Passenger peeved after AirAsia resells cancelled flight at higher price

An AirAsia passenger still waiting to be fully refunded for a cancelled flight is up in arms after learning that the low-cost airline had then resold the tickets for the flight in question.

Uwe Guenther, from Zurich, Switzerland, previously told how he had been forced to spend more on another round of flight tickets after his original AirAsia flight from Bali to Labuan Bajo-Komodo Island was scrapped. 

Guenther, a civil engineer, had paid a total of US$364.72 (RM1,623) for six tickets for the domestic flight including the extra fees for his choice of seat. 

He bought six more tickets with Batik Air after discovering that his original flight with AirAsia would not depart as scheduled. 

In early July, he received an email confirming that the flight, slated to depart on Aug 18, had been cancelled. 

He was given credit worth US$163.53 (RM727.71) – less than half of the amount he had paid. 

But he was incensed to learn that AirAsia had later resold the tickets for that flight online. 

Speaking to MalaysiaNow, he referred to a screenshot showing that the flight was scheduled to depart on the same day – only 30 minutes earlier. 

Checks confirmed that the flight number QZ 644 was the same flight shown on the tickets Guenther had bought in March. 

"AirAsia, which cancelled my flight and then gave me less than half of my credit back, sold the same flight tickets for half an hour earlier on the same date at a higher price," he said. 

"What is wrong with this airline? My flight was supposed to depart at 9am. They cancelled it and then resold the tickets for 8.35am. They even sold it under the same flight number."

MalaysiaNow attempted to reach AirAsia for an explanation but received no response other than a media statement about the company's promotional campaign, sent by an AirAsia communications officer. 

The email was received about 30 minutes after MalaysiaNow's request for a response. 

A similar case occurred in June, as revealed by a passenger who had bought an AirAsia flight ticket to Langkawi. 

Jai Rihan told MalaysiaNow that his flight, which was supposed to depart at 11.35am on June 18, was delayed to 5pm.

He later discovered that the 11.35am flight was still available, but that tickets were being sold at double the price. 

He recounted his experience on Facebook, where his post quickly went viral. 

"My flight is on June 18 at 11.35am to Langkawi," he said in the post dated June 12. 

"I booked this flight nearly a month ago. Today I got an email saying my flight was rescheduled to 5pm. Now I check the available flights online and guess what, the 11.35am flight is available and at double the price I bought. 

"Now if I want to change my flight to that time again, I have to pay the extra in order to get that time. My flight is a week away. And the reason given is operational issues," he said.  

When contacted by MalaysiaNow then, AirAsia confirmed that the case had been resolved with Jai able to board his flight at the original time.