Low Cost Holiday

Air travel nowadays is cheaper and more efficient with the dawn of low cost airlines competing for the budget traveller’s money.

Of course, nothing compares to being in a Singapore Airlines or an Emirates Airlines flight. Flying low-cost is like going for a 2-star budget hotel where most often you have to bring your own amenities with you. With most of the Asian countries catching up with Europe & the US in the budget airline stakes, Singapore & Malaysia even have their own adjacent but separate Low Cost Terminals where all the LCCs are based.

To still be competitive in the market, even carriers like Malaysian Airlines are slashing their rates to stay in the league. Flying from KL or Singapore is so unbelievably cheap nowadays! You just have to know the best dates to purchase.

For our holiday this time, I better call it a “low-cost airline holiday” coz it’s as if we are doing a comparative analysis of the LCC market in Southeast Asia. From KL to Bali, we flew via AirAsia coz its way way cheaper than any other airline since their hub is KL and so fares coming from KL are really dirt cheap!

But the total surprise for me is the local Indonesian carrier, Lion Air. We flew via Lion Air from Bali to Singapore coz again they offer the best rates (take note, Air Asia is more expensive on routes not coming or going back to KL). But that is where the similarities with other LCCs ended. Lion Air provides inflight meals like a commercial airline unlike the usual “pay your own way” budget flights, and the food was so good, we even demolished the whole meal!!! Their only problem is, it’s difficult to book through the internet (or shall I say, pay through the internet) and they are not connected to travel & ticketing agencies in KL or Singapore so you really have to purchase from their airport office which is totally inconvenient!

One thing though, if you are handicapped or with a sick and elderly person better stick with the commercial airlines as the budget planes are not equipped with these facilities, and most importantly, the flight crew will not give you that much assistance.

For the Singapore-KL leg, we have purchased tickets from Tiger Airways for only S$50.00! It would have been only S$40.00 if we did not have any check-in luggages…..it is really shockingly cheap! From someone coming from the Maldives where airfares rarely goes down, it’s totally unbelievable for me!

Now, I can’t wait to go for my next holiday again….with airfares like these, I can just hop on and go anywhere! Air travel has never been this easy and cheap!!!