AirAsia MyCorporate- Would you fly low cost airline for business trips?

We all love low cost airlines, because we can vacation cheap. Our personal travel abroad now can cost much less, if we can manage to book cheaper tickets during a sale. But how about business travel? While companies definetly love to save some money on travel, as an employee flying at company's expense would you prefer low cost airlines or full service airlines? In all probability you would prefer a full service airline like SQ (Singapore Airline) for your official trips in Asia region. Not having to pay extra for everything, better seats, food, loyalty points, lounge access and possible upgrades tempt corporate flyers away from low cost airlines.

Also, corporate flyers have different set of needs- business meetings are often decided last minute, they get cancelled, postponed etc. Thus those flying on work will need some flexibility to change dates, cancel etc at small of no fee.  Hefty cost of cancellation/date change with low cost airline is another deterrent.

To woo corporate employees, Air Asia has launched Air Asia Mycorporate.

Exact details and pricing is not available in public domain. I guess it will be offered only to companies who register. FAQ section on Air Asia website has some more details. From what's available, companies can sign up under one of the 3 schemes- Fare Only, Lite and Full Flex. Fare only is no different from regular passenger tickets. Lite and Full Flex come with some additional benefits listed below.  Not sure about cancellation policy.


Express Immigration and lounge access is at select airports only. Do you think with these benefits Air Asia will be able to win more corporate flyers? Are these benefits tempting enough for you to consider Air Asia over say SQ or Thai Airways or Malaysian while flying to destinations in Asia?

Many companies have tie up with travel agents to process tickets for their employees. Because Air Asia serves only one part of the world, this corporate scheme has to co-exist and compete with what travel agency would recommend otherwise.

A Singapore Airline economy ticket gets you more baggage allowance, better food, alcohol and Changi is a great airport to transit through. Cost is a key factor for companies- if with these benefits Air Asia can still offer much cheaper tickets, may be CXOs will try to make their junior and mid management employees fly Air Asia where possible and save some money. What do you think?

Quoted in Deccan Herald in a story on cheap flights

My opinion on cheap flights is quoted in today's edition of Deccan Herald newspaper. A clipping is provided below for quick reference. Do read.

You can read the story online here
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/627118/price-wars-sky.html

What happens when inflight purchase goes bad?

Online shopping portals give a replacement/refund option within certain number of days if customer is not happy with the product received or if the product is defective. How does this process work with airlines if the in-flight shopping goes wrong?

Almost all airlines, mainly international ones try to sell some stuff on board- perfumes, electronics, toys and several other category of items. Though they are never cheaper on air, the in-flight magazines always claim you’re saving big time by buying them. Not many buy stuff on-board, but few who do usually buy it for the convenience of it- they are sitting idle with nothing else to do- instead of spending their precious time when on ground hunting around for shops/websites to buy, buying in-flight is a quicker option for them, not necessarily because it is cheap or durable. For airlines, being able to sell some stuff for a small margin is one more source of additional revenue.

Contextual Image- NOK Air Tail fin at DMK

Now, buying something is not always a smooth experience. Products could be defective- sometimes you will only know when you reach home and try to use them, products can develop faults or it may not be of promised quality/ compatibility etc or you might realize that it is available for lot cheaper elsewhere. If so, what happens if your in-flight shopped product goes bad?

Before you read further, if you had bought anything recently, just pray that it lasts long and doesn’t develop problems.

Airlines do not have any interest/motive to provide after sales service to the products they sell on-board. While they want to pocket some money by selling stuff  in flight, deploying lots of staff for after sales service or having a customer friendly refund/replacement policy will hurt their margins. Of course, they can’t declare “we can’t help if your shopping with us goes wrong, you will be own your own”. So they are required to keep some process in place to address grievances/complaints. So what airlines typically do is keep the complaint process super complicated, so that most customers find the refund/replacement process simply not worth it to pursue.

Consider Air Asia for example. If you buy something from them and it goes bad, you need to send the item to Kuala Lumpur at your own expense, within 30 days of purchase unused then airline will decide if your complaint is legitimate or not at their discretion and if they accept it then Air Asia will process refund. What if you detect that a cloth item is losing colour after first wash? What if an electronic item stops working after few months and so on? No provision to explain all that. You have to spend couple of thousand rupees to send it to Malaysia- this shipment cost could be more than item cost. Also not clear what happens if the airline doesn't agree with your complaint. Will they send it back or keep it with themselves?

An easier way for them would be to setup a counter in their hubs- like KLIA2 or DMK etc, wherein passengers can bring in the defective product and collect a replacement while boarding their next flight. But no, that would be too easy for customers to make a complaint and get a replacement. By asking buyers to send the item by courier to Malaysia, most complaints will be eliminated upfront- as cost of courier from say India to Malaysia will probably be more than cost of the product itself, or at least close enough, making the whole process nonviable for the customer.

I asked an Indigo staff what happens if the product purchased in flight is proved to be faulty or doesn’t survive the warranty period- she didn’t have an answer. I have a feeling that most airlines have policies as complex as that of AirAsia, making a refund/replacement request either not practical or not worth a customer’s time and effort. 

If the product is from a reputable brand that has service centres worldwide, it is easier to get it repaired. But most airlines sell items with brand names hardly popular or brands that have near zero physical presence in various countries worldwide. Having shady brands making it difficult for customers to cross check if the value quoted onboard the flight is genuine or not is one of the ways how airlines manage to trick passengers into buying.

Following facts are to be kept in mind while shopping in flight:

• For airlines, selling stuff in-flight is just another means of secondary revenue. They won’t have any motive to provide after sales support like replacement/refund
• Very few people buy stuff in-flight- as a result, the items there could be years old
• Most items can only be tested after reaching home, should there be a fault, there’s no option to return it and get another piece
• Check the brands- most of the times, the brand name is something you’d not have heard on the ground. Unknown brand means any after sales repair, warranty claim etc are almost impossible.
• Do read the fine print that explains refund/replacement process in case of faulty products. In most cases this is enough to deter from buying.
• If you’re tempted to buy, avoid buying in the onward flight. Take a photo of the items you find worth buying in-flight, when on ground do some checks on the brand, price etc. If it is still cheap/better in-flight, buy during your return flight.

Jet Airways sells stuff via Ava- read my earlier review here. What has been your experience in this? Do you buy stuff in planes? Has your in flight shopping ever gone bad? Do share your opinion on this.

Spicejet may soon fly to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan!

Spicejet is keen to start flights to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Jaisalmer has an airport, controlled by Air Force but has been non operational from civilian point of view. Being very close to Pakistan Border, airforce planes do regular sorties out of Jaisalmer. Now under UDAN scheme, airlines are encouraged to fly to under-served destinations and Spicejet is evaluating extending Delhi-Jaipur flight further to Jaisalmer. At present, those visiting Jaisalmer need to fly into Jodhpur, which is again connected only via Delhi n Mumbai and then endure a 5 hour road journey to Jaisalmer.

If Spicejet flies Jaipur-Jaisalmer, tourists visiting Jaisalmer can fly in to Jaipur from various parts of India and then connect to this new spicejet flight. In all probability spicejet will deploy a Bombardier Q400, a 78 seater mini plane. They will need about 50+ passengers per flight at least to keep the route commercially viable. This is not difficult to achieve. There’re several luxury resorts in Jaisalmer, including Suryagarh, whose guests will be happy to fly in directly to Jaisalmer instead of enduring a road journey in hot temperatures. Even for others, a Rs 2500 one way ticket that saves several hours is a good value proposition compared to hiring a taxi from say Jodhpur to Jaisalmer which will cost lots of money.

Besides tourist, flight is also expected to benfit govt officials and local residents who need to travel to other parts of the country. Jodhpur is closer airport, but Jodhpur is also airforce controlled airport with limited civilian flights allowed. Jaipur has better connectivity to rest of India, hence naturally better choice to fly to Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer is one of the popular tourist spots in Rajasthan. When in Jaisalmer, do check out the Jaisalmer Fort, Lodruva Jain temple, Khabha fort and Kuldhara haunted village. If you stay at boutique hotels like Suryagarh, they will create several unique signature experiences, such as sundowner by thetalab, breakfast with peacocks, night trail at Kuldhara and so on. Monsoon is the best time to visit Jaisalmer.

Timing and frequency of the flights is not known at the moment. Jaisalmer Airport is still not listed on Spicejet website. Flights may begin in September/October timeline. Spicejet gets a 3 year monopoly on this route for their initiative. Assume that is for Jaisalmer-Jaipur sector only and not on Jaisalmer airport/destination altogether.

As per this TOI report, Jaisalmer airport is gearing up for passenger movement. If all goes well, flights should commence sometime in September/October. Good to see Spicejet making good use of UDAN scheme and announcing several new flights. Start planning your Rajasthan tour!

Spicejet is aggressively expanding making full use of UDAN scheme. Recently they started Hyderabad-Puducherry. Best wishes to them.

Flew in or out of Delhi recently? Claim excess UDF money back!

UDF or User Development Fee has been reduced in Delhi Airport. Domestic passengers earlier had to pay between Rs 275 to 550, now have to pay just Rs 12. International passengers were charged between 635 to 1270, now only 54. If you’d booked your flight tickets out of Delhi before 7^th July you’re eligible to claim the refund. Domestic passengers have 45 days to claim refund, international passengers get 2 months.

How to UDF claim refund?

If you’ve booked on your own, then contact airline call centre. If you’ve booked through travel agent, refund should be sought through them.

If you’ve booked your tickets at earlier higher UDF fee but not yet traveled, airlines should automatically process the difference amount. However, no harm calling them and checking.

This is applicable to both inbound and outbound passengers.

If you've claimed UDF refund, let us know how the process went.