Imagine this scenario:
You get into a plane that has only 1 class – cattle… I mean economy.
You sit down and buckle your seat belt. When the plane is airborne, you try to lower your seat and finds that it lowers about half an inch. You are left sitting in a position just slightly over 90 degrees.
You realise this will be your sitting position for the next 13 hours.
You smell food and take out your wallet to pay for your dinner. Then you pay for your mid-flight snack. And your tidbits. And your breakfast.
You choke on the dry airplane air and reach for your bottled water. Ah! But it has been confiscated at the airport. You are no longer allowed to carry your water on board and you need a drink.
You pay premium price for a 500ml bottle of water. Repeat this once an hour over the next 13 hours.
You get cold in the plane and look around for your blanket only to realise that… yes! You have to pay for it!
You stare into space due to the lack of in-flight entertainment. There would probably be something… if you paid for it.
When you arrive at your destination – London – you are bored, stiff, hungry, thirsty and cold and you can’t wait to get out of the tin can that took you 8000 miles from Kuala Lumpur to London.
After paying for all the miscellaneous items, you may have been better off just paying for a ticket on a commercial airline as opposed to a budget airline, even if the ticket fare will cost you only half the normal ticket price.
I’m sorry I’m cynical but there is no way I’m getting on a budget airline for a long-haul flight. Not even from KL to Australia which is between 5-8 hours away. I think flying budget all the way to London is just taking it too far.
Flying to London on a commercial airline in economy is already bad enough. There is barely enough space for you to sit in much less move around. But at least there’s a blanket, in-flight entertainment, food and drink. I cannot imagine a flight with none of those things, or with those things being optional only. This is especially with the present restrictions on carry-on liquids.
London is a wonderful place to be and it is very expensive too. But saving on the airline fare just isn’t the way to do it. Getting on a budget airline is great for a close-by destination. 3 hours is the longest I’ve been in a budget airline and I did not think I’d want to do it again or for a longer period.
In my view, the best way to truly truly enjoy a holiday is to save up for it, take a comfortable flight there, have a great time, and then take a comfortable flight back. And crash from the jetlag. Then, work hard, save up and do it all over again.
Budget airline to London? I’ll pass, thank you very much.
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I’ll pass too! Imagine sitting on something like Air Asia for 13 hours! Actually a budget airline would be a bit of a regression innit? It’s almost back to days of the propeller planes when Tunku took the little flight off to England to negotiate for our independence.
Depart KL – Stopover India – Stopover Dubai – Stopover Europe – Arrive in London 2 days later
No thanks!
I was thinking of whether to do the whole AirAsiaX thing to Melbourne when it’s finally confirmed and all that. But then I remember how teruk it is already to fly slum class on MAS for 7 hours, so nope, I’d rather fork out the $$ to fly at least a little more comfortably. And 13 hours on the plane on worse-than-slum-class? You’ve GOT to be joking :p
You gotta try First Class!!!! *wicked grin*
*shudders* That sounds hellish the way you describe it… nope, not for me!
Haven’t done First Class, but Business Class to and from US had me hooked! They call you by name you know!
Hmmm maybe if heavily sedated …
Pinkelle: LOL at the stopovers. Crazy hor?
Tine: Fork out the money!
LB: Blek. 1st class way out of my league.
Rinnah: Oh that’s just my overactive imagination
Giddy Tiger: Wah! That would have made it a much more comfortable flight to the US!
Tummy: LOL…
I do not blame you a bit. When I was in the army I flew from New York to Brussels on a little tin can and we were jam packed. No movie either. At least there was food. Will never fly on a long trip like that again.
SA: Gosh! That sounds awful even if you did get meals…
Hey! You stole my thoughts! LOL I’ve just flown back from London on MAS and this time, the plane was 1/3 empty, so I had the luxury of stretching out to snooze across three seats when they dimmed the lights. When we landed, I thought about flying there via Air Asia and just could not help shuddering at the thought.
Pass.
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