things made me smile, and a couple of things made me cringe. I usually try not to be too judgmental. I say not "too" because I don't think people can help having opinions about things, at least I've realized that I can't. Even if I don't voice an opinion or viewpoint (often I don't), it doesn't necessarily mean that I don't have one. Or, have I actually started to develop more opinions as we've traveled more? Hmm... tough one. However, being opinionated is not quite the same as being judgmental, right?
I recently read an entry by my lang-8 friend M about the permanence of writing. Our thoughts and views change all the time, by the things we read, see, and experience. But, when we write about our thoughts at any particular moment, for example, on a blog, we give a sort of permanent home to those thoughts. Something so transient that may change the next day, hour, or minute now lives on in written form.
And, someone may read them, and associate them with you, the present you, when in fact, you may no longer think that way. It's not the present you, but because those people are reading it in the present, it binds to the image of the present you in their minds.
Inevitably by writing about our/my experiences, even if I don't directly state an opinion or comment on something, it might just come through by whatever else I say. And even if I don't necessarily hold those thoughts anymore, they live on in this blog. Of course, I can delete all those old thoughts, but since I keep this "blog" partly (mainly?) as a journal for my own sake, I probably won't.
The other thing M discussed in her entry is that people sometimes write about very personal thoughts on a blog, thoughts that they may never share with "friends". This is often true in my case. One reason is just that everyone is so busy. Nice, one-on-one, "deep" conversations are just uncommon. Two, I don't often voice my opinions/thoughts, especially in non-one-on-one environments. Three, I don't want to impose my random ramblings on anyone (which is kind of related to two). When I write here, I don't force anyone to read what I write, so I feel more free to just write about whatever I feel like writing about. Four, I'm a "few close friends" type of person. Supposedly this is true of most people, but I feel like I'm a more private person than most (which is why I have a blog? ^-^;;).
I was reading back on a few of my previous posts... some things made me smile, and a couple of things made me cringe. I usually try not to be too judgmental. I say not "too" because I don't think people can help having opinions about things, at least I've realized that I can't. Even if I don't voice an opinion or viewpoint (often I don't), it doesn't necessarily mean that I don't have one. Or, have I actually started to develop more opinions as we've traveled more? Hmm... tough one. However, being opinionated is not quite the same as being judgmental, right?
I recently read an entry by my lang-8 friend M about the permanence of writing. Our thoughts and views change all the time, by the things we read, see, and experience. But, when we write about our thoughts at any particular moment, for example, on a blog, we give a sort of permanent home to those thoughts. Something so transient that may change the next day, hour, or minute now lives on in written form.
And, someone may read them, and associate them with you, the present you, when in fact, you may no longer think that way. It's not the present you, but because those people are reading it in the present, it binds to the image of the present you in their minds.
Inevitably by writing about our/my experiences, even if I don't directly state an opinion or comment on something, it might just come through by whatever else I say. And even if I don't necessarily hold those thoughts anymore, they live on in this blog. Of course, I can delete all those old thoughts, but since I keep this "blog" partly (mainly?) as a journal for my own sake, I probably won't.
The other thing M discussed in her entry is that people sometimes write about very personal thoughts on a blog, thoughts that they may never share with "friends". This is often true in my case. One reason is just that everyone is so busy. Nice, one-on-one, "deep" conversations are just uncommon. Two, I don't often voice my opinions/thoughts, especially in non-one-on-one environments. Three, I don't want to impose my random ramblings on anyone (which is kind of related to two). When I write here, I don't force anyone to read what I write, so I feel more free to just write about whatever I feel like writing about. Four, I'm a "few close friends" type of person. Supposedly this is true of most people, but I feel like I'm a more private person than most (which is why I have a blog? ^-^;;).
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