Flew AirAsia after 4.5 years

Flew AirAsia Malaysia again after 4.5 years. My last flight was to Brunei in 2019 Jan.

After that I had a set of tickets- AMD-KUL for 502 INR, Vizag to Australia, Kuala Lumpur to Cambodia & Laos, world's cheapest flight ticket ever for 200 INR,  and many more- all got cancelled due to covid. 

There was an issue viewing Air Asia International website after Air Asia India and Air Asia Malaysia separated. Indian customers didn't have a way to view their international tickets, refund credits etc. It was a mess for sometime. Finally sometime in 2022 this got sorted. I had got some credit points for covid time cancelled flights, which I didn't know by when it would expire. Because I couldn't fly out of India I couldn't take many of the flights originating from Malaysia which were not cancelled- so I didn't get refund for them. Got credits only for flights in and out of India.

So armed with some 15k worth points, I booked a short trip to Thailand for 3 days, just to use this. 

Thailand trip means having to spend about 4500 INR on Visa on Arrival, plus another 8-10k in other expenses- stay, local travel, sim card, food, travel from home to BLR etc for 3 days. So around 22-25k was spent.

I was excited to check what all has changed in AirAsia in recent times. Summary: Nothing much. Thai Air Asia was same as earlier- almost on time performance, basic services of a budget airline. Below are my observations:

Best food options for vegetarians are this Hyd Biryani, Thai Panang Curry with Rice or Noodles. Rice bowl costs 180 Baht (420 INR) each. 

Similar rice products are available for 50 to 70 baht at 7Eleven store at DMK airport, if you can wait.

Check in was fine. Because of Visa on Arrival, staff checked if I have cash, hotel booking and return ticket. Cabin bag was not weighed. Boarding was fine, they do zone wise, but that is only limited from gate to bus- then everyone is mixed 

Both my onward and return flights were on time.

Indians' behavior on international flights remains unchanged. Few passengers who were sitting in extra leg room seats without paying were made to go back by staff.

Visa on arrival was smooth- took about 20 odd minutes as crowd was less at the time of my landing. As I completed formalities by 5-5.15 AM but buses wouldn't start so early. had to wait for an hour for public transport to begin- took bus to my stay- Bangkok's cheapest hostel- PLOY

Return trip was smooth as well.

My only concern is the pricing. Now everything costing 3x-4x compared to pre-covid. Hopefully Air Asia will revert to cheaper tickets and I can plan more trips. Let us see.