Knowing Next AirAsia Zero BIG Sale For 2H 2013

Here is my analysis of AirAsia’s next Big Sale or Zero Fare Sale for 2nd half of 2013. This analysis is based on my years of traveling and using AirAsia’s services. I even won a trip to Manchester in 2008 for my efforts.

The GDS or Global Distribution System of an airline seat and booking system is very straightforward. The system is globally connected and allows user or agents to reserve, book, a seat; make a search, check availability – so on and so forth. So what is the secret behind AirAsia’s GDS system?

Some logic that Einstein wouldn’t have patented! Look at your calendar. It has 365 days spread collectively into 12 months. Similarly the GDS or booking system in AirAsia’s seat will have to be based on the Gregorian calendar.

Now look at the screen capture of a search in AirAsia’s page that I made moments ago. What do you notice?

Look again. Destination and date. I’ve chosen Bandung since it is one of the hottest destination in AirAsia’s routes. How to tell it is one of the hottest routes? There are 4 flights per day on this KUL-BDO route. Bangkok is even much more in demand. Hot routes mean more choices, and a safety net. The safety net is when for any reason, the flight that you are on has to be cancelled, there is a good chance you’d be bumped up to the next flight. If the destination or route only has 1 flight per day or 1 flight every 1, 3, 5 (such as Kathmandu), then you’d encounter a travel dilemma.

The dates I chose is the final few days of May 2013. Tapering off, the dates after 22nd May 2013, are all set as Unavailable. Counting the number of days in the year, 365 days. Today is 25th August 2012. There is a gap of about 90 days or shortage of 90 days. That’s a full 3 months.

Now take into account that an airline wants to maximise seat booking. And confirmed seat bookings. And to fill in as far ahead as possible, and getting paid in advance. So AirAsia must be always on the forefront to entice customers to book and lock-in the seats as far forward as possible. And the maximum the system can handle is 365 days.

But since opening the next forward day on a per day basis will take a toll on operations, AirAsia devised a simple plan to gather each segment of say 2 months or 3 months range for a good special deal. That is often marketed as “Big Sale” or “Zero Fare Sale”. Which happens quarterly or biannually, depending on other factors such as current load.

It is safe to assume for simplicity, that surely the seats must be release to public and not pent-up in a long log. And the 90 days (3 month) benchmark seems spot on. See my previous articles here and also on denzukefinance.blogspot.com

Significance: it is very likely AirAsia is once again going to reveal a big sale very soon. Perhaps the next 1-2 weeks. So stay prepared and book your dream destination(s).
Trivia – the title comes with the word “Knowing” and “Next” which are both movies by Nicolas Cage that circles the same theme of “prediction”, knowing what’s going to happen next. So check those movies out!

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