Air Asia Premium Flatbed Review KUL-ICN (2019)

When price is the primary factor, you can’t beat Air Asia X’s Premium Flatbed. Although closer to a premium economy as far as soft product, their hard product mimics what you would have gotten in business class about a decade ago. I spent $650 for the 6 hour flight (as opposed to $155 in economy). One of the best upgrades I have purchased. Here is my 2019 Air Asia Premium Flatbed Review from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul. 

Note:

Dear Reader,

Before you begin this review journey with me, I want you to know that this review is a bit dated. It is from before the COVID pandemic. I had planned on publishing this one and others slowly during and after the pandemic. However, my job at the time requested I not write them. As some of the airlines were their clients, they explicitly requested I refrain from writing anything that could imply any conflict of interest. Recently, after starting a new job, I have decided to publish this one and others. I will note wherever I can what has changed, and include a year for when the flight happened, in the interest of clarity. Please enjoy this review!

KLIA2 Terminal and Boarding

After spending a nice couple of hours at the Air Asia X Premium lounge, I headed to the gate at KLIA Terminal 2.

The flight was scheduled to depart rather late, around 12:05am, and most of the airport was a ghost town by this time. When I arrived at the gate, there were no agents (even though we were scheduled to depart in 45 minutes). By the time the agents did get there, they prepared for boarding. The made no announcements before Zone 1 to board besides offering an upgrade to Premium Flatbed for ~450 USD. That sounded relatively steep considering my ticket had been $650USD.

When Zone 1 was called to board, at least 50 people stood up to get to the boarding door. The agents checking boarding passes were rejecting everyone who was not special assistance or Zone 1 from boarding (if only this happened in the US, right?). When I was finally able to make it to the front of the line, my boarding pass was scanned and I was welcomed aboard by the gate agents. 

Cabin

As soon as you board through door 2L, you turn left. Air Asia X has a small “quiet zone” section right behind premium economy.

They don’t allow children seated there and you need to pay extra to assign yourself a seat there. Also, unlike most A330 cabins, Air Asia X has configured economy class in a 3x3x3 layout (opposed to 2x4x2 in other airlines). Talk about a tight squeeze!

The premium cabin consists of just two rows. Each one is configured with angled flat seats 2x2x2. The cabin felt very intimate, with just two rows.

The angled flat seats were one of the best premium economy products out there.

There were no IFE screens (more on that later) and no individual air vents. The cabin was impeccably clean. 

Seat

The seat itself was comfortable. Whether you were lounging or angled it all the way flat, I found the seat to be better than other recliners (like Hong Kong Airlines’ A330-200 Business class). Waiting at each seat was a pillow, but no blanket, the blanket was extra.

Seat controls were intuitive and they did not seem worn out.

Each seat had an individual reading light plus the above-the-seat light.

The privacy divider was small, but it did do something to increase privacy.

Fully reclined, the seat was fine for me and I am 5’10”. 

Departure and Take off

Boarding was done efficiently, however we were late out of the gate. When I was settled in, the flight attendant told me if I needed anything to let her know. I asked her about an IFE tablet, and she told me there weren’t any for free. I am unsure if this was a language barrier issue, but I had though they were included for Flatbed customers. There were no pre departure beverages.

The IFE selection read as follows:

By the time boarding was complete, there was only one more person in the premium economy cabin, seated in the seat farthest from me. Although not exactly the cabin to myself, it was as close as it could get. I went to the bathroom just before pushback

The safety demonstration was short and to the point, however, they did mention that no outside food or drinks were allowed. That’s what ULCCs are nowadays. We took off into a cloudy KLIA night. 

Dining, Service and IFE

As a Premium Economy customer, you are allowed to order one food item from the buy-on-board menu as well as one drink.

The overall menu read as follows:

I ordered the chicken rice with water, knowing that I would get the most liquid from the water bottle (LCC mentality right there).

The food was okay, it seemed like a TV dinner, but a bit higher quality. It did not come with any garnishes or appetizers, unlike you’d get in economy on a US based carrier. 

Service was efficient and kind, and the crew walked by multiple times after dinner. After reading though their in flight duty free magazine, I decided to take a nap. Sleeping was comfortable, and I was so tired I did not wake up until we were preparing to land at Seoul. 

Landing and Arrival

The captain asked the crew to prepare for landing about 45 minutes out of ICN. It seemed odd to me, but there was congestion at the airport and that was why they kept us in a holding pattern.

Soon enough, we landed at ICN in a partly cloudy day. 

Conrado’s Thoughts

You can’t beat Air Asia X Premium Flatbed on price. I was looking at equivalent tickets on other airlines, and the cheapest one in economy was $650 (non-stop on Asiana). The Korean Air tickets were well north of $1,000. For a fraction of that, I got a much nicer seat and more space. Yes, the meal was lackluster and simple, but I could have easily purchased for food for a reasonable price and still saved ~100USD from the lowest priced alternative. Overall, I would book Air Asia X Premium Flatbed in a heartbeat for medium haul flights, especially if the price point is as good as this one.

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