Christmas Bus Returns

My Christmas ride to Singapore recently with Aeroline was pleasant. The service provided by the ticketing counter personnel, bus hostess and driver was satisfactory. Well, whether it was worth RM160, that is debatable. Nonetheless, the level of customer service meets my expectations. I was hoping the service exceeded my expectations. Well, it did'nt happen though. As such, my next trip to Singapore may be either with Aeroline or NICE or a new bus service. As long as I stay near 1 utama shopping mall, I will still take Aeroline. I'm hoping NICE or a new bus service will operate in 1 utama. Competition is good for the customers! :) The cheaper one will get my RM160.

P/S, Tip to Aeroline : You will have me as a repeat customer if you introduce a loyalty program that I value. Bolehtak?
By the way, did you calculate the Customer Lifetime Value of Alan Khi? You may want to include my partner, (future) children and parents.

Christmas Bus

Since becoming a self appointed consumer advocate recently (the toll operators gave me no choice!), bus rides will never be the same again for me. Instead of getting into the bus and force myself to sleep through the entire boring journey, I will take it to task to observe the kind of service extended by Malaysian bus companies.

As Christmas is nearing, I’m heading to Singapore to celebrate Christmas with my sister and family. I’ve chosen the ‘luxury’ Aeroline bus for this trip. The ‘damage’ is RM160 for a return trip. This trip will be my maiden ride with Aeroline. I’ve been a loyal customer of NICE bus (www.parkmayberhad.com/nice.html) for the past few years.

Since Aeroline justified the price by its marketing taglines such as “The Convenient Way to FLY”, “10 daily departures”, “Convenient City-to-City Travel” (check out www.aeroline.com.my), I will certainly have high expectations. Then again, is it fair to expect such high level of customer service from Aeroline since the taglines didn’t mention any promises on customer service? Probably the RM160 excludes world class customer service, it only includes an ever smiling hostess handing me a Styrofoam* pack of vegetarian ‘nasi goreng’ (vegetarian fried rice comes without diced chicken whereas non vegetarian fried rice comes with diced chicken) and diluted coffee (coffee-flavored water) in a Styroforam* cup.

Well, I like to give Aeroline the benefit of doubt. (My motto is never judge until you experience it first hand). With that, I can only tell you my Christmas bus ride next week! So wait for my return and ‘report’.

Selamat Hari Natal (Merry Christmas)!


*Toxic chemicals leach out of these products [include Styrofoam] into the food that they contain (especially when heated in a microwave). These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems. Read Article 1 & Article 2.