Last 10th July, was the amazing day for my two nephews. It was their first ever experience travel by flight, and we choosed AirAsia to make it happen. Our flight to Ho Chi Minh was at 7.25 am. That means we had to check in 3 hours ealier and make a move from our house by 4.30 am. Yes. 4.30 am. Just imagine how 4 and 3 years old boys want to wake up that early right. Indeed. But once their mums say.."come on boys...we have a flight to catch up!". They suddenly blink their eyes and ask, " aeroplane? kapal terbang?" and ten minutes later they were ready.

Once arrived at the LCCT Airport, the two little cats hang around here and there. Go here. Go there. Settle everything, we walk to the departure hall. Again this two little cats keep busying themself untill its time to depart. All the way walking to the plane, the boys was so excited seeing the big gigantic plane. They cant shut their eyes and keep saying, " oooo the plane is big. Bigggg"

I'm so overwhelming by this precious moment. Their happy feelings, you cant trade it with anything in the world. And I believe their mums feel that way too.

Inside the plane, of course the two little cats wants the window seating. All of us were a bit worry if they scared once the plane take off. We were wrong! They say..." wahh...best! No scared!" Then they start walking around. Walk to my seat. Walk to Tok Ma seat (their grandmother).

We safely landed at the Ho Chi Minh International Airport. We take a taxi to our hotel Saigon Pink 2. All the way, we can see the traffic was so hectic. Seriously crazy. They did not follow any lane. The truth is NO LANE! We check in at Saigon Pink 2 Hotel. The hotel is very convenient in terms of accessiblity to the very famous Ben Thant Market. Just 3 minutes walk and we were in the Ben Thant. For muslim tour, there are severals Halal muslim restaurant. The very, very, near to our hotel is the V.N Halal Restaurant. The food is good and you should not miss the Vietnam Coffee.

In Ho Chi Minh, we spent most of our time at Ben Thant, the Nite Market ( oh..not to mentioned that the Nite Market is just infront of the hotel). You can find loads of fruits and good qualities handmade item. We bought loads of souveniers. You can get t-shirt written Saigon at 2 dollars each.

We also take a famous tour to the Chu Chi Tunnel. This place is about 2 hours journey from Ho Chi Minh center. Half way, we dropped by at the Handicapped Handicraft Centre. Here, you will be surprised how the handicapped people are capable to. All the art works are very-very good. Thums Up to them.

Another very best moment is when all of us rendevous the city by trishaw. Hahaahah.....8 trishaw! Its cost us 20 dollar for 10 of us. Again, the two boys was so happy and excited as it was the first time they ride a trishaw. We see the famous Notredamme, the Post Office, lay our bumps for a while at the Mekong River just to snap a picture.

This are some shots while we are in Ho Chi Minh.

Sadly, we have to leave Ho Chi Minh. The three super duper days for us. Of course for the two little boys. They are jumping, running and sliding at the Ho Chi Minh Airport. Too bad our flight back to KL is at night. So the boys keep wondering why they cant see the plane clearly. So funny! Loads of thanks to AirAsia that make their dreams come true and they are so happy being in the AirAsia Flight.

Sometimes even I can’t believe it myself. Just over a year and a half ago, AirAsia X was just an idea. An excel spreadsheet and word document business plan. Not just any idea – one that industry experts from around the world proclaimed to be impossible, unachievable and downright crazy.

Well, the young AirAsia X team didn’t know any better and weren’t aware of these ‘limitations’, so we just went ahead and did it! Raised funds, got our first plane (Semangat Sir Freddie), got our license, started flying to our first long-haul destination (Gold Coast), got more planes – which allowed us to turned profitable (phew!), and launched the world’s longest low-cost flights to London!

For me, its been one looooooong adrenaline rush. An incredible high (and lots of painful, punishing lows along the way too!) and a perpetual buzz! Spend a typical day in our office with our team and you’ll see this madness.

In many ways, the X in AirAsia X is a perfect symbol – depicting, in a singular, powerfully emotive letter, the x-tremely challenging context, x-citing product, and x-traordinary team that’s made it possible for so many to travel to see x-otic faraway destinations never dreamt possible before. Tony likes to describe us as ‘AirAsia on steroids’. Spot on, dude!
X is about extremes. Blazing new paths. We started doing pre-booked hot meals and assigned seating right from the start, even when it was supposed to be against the low-cost model. Now, big brother has since adopted these services. We’ve also ventured into in-flight entertainment systems (X-CITE!) and XL premium seats, breaking more ‘rules’. (Watch out for XL seats on steroids – we want to introduce full lie-flat beds next year!).

X is different. X is in-your-face. X is an attitude, a lifestyle. We’ve been big believers and supporters of active sports and music – from promoting and sponsoring surfing and marathon racing, to backing home-grown music artistes (Estrella, SCTS, Sasi the Don – Joe Flizzow’s dream of performing in London!) to spread their talent to global markets. X is our D.N.A. X is our oxygen. X is the force that flows deep inside us.

For the aircraft spotters and enthusiasts, you’ll know that our official airline call-sign is “Xanadu”. I love this call sign! Its so different from all the other boring airline call-signs. Early on, we weren’t sure, and Captain Han and I decided on the call sign by flipping a coin between this and a more conventional name. Destiny spoke, and we’ve not looked back since!

We named our first two brand new A330 aircraft “Xuberance” and “Xhilaration!” – depicting the utter joy we felt when we got to play with shiny new metal!

The A340 aircraft flying to London was named “Xcalibur”. My fave. Arthur’s legendary sword cutting away at high fares to Great Britain!

We’ve got more new planes coming (at least 23 more new A330s and one more A340) and I’d love to open it to all of you to suggest cool names for them.

This year, we expect to pick up 3 new A330s, and Sumi and Shaku have suggested “Xploration”, “Xpedition”, and “Xcursion”. Good theme of spreading our wings to new markets. What do you think?

These names don’t have to be limited to a single word. Or even a word in the dictionary. As long as it has a cool “X-Factor”!

So fire away – we’ll be giving out free return flights to any AirAsia X destinations for cool names that we’ll use for the new planes.

And.... we’ll even have your name immortalised on the aircraft itself – outside on the body and inside the cabin! So c’mon y’all – Hit me with your best shot!

Peace.

I have a confession to make…I’m an obsessive Internet shopper.

It is true, I have been living with this condition ever since I had my first credit card. I would buy almost anything and everything on the Internet. But my main staple is from AirAsia’s website. I bought countless air ticket from airasia.com. Flights for me, for my family members, for friends and even for friend of friends, it gives me great pleasure when I see the words "Booking Confirmed”, followed by the Booking Number. Look into my account and you will see this is all true.

I am not ashamed of my condition, I am rather proud of. But recently, my soul itches with immoderate desire to shop on www.redmegastore.com. I bought an AirAsia X model airplane, a Christmas present for myself, ever since…I had sleepless night as my desire to buy more merchandise from the site grows.

My Pride, My Baby!

Then on one fateful night, enough was enough! I jumped out of my bed and switched on my laptop in the middle of the night and clicked on the 2 items I wanted to buy so badly…keyed in my credit card account and clicked again “OK”….but alas…my purchases were rejected…NOOOOOOOO! This cannot be true! But it was, an “Error” appeared on my screen. I called my credit card company,"Did my transaction made it?", "No!", "Any outstanding bills?", "No!"…"Why then was my purchased rejected? “Maybe there is something wrong with the website….” Since then, I tried every other day, night, week even…but still…I was disappointed again and again…the "Error" page was always there, dashing any hopes of ever getting my hands on the 2 items!

The Error Page lingers like CANCER!!!!!

So I asked of you, to correct your website, so I can cure this craving of mine…I have started to show signs of withdrawal…and rather antisocial I’m afraid…if I can’t get my hands on those merchandise…there is no telling what when I will revert back the normal functional person I once was…

Kenneth Chong
Kuching, Sarawak

AirAsia has been around for six years, and sorry to say I have only started using AirAsia 2 years ago even though I travel alot. I heard people condemning AirAsia yet they board on AirAsia again and again.

AirAsia gave me a bad impression tho' because my first trip using AirAsia, my flight was delayed three hours. ( I would have earned the RM200 rebate if it was on that time.) I have only used AirAsia 5 times, but I would say I have no bad experiences with them. The staff in LCCT were really friendly and polite, service was great, the on-board chairs were comfortable, the stewardesses are helpful and I could sleep comfortably in the plane. I could not have ask more with the amount of money I paid.

AirAsia may not be recognized for great service, but one thing for sure, their price is not something to beat up. The "now everyone can fly" is not only a motto that allows folks from rural areas to fly, but allows them to bond as well! Family trips are a lot more affordable , couples and friends could go for holidays, young-starters entreprenuers could meet and expand their business and kids who study abroad could come home often! Let's face it, AirAsia has done a huge part in the tourism Industry in Malaysia.

To my surprised when I board a plane last Saturday 18.10.2008 on my trip to Singapore, I was so surprised and happy because I had an opportunity to fly with AirAsia's AT&T Williams F1 plane. Why I feel so surprised ?

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