New budget trans-continental flights good news for backpackers

With a worldwide recession in full swing, it’s no surprise that budget airlines are expanding their routes, but what are you willing to put up with on long-haul international flight?

Consider AirAsia X’s new £99 London to Kuala Lumpur flight… £99 one-way for a 13 hour trans-continental flight? What’s not to love?

Well, The Guardian’s Maxton Walker was on the inaugural flight and has a surprisingly upbeat report. The short story: it’s not that bad.

Yet check-in is brisk and efficient: six desks are open to take our bags and allocate us — surely some mistake — preassigned seats. I am struck by the predominantly young-European-backpacker feel of my fellow travellers.

…

So did it feel like a budget flight? No. There was none of that cloying claustrophobia that can leave you gasping for air on a bad short-haul. Even after 13 hours in a relatively crowded part of the plane, I felt pretty relaxed. If passengers really do have less legroom than on standard long-haul flights, it is a convincing illusion to the contrary.

But of course there are two things to keep in mind. First, and most importantly, this was the first flight and Walker was not the only journalist on board, so there was some pressure on the airline to get things right. Who knows if things will continue to be that way once the spotlight is off and the day-to-day indifference sets in.

The other big caveat is that everything, and I do mean everything, “extra” on the flight — food, drinks, water, even a pen to fill out the immigration forms — cost extra money (fortunately AirAsia X seems to have draw the line at the toilets, which remain free).

One other bit to keep in mind — only a limited number of seats were £99, the rest were a bit more, around £150. Still, that’s not bad for a flight that’s currently selling on Kayak for between £377-£641 one-way.

Will cheap long-haul flights work? I’d like to think so, but AirAsia x isn’t the first to attempt them, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines tried to do London to Hong Kong back in October 2006; the company has since entered liquidation (though, it should be noted, that’s not necessarily a direct result of its budget flights).

So how about it readers? Would you be willing to trade a little legroom and some creature comforts for a dirt cheap flights overseas?

[via WorldHum, photo by Ted Drake, Flickr]