Hi all,

I am having this problem with Air Asia. I made a booking last year during the 0 fare promotion period from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. Due to the instability and havoc in Bangkok, I've decided to change the date to a later date. I called up their customer service and ask for advice, they said, in order to change the date I will be charged a fee to change the date (The government has not announced that Bangkok is not a safe place to go, so the change fee cannot be waived). Well, I am fine with that and willing to pay. The amount is 75.00 for one way so return for return as well is 150.00. To change the date for 2 person, 150x2. Fine, I have to pay 300.00 to change the date.

So I tried to change the date via the web site and thanks to the Air Asia site, we can change it online, recalculate the new flight fare + 300 penalty. This is what I see in the summary.

Summary of what I've to pay to change date.



Summary of what I paid previously.



Can anyone tell me what is Spoilage Fee?

I spoke to 3 customer support, all of them giving me different answers. It is something to do with Fuel Surcharge. I paid 300 of fuel surcharge last year, but there is no more fuel surcharge this year.

Anyone who encounter this before, please comment or anyone working in Air Asia knows about this please comment.

According to one of the customer support, you dont have to pay for spoilage fee. What is what now.


Thanks.
Enzo.

I can't seem to find infos on spoilage fee, but it seems from the least that I've found, people are complaining of this spoilage fee.

For the term itself, "spoilage fee" is there anything you could do that could spoil the airplane (interior and exterior) ? Is there anything you could do that could spoil other passengers' flight? Doesn't seem so, and.. it doesn't seem right at all this "spoilage fee".

if i'm not mistaken, when u change ur flight, need to pay the penalty + additional fare if the fare for the new date that u have chosen is higher than your previous fare.

so i think spoilage fee is the additional fare.

No fuel survharge!!!!

The change fee is already listed in the bill.

change fee is the penalty.

from what i see from the above pics , the new fare is cheaper by RM190 for both pax, so they wont refund that , and you should just pay RM300 for the changes, does that make any sense?

But im not sure why theyre charging it to u again though, call them and explain this to them?



EDIT : Sorry , so you just need to pay RM300 as shown in the above picture. thats the Change Fee, Fare difference will be forfeited.



This post has been edited by zoossy: May 18 2009, 09:16 PM

its an accounting term. apart from that, im not too sure.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, asking you guys is better than calling the support.

Even they can't explain what is the Spoilage Fee.

I goggled up for spoilage fee airlines but still can't get what I am looking for.

The nearest description I got is. This is the description.

Quote: "Over booking as I outlined earlier is a common practice for airline to eliminate or limit the empty seats or spoilage on any flight. People may get caught in traffic, have an illness or some other last minute upset in their travel plans. No airline wants a flight to leave the gate with empty seats, money that will never be recovered. Airlines have taken to selling a few more seats than are actually on the aircraft."

So if this is true, meaning that they are not just charging for changing of date. They penalize you for making that flight seat empty. RM190.00 !!!

Gheez!, The airlines are really sucking money out from your wallet. If you think that you get 0 Fares from Air Asia is a steal. Think twice. because most of the 0 fares requires 6 - 12 months advance booking. Anything could happen in the future. Just like what is happening to Bangkok.

I will call them tomorrow. This time I want to speak to the supervisor.

Enzo.

Actually, it make more cents to just let the booking burn and purchase a new one which is even cheaper than the change fees.

If there's havoc in Bangkok, just say you cannot go due to that and request for a refund, in which they would refund partially (i.e. tax refund) and then you go book a new flight. This way you recover back your cost.

Never ever change your booking after you paid. It costs more.

Yeah, I told them that too. They said the government has not announce to the airlines that Bangkok is unsafe. So for the airlines, its still safe to go Bangkok.

ahh yes, i knew it was something like that but i couldn't find the accurate description.

well, you'd be surprised, almost every budget airline does this. Most ppl don't care/find out because they're more than happy to pay a bit more as long as it's cheaper than usual airline.

Seriously, i think it would be cheaper to cancel and rebook the flight. Many of my friends had done so. But this only applies if the different is vast. If the different is <100 or so, i dont think it is worth all the trouble.

hmmm, as the above pic shows , they used the spoilage fee as the new fare is cheaper than the original fare you purchased(due to the fuel surcharge in this case though base fare is higher). and for airasia economy ticket, usually there will be no refund or credit for the amount in excess that you paid originally...that's why the spoilage.
IF
New fare higher than the one you purchased : you pay the Fare Difference and change fee.
New Fare same as the one purchased : No Spoilage, No Fare Difference, just the change fee.
New fare lower : Spoilage, pay change fee.

Its hard to argue because we agreed to the T&C which states the Change fee and stuff for changing the dates initially when we booked the flights..haha


Also, if you were to book for a new ticket it would be more expensive than changing it for RM300 isnt it?

My case was during the Suvarnabhumi take over. So i got back almost full refund la.

As for the rest, just claim got medical emergency or whatever bull story you can find. Claim back airport tax is better than nothing.

---

Added on May 19, 2009, 11:49 amMy case was during the Suvarnabhumi take over. So i got back almost full refund la.

As for the rest, just claim got medical emergency or whatever bull story you can find. Claim back airport tax is better than nothing.

And you can also claim for baggage damage too. Just take a pic of any visible damage on any luggage u have, then fax it over to them.
I tried it too. Got my monehh!!!!

This post has been edited by happy4ever: May 19 2009, 11:49 AM

wow last reply was may 2009
the spoilage just happened to me a few minutes ago haha
i google and i found this thread
the spoilage fee is : when u book, u already go to the next page and u click "back" in your browser
the solution is just close the browser, or the airasia tab
redo the booking again
then the spoilage fee is gone

WTF... your explanation on spoilage fee doesn't make any sense...
Not really that sure about this, I see the solution as taking advantage of a security flaw in the booking system.

haha sorry if it doesn't make any sense
what I did was book everything, when I'm in the payment page (choose credit card, voucher, or direct debit), I just realized that I only need 2 luggages (15kg X 2), not 4
so I press "backspace" to go back to the previous booking option to reduce the number of luggage
on the payment page I realize that there are these annoying words stated "Spoilage Fee : RM40.00"

I googled and found nothing, so i just close my tab, re-do the whole booking process again, and there u go, no spoilage fee

haha hope this one makes better understanding

better ask them straight away~

i don't know if anyone notice this. But i googled and found this in Airasia' site

spoilage fees : difference of amount from previous booking that is forfeited

source: http://www.airasia.com/onlinechange/3-7.htm

that is why...sometime air asia really troublesome...try staying at tune hotel...haiz....worst...

i just kena again.. i did nothing but rm70 paid... .. =.=