AirAsia X review by Paul 2014-01-16

Flew Perth - KL - Incheon on Dec 30 and Incheon - KL - Perth on Jan 13. Never Again! Chose them because of the shorter transit time in KL not because of price as once all the add-ons taken into account were not much cheaper than Singapore Airlines or Garuda. Phoned 3 hours before leaving Perth by Flight Centre to say there had been a change in departure time from KL to Incheon from 1.00am (3 hour transit) to 5.00am (7 hour transit) due to "opertional Matters'''. Not only did this make the transit time longer than the other carriers but 7 hours in the LCC Terminal in KL - unbearable. They offered no apology or other explanation for the delay and although providing sandwiches and a blanket to some passengers, no general announcement was made so a lot of passengers missed out. The only Airline (as far as I am aware) that configure the A330 in a 3-3-3 layout so ''cattle class'' is the apt term here. Seats uncomfortable and very narrow and although paying for a ''hot seat'' with extra leg room, crammed into the window seat with the fuselage pressing against my shoulder and emergency exit door base protruding out, this extra payment was negated. Carpet in the aisles was torn and some of the staff uniforms looked like they had slept in them. Return flight, which I was now dreading as it was longer (I assume due to winds, flight paths etc), left Incheon on time however arrived in KL an hour and fifteen minutes late. Great I thought, less time in the horrible LCC Terminal before leaving for Perth. Wrong! The line for the Transit area was out the door with only 4 staff operating and 1 security screening station, while through the paper thin wall next door they were announcing final call for the Perth flight. No assistance provided for those passengers on that flight to get them through any quicker. When finally through and one of the last passengers to get through, was asked by a security person why I had left it so late to board and told I was holding up the plane. Unbelievable. This lot make Jetstar look live a full service 5 star airline. Look carefully at the full service airline pricing before choosing this lot as once all the additions are made it is often not a lot cheaper and the saving is not worth it in ''cattle class'' on a long haul flight.