Indian-origin Woman Travels 400 Kilometers For 5 Days A Week To Reach Her Workplace By Flight

For most working professionals, commuting to the office means boarding a bus, cab, or metro, and navigating the daily challenges of morning traffic, barely eating breakfast, and grabbing a snack on the way.

All to reach the office on time.

But for Racheal Kaur, commuting to the office has an entirely different definition. She is an Indian-origin woman who works as an assistant manager in AirAsia’s finance operations department.

Racheal makes a journey of 800 kilometers every day to commute to her workplace and then come back home. Specifically, it is a journey of nearly 400 kilometers each way.

According to Moneycontrol, her workplace is in Sepang and her home is in Penang.

The distance between the two is nearly 398 kilometers.

For five days of the week, Racheal takes a flight from her home to reach the workplace and then boards a return flight to reach her home in the evening.

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RACHEAL’S DAILY ROUTINE

Racheal’s day begins at 4 AM in the morning. She gets ready for work and reaches the airport by 5 AM.

She then boards the 5:55 AM flight from Penang and reaches Sepang in another 30 to 40 minutes.

By 7:45 AM, she reaches the office. 

After the day is over, she takes a flight back to Penang and arrives home by 7:30 PM.

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BALANCING WORK AND LIFE

Racheal Kaur told CNA Insider that she decided to fly to work daily because she wanted to spend more time with her two children who are aged 11 and 12.

In her words, “With them growing, I feel that the need for their mother to be around more often. With this arrangement, I am able to go home every day and see them every night.”

She added that this arrangement also lets her remain available for her children’s last-minute needs like schoolwork.

Earlier, Racheal was staying on rent in Kuala Lumpur. She used to visit her family only on the weekends. But as her children started growing up, she wanted to be more present in their daily lives.

Surprisingly, according to Kaur, her flying arrangement is more cost-effective than staying on rent near her workplace.

Earlier, she used to make an expenditure between RM1,400 and RM1,500 per month (about Rs 24,500 to Rs 26,250) on rent in Kuala Lumpur.

But since she is an AirAsia employee, she has to pay only RM50 for each flight. Her monthly travel expenses come at a figure of RM1,100 (about Rs 19,250).

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IN-OFFICE WORK OVER REMOTE WORK

Kaur believes that being present in the office physically helps her remain more productive and get work done faster.

She prefers commuting by air over getting a remote job.

Kaur said, “Being surrounded by people… it’s easier to get a task done. You know… when you’re able to communicate with people face to face.”

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