Going Back Home 2012

Going back home to Sarawak every Chinese New Year is to me an enormous endeavor that requires tonnes of planning and commitment. And this year's trip has been nothing short of catastrophic. 

I arrived at LCCT at 6:00pm and went straight for the check-in counter. The flight was delayed to 7:20pm so I figured I should have time to check-in and get my ass back in Sarawak by the end of the day because I was officially 80 minutes ahead of departure time.

But I was so wrong. Thanks to the airline.

Whether the company is too dependent on the Chinese ethnic, or they'd decided to slash the number of people resting on their ass doing nothing, the counters were terribly undermanned. There were very few counters that actually worked and I queued for an exhausting 40 minutes only for the crew to slap an unjustified "pax 6:40pm" sign on my itinerary, and the pushed me off to the "problem" counter. 

There was no queue at all. Talk about efficiency.

At the abovementioned counter, I had to queue for another 60 minutes to meet the lady who later told me I was late because I arrived at 6pm and the counters had been closed 45 minutes prior to departure time(6:50pm). I told her I queued for 100 damn minutes because the counters were horribly slow. Moreover, the flight was delayed to 7:20pm, so the closing time should be 6:35pm and not 6:05pm. I wasn't late and I should be admitted for the flight. But she said it's the consumers' responsibility to make sure they arrive at the counter 45 minutes before the departure time.

Great. Let's put it into perspective: Let's say I come 90 minutes prior to departure time. I queue for 60 minutes because you have decided to cut cost by reducing the number of people sitting on their ass while we stand, and you say I'm late because I've stood for too long. 

WOW. 

Then the next best thing happened: she said I have to pay RM426 to compensate the air fare for the next flight which is at 5:50pm the next day. That was fast of her to make decision on my behalf, because actually I was planning to head off to MAS airline instead. It's as if I was being blamed for queuing too long, and then slapped a fine to cram onto the next flight. One of their marketing tactics?

So I had to spend the night at the airport. The Tune Hotel nearby was fully booked. Had KFC for dinner, and made a new acquaintance at the airport. At least I had someone to talk to, otherwise I really had nothing to do because the wifi service was utterly horrendous. It blocks hotmail but it doesn't block porn site. Exhilarating? I know. 

I have slept in bus station (in Penang), in train station (Rome, Italy), and KLIA. Now add LCCT into my resume.

My new friend gave me this. Can you guess his nationality? (Answer at the end of this entry) =)

Having so much time to spare, I took the bus to KLIA this morning, and glad I did. RM2.50 only.

Ini barulah layak digelar LAPANGAN TERBANG!

KLIA having some sort of  CNY exhibition. Great.

Alright this is something really new for me. Glad I came KLIA.

This is how you sleep at KLIA. Not sleep sitting-up like LCCT.

Tony, you're making big bucks through us. It's not okay we pay RM 1400++ for the lousy in-flight service and the ill-facilitated terminal, when adding another RM200 could get me a far better terminal at KLIA and a free in-flight meal, not to mention a better counter service too. The terminal is one thing, your tactic of earning more money from consumers through various surcharges and excuses can never be justified. 

Whether you like it or not, majority of your customers from Sabah and Sarawak dislike you. Do a survey if you doubt my statement. I fly at least twice a year since 2007, and some of my friends even fly 6-8 times a year. So trust me, we don't like you. Given a choice, we really do not want to board your planes.

One thing is for sure, you'll never have me as your customer ever again (unless the destination I want to go is only accessible through your airline). Eat my briffit instead.

Err.. come to think of it, if the destination I want to go is only accessible through your airline, I would cancel my trip instead.

 Answer:

Central Bank of Myanmar. =)

Malcolm