Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Time to plan for your next vacation? AirAsia removes fuel surcharge and offers free seats

Great news for those who always look for a budget trip! AirAsia today abolished fuel surcharges on all its flights and said it will give away half a million free tickets next year in an attempt to lure travelers amid the global slowdown.

AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes said the region's biggest budget carrier will offer 500,000 free seats for travel between 22nd June and 24th October, 2009, on all its domestic and international destinations.

He said the recent steep drop in fuel prices has allowed AirAsia to adopt the bold strategy, adding that the loss of revenue should be offset by higher ticket sales, which will also be bolstered by new marketing strategies.

According to Fernandes, AirAsia is the first carrier in the world to abolish fuel surcharges, which became a standard industry practice a few years ago as oil prices rose on their way to peaking at nearly US$150 a barrel in mid-July. But since then, crude prices have tumbled because expectations that slower global growth will mean less demand. With the surcharges eliminated, travelers only need to pay for the airport tax and can also save the ticket charges if given free seats.

Fernandes said the move will boost Malaysia's economy as well as domestic and regional tourism by encouraging travel. This decision was also praised by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad but Fernandes added that he could not guarantee that the surcharge would not be reimposed if oil prices surge again.

It would be a very good opportunity for those with spare money and those who plan to go on honeymoon next year to take the offer. I have taken the similar offer before. I know it is not so easy to "fight" for the free seats as the Website's traffic will be jammed by heavy load. You have to plan one year advance and must be very sure that you can be on leave a year later or else you forfeit your ticket and lose your payment for airport tax.

11 comments:

Alfie Lim said...

yalor... haha... want to go bangkok in Jan?? :D ....

RM404 for return ticket.....

Joon Liang said...

never sit on a plane b4 :p

no money to go kai kai also...

kiansin said...

lol...u can book meh?

I select everything the get error ler..-..-

Alan Wang said...

Alfie: serious ar? what makes you suka bangkok so much? the akua? :D or the amoi?

Joonliang: Yea, that's for orang lebih kaya like alfie, the offer is not for me also :p but the last time I took airasia was flying to bali, I got free airfare so only paid RM200 for the flight.. round trip somemore.. hoho

Alan Wang said...

u try pigi mana? sometimes it goes siao when u click forward and balik a few times... call uncle fernandes, never call their call centre coz they'll never pick up :D

Alfie Lim said...

hahaha... now can leh....

bai xin u mau pigi mana?? hahaha

coz BKK got cheap cheap barang mah... wahaha....

they also aware of the waiting time of the call centre leh... i think improve now.... u can try :D

Alfie Lim said...

earn lor ur rm200 ticket... i pay $400+ for the same trip le.... lagi earn

Alan Wang said...

airasia tickets dont have mum mum included ma.. your $400 one got? :D

Alfie Lim said...

err... got currypuff to bali... but return 1 dont have...

JENson said...

HK all sold out :(

Alfie Lim said...

i want to go hk also :(