I write to sound out the plight of the travelling public who were unfortunate enough to travel together with me on AirAsia flight AK5109 which was scheduled to depart Kota Kinabalu for KL's LCCT at 5pm on April 2, 2007. In compliance with this scheduled time of departure, I checked my baggage in at 4.12pm. Shortly after this, I received four SMS messages - one after another - which read as follows:

The first message said: URGENT! AirAsia Flight AK5109 from K Kinabalu to LCCT on April 2 is now cancelled and gst moved to AK5113 at 6.20pm (1820 hrs), For more info, please call 03 8660 4343.

The second message read: Urgent! AirAsia Flight from Kota Kinabalu to KUL (LCCT) on 02 Apr 07 is now re-timed to 9.15pm (2115hrs). For more info please call 60386604554.

The third message read: Urgent! AirAsia Flight AK5121 from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur on 2 Apr 07 CANCELLED, moved to 12.15am (1215hrs). For info, pls call 03 8660 4343/03 8775 4000.

The fourth message read: Reminder! AirAsia Flight AK5121 from K Kinabalu to LCCT is departing at 12.50am (0050hrs). For info, pls call 03 8660 4343/03 8775 4000.

Upon receipt of the fourth message, I took up the offer to call the number given. As expected, there were no responses to my calls. At this stage, I was so disappointed with AirAsia that I called repeatedly until a lady answered and assured me that there would not be any further delays and that the fourth delay at 12.50am would be the last and final one. Unfortunately, this assurance did not turn out to be true.

At approximately 12.20 am on April 3, (ie, the following day), I overheard a member of AirAsia staff telling another person that Flight AK5121 was further delayed until 2.30am. During all this time, there was no announcement to inform passengers of the reasons for the series of delays nor was there any refreshment served.

I could not accept this indifferent attitude and requested to speak to the duty supervisor about this anomalies. Only after this, was water, instant noodles in a cup and few other odds and ends placed at the entrance of the departure hall.

The aircraft finally arrived at around 2.30am on April 3. By this time, I had waited more than 10 hours and 30 minutes. This is one big bad experience which I hope will never happen to me, or for that matter, to any one ever again. Speaking for myself and my family, we are not likely to ever travel on AirAsia again.

To me, this series of delays or serial delay of AK5109 for more than 10 hours and 30 minutes is an abuse of passengers like me who are enticed by the cheap promotion fares. This is disgusting and degrading.

At the height of the delays, I was so frustrated that I requested a full refund of the untravelled portion of my ticket. The duty supervisor responded that it would take 30 working days for the refund to be affected. How interesting this is considering that if I were to miss my flight by a half-hour or so, the value of my ticket is instantly forfeited.

The other observation was that there were three AirAsia aircraft parked in front of the departure lounge. To my mind, if AirAsia is really interested in minimising delays, the management could easily use one of the aircraft as a replacement.

AirAsia is generally portrayed by the media as an efficiently-managed company and one that makes tons of profits from its operations. I sincerely hope that this result is not achieved at the expense of the passengers whose flights are cancelled, delayed, re-timed, etc.

At this stage, I do not want to speculate whether these delays are intentionally designed to suit passenger loads even though I was told that such delays are not uncommon. Delays of one, two or even three hours at a regular frequency can be expected and indeed can be excused for a budget carrier.

But to even think of delaying the flight for more than 10 hours from the original schedule time of departure is unbelievable and totally crazy. It must not be allowed to recur, not even if the passengers are held to ransom in accepting the terms and conditions which accompany the ticket.

I hope to stir the conscience of AirAsia's management and also draw the attention of the regulator, ie, the Ministry of Transport, to come up with rules to protect the rights of the travelling public.