I had the pleasure of being able to go to Kuala Lumpur for the day as a trip organized by work. Sadly only a day mind but still it was good to go back to a city I enjoyed and travelled when I was living the high life as a back packer.
That will come in a later blog but for now I am just concentrating on Air Asia (now everyone can fly).
Firstly lets look at buying online flight tickets. It is I am sure an open secret that the earlier you book with Air Asia the cheaper the tickets are. I was given a weeks notice to book a ticket, so it cost me a million rupiah for a return. This was after the 20% discount that was being promoted that week, but I was in choice to complain.
The next thing is that you will have go to through a list of added extras which you need to cancel as they are all charged to your ticket price. Once you have confirmed the days you need to fly then you will need to ensure that if you don't want reserve seating you remove that option. next find the luggage option (you get charged if you are checking in luggage) and remove any checked in baggage. Once that is completed, ensure you remove the option for food to be paid for during the flight.
You will then be asked to pay for insurance, if you dont want that, you still need to confirm you agree to the terms and then you need to click to say you do not want insurance. A new small window will open and you need to read it carefully. Pressing OK gets you the insurance and while CANCEL does not.
Finally there is a charge for credit cards per person booked which is 50,000 rupiah but there is nothing you can do about that. Getting rid of the all the added extras does get you a cheaper price.
On busy days their server is slow and you are left to wonder if you actually have paid. If you reclick you may get charged, if you cancel you may lose the booking and get charged, you may not.
Overall buying tickets is simple and very safe but the site is a little confusing and tricky.
So back to the actuals.
Flying from Jakarta meant you can check in using the barcode on your ticket at a separate check in point. It took less than 5 minutes to do that for 3 people and it was very simple. However there is no control over where you sit and so we were sat all over the place, the times before, that never happened. You need to go to T2D not T3 which is internal flight only.
Our flight to KL was on time and there was no hassle.
Immigration at LCCT is another matter (nothing worrying apart from the queues and procedure).
From there we wanted to get the fast train to KL and save a whole deal of time instead of taking a bus.
We used the money changer by the baggage claim to get some money. For USD it was $1 = 2.8200 MYR ringgit and the online rate is 3.022.
For GBR 1 pound gets you 4.4500 MYR, online it is 4.9490. Not too bad but if I had needed to change a lot of money then it would have hurt.
The information desk for the KLIA transit told us to buy tickets just as we left customs from a booth to the right and so we did.
One person 1 way from the Air Asia terminal to KL sentral is RM12.50, return is RM22. For a child it is half the adult price. This price also includes free shuttle bus to the railway station 'Salak Tinggi' where you take the train.
The bus stop can be found in opposite The Coffee Bean restaurant at bay 3, if in doubt ask..
The train is fast, quiet and clean and the best news is that once you are on ,2 stops later or 25 minutes and you are in KL sentral and then from there you can take the MRT, LRT, Train, Bus, Taxi to anywhere.
If you want to take a bus from LCCT to KL Sentral they run every 15-30 minutes (big boards showing times are everywhere) and they run from RM8. But they take over an hour depending on traffic.
Checking in is simple at LCCT, for international departures, go left and find your check in point, everywhere else is in the main check in area. You can check in at least 3 hours before flight time.
Links to websites for more information
http://www.kliaekspres.com/erlsb/default.aspx
http://www.airasia.com/id/en/home.html
http://www.klsentral.com.my/
and now you know a little more
At the end of the day I like Air Asia despite the late departures and crap service they sometimes offer.
I have flown
Jakarta - Bali
Jakarta - Jogja
Jakarta - KL
KL - Bangkok / Krabi / Chiang Mai
KL - Sandakan / Kota Bharu
Kota Kinabalu - Johor Bharu
Chiang Mai - Singapore
So I must like them....
That will come in a later blog but for now I am just concentrating on Air Asia (now everyone can fly).
The next thing is that you will have go to through a list of added extras which you need to cancel as they are all charged to your ticket price. Once you have confirmed the days you need to fly then you will need to ensure that if you don't want reserve seating you remove that option. next find the luggage option (you get charged if you are checking in luggage) and remove any checked in baggage. Once that is completed, ensure you remove the option for food to be paid for during the flight.
You will then be asked to pay for insurance, if you dont want that, you still need to confirm you agree to the terms and then you need to click to say you do not want insurance. A new small window will open and you need to read it carefully. Pressing OK gets you the insurance and while CANCEL does not.
Finally there is a charge for credit cards per person booked which is 50,000 rupiah but there is nothing you can do about that. Getting rid of the all the added extras does get you a cheaper price.
On busy days their server is slow and you are left to wonder if you actually have paid. If you reclick you may get charged, if you cancel you may lose the booking and get charged, you may not.
Overall buying tickets is simple and very safe but the site is a little confusing and tricky.
So back to the actuals.
Flying from Jakarta meant you can check in using the barcode on your ticket at a separate check in point. It took less than 5 minutes to do that for 3 people and it was very simple. However there is no control over where you sit and so we were sat all over the place, the times before, that never happened. You need to go to T2D not T3 which is internal flight only.
Our flight to KL was on time and there was no hassle.
Immigration at LCCT is another matter (nothing worrying apart from the queues and procedure).
From there we wanted to get the fast train to KL and save a whole deal of time instead of taking a bus.
We used the money changer by the baggage claim to get some money. For USD it was $1 = 2.8200 MYR ringgit and the online rate is 3.022.
For GBR 1 pound gets you 4.4500 MYR, online it is 4.9490. Not too bad but if I had needed to change a lot of money then it would have hurt.
The information desk for the KLIA transit told us to buy tickets just as we left customs from a booth to the right and so we did.
One person 1 way from the Air Asia terminal to KL sentral is RM12.50, return is RM22. For a child it is half the adult price. This price also includes free shuttle bus to the railway station 'Salak Tinggi' where you take the train.
The bus stop can be found in opposite The Coffee Bean restaurant at bay 3, if in doubt ask..
The train is fast, quiet and clean and the best news is that once you are on ,2 stops later or 25 minutes and you are in KL sentral and then from there you can take the MRT, LRT, Train, Bus, Taxi to anywhere.
If you want to take a bus from LCCT to KL Sentral they run every 15-30 minutes (big boards showing times are everywhere) and they run from RM8. But they take over an hour depending on traffic.
Checking in is simple at LCCT, for international departures, go left and find your check in point, everywhere else is in the main check in area. You can check in at least 3 hours before flight time.
http://www.kliaekspres.com/erlsb/default.aspx
http://www.airasia.com/id/en/home.html
http://www.klsentral.com.my/
and now you know a little more
At the end of the day I like Air Asia despite the late departures and crap service they sometimes offer.
I have flown
Jakarta - Bali
Jakarta - Jogja
Jakarta - KL
KL - Bangkok / Krabi / Chiang Mai
KL - Sandakan / Kota Bharu
Kota Kinabalu - Johor Bharu
Chiang Mai - Singapore
So I must like them....
5 comments:
Hi Luke,
I have never fly on Air Asia.
But after reading your story
I am tempted to try Air Asia.
Hi Harry, They are a good carrier but also a frustrating one but to get around Asia fairly well I would choose them first
Hi ! Glad you came over and hope your holidays were enjoyable.
Hi, Mr. Regler. I found your blog from a Google search on LCCT. I booked my family's tickets to KL BEFORE I realized that the LCCT was an entirely different terminal from KLIA. Thanks for writing in detail about transferring between the two terminals and transport to the city. Your description of what to expect is very helpful.
Hello Intrepid, Thank you for you comments, glad to have been some help.
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