Wow: AirAsia Super Commuter Flies To Work Every Day

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.

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.

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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?