She Travels Abroad

Fly to Almaty from Perth: A review of the new Air Asia route

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by

Rachel O
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You can now book flights between Almaty and Perth with Air Asia, and fit in a cheeky city break in KL!

a child plays at a playground in Kuala Lumpur with the Twin Towers in the background
Air Asia has joined the ranks of airlines flying into Almaty, meaning a stopover in Kuala Lumpur is now a possibility for us on our way to Perth!

With our eldest starting big school, we are now at the mercy of the airline algorithm and the holiday crowds. Of course this means we are open to bargain travel. So when we found out Air Asia had started flying into Almaty, to add to their existing flights into Perth, we were intrigued!

Air Asia opened up a new route into Kazakhstan in early 2024 when it began its service between Almaty and Kuala Lumpur, approximately 7 hours each way. Departing from Almaty International Airport at 7pm, you can fly into Kuala Lumpur International Airport by 6am the following morning. Flights from KL leave at 1pm and arrive in Almaty at 5pm that same day.

Our family is mostly based in Perth, Australia, so this is great. Perth and KL have had regular connecting flights for a long time now. All together, you can now fly from Almaty to Perth in less than 20 hours. This is better than the next best option (flying via Dubai or Qatar), which comes in at almost 30 hours of travelling! And don’t forget the much lower cost!

What kind of airline is Air Asia?

Air Asia is a budget airline known throughout south east Asia and Australia. It operates out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with its hub at Terminal 2 (aka KLIA2). Usually we’re not so keen on budget airlines for the long haul flights needed to get back to Australia. However, the incredible price difference between Air Asia’s offering and what we could get with the bigger international carriers like Qatar and Emirates was too tempting.

We did struggle with booking our tickets to fly between Almaty and Perth on Air Asia’s website. Instead we had better luck with a 3rd party company, and ultimately booked our tickets with Kiwi.com. This did make it more difficult to navigate the perks marketed by Air Asia, such as the amazing sounding Flatbed, but ultimately we still got tickets and they were legitimate. And no, we didn’t get any Flatbeds 🙁

As you might expect there was no complimentary meal or drink service. Your ticket includes one cabin bag, which should weigh less than 7kg. You could buy a meal, snack or drink if you wished, and the hot food did smell good. There is also no entertainment offered on the flight.

Before I go on, I must point out that of the 4 flight legs we took, we only used Air Asia twice (in and out of Almaty). We also used Air Asia X going into Perth, and Batik Air when departing Perth. Air Asia and Air Asia X appear to be sister companies and they operate largely as one from the passenger perspective. Batik Air is a slightly more premium airline, offering 20kg of complimentary checked baggage, as well as meals, at least for the children. I was asleep when they would have theoretically brought round the adult meals!

Preparing yourself

Luggage

For both the Almaty to KL flight, and the KL to Perth flight, we were given cabin bags only. You can of course pay extra for a checked bag. We chose to pay for one checked bag between the 4 of us for both directions. The checked bag allowance was only 20kg and this was fine for the flights to Perth. For the return flights this was less than ideal, as we struggled to pack everything!

Food

To prepare ourselves for our flight from Almaty to Perth we packed a meal and snacks. We purchased some baguettes and a couple of croissants from the local city patisserie the morning of departure. We also packed some bananas which we stored in a takeaway container. The children’s water bottles, which were both full of water, were fine coming through security at Almaty International Airport, however, I wasn’t allowed to bring through any water for myself. We were able to buy some new bottles in a cafe after security. The food and drinks were more than adequate for this first leg – in fact we were able to save the bananas and the croissants for breakfast the next day.

We had a light meal after going through airport security and this kept us going for a few hours into the flight.

Entertainment

To prepare for our whole trip from Almaty to Perth we considered we would need at least one movie per flight. We made sure the children each had 2 movies downloaded onto their tablets (4 different movies in total). We also had movies downloaded onto our phones. And we brought headphones for everyone.

Comfort

The flights on our Almaty to Perth trip were all relatively comfortable. The seats didn’t seem any smaller than you’d see on a regular plane used for long hauls. The lights did stay on longer than expected into the evening on the Almaty to Kuala Lumpur leg, which made it difficult to sleep. So pack an eye mask, and perhaps a scarf or something to create a tent over smaller children to darken it for them.

The Almaty to Perth Flights

Leg 1: ALA-KL

The flight left shortly after 7pm. We all happily watched our tablets and phones for the first couple of hours before tucking into our sandwiches.

The cabin lights stayed on past 10pm. Many of our fellow passengers were night owls, and they continued ordering food for several hours after the meal service began. While the meal service runs, the cabin lights stay on, and so the cabin was brightly lit till about 10.30pm. This made it a little tough for our children to fall asleep. I rigged up a little tent for our son using my jacket to darken it for him which helped. I had luckily packed my eye mask – a critical piece of equipment for this flight!

The Layover in KL

You land in KL at 6am local time, which is a few hours ahead of Almaty time. We were pretty exhausted. Air Asia’s quickest Almaty-Perth flight includes a 4 hour layover in KL Airport, which, in hindsight, would be absolutely fine. However, delays are common for departures from Almaty, so I wasn’t sure 4 hours would be enough of a layover time. We picked a later flight for the KL to Perth leg so ended up with an 8 hour layover. The wording on the website as we bought our tickets suggested we might have to go through immigration. An 8 hour layover allowed me to relax, given we weren’t sure if this would happen or not.

We had booked ourselves into Sama Sama Airport Hotel to get some sleep while in transit. The hotel is located outside Terminal 1 so we took a taxi from Terminal 2. To get to the Terminal 2 taxi rank you need to exit the arrivals hall and then walk through a large shopping mall. Before you exit the shopping mall you will need to pay for your taxi at the front desk, just inside the mall entrance. It was very straightforward.

Sama Sama Hotel was fabulous, and it seemed to be the only airport hotel with a pool. Naturally, my family was exhausted after the overnight flight so we didn’t use the pool at all! If you intend on booking a day hotel you might be better off booking yourself into the Terminal 2 airside express hotel instead which doesn’t have a pool but you save yourself the extra travel!

Terminal 2 is a great airport with lots of shops and restaurants. On our return from our hotel we ordered noodles, while the kids feasted on nuggets and chips. Security was a bit lax coming back into the terminal. However, we soon discovered the second round of security before you got to the gates, and this is where I lost the contents of my newly purchased Evian water bottle (Evian, which is not available in Kazakhstan, produces the best water bottle design in my opinion!).

After security, where even the children’s water bottles had to be emptied, we refilled our bottles at one of the water stations. Naturally it stopped working very quickly as so many passengers were using it, but not to worry, there is another water station about 50m further down the corridor.

Leg 2: KUL-PER

This flight, operated by Air Asia X, was fine and ran smoothly. Usually if you chose the quicker ticket option this would be a 10am flight, arriving at 3.40pm Perth time. However, we’d chosen a later flight and, with an additional delay we flew out at 5.45pm, getting into Perth at 11.25pm. We didn’t need to eat on this flight as we’d enjoyed a hearty late lunch back at the airport. 

The cabin lights went dark at a much earlier time, making it easier for the kids to rest. 

The Perth to Almaty Flights

Leg 1: PER-KL

Batik Air operated the flight we took into KL and it was great, despite the awful departure time of 11.15pm. I believe meals were served though I was asleep by the time that would have happened. And they gave us each 20kg of checked in luggage.

Departing at this late hour isn’t ideal but it did get us into KL at about 5am. Usually this flight, operated by Batik Air, makes sense if you are on route to Almaty. The Almaty-bound flight leaves at 1pm, giving you a shorter layover in KL than the other options in from Perth. The layover is still long (8 hours!) so you might consider staying in one of the airside hotels such as Sama Sama that offers day rates for transiting passengers in Terminal 2. We, however, chose to take a 2 night KL city break before returning to Almaty. 

I am not a fan of red-eye flights. So, if you want a city break in KL on your way to Almaty, try and book one of the other flights. Air Asia X operates a 4.55pm flight from Perth, and Batik Air operates one at 5.30pm flight. These flights would get you into KL late in the evening, around 11pm. The drive into the city is about an hour, so do take that into account.

The Layover in KL

Again we didn’t do a regular layover, instead taking the chance to have a short city break in KL. Our 5am arrival time meant that we arrived too early to check into our hotel in the city. We booked ourselves into the landside Tune Hotel, which offered a very budget-friendly 12 hour stay from 7am-7pm. Of course we were also too early to check into Tune, and even though they allowed us to check in 30min early, we still had to wait in the reception for 45min. We booked 2 rooms and stayed till about 2pm.

Tune is easy to find and you can easily walk there from the arrivals hall. The room was lighter than ideal during the day, as they didn’t have block out curtains, so make sure you have an eye mask. Our rooms came with a complimentary meal and coffee making the price even more reasonable. We used booking.com to organise and pay for a taxi from Tune to our hotel in the city.

Leg 2: KUL-ALA

For our final leg we had a 1pm Air Asia flight, landing in Almaty at 5pm local time. Again we had prepared by loading movies onto tablets and smart phones, but this time we decided to try the in-flight food service. We had a chicken wrap and the noodles, and the kids had the mac and cheese. All tasted fine and were pretty good value.

Landing back in Almaty, we came through the very new and modern International Terminal. The lightness and spaciousness of this new building can only truly be appreciated if you ever had to enter through the aged former terminal.

What do I know about flying into Kazakhstan?

I’ve been travelling in and out of Kazakhstan regularly since mid 2021 with my family. Visit my About Me page to understand more about my perspective. And check out my Kazakhstan page to find out more about why I think why you should travel to Kazakhstan!

Check out my other posts on Kazakhstan: