AirAsia, LCC, Sibu

Just got back from a weekend in Sibu.

Used AirAsia to get the cheapest fare possible. I saved hundreds flying on a weekday, instead of the weekend. Only costs me 2 days' work leave, rm60 for airfare and rm90 in airport taxes.

Flight was on Friday morning, 7am. Had to do a fair bit of research to find the most economical way there.

I used to have a strategy of parking at the Putrajaya ERL station, and take an rm6.40 train ride to KLIA. That won't work this time around, since AirAsia moved to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in March.

The earliest train will leave from the Putrajaya ERL at 5:50, that gets me to KLIA at 6:10, and I still have to take a connecting bus from the Main Terminal to the LCCT. Although both terminals are using the same air-strip, just on opposite sides, but getting from point A to point B is not a straight line. It's a 20km bus ride.

After further research around the net, I was convinced that there's a feeder bus from the Salak Tinggi ERL straight to the LCCT, first bus at 5am. That's what the AirAsia website said.

Downloaded GoogleEarth. Blew up the aerial shot of the Salak Tinggi ERL. Good. There's a good open air carpark. And no sign of those parking barriers, so the parking is free.

Plan A: Park at Salak Tinggi. Take the bus to LCCT.


To be safe, I scanned the aerial view of the LCCT too. Measured its distance to the post office. It's very near the post office where I went a few months back. There's a clearing where I parked that time, and its walking distance to the LCCT from there.

That's Plan B.


Worst case, Plan C, I can park at the LCCT carpark. The parking rate for a couple of days, will still be cheaper than 2 cab-fares to and from PJ.


Woke up at 3:30am on Fri morning, planned the route to Salak Tinggi with my GPS map, and left the house at 4am. The GPS map brought me via a rather _creative_ route... But it saved me more than rm10 in toll.

Waited more than half an hour at Salak Tinggi. The bus appears to be a myth. None of the workers at the station had ever seen such a bus. Scrap Plan A.

Found the clearing near the post office alright. But it's been cordoned off. Scrap Plan B. I could still park along the road-side there as many are doing, but decided not to take the risk. It'll be there for too many days.

Plan C, parked at the LCCT open air carpark. RM30 per 24hr period. Still not too bad. RM50 penalty for losing the parking chip token. ....hmmm....

Anyways, just barely made it to the check-in counter on time.


All this effort to drive to the airport? Cos I've an important date on Monday evening, right after I get back from Sibu. That's why I needed my car waiting for me.


Wasn't much to do in Sibu, except eat. And visit my 92yr old grandma. It's good to see that she has recovered a fair bit of strength, and was coherent enough to ask me why have I not found myself a girl at my age...

I also sinned. Again...