RTW Trip Day #26: Air Asia Flight Delay Nightmare to Lankawi Island

andrewsco3
3 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

24 October 2025

Steps: 10,058 (but it never should have been)

Today was meant to be a slow travel day, and we were due to arrive at our hotel in Langkawi at around 6.30pm, with plenty of time to check in, have dinner, and maybe even a quick swim in the pool before bed.

Unfortunately, it turned into an incredibly frustrating travel day and we didn’t arrive at our hotel until 8am the next day.

To say I was annoyed is an understatement.

Air Asia Flight Delay Horror Story

Our Air Asia flight into Kuala Lumpur was delayed by 30 minutes, but that was enough for us to miss our connecting flight.

After unsuccessfully running to our gate, we then had to leave the airport, find a flight desk to sort out baggage, rearrange our flight, and were told there were no flights for three hours until 8pm. Not ideal, but ok.

8pm turned into 9.15, which turned into 10.15, then came a “technical issue,” a gate change, and a new flight time of 11pm. We’d read about problems with AirAsia and flight delays but never expected it to be this bad - and it only got worse.

They finally called us up to board the plane, only to shortly after announce that the flight was now cancelled and it had been rescheduled to 6am the following morning! Absolute disaster!

Lots of shouting, confusion, indecision and incompetence later, we were ushered out of the airport to catch a bus to an airport hotel.

It took us two hours to board the bus from the time the flight was cancelled, and we didn’t arrive at the hotel room (which was a two-star motel) until 12.30am. We had to be back on the bus at 4am in the morning, so needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.

After this experience, I’m not sure I’ll voluntarily fly with Air Asia again. It wasn’t the flight delay that bothered me (these things happen), but the terrible customer service, complete lack of communication, and total disregard for how many people’s plans they were disrupting.

They don’t even offer you a cup of water or coffee on the plane, which I don't think I've ever come across before.