After reading DK's comments on his experience with AirAsia, I am compelled to write about an unsavoury incident that involved my well-planned trip on AirAsia.

I and several family members decided to fly AirAsia to Sandakan, Sabah on April 30, a Saturday. The flight was scheduled at 7:15am and we planned to return on Monday on the 10:35am flight from Sandakan to KLIA.

On April 30, an SMS was sent to us to inform us that our 7:15 flight had been delayed to 2pm. No reason whatsoever was provided. When we called up, the person over the phone said that if we are not happy with the arrangement, we could cancel our bookings. His comments were very rude.

After checking in, we were informed that the flight was further delayed to 2:35pm. When we complained, we were again told that 'if you are not happy you can cancel your booking'. And this after having checked in.

We persisted in seeking an explanation but were instead told that we would be removed from the passengers' list if we continued to ask questions. Later, an officer explained that they had to combine the morning and afternoon flights as they could not get enough passengers for two separate flights.

Therefore, it would seem that AirAsia passengers have become victims of corporate greed. The airline could not care less about the difficulty, costs incurred and inconvenience suffered by their passengers.

The flight finally took-off at 3.10pm. Upon arrival in Sandakan, we received another SMS to tell us that from May 1 to May 3, there would be only one flight out of Sandakan back to KL at 5:10pm. No reason whatsoever was given. The nightmare continued.

On the day of departure, I called AirAsia at 10am to confirm the flight. They mentioned that all was on schedule. Wham! Thirty minutes later we got a call to inform us of a delay from 5:10pm to 8:20pm. We took off at 8.50pm.

All this has prompted me to ask several question about the legality of AirAsia's operations. When compared to other services offered, they seem to get away with a lot of things.

1. Can an airline offer its services to the public and later - after a sale has been concluded - alter, modify or change its offer in the contract of sale? Can a restaurant, after you have paid for the food, tell you that you have to wait three hours for it?

2. Can AirAsia say that if their passengers are unhappy over their flight bookings, their airfares can be refunded? What about the other costs incurred by the passenger as a result of AirAsia's inefficiency? Is this not a case of a service provider blatantly shirking its responsibility?

3. Can AirAsia staff threaten to have passengers removed from the passenger list merely for enquiring about the cancellation and delays?

4. Can AirAsia mislead potential customers with regards to its published flight schedules which are later changed according to its whim and fancy? Passengers making bookings based on the airline's published information but this turns out to be quite something else in reality.

AirAsia is cutting corners at the expense of the customer and this should be illegal as a paying customer is cheated. There must be a liability factor for a service provider. We, as customers, must exercise our legal rights against such unfair business practises.

I call upon the regulatory bodies to check the rampant abuse of customers by AirAsia. They seem to be trampling on consumer rights and are taking everyone for a ride (without the planes, that is).