Word: airasia
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...only moments before takeoff when Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of high-flying budget airline AirAsia, rushes onto a plane destined for the Malaysian resort town of Kota Kinabalu. But there's no plum seat waiting for him. Even top managers at no-frills airlines don't get any frills. Fernandes treks through the crowded plane searching for an empty chair, ending up in one of the last rows. When flight attendants appear with a cart of sodas and instant noodles for sale, he plunks down 80? for a can of Milo chocolate drink. Fernandes then spends much...
...flock of discount carriers is taking wing this year, bringing lower prices and tougher competition around the world. Orient Thai Airlines launched low-fare One-Two-Go in December to defend its turf from newcomers like AirAsia. Elsewhere in Asia, elite Singapore Airlines is rolling out the cheap seats on its new discount marquee, Tiger Airways, which launches later this year, partly to fend off upstart ValuAir, which has set a May debut...
...heading to Thailand to escape the winter blues, you're in for bargains as two more cut-rate airlines enter its market. Last month, Malaysia-based AirAsia began flying from Kuala Lumpur to the resort island of Phuket for a thrifty $23.50, less than a third of the Malaysian Airlines fare. Next month, the airline founded by a former music executive will start service between the southern Malaysian border city Johor Baharu and Bangkok for about $26 a seat; plans are afoot to offer Thai domestic connections as well. But don't expect a morsel to eat or a refund...
...Islamic judge in the predominantly Muslim country ruled in July that, under Shari'a law, a husband could end a marriage by text messaging "I divorce you" to his wife three times. Now text messaging is being used in the service of another (and more pleasant) kind of getaway. AirAsia, a domestic low-fares carrier with regional ambitions, recently implemented the world's first ever short-message-service (SMS) ticket-sales system. Using cell phones, customers dialogue with a computer, which, over an average of eight text messages, takes care of everything from flight availability to accepting payment to assigning...
...Though AirAsia is the first carrier to sell seats through SMS, other airlines have utilized mobile-phone technology for similar functions before. Japan Airlines, for example, has allowed users to book flights via i-mode (a service providing pared-down Internet access via mobile phone in Japan) since 1999. The AirAsia SMS system might soon become just as routine. Since its inception at the end of August, more than 8,000 seats have been booked by thumb. Whether they were all reserved by fleeing husbands is anyone's guess...