Flying with Air Asia
AirAsia’s popularity may be largely attributed to its strategy of stimulating demand by offering low-priced (see Exhibit 3) and even free tickets (see Exhibit 2). It caters to price-sensitive travellers who are fairly flexible in their travel schedules, for instance students and budget tourists, and who prefer the convenience of online ticketing and payment. The customer experience with AirAsia is very much based on the self-service (co-production) concept. This begins from the point of booking one’s own ticket right up till the actual flight itself. Using the single-class and free-seating policy, there are no seat allocations based on specific seat numbers. However, priority for boarding is given to the elderly or disabled passengers as well as those with children. Once on board, there is minimal inflight service other than crews going around selling food and drinks.
The low prices do, however, come with certain restrictions. The airline operates on a point-to-point basis and bears no liability for customers’ failure to meet connecting flights due to delays. Once confirmed, bookings are not able to be cancelled and payments made are not refundable but can be credited to future flights.