Wee Ka Siong burst with anger last month after his flight to Sandakan from Kota Kinabalu was delayed several times. The former Transport Minister was so angry that he whined, moaned and bitched non-stop on social media about his suffering. If even a mega-rich and powerful man like him went nuclear, imagine the ordinary Joes and Janes who could only suffer in silence.

 

Complaining in Facebook, Mr Wee exploded – “I had a ticket for an AirAsia flight from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, scheduled at 3.10pm on Saturday (July 20). At 8.40am, I received an SMS informing me of a delay to 5.55pm. However, upon hotel checkout at 2pm, I found out the flight was further delayed to 11.30pm. Later, at 8.55pm, I was told it was rescheduled to 2.10am on Sunday (July 21),” 

 

The MCA president complained further – “It’s totally unacceptable. AirAsia should have informed us of the cancellation earlier. I had to book a hotel room in Kota Kinabalu to rest and checked out at 12.35am on Sunday. Don’t give false hopes to passengers, as many whom I met at the airport were angry with the airline for not arranging accommodation due to the delay.”

Actually, there was a global information technology (IT) outage on July 19 that affected many airlines and businesses. Of course, billionaire Wee could take a private jet. But he had to pretend that he was travelling just like any ordinary people for political purpose. He was lucky that he could afford a hotel room. Many had to sleep in the airport, whilst AirAsia tycoon owner Tony Fernandes slept in his palace.

 

It was both hilarious and entertaining that the former minister talked as if the delay of his flight AK6498 was only happening just yesterday. Where was he when thousands of people were stranded the same way when he was the powerful Transport Minister? Yes, when he was in power, he had never complained about AirAsia’s delays as the birds of same feather flock together.

 

For years, even decades, budget airline AirAsia has been using its low-cost fare as a weapon to maximize profits by deliberately delaying and rescheduling flights which are still not packed like sardines. In fact, TripAdvisor reviews reveal AirAsia management is so inefficient that 95% of the time their flights are delayed because the airline doesn’t care two hoots about punctuality.

When Wee Ka Siong was the Transport Minister in the previous backdoor government of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri, the delays were so severe that Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry Alexander Nanta Linggi had to intervene. There were cases of flights from Penang and Kuching to Kuala Lumpur delayed up to nine hours. And what did Wee had done?

 

Had Minister Wee punished AirAsia back in 2022, he would not have to cry like a baby last month. Instead of protecting consumers, the disgraced president of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) gave the airline a slap on the wrist. He said – “After conducting consultations and investigations, the airlines involved were instructed to immediately resolve the technical issues as experienced by the passengers”.

 

Heck, he even shamelessly defended AirAsia, saying that most of the complaints received could be attributed to “higher-than-usual passenger traffic” during the festive season, which forced airlines to maximise the use of their aircraft to meet demand. So, why is Wee complaining when it was he who allowed – even helped – AirAsia to escape unpunished after some empty talk and rhetoric?

Using the same excuse – “higher-than-usual passenger traffic” – or other technical jargons to hoodwink customers, AirAsia similarly delayed Wee’s flight AK6498 on July 20. The airline has not and does not need to improve its professionalism because it knew the incompetent and corrupt Malaysian authorities dare not act against it. Therefore, it continues to offer excuses like technical issues that cannot be avoided or climate change to justify flight delays.

 

On Wednesday (August 28), however, Transport Minister Anthony Loke finally made the move – announcing that all airlines will be required to fully refund passengers for flights delayed by five hours or more effective September 2024. This applied to passengers who chose not to proceed with the delayed flight and opt to purchase a different flight.   

 

The refunds include fuel surcharges, taxes, fees, and charges such as departure levies and passenger service charges – applicable to both refundable and non-refundable tickets for flights that were not used. Any change in the scheduled departure time must be notified to passengers at least “2 weeks” before the actual departure, unless due to extraordinary circumstances or unavoidable technical problems.

For flight disruptions caused by unforeseen circumstances, airlines must first offer refunds but may also provide alternative reimbursement options such as travel vouchers. However, customers have the right to choose their preferred mode of refund, and the refunds will be made within 30 days. Additionally,airlines must notify passengers of denied boarding due to overbooking at check-in or departure gates.

 

While the new regulations from the new transport minister deserve applause, consumer protection is still lacking. What will happen to those who suffer the agony of 3 hours or 4 hours delay? Even passengers qualified for a full refund would have already lost at least 5 hours of precious time because the greedy airline decided to delay or rescheduling the flight to squeeze passengers from  two planes into one.

 

The airline should be made to compensate in addition to the full refund. The compensation could be in cash, meal vouchers, hotel accommodation, transport or even reimbursement for time wasted. Yes, only by hurting its pocket will the airlines improve its efficiency and professionalism. After all, AirAsia actually has nothing to lose with the full refund policy.

Even when a full refund is offered, the airline does not lose anything – the plane has yet to take off hence jet fuel remains unused, whilst crew members have yet to fly thus allowances remain unclaimed. On the contrary, money paid for tickets by consumers can be used by AirAsia to roll and earn interest for the next 30 days. Worse, because there isn’t any penalty for overbooking, the airlines will certainly and quietly continue the practice.

 

Hiding behind “flight delays caused by extraordinary circumstances”, the airlines can always cook up excuses such as bird strikes, mechanical issue, air traffic restrictions, adverse weather conditions and whatnot. Heck, AirAsia customer service is so bad you might wonder if such department exists at all. It’s a nightmare to call and talk to customer service agents urgently.

 

Despite sending emails to all email addresses you could find, you can bet your last penny that none of them will respond to you. Tony has done an excellent job to annoy customers that AirAsia live agent will make sure you don’t speak to customer service. Yes, “Chat with Bo” via AirAsia website is pretty much useless as the so-called AI robot will keep your high blood pressure skyrockets with unresolved problems.

AirAsia‘s business models had always been to make the refund process as long and difficult as possible. When the Covid-19 hit, the first thing the airline CEO did was to downsize, but dragged his feet for years over customers’ refunds for cancelled flights caused by the pandemic. Yet, the selfish and greedy man has the cheek to demand compensation from Microsoft after AirAsia affected by CrowdStrike outage recently.

 

Only by giving false hopes continuously to passengers (as Wee Ka Siong discovered last month) with endless delays and by refusing to reply to emails and calls with hopes that you either give up or just forget the trouble of getting refunds could AirAsia enrich Tony Fernandes and his minions. He knew customers can’t do anything even if they are furious because the tickets are cheap.

 

To avoid giving full refund, airlines like AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines could try to delay and reschedule flights to up to 4 hours. And they will definitely increase prices to factor the new rules to maintain profit margins. AirAsia, notoriously known for random flight cancellations and at the same time makes it impossible to claim a refund, will find new tricks to fleece customers’ money.

 

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August 30th, 2024 by financetwitter

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