While Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air banned onboard photography, Air Asia encouraged it via an onboard photo competition. I love it when Air Asia trolls Garuda Indonesia!
In fairness (and credit) to Garuda Indonesia, it has since backed down from its onboard photo ban. That policy not only banned onboard photography and video, but warned flight attendants they would be held responsible for customers who ignored the new policy.
But after around-the-clock outrage and public scorn, Garuda rescinded the new policy. Still, Air Asia could not resist the opportunity to poke fun at its Indonesian competitor.
In an Instagram post for its Indonesian division, Air Asia wrote:
Don’t hesitate to show off your moments of joy when flying with AirAsia. You will have the opportunity to win free tickets to Lombok and Labuan Bajo. [two Indonesian destinations]
To enter the competition, you must follow AirAsia on Instagram or Facebook. Then, upload a “happy photo” of yourself on either page, with a caption that mentions @airasia_bhsindonesia and the hashtag #BahagiaBersamaAirAsia (HappyWithAirAsia).
CONCLUSION
I love Air Asia’s response to Garuda’s public relations nightmare. Sometimes parody, or other forms of humor, is the best way to bring attention to such a silly policy. The competition cultivates further loyalty in a country in with Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air continue to try to marginalize Air Asia.
> Read More: The Conspiracy To Crush AirAsia In Indonesia
image: Air Asia Indonesia / Instagram
Too funny!
Kinda funny i mean so funny lol ;-;
Bad, autocratic leadership (Garuda) make bad autocratic decision, and ends up being ridiculed. Wonderful positive example of the power of social media.
Thank you for sharing, Matthew!
This is what comes of having assorted Grand Poobahs running the show ( Air Vice Marshals, Generals, Police ) rather than professionals. They are clueless when it comes to the power of social media, and try to bring out a big stick when faced with an issue. It’s an even bigger problem in some other SEA countries.
Brilliant
While it seems funny for people on the other side of the world, the fact is, AirAsia is loosing grip in Indonesian market. Their decision to pull out from traveloka (local ticketing app) and only sell via their own web, means only dedicated flyer would fly AirAsia, not the masses….
good job and fak you lion air
James, did they decide to pull out or were they forced out?
AirAsia pulled out of Traveloka and Tiket.com after the public (who 1st notice the incident) & they see that AirAsia flights are no longer displayed as options in both local travel apps, until now. The public still buys AirAsia tickets, directly from their web or app.
The incident coincides with what we the public see as an agreement between Garuda (including all its subsidiary airlines) and LionAir (and the 2 travel apps) to hike up domestic airfares. Creating another public uproar/outcry and immensely drop the number of public using air transportation and boycott of Garuda/Citilink/Sriwijaya/Lion flights. The price of domestic airfares has only started to go down in last week, but only on certain routes and days of the week.
The official statement of AirAsia is they pull out due to bad faith of Traveloka. There was time when AirAsia disappeared from Traveloka due to system upgrade in AirAsia, said AirAsia. After that, it gets fuzzy. AirAsia said it was Traveloka’s fault for having bad faith. Traveloka didn’t argue. Maybe PR is not their main concern seeing their market share.
Some of my friend who were flying AirAsia last month complained that their system was a mess. With delays and reschedule. Other friend are still waiting for a full reimbursement after the flight moved from BDO to KJT.
Tony Fernandez claimed he will make AirAsia more centralized, such as opening AirAsia restaurant with menu just like on the plane. Also a centralized ticketing. Who knows?
The more interesting story is that Indonesian President is planning to waive Cabotage principle in Indonesian sky….
Air Asia is regardless of their statue as the best low cost airline a disgrace and i would not funnel any money to that overweight Fernandes if it was the last airline in Malaysia. He has an agenda and its him scamming customer. Laugh, but look at your airlines and air asia is following suit but without penalties. They are crap.
I’ve flown them for years and can’t comment on any personal agenda for the CEO but I would say that their prices are great, flights are on time and are generally a good value for money. If anything, I feel more scammed by carriers like Cathay Pacific (which I love for business class redemptions) for charging triple or quadruple the price of Air Asia on the same routes.