Some frequent travelers commute to work by air weekly. Well, one woman in Malaysia takes that to the next level, and commutes to work by air daily.
In this post:
Commuter flies from Penang to Kuala Lumpur 5x weekly
CNA Insider published a cool six-minute video about Racheal Kaur, a woman who commutes to work by air five times per week, flying between Penang (PEN) and Kuala Lumpur (KUL). Yes, you read that right. Okay, in fairness, Kaur works for an airline, but she has a ground-based position. She’s an Assistant Manager in Finance Operations at AirAsia, and works at the company’s offices at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Back in the day, she rented a place in Kuala Lumpur, and spent five days per week there, and then flew home to Penang on weekends. However, as she has two children who are growing (11 and 12 years old), she decided she wanted to be at home with them every night and help with homework as needed, so she flies to work daily.
The logistics here are fascinating:
- She gets up at 4AM daily, and then leaves home and drives to the airport at 5AM
- She boards the 201-mile flight at 5:55AM, and the flight departs at 6:30AM
- The flight takes around 30-45 minutes, and then she gets to the office by 7:45AM, as it’s only around a five minute walk from the arrival gate
- She views the flight as her “me time,” and she spends 10-15 minutes on prayer and self reflection, and then she listens to music for the rest of the flight, and enjoys the views
- After work, she reportedly gets back to Penang by 7:30PM, though that part is a little bit light on details, as to whether that’s when she lands at the airport, or when she actually gets back home
Here are a few other interesting tidbits:
- Sometimes getting home is tricky, when flights are full, since she’s traveling on standby; her commute is contingent on there being empty seats
- She claims that if you were to commute from Kuala Lumpur to the office at the airport, it would take 75-90 minutes during rush hour
- She worked remotely during the pandemic, but claims that she prefers commuting to the office, so that she has a better separation of her work time and her personal time
Here’s how the economics of this reportedly work:
- Since she’s an AirAsia employee, she can fly standby, and those flights cost per RM50 (~$11) per day
- When she used to rent an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, she’d pay RM1,500 (~$340) per month, while now she only has to pay per mortgage in Penang, which is RM1,000 (~$226)
- If she stayed in Kuala Lumpur for the entire week, she’d spend RM600 (~$135) on food per month, while now she only buys her lunch there, which costs RM300 (~$68) per month
You can see the video for yourself below.
My take on this woman’s unbelievable commute
In 2023, there was the story of someone who spent an academic year commuting between Los Angeles and the Bay Area, to attend 3x weekly classes. This is on a different level, though, as it’s 5x weeklt, and it’s a long term thing.
I’m certainly not here to judge anyone’s crazy lifestyle. I mean, I lived in hotels full time for years, and I’ve spent 24 hours in airports over the past two days (not including actual flights). 😉
So with that out of the way, a few thoughts:
- For those who are going to say that her carbon footprint is terrible, I’d point out that she’s flying on a space available basis, and the incremental environmental impact of putting someone in an empty seat is very low
- By my math, it sounds like she spends somewhere around five hours per day commuting, which comes out to 25 hours per week, give or take; wow, wow, wow, it makes me appreciate being able to work from home
- If you get home at 7:30PM and have to wake up at 4AM, either you don’t get much sleep at all, or you have maybe an hour or so to unwind and spend time with family
- I assume earning potential is much better in Kuala Lumpur than Penang, or else she wouldn’t do this; or she must really love working in the airline industry, or both…
Bottom line
One AirAsia employee in Malaysia takes commuting to the next level, as she flies daily between Penang and Kuala Lumpur. Her office is located at the airport, so she claims it’s not that much worse than commuting from the city, and it also saves her money.
Good for her that she’s happy with this arrangement, and it allows her to spend as much time with family as possible. That’s a lot of time getting to and from work, though!
What do you make of this AirAsia employee’s commute?
Decades ago a DJ had a morning show in Chicago and evening in Dallas. He did the ORD-DFW r/t 5X per week.
Not to be a party pooper, Ben. But this story isn't exactly hot stuff. I know folks who commute between Brisbane - Sydney daily. That's a FAR longer distance than PEN-KUL. And I also know someone who commuted CNS-POM daily for 2 years! That's an international route!
Sounds like living the dream to me. Too bad she probably isn't earning miles...
Actually pretty reasonable considering she gets an airline discount. Similarly, JR in Japan also has employees that live 1-2 hours away from Tokyo by bullet train and commute to work everyday using the Shinkansen. I suppose this is similar but aviation instead.
1000s of Europeans commute to work and back every day by train, leaving home and getting back at similar hours. Airports are slightly less fun than a train station, but her life isn’t really extreme.
If you're at an airport, you have to go through security (assuming you've checked in online), queue for boarding, taxi out for take-off, possibly go through turbulence, land, and taxi.
On a train, you just hop on within minutes of departure and have a seat until you reach your destination.
As much as I love airports and watch planes go by, it's a stressful environment, and you really have to pack your patience dealing with people compared to a train.
Mrs Kaur has two children, but I'll wager she also has a couple of maids, a cook, a gardener, and a driver. It's very common; and relatively inexpensive; for upper middle-class Malaysian families to have a fully staffed household. Her husband probably owns a business (or businesses) in Penang, which is why she commutes to KL every day. If she can make it work, good on her, but yeah... They're wealthy, and have a lot of paid help.
Family time is most important to her, however with getting home at 19:30 then waking up at 0400 the next day, it doesn't sound like there is a lot of that going on.
There's also some other financial aspects that aren't addressed, like what about the round trip commuting costs between her home and Penang airport?
Also if she lived in Kuala Lumpur, she could likely bring her lunch from home, which would save some money on having to eat out everyday.
I took nine flights on AirAsia late last year when I traveled in SE Asia for five weeks.
I never flew domestic or foreign budget airlines before and I will avoid it like plague.
Two positive outcomes: No loss of baggage and no air crash. They were all 90% full
capacity but they had sick fliers and naughty kids on every flight. I noticed eight flights
had no western fliers aboard...
I took nine flights on AirAsia late last year when I traveled in SE Asia for five weeks.
I never flew domestic or foreign budget airlines before and I will avoid it like plague.
Two positive outcomes: No loss of baggage and no air crash. They were all 90% full
capacity but they had sick fliers and naughty kids on every flight. I noticed eight flights
had no western fliers aboard and that was a warning sign. Penang is a beautiful island and it had developed a lot since I was there three decades ago.
Why not work remotely ?
Sure, every parent needs "me" time but, "me" time 10x per week (10 flights) on AirAsia? ..no Thanks! I'd rather spend my alone time completing my last 2 cycles of REM sleep. If she had worked remotely during COVID, then "surely", she can work from home at least 2-3 day per week now....No?
Please comment on the LifeMiles deval
I think it speaks to how demanding it is to be a working mom that prayer and listening to music on an airplane is her "me time."
First off, an individual's carbon footprint doesn't matter, particularly segmented out for commercial aviation. This is a scam that has been sold by countries and companies to pass off guilt onto the consumer, when manufacturing, military, and even private aviation all put your C02 contribution to shame. You're right to point out that the seat being empty otherwise means a very minor difference in fuel burn of a massive aircraft and an extra 45kg on...
First off, an individual's carbon footprint doesn't matter, particularly segmented out for commercial aviation. This is a scam that has been sold by countries and companies to pass off guilt onto the consumer, when manufacturing, military, and even private aviation all put your C02 contribution to shame. You're right to point out that the seat being empty otherwise means a very minor difference in fuel burn of a massive aircraft and an extra 45kg on board. I personally don't see how 5am-7:30pm including commute time is a sustainable schedule, but if she really gets much from that 1-2 hours per night before bed and never seeing her kids before school, so be it.
I worked with someone who commuted from Hilo to Honolulu four days a week.
Not unheard of. In the 1990s, a friend of my Dad's commuted from Helsinki to Stockholm, daily. On paid tickets. His job was not airline-related in any way.
Hi Ben,
Sorry not related, but would you please report and confirm about the Lifemiles devaluation? Some of the routings increased up to 208% !!!! Almost every route increased 25~70%.
Her office being literally at the destination airport makes this halfway reasonable.
Anybody with kids is lucky to sleep 5-6 hours a night, even with a fully remote job. There are too many childless incel losers in the comments preceding mine.
Also the commute from KL city to KLIA is not the easiest / fastest commute either.
Anybody with kids??? Maybe until they're like 5. If your kid needs you in the middle of the night that often when they're near middle school age they're developmentally way behind
Wow, rent in Kuala Lumpur is $340 per month?!
"Nicer" western places closer to $650 ... (pool jacuzzi Gym front desk staff )
Working on the move now
I can't imagine doing this week after week. With a family she's probably getting 5-6 hours a sleep a night. Unless you're one of the rare people that can do with 4-6 hours of sleep not good for long term health.
In the old days , early 90‘s a lot of people commuted daily between Boston and New York. Apple Express, Trump shuttle, Eastern shuttle Pan Am, had at some point 8 dollar one way tickets. Did myself sometimes for 4 days a week and then remote work at 9600 bds. Planes were full of daily commuters.
I remember a story from a year ago. While not as extreme, it's somewhat relatable:
https://www.boredpanda.com/student-takes-a-flight-to-college-every-week-to-save-rent/
Many years ago I had a commute between London, Accra and Johannesburg that basically meant 5 overnight night flights a week for a few months. It was horrendous, even in Business Class. My health suffered for a long time afterwards. Granted, a short haul commute like that is more doable but the stress and hassle factor is not something I would subject myself to willingly again.
This sounds absolutely horrendous and I am glad I am not her