Air Asia X New Business Class Seat
Long-haul budget airline
Air Asia X has just unveiled its new business class product to the UK travel press. The airline flies from London Stansted airport to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Onward connections are possible to Australia (Perth, Melbourne and Gold Coast) plus destinations in China, India and south-east Asia.
The new seats are installed on the carriers Airbus A340 and A330 aircraft in a 2-2-2 configuration. The seats are angled lie flat with 77" pitch when reclined and are 20" wide.
With prices available from £649 one-way this will be a significant discount on standard business class from main airlines. However Air Asia X premium passengers get no air miles / alliance benefits and no lounge access. Catering is included but it is an economy meal. A hand-held IFE is available for hire.
Competitor on the London - KL route: Malaysian Airlines; or with a connection - Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates.
Possible future competitor: (Qantas)
Jetstar which plans to serve Europe from its Singapore hub sometime in the future.
Labels: air asia x, business class
Expedia vs Orbitz vs CheapTickets.com
In the previous online agent test
Expedia vs Travelocity we saw Expedia come out on top. Let's continue the head to head by pitting Expedia against Orbitz and CheapTickets.com.
US/North American Domestic - once again flight prices were exactly the same on all agents.
International flights:
Washington - ParisExpedia $563, Orbitz $567, CheapTickets $567, All Lufthansa / United.
San Francisco - TokyoExpedia $870, Orbitz $874, CheapTickets $874, All Asiana
Atlanta - Buenos AiresExpedia $689, Orbitz $693, CheapTickets $693, All United
Toronto - JohannesburgExpedia $1,105, Orbitz $1,109, CheapTickets $1,109, All Northwest/KLM
Boston - Mexico CityExpedia $457, Orbitz $457, CheapTickets $457, All American
New York - Hong KongExpedia $773, Orbitz $777, CheapTickets $777, All United
London - SydneyExpedia $901 Etihad, Orbitz $1,150, CheapTickets $1,150 Virgin
Los Angeles - AucklandExpedia $973 Air NZ, Orbitz $1,037 Qantas, CheapTickets $887, Air NZ/United
Some conclusions:
Orbitz and CheapTickets.com have almost identical web interfaces, having the same owner. They came back with identical results except for the LAX-AKL flight where CheapTickets found an Air NZ / United Airlines flight via Sydney for $150 less than Orbitz's Qantas flight.
(Now once again we are purely comparing price, whether you would want to fly via Sydney, or use United's relatively inferior long-haul economy product is another matter...)
Expedia quoted Etihad's competitive London - Sydney fare, $249 cheaper than Orbitz/CheapTickets Virgin fare.
On many of the fares Expedia comes out $4 cheaper - this looks like Expedia is charging less fees than its competitors.
So the winner in this short test is
Expedia.
Expedia vs Travelocity - Lowest Airfare
Let's again test out the online travel agents in a head-to-head challenge to see who has the cheapest economy airfares. We have selected some routes and travel dates at random and have checked prices at
Expedia and Travelocity. We will not worry about non-stop flights, just the lowest ticket price.
Flight Test - US Domestic
New York - Los AngelesBoth Expedia and Travelocity returned the same results, a fare of $266 available on American, United, Virgin America, Delta and Northwest.
Dallas Fort Worth - AnchorageBoth $596 with Northwest.
Chicago - OrlandoAgain both $190, with United.
So on these domestic flights both agents are returning exactly the same fares. Let's widen the net to international flights worldwide:
Washington - ParisExpedia $563, Travelocity $567, Lufthansa flight operated by United.
San Francisco - TokyoExpedia $870, Travelocity $881, Asiana
Atlanta - Buenos AiresExpedia $689, Travelocity $693, United
Toronto - JohannesburgExpedia $1,105, Travelocity $1,109, Northwest/KLM
Boston - Mexico CityExpedia $457 American, Travelocity $513 Continental
Miami - VancouverExpedia $387, Travelocity $387, American
New York - Hong KongExpedia $773, Travelocity $801, United
London - SydneyExpedia $901, Travelocity $904, Etihad
Los Angeles - AucklandExpedia $973, Travelocity $977, Air New Zealand
So the winner here is...
EXPEDIA which was lower on all international fares we tested and equal on all North American fares. While this is only a small test (ideally we would need to consistently test thousands of airfares) it does give a rough idea at airfare pricing.
Next time we will pit the winner up against agents Orbitz and Cheaptickets under the same test conditions...
Low cost long-haul airline
Air Asia X will start flying from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, Western Australia from November 2008. The airline is awaiting delivery of new Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
Air Asia X already flies from KL to Gold Coast, Australia and Hangzhou in China.
For more detail about the airline:
Air Asia X
Online Agents: Expedia vs Travelocity vs Orbitz
Here are updated articles for 2008 from AirTravelGenius looking at the price differences between major online agents for various international flights.
For US agents :
Expedia vs Travelocity vs OrbitzFor UK online agents:
Expedia vs Lastminute vs Opodo vs EbookersThe articles conclude you should always get multiple quotations to get the best airfares.
Maxjet Closes All-Business Flights London - New York
Please note that all-business class airline
Maxjet ceased flying from December 24th 2007. The carrier had served London Stansted to New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
More info here :
Maxjet Stops FlyingYou can still fly all-business with
Silverjet and
Eos on the London - NYC route.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Winter Sale
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines is running a winter sale for flights from
London Gatwick to Hong Kong. Economy flights are available for £337 all-in return and Oasis Business Class from £1197.
Flights from
Vancouver to Hong Kong are also on sale - business class is priced from CAD 1714 return all-in, economy from CAD 714. (CAD = Canadian Dollar)
You should book by 15th December 2007 and travel is for 6th January to 12th March 2008.
For more info on the airline click here:
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines
