Lame Air Asia baggage policy

I had a terrible customer service experience yesterday.

I flew Air Asia to Thailand. When I purchased the tickets online, I found that only one checkin bag of 15kg was allowed, but I could purchase additional baggage allowance. So I purchased a second checkin bag allowance.

When I showed up to check in, the first thing the staff greeted me with was, "You are going to be overweight." Hello, glad to see you, too.

I then explained I had purchased a second checkin bag, to which he explained to me that the weight allowance REMAINED THE SAME at 15 kg PER PERSON, that the additional baggage allowed me to SPREAD THE 15KG among multiple bags.

What?!! Have you heard of a more deceptive or stupid policy?

I haven't and I said so. Somewhat loudly. I asked to see the manager. He pointed me in a direction. Guess what, there was a line to see the manager. I went back to the checkin line, and the service person told me, "Please don't be angry with me, I am just doing my job." I apologized for being angry and told him I was not angry at him, I was angry at the policy and the way it was presented. He said "A lot of customers are surprised and angry about it."

Not only is it a bad policy that makes customers like me angry at Air Asia, but the staff who helped me is in the wrong line of work. His job is not to protect his feelings, his job is to serve the customer and make them happy. He should look for different work.

Some thoughts from Seth Godin on the lame excuse "I'm just doing my job..."