Welcome to my first post on the new and improved Road More Traveled blog! If you’re joining me from Travel Codex, welcome, and I hope you enjoy the new content.
This summer, our family has been summoned to India for a wedding. While India will be the primary focus, my son (yes, my 8-year old) insists on stopping in Korea on the way home. I took a short trip to Seoul last fall with my brother, and my son demands a re-do this summer. Yeah, it took a bunch of arm-twisting to convince me to head to Korea again. Anyway, getting from Chennai to Seoul presents some interesting flight options. The most intriguing of which is AirAsia’s “Premium Flatbed”. Unfortunately, I’ve found that AirAsia simply doesn’t want my money…
The AirAsia Premium Flatbed
AirAsia (or more precisely, AirAsia X) was one of the first ULCCs out of the gate with a premium long-haul offering. Dubbed the “Premium Flatbed“, it is, effectively, a Business Class product. Surprisingly, though, AirAsia doesn’t market the Flatbed as a stand-alone product. Rather, it’s more like a true Business Class product, with many of the perks you expect like lounge access, meals, a 40 kg baggage allowance, and more.
The product intrigued me for several reasons. First, the whole concept of a true Business Class on an ultra-low cost carrier kind of blows my mind. But more importantly, AirAsia offers some really competitive pricing. On the Chennai to Seoul route, it checks in at less than half the price of Cathay Pacific Business Class, for example. The catch? The actual hard product isn’t particularly cutting edge. While in a 1-2-1 configuration with direct aisle access, the seats measure 19″ side with 59″ of pitch. That’s certainly a big improvement over deep coach, but not quite the same as a traditional premium product. Cathay Pacific, for example, features seats that are 20.2″ wide with 75″ of pitch on the A350-1000.
But AirAsia Doesn’t Want My Money
At first blush, it looks like the “Premium Flatbed” is available on this route. AirAsia prominently displays an “upgrade now” button if you search in Economy. Click on the option, and it’ll display a total fare of $1,359 (for three, or $453 per person).
Click on the details, and it even confirms this is a Business Class through fare.
But then I tried to buy, and…it reverted back to an Economy fare on all segments.
I tried different dates, different browsers – nada. I wanted to give AirAsia my money, but they refused to take it!
The Problem – Mixed Cabin Itineraries (and a confusing array of AirAsias)
The issue actually seems to be pretty simple – the flatbed is only offered on the AirAsia X long-haul from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul. Chennai to Kuala Lumpur is on regular AirAsia in an all-coach configuration. But this also illustrates the confusing pitfalls of flying AirAsia across the continent. There are actually several different versions of AirAsia depending on country of origin, including AirAsia, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, and others. While the conglomerate will sell through tickets between subsidiaries, the foreign site (AirAsia Move) seem to have issues mixing between them, especially with mixed cabin itineraries.
This left me with a couple of less than ideal options if I wanted to try the Flatbed. I could book two separate tickets, but with my family in tow, I have no desire to subject them to something risky. The other option is to use an online travel agent. Capital One Travel, for example, will sell me a through fare in “Business Class” at the same $453 price shown. But do I really trust an OTA to get this right?
At the end of the day, I’ll probably just end up booking Cathay Pacific. They’re more than eager to take my money. Too bad, because the Premium Flatbed would have made for an interesting review.