Earlier this month, airasia food announced that it was launching a new feature on its platform called Queuing Service, exclusively available in Bangkok. As you can probably guess from the name, the feature is for those who want to skip the queue at popular restaurants that have no reservation system in place.
AirAsia flew us out to the land of smiles for us to try out this interesting service, with a demonstration at the famous Michelin Guide restaurant, Jeh O Chula. We were told that the usual queuing time at this restaurant can be up to a gruelling two hours, which shows why it makes sense for this spot to be one of the first to adopt the super app’s Queuing Service.
To use it, customers in Bangkok need to go to the food tab in the AirAsia app, tap on Queuing Service, and choose from the handful of popular eateries currently involved with the feature. They can then choose between one to six seats for booking, confirm the store’s details, and provide a local contact number.
Users can only book for peak hours, with timeslots between 6PM and 8PM. You must book the Queuing Service at least one day in advance, but in case you’re a fastidious planner, you can also book seats up to 20 days in advance.
airasia food riders will queue up for you to get the seats for your chosen timeslot, and while they can hold the spot for you for a while, it will be up to the restaurant whether or not your table will be given away if you show up late. The riders will communicate with customers and inform them when their tables are ready.
The service is a bit pricy at 300 Thai Baht (~RM39) per order and you cannot cancel it once the order has been placed. That being said, if you are going in a group with up to six people to a restaurant where you might have to queue up for hours, we can see how it can be appealing to some people, especially tourists.
Regarding when this feature might be coming to Malaysia, the company told us that they have no plans to introduce it here anytime soon because they have not yet identified any restaurants here that require it. As for how Malaysians can use it for their travels to Bangkok, you can go to AirAsia’s Thailand website and input a local address to make a Queuing Service order in advance.
