A couple complained on Twitter that they were forced to stay in Melbourne for days.

The reason given was the flight delay of AirAsia, which added days of extra expenses.

The husband, @NazFarid, tweeted their ordeal recently, expressing his dissatisfaction with AirAsia.

They booked accommodation at the last minute and were forced to live in expensive hotels.

They also claimed they were reduced to eating only one meal daily for days.

@NazFarid added that he had to withdraw money from his Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) but could not use it immediately due to floating.

The Curse Of Flying​​ 

According to the air ticket uploaded by the victim, their original flight was at Melbourne International Airport at 7:40 am on 2 January.

They were supposed to take AirAsia Flight D7 219 back to Kuala Lumpur, and the arrival time was 1:10 pm Malaysia time.

Unexpectedly, the victim later received a notice from AirAsia that the flight was delayed.

According to the AirAsia notification letter attached by the victim, AirAsia cancelled flight D7 219 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur for operational reasons.

The notification letter also stated that another flight to Kuala Lumpur had been arranged for them.

But on 6 January, the flight they took was D7 213, with departure at 2.25 pm ​​local time and arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 7.55 am Malaysia time.

He claimed that they had called AirAsia Australia customer service (voicemail) during the period but did not receive a response.

At the same time, they also complained to the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) through Flysmart and also complained to AirAsia on Twitter but did not get any reply.

The victim pointed out that the claim from the travel insurance they bought was only up to RM2,000 per person after returning to Malaysia.

Still, he lamented that RM2,000 could not compensate for everything they had experienced.

Ask, And It Shall Be Given

He asked Transport Minister Anthony Loke for help, hoping that the latter could intervene to help solve the problem.

And the top-performing minister did not disappoint.

Loke responded to his tweet by asking the airline to apologise to all affected passengers.

He also promised that MAVCOM would look into the matter.

Home Sweet Home

@NazFarid updated his post on Twitter on 5 January, saying that he had received an email from MAVCOM.

MAVCOM requested that all affected passengers provide consent letters and that the problem would be resolved within seven days.

At around 10 am on 6 Jan, the victim tweeted again that their flight had departed at 3 am and arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) at 8 am.