Ten Thousand Things

I flew in to Sydney last week via AirAsia. I left Clark in Angeles, Pampanga at 11:00AM and flew to Kuala Lumpur which is AirAsia’s main home and hub.  My stop over though was close to 8 hours. That’s pretty long actually. But with more flights coming from Clark to KL in the near future, that long wait will hopefully be shorter soon. Luckily, I met a new friend at the airport and we spent all that time talking about everything and anything under the sun.

The flight from KL to Sydney is a new route for the airline. When we took it, it was only the second time that AirAsia was flying to Sydney. The first time was Monday, April 1 2012 which was the day before. It was an uneventful flight which is probably the best thing one can say about flying. In other words, there were no delays, mishaps, shortcomings or anything that would have made the flight ‘memorable’ in any unpleasant way. After I had my meals, I slept through most of the flight.

The price of a ticket when flying a low-cost airline varies depending on when you intend to  leave. Sometimes, AirAsia has tickets available at such unbelievably low prices it’s hard NOT to travel. For this flight to Sydney, if you were flying on a promo ticket which they offered last January, it would have cost you 99 AUD back and forth.

The food on board is very cheap and as airline meals go, they can be anywhere from  ‘not bad’ to delicious depending on what you order. I ordered a rice meal with chicken and it was about 6 AUD more or less. And it was pretty tasty.

One thing I’ve noticed in the flights I have taken on AirAsia is that the stewardesses actually ‘talk’ to passengers. By this, I mean they have eye contact and do not just answer questions in a perfunctory manner but actually engage in friendly conversation.

The baggage allotment to Sydney is 20 kg but you can buy more kilos through the website at reasonable prices. Seating is randomly generated, but you can also buy your preferred seat if you wish. And oh yes, checking in is so easy through an electronic kiosk. You pay for what you want.

I intend to do a lot of traveling in the next few years and I am looking more and more at AirAsia to help me do it. While budget airlines are known to be inexpensive which is great, it is important to this traveler that I leave and arrive at the expected time promised. So far,  AirAsia’s reputation for being on time is very good. I have taken 6 flights  and I have always arrived either on time or a few minutes early.

I only wish they flew everywhere so I can go to places that are too far and therefore expensive to visit.