My recent trip by AirAsia to Bali was a frustrating experience for several reasons. My family and I arrived at the LCCT two hours before flight time as per requirement. The terminal was crowded with holiday-makers and it was also uncomfortably hot and stuffy.

The toilets at the terminal had heaps of used toilet papers on the floor. I thought AirAsia had started its austerity drive on toilet maintenance and air-conditioning.

We got ourselves checked in easily and we were in the departure hall by 2.15pm for a flight scheduled to take off at 3.05pm. Then the waiting game began. There were no announcements and at 3.15pm we walked to the counter to enquire about our flight which was supposed to have taken off ten minutes before. The ground staff said there was a delay as they were waiting for the flight to come in.

The first announcement comes at 3.30pm saying the flight had been delayed and the new expected departure was 4.15pm. One announcement finally came through the faulty microphone. We strain our ears to catch the message and there we go again with more delays with the latest take-off pushed to 4.40pm.

Finally at 4.45pm we were herded into the flight and we heaved a ho-ho thinking we were on our way to asunny Bali holiday not knowing there was more waiting. Half-hour inside the plane we asked why we hadn’t the flight taken off and a stewardess sheepishly tells us, ‘Don’t worry mem, you will be entitled to your voucher for the delay’.

I was fuming because my time lost in waiting and the inconvenience of sitting in with all our clothes soaking from the rain while getting into the plane are worth much more than the stupid voucher. Besides, she didn’t answer my question. The captain comes on air minutes later and says the flight had been delayed by ten minutes and this statement is repeated three times until the flight finally takes off at 6.15pm.

AirAsia is indifferent towards its passengers. The basic business ethics of flight operations is in keeping to departure and arrival times, is where AirAsia fails miserably. This low-cost carrier has become synonymous with delays and it does not see it important to keep people informed when there are delays.

Any delay beyond 30 minutes is intolerable and this is the first thing AirAsia needs to fix before expanding further.

I had wanted to try the new KL- Tiruchi route by AirAsia but after this experience which was not the first but the worst, I have decided that there are better options these days where I will be treated with some respect and importance, I am sure.

And we are yet to hear from AirAsia on the promised voucher for the delay.