Don't Fly on Air Asia!

A fuzzy photo of the damage done to the back of my laptop. Doh!

I’ve been wavering about whether or not to blog about this, but in a way I feel it’s my duty to bring this to the attention of other travelers in SE Asia. Although it happened nine months ago, it still grates on me...

Basically, what follows is a rant about Air Asia and how through their carelessness, which they admitted to but refused to take responsibility for, I ended up having to buy a new MacBook Pro. 
 

Without going into it too much, I’ll just copy and paste an official complaint that I sent to the Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sports (for which I got no reply).

All of this, by the way, followed an incident in which a taxi driver in Krabi basically kidnapped me and made me pay an extra $50 for him to take me to my hotel. Luckily, the airport at Krabi recompensed me the $50, and thanks to the business card the driver gave me at my hotel – what idiot kidnaps you, steals from you, and then tells you to call him later if you need a taxi on the island? – he got, at the very least, a thorough chewing out by the airport taxi company.

My letter to MOTS follows:

Dear Madam or Sir:

My name is D—J— and I was in Thailand from April 13 to May 9, 2010. I have visited Thailand several times and will have the opportunity to return in the future for both work and pleasure. However, during my most recent four-week stay in Thailand, I had a very bad experience as a tourist.

On April 24, 2010, I flew from Bangkok to Krabi on Air Asia. During check-in I was told that my carry-on luggage appeared to be too heavy, and without asking for my permission one of the Thai Air Asia staff lifted my backpack and dropped it carelessly on the scale to weigh it. The heavy impact broke the back panel of my Macintosh laptop. When I complained, they took my information and promised to make a complete investigation of the incident. I had the break in my computer temporarily fixed at the MCC store in Fortune Plaza for 1605 baht and was told that I would soon have to pay US$700-$900 for a permanent repair or pay $2500 for a new laptop of the same model.

This is the email I received last night from Air Asia regarding my complaint:

Dear Mr.J—.

   Regarding to your report on damaged status of your Mc-Apple laptop before check in at counter on FD3163/24Apr ( Bangkok-Krabi ) under CBTBKK10A00172, we would like to say apologize for this incident happened because of our staff careless on process while checking in your luggage.

   After our investigation process, the check in staff provided a full report on mentioned date and apologized on the big mistake on unprofessional way of handling your property.

   We are sure your complaint is justified, nevertheless, we are truly sorry to say that we cannot be liable for this mistake due to personal mindless accident of carrying the unknown content of the belongings.

   We thank you for your kind understanding and we hope to have a chance to being of service to you in the future.

Best regards,

Pasak Palanan

Central Baggage Tracing Officer (CBTO)

Thai Air Asia,Suwanabumi Airport,4th Flr.

Tel:(66)21343511

Fax:(66)21343512

E-mail:taa_cbto@airasia.com

As you can see, the airline admitted that it was their "big mistake" and that the damage to my computer was due to "staff careless on process while checking in [my] luggage" and "unprofessional way of handling [my] property" and "mindless accident." In fact, they even said, "We are sure your complaint is justified." Despite admitting their carelessness and culpability, they still refuse to accept liability for damage I had no way of preventing.

Because the Office of Tourism and Development, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, aims to assist tourists in Thailand with unfair practices such as this, I would respectfully like to ask for your assistance in this unfortunate matter. I travel to Thailand often enough that this would influence my decision to spend more time there in the future. Also, I am planning to contact other agencies to respectfully inform them of Air Asia's unacceptable policy of not taking responsibility for what they admit were careless and negligent actions.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration in these matters. I can be contacted at ... . I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

D— J—

So, for any of you already in SE Asia, and for those of you planning to visit this part of the world, please let this be a warning of what may await you as a passenger on Air Asia. My personal recommendation is to avoid the airline at all costs. Even if you find a decent airfare, as I thought I did, traveling with them ended up costing far more than it should have.

For my sake, if not for yours, please avoid them!

It would be nice to know that other people, not just myself, have decided to avoid their airline. They’ve already missed out on my business through several trips I’ve taken in Asia since this happened. Had they just offered to replace my screen, I’d still be using their airline. Instead, they’ve actually lost money by treating me this way because I very likely would have chosen their airline for several trips I’ve recently taken and plan to take in the future.

Ah, for what it’s worth, there you go. Gripe session over…

Happy, safe traveling, everyone! Don’t use Air Asia!

News about a New Culinary Tour in Vietnam

Less than three days after returning from Vietnam, where much of my travels were geared toward following a personally designed "food itinerary" that included specialty dishes in Hue, Vung Tau, Phan Thiet, and Ho Chi Minh City, I came across an article about a new "luxury culinary tour" in Vietnam.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/vietnamtour/culinarydelights/prweb1920844.htm

Exotissimo, the company that has organized the culinary tour, is geared toward the high-end tourist, and I was definitely not doing much during my last trip to Vietnam that could be considered high-end. And even if I had been, or if Exotissimo offered culinary tours for varying travel budgets, I have to say that I would worry about such a tour taking what should be a cultural immersion experience and turning it into a kind of false entry into the eating life of the country.

This kind of tour, even if it's limited to luxury travelers, is certainly useful for introducing foreign visitors to Vietnamese cuisine. On the other hand, the joy of discovering new foods in a foreign country seems so scripted on a tour like this that it rings of inauthenticity, and it worries me that important food traditions will shift away from local consumers, who are poor, to busloads of tourists, who bring in lots of money (but only to the few who operate these tours). And as the cultural landscape changes with the influx of wealthy tourists, as it has all over the country, there's a danger of important cultural attributes being watered down in order to satisfy the palates of foreign visitors.

I've seen culturally unique places in Vietnam succumb over time to the power of tourist dollars, becoming less accessible to the Vietnamese, and even made off-limits to them unless they're well-off and willing to pay inflated tourist prices. This is true of famous, beautiful beaches and culturally significant traditions such as water puppet theater in Hanoi and Vietnamese opera performances in Hue.

Maybe I come across here as if I don't want to share my experiences of Vietnam with other people (the dreaded "territorial traveler"), but once you've lived in a place long enough, and you've witnessed the negative effects of inexorable cultural change -- partly a result of the country opening itself up to poorly regulated business practices -- you don't want to see a deeper slide take place in the name of "tourism."

No, I think this is a good thing that is happening, especially for older travelers who might not otherwise be able to travel around Vietnam and taste its wide-ranging cuisine, but I only hope it's done well, with a view toward preserving Vietnamese culinary traditions rather than exploiting them.