When Rick Burton goes on the road, his rituals create a kind of cocoon that moves with him. The David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University, Burton has flown an average of 100,000 miles a year for the past 30 years. He has taken to traveling with zest, boasting about his “squishy pillow that conforms to my neck” and his change of comfortable clothes that he wears on long flights.

“I bring a baseball cap to pull down over my eyes, and slippers, since feet expand at altitude and I don’t want to walk into a bathroom in socks. It may not be quite like at home but I want to be comfortable,” he says.

Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg of Valerie Wilson Travel, who was on the road 155 days in 2011, travels with a cape that doubles as a blanket because “it has my scent… and it’s clean,” and she wipes down her seat and the remote with Purrell before each flight.

Burton and Wilson-Buttigieg are fairly typical in their quirkiness. The most predictable thing about travel is its unpredictability. To be truly productive when the rhythm of life is literally in the air, most road warriors create routines, rules and rituals that provide a grounding sense of control and comfort. They plan for a myriad of contingencies, accept what is beyond their power with Zen-like equanimity, and get on with their work.

The following is a list of how they do it—stay in the air while staying productive—and comfortable:

Stay Connected.

Carry extra batteries, battery powered chargers and adapters, advises political consultant Carl Silverberg, who logged 131,000 miles in 2011 alone. “They’re inexpensive and a lifesaver when you can’t find an outlet.”

Bring a high-quality hands-free set for your phone so that you can answer calls in noisy places and be able to hear and be heard, advises John Barrows, vice president of corporate communications for Avis Budget Group, who took 40-plus flights “in everything from a 747 to teensy prop planes” last year.

Advises Bill Stewart, founding partner at strategic advisory firm Avondale, who traveled about 250 miles last year, mostly from coast to coast, “Get a long-battery-life laptop and get the extended battery, because I never know when I’ll be away from a power outlet for an extended time. Six to seven hours of battery life is my new minimum living standard.”

Back yourself up.

When you can’t connect, you can still use your email program to clear out your in-box, Barrows notes.

Since you can’t always get to everything you need from your laptop or smart phone, “print out back ups and/or put them on a flash drive,” suggests Silverberg.

Carry a print out of flights before and after each departure, including those on other carriers, in case a meeting ends early or goes late, or a carrier cancels a flight “so you’re not starting from zero to reschedule if you can’t get it on an app,” suggests Wilson-Buttigieg.

At the ready.

Minimize the stress of last minute packing by keeping toiletries, technology kits and other basics ready to grab and go.

Stewart advises investing in a tablet, instead of clogging your carry-on bad with books. “I read one to two books per week, and now I no longer have to worry about carrying around the latest 1,000-page Dances with Dragons, or think about the weight differential between hardcover and paperback. Also, I pay Amazon prices for books now, not airport prices, so the tablet has paid for itself already. The added benefit of the tablet is that I can read while on the elliptical or treadmill at the hotel gym; I just turn up the font size and no longer need to sweat all over my reading glasses and try to juggle a book while I’m exercising.”

Barrows keeps a spare set of all his laptop cords, flash drives and connectors in a heavy duty Ziploc bag so he never leaves behind something important.

Wilson-Buttigieg maintains an “emergency red vinyl folder, in both digital and paper,” by her bedside with contacts, a copy of her passport, insurances, and everything she might need if she couldn’t get access digitally.

Appoint a troubleshooter.

Designate someone to coordinate what you can’t manage while traveling and have set times to check in and deal with questions, advises Mauricio Millán Costabile, vice president of Coraza Corporación Azteca, who flies domestically about three times a month, and to Asia or Russia once a quarter.

A trusted travel consultant is invaluable, asserts Gary E. Hayes, PhD, managing partner, Hayes Brunswick and Partners and author of Leading in Turbulent Times. Hayes, who averaged more than two trips a month last year, says his agent usually can arrange early hotel check in at no charge, and knowing she is on top of potential travel issues like storms and wildcat strikes allows him to stay focused on his mission.

Tune in to your time zone.

“Change your watch at take off,” advises Wilson-Buttigieg “It gets you into the right mind set.”

Stu Strelzer, who is on the road more than 180 nights a year handling broadcast operations for shows on ABC Television Network, says if he’s heading west, he works and reads until about 11 p.m. local time so he can “synch up and then get a good night’s sleep.”

Heading east, Strelzer prefers to get on the plane tired and sleep. “I bring noise canceling headphones. That really helps.”

Ann MacDougall, COO, Acumen Fund, who frequently flies to Pakistan, India and Africa, agrees. “Especially when heading east overnight, take an Ambien (if needed) as soon as you take off to try to replicate a night’s sleep.”

Another approach: Avondale’s Stewart says, “I always stay on east coast time, even though I live on the west coast. All my clients are Eastern or Midwestern, so it’s easier to stay on one time zone clock than constantly try to switch back and forth. As a result, I typically go to bed at 8 p.m. pacific time on a Friday night and get up at 5 a.m. pacific time on a Saturday morning, so I’m not exactly the life of the party! Of course, I can fix this any time I want by moving east, but my family and I really like living in California, so it’s a worthwhile tradeoff. I guess the general tip would be pick a time zone and stick to it.
Plan time to recharge.

Pushing relentlessly can be counter-productive.

“If I land in the morning and go for a run, preferably outside, that can change the first two days of my trip,” says Hayes.

Stewart agrees, “An hour’s exercise is always better than an hour’s sleep! As I’ve gotten myself into shape over the last few years (I now do about 30 miles per week of trail running and gym ellipticals), I’ve found that I need less sleep. I’d rather get five to six hours of sleep and an hour of exercise than seven hours sleep. It’s always hard to get up at 4:30 a.m. to hit the hotel gym, or to work out at 9 p.m. after a dinner with the client, but the payoff is worth the price. I’m down nearly 40 lbs from where I was in 2006 and I’m have so much more energy.

MacDougall advises doing at least one thing that is fun or enriching on each trip. “On day three of five days of non-stop meetings in Madrid, I ‘stole’ 45 minutes to go to the Prado museum—that was really fun and re-energized me.”

Stewart adds that, if you can, take an extra day for yourself. “I completely “veg out.” I explicitly force myself to relax and not think about work.”

Burton, whose first novel, a World War II thriller, was recently published, says it’s important to him to have time to be creative while traveling. Traveling as much as he does, he says he views his trips “as endurance races, not sprints. The modern business traveler needs to ask, am I operating my body as a sustainable entity just as I would any business asset.”

The 45 Places to Go in 2012 by New York Times.

What Should You Do In The Event Of Medical Emergency/Damage/Loss?

1. Contact the medical and emergency assistance hotline
Certain travel policies cover 24-hour emergency hotline service which provides you with access to assistance such as medical advice, referrals, medical evacuations and travel related matters such as lost passport and baggage.

2. Notify the authorities
If your insured belongings are lost or damaged, you must take all reasonable measures to protect, save and recover them, and must also promptly notify the local police, hotel, transportation company or transportation terminal authorities, whichever is applicable.

3. Notify your insurer as soon as possible
You should submit the claim form with all supporting documents such as your original policy, the medical report, police report and any relevant documents to support the claim as soon as possible to your insurance company. You should check the time frame for claim notification stipulated in your policy.

via InsuranceInfo Travel Insurance Booklet

1. Personal effects
Check with your insurance company on the personal effects that can be covered under travel insurance as the coverage differs between insurance companies.

2. Beneficiary
You are advised to nominate a beneficiary and ensure that your beneficiary is aware of the travel insurance policy that you have purchased.

3. Multiple insurance
If you have purchased more than one travel insurance policies, in the event of your demise and disablement, you or your beneficiary, as the case may be, will be compensated for each policy. However, for certain losses such as medical expenses which are compensated on reimbursement basis, you will only be compensated once for the actual loss suffered.

4. Foreign affiliates
Ensure that your insurance company has a good network of foreign affiliates which can provide you with the necessary assistance when required.

5. Medical and emergency assistance
It is important to check whether your insurance company provides 24-hour emergency hotline service.

via InsuranceInfo Travel Insurance Booklet

Scope of Cover
The scope of cover and scale of benefits differ between insurance companies and you should shop around to ensure that you purchase a policy which best meets your requirements.

The coverage commonly provided under a travel insurance policy includes:
• Personal accident
• Medical and its related expenses
• Loss of baggage, personal effect and money
• Loss of passport
• Personal liability
• Delayed baggage
• Travel delay
• Hijacking
• Repatriation

You can take a travel policy for you and/or your family members. If you purchase a family policy, coverage for each family member is apportioned from the total sum assured. In the case of a claim, compensation payable will be in accordance to the portion allocated to each member and should not exceed the sum assured in total. Please note that if you are above a certain age limit, you may not be able to obtain a travel insurance policy.

Understanding the Policy Benefits
• Personal accident – you are normally covered for death and total permanent disablement for a period within 365 days after the occurrence of the accident. The compensation will be paid according to a scale of benefits and may differ from one insurance company to another.
• Medical and related expenses – coverage for hospitalization, hospital or surgical expenses, outpatient medical expenses, as well as daily allowances up to a maximum number of days, should you be hospitalized for more than 24 hours.
• Loss of travel deposit or curtailment of journey – you will be reimbursed for expenses incurred due to loss of travel or accommodation expenses paid due to cancellation or curtailment of the journey.
• Loss of baggage, personal effects and money – this covers accidental loss or damage to your baggage, clothing, personal effects, and even money, caused by the carrier.
• Loss of passport – you will be reimbursed for additional hotel charges, travel and other expenses incurred in the country you visited, while obtaining the replacement of a lost passport. Such loss must be reported to the police within 24 hours.
• Personal liability – should you cause accidental bodily injury to a third party or loss or damage to the property of a third party, the insurer will indemnify you for the legal liability.
• Delayed baggage – if your baggage is lost or misplaced for at least 12 hours from the time of arrival at your destination, you will be reimbursed for expenses incurred to purchase essential items of clothing or personal effects.
• Travel delay – you will be paid a sum of money, according to a schedule, if your flight or voyage is delayed for more than 12 hours due to reasons beyond your control.
• Hijacking – the insurer may make daily payments up to a specified maximum number of days, if your journey is interrupted for more than 12 hours due to an act of hijack.
• Repatriation – in the event of accidental death of the insured, the insurer will reimburse the insured’s legal representative for the cost of returning the remains home.

Policy Exclusions
Losses caused by certain events are excluded from the cover. Some common exclusions include:
• War risks
• Suicide and insanity
• AIDS
• Provoke murder or assault
• Childbirth or miscarriage
• Hazardous sports

In addition, there are exclusions involving events such as baggage delay and loss of baggage and personal effects due to seizure or destruction under quarantine or custom regulation. You are advised to always read carefully and understand your policy exclusions.

via InsuranceInfo Travel Insurance Booklet

Searching For Airfares Doesn’t Have To Be A Gamble

NEW YORK — Searching for airfares often seems like a game passengers are set up to lose.

Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Scouring multiple websites for the best deal can be overwhelming. And after you book, there’s no guarantee that you got the best price.

“You just don’t know when to pull the trigger. It’s not like buying anything else I can think of,” said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.

Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215. A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each. There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” Harrison said.

Fares can fluctuate significantly in just a few hours. One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 on Sunday.

The flight was one of a dozen The Associated Press tracked over three months for a July 16-22 vacation. The No. 1 finding: Avoid booking tickets on weekends. It’s the most expensive time to buy.

There’s no way to guarantee the best fare. But before booking, travelers should heed this additional advice:

— Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s when airlines most often offer sales.

— Buy in advance, but not too early. The best time is four to six weeks before traveling. In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to 10 weeks and two to three weeks in advance.
Advertise | AdChoices

— Embrace social media. Airlines are giving more benefits, like exclusive sales, to travelers who interact with them on Twitter and Facebook. Those specials are often gone within hours.

— The so-called discount airlines — JetBlue, AirTran, Southwest and Frontier — adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident locking in a price. But their prices aren’t always the lowest. Researching multiple airlines’ fares is the only way to get a good deal.

It wasn’t always this complicated.

Before the airlines were deregulated in 1978, airfares were approved by the government. Prices were consistent and printed in timetables. But because air travel hadn’t been embraced by Americans and was something of a luxury, planes were often less than half full.

Deregulation allowed airlines to set fares and routes on their own. In the early ’80s, American Airlines started selling empty seats at a steep discount. The aim was to fill up planes and compete with new discount airlines such as PeoplExpress.

To prevent business travelers from trading down to cheaper tickets, the airlines required that fliers buy two to three weeks in advance and spend a Saturday night at their destination. The discount airline ticket was born.

Today, sophisticated computer programs analyze travel data and set a range of ticket prices so airlines can get the most money out of each flight. Prices are generally higher for seats sold at the last minute, which are usually bought by business travelers. Refundable tickets tend to be the most expensive, and cheap fares come with lots of restrictions.

Other factors go into the price, too: How fast are tickets selling compared with previous years? Is there a conference or special event in the destination city? Fares are often adjusted to match other airlines’ prices.

But there’s still a great deal of human intervention.

“To a degree, it’s trial and error,” said Greg Aretakis, vice president of revenue production at Frontier Airlines.

There can be as many as 20 prices on any given flight. Airline executives say that all that helps them boost revenue by 3 to 6 percent. If they price tickets too low, the airline can lose money. If prices are too high, seats go unsold.

“If that seat goes out empty, we can’t put it on the shelf and sell it the next day,” said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. “A seat that goes unfilled is like a banana that instantly spoils on takeoff.”

International Consolidated Airlines and Easyjet fell by about 5%, with Air France KLM down 4.5%.

Flights in, to and from Scotland have been cancelled as ash from the Grimsvotn volcano continues to head towards the UK.

One year ago, Icelandic ash caused huge disruption to flights in Europe.

That was caused by the country’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano.
Airport closure

British Airways, KLM, Glasgow-based Loganair and Eastern Airways have all cancelled flights on Tuesday, as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) warned that further disruption cannot be ruled out.

Icelandic air traffic control has already created a no-fly zone around the Grimsvotn and cancelled all domestic flights. The country’s main international airport, Keflavik airport near the capital Reykjavik, has been closed.

However, the UK’s Met Office, which runs Europe’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said the latest eruption would not necessarily lead to airspace closures further afield.

Shares in Ryanair were also hit, falling 6.2%, but this was in part due to the budget airline’s warning that it faced a tough winter ahead because of rising fuel costs.

This overshadowed the group’s reported 23% rise in profit of 374m euros ($525m; £325m) for the year to March.

Shares in German carrier Lufthansa fell 3.5%.

1. “In tough times we have to discount — creatively.”

For the hotel industry, 2009 was the worst year since the Great Depression, and last year was only slightly better. At its low, the average daily room rate was $97, down from $107 in 2008, and occupancy rates fell below 55 percent. “This recession has been so traumatic across the board for all types of hotels,” says Robert Mandelbaum, research director at Colliers PKF Hospitality Research. In turn, hotels have slashed staff and cut corners. Michael Aschoff, a retired compliance officer from Tampa, Fla., stays in hotels 30 to 50 nights a year and has noticed they’ve stopped replacing soap and providing body wash and mouthwash. “They have really cut back on little amenities,” he says.

But hotels are holding the line on rates, says Travis Rank, director of worldwide sales at Best Western International. Instead, some hotels offer free parking, gift cards or other perks, like a free extra night for customers who book a certain number of nights in a row. Check hotel websites to find these deals — which are likely to be available until 2012, when the industry is expected to recover.

2. “Book with us to get an upgrade.”

When you book your room through a third-party site like Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE – News) or Travelocity, the hotel typically pays a commission — up to 30 percent. Through their own sites, hotels will usually match the best rates and may offer specials, and many will let you change your reservation without penalty if you’ve cut out the middleman.

What’s more, book directly with the hotel and your “chances of getting an upgrade are vastly improved,” says Rank. Hotels also like to save perks for their loyalty-program members. Chris Jones, the general manager of Hotel Indigo in San Diego, says he gives upgrades to about 35 percent of customers, with priority going to loyalty-card holders. “The hospitality industry is all about relationships,” says Fredrik Korallus, executive vice president for global revenue generation at Carlson Hotels. “If you want something, it never hurts to ask.”

3. “We can be sneaky about our best deals.”

Since most hotels are franchises, individual owners offer the best deals. They’re promoted online, via e-mail newsletters and, more recently, through social networking sites like Facebook and Foursquare. Hotel Indigo had 500 followers on Twitter before it even opened, and Jones says last fall he offered $185 rooms to followers for $99 — and booked 45 rooms in two hours. Robert A. Rauch, a managing partner at a San Diego Hilton, says he offers time-sensitive deals and restaurant or spa specials online. Hotels also offer discounts through partners like Visa (NYSE: V – News) or American Express (NYSE: AXP – News), but since hotels aren’t always enthusiastic about those, “sometimes it takes some effort” to find them, says Matthew Stone, a professor of travel and tourism at Prince George’s Community College in Washington, D.C.

4. “Your room won’t really look like this.”

There are plenty of places to find reviews of hotels, from newspapers and magazines to websites with traveler reviews. But when you want to see what the room or the pool looks like, you often have to trust the hotel — which may not be trustworthy, says Eli Seidman, founder of travel site Oyster.com. There, Seidman posts a hotel’s image next to one taken by his own photographers to show readers how deceiving hotel marketing can be. “It’s pretty bad, in varying degrees, across the whole industry,” says Seidman. And when it comes to the description of the room, “the square footage is complete nonsense,” he says.

Most hotels are not out to actively deceive customers. “We want to ensure that the images are accurate,” says Jeff Wagoner, president of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. But, he adds, “we have no specific written guidelines.”

5. “Kiss your credit card data goodbye.”

Hotels have become a favorite target for credit card data thieves. According to digital-security firm Trustwave, 38 percent of the credit card hacking cases it worked on in 2009 were in the hospitality industry — far more than any other industry the company works with. Hackers (usually organized crime outfits) access a hotel’s network by guessing the administrator password, then place malware on the network, which then transmits guest’s card numbers back to them. They can also steal other info about you — home address, phone number, license plate number — to aid in identity theft. Nicholas J. Percoco, director of Spider Labs, a unit of Trustwave, says he had his own card data stolen and used just minutes after he checked into a hotel last year. “It can happen really quickly,” he says.

“This has become a priority in the industry,” says Wagoner. “We are putting a lot of effort and energy toward data security.” His company, like others, has basic requirements in place that franchisees are expected to follow. Visa has also worked with the industry to improve its data security. And things are getting better: Percoco says the hospitality industry fell to become the second most targeted industry in 2010.

6. “We need locals as much as travelers.”

With fewer people traveling, hotels that have bars, restaurants, spas and golf courses have been forced to look closer to home for help making up lost revenue. At the San Diego Hilton, Rauch says, 60 percent of the revenue from the spa and 70 percent from the bar come from locals. “Hotels need to learn to become the hub of the community,” he says. Korallus says the majority of customers at the FireLake restaurant in the Minneapolis Radisson are locals, and Carlson Hotels is launching two new restaurants designed to attract more local business. Wyndham hotels that usually cater to business travelers have likewise sought to lure locals by offering discounted weekend rates. Indeed, much of the industry has worked to boost revenue this way, says Mandelbaum. And while it has helped, it has not made up for all the lost room revenue in the short term.

7. “We’ll happily waive that fee.”

These days airlines have found a way to charge for just about everything, but it’s a different story for hotels, which have been losing revenue from once reliable sources. At one time, people paid exorbitant fees to use the room phone; now everyone has a cell phone. Revenue from pay-per-view movies is down significantly now that people bring movies with them on their laptops. Looking to add revenue, hotels have upped staples like parking charges (up to $40 a day) and the mysterious “resort fee” that some vacationers have seen tacked on to their bills (as much as $30). “Hotels are desperate to leverage up these fees,” says Rauch.

The good news: Hotels are pretty open to negotiating or even waiving some of these fees, says Stone. Unlike the airlines, where just a few companies control the industry, the hotel business is made up of more individual owners who are desperate for loyal customers and who are competing against other hotels that may not charge these fees. Bottom line: If you don’t like a fee, ask about it.

8. “We can’t do much about bedbugs.”

Hotels are a perfect environment for bedbugs — lots of turnover and lots of beds. And it has become a big issue for the industry. According to the National Pest Management Association, 67 percent of the pest-control companies it surveyed have received calls to treat hotels and motels. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing hotels can do to prevent travelers from bringing them in, since bedbugs are tiny and can hitch a ride on clothes or luggage. “The key is to find it and treat it as quickly as possible,” Jones says.

Travelers can use BedBugRegistry.com or the iPhone app Bed Bug Alert to search for infested hotels but should take these sources with a grain of salt — the cases haven’t been verified and, even if true, may have been treated already. Your best bet: On arrival, check the corners of the mattress for bedbugs or the telltale brown spots they leave.

9. “We obsess over online comments.”

Traveler-review sites have become a powerful force in the hotel industry. Too many bad reviews and business may start to slide — a fact those in the industry know all too well. “We highly recommend that hotel managers keep up with what is being said about them online, and not only respond but rectify any issue the customer might have had,” says Wyndham’s Wagoner.

For consumers, these reviews are bringing changes for the better. Korallus says some of his hotels have begun opening their gyms an hour earlier, thanks to online comments. And Jones says he brings online comments into staff meetings: “The more feedback, the better.”

10. “You can make a killing on points.”

A few years ago, Dave Weinberg, a Maryland-based consultant who travels a lot for work, became a platinum member of Intercontinental Hotel’s Priority Club Rewards program — without spending much time at the hotel. He signed up for the branded credit card, then benefited from generous point offers. “All hotels are trying to lure in travelers with extra point offers,” he says.

“This is the longest period of sustained hotel promotions we’ve ever seen,” says Tim Winship, publisher of FrequentFlier.com. Hotels are offering double and triple points to those who stay with them. As hotel points rack up, Winship says, travelers might think about swapping hotel points for airline miles, since airlines are raising prices while hotel rates are likely to remain low in many markets. “The way things are going, airline miles have more real value,” Winship says.

Demand growth outstripped capacity increases of 4.4 percent for passengers and about double that for cargo, the International Air Transport Association said.

“After the biggest demand decline in the history of aviation in 2009, people started to travel and do business again in 2010,” said outgoing IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani. “Airlines ended the year slightly ahead of early 2008 volumes, but with a pathetic 2.7 percent profit margin. The challenge is to turn the demand for mobility into sustainable profits.”

North American carriers saw passenger demand increase by 7.4 percent in 2010 — almost double the increase in capacity last year — leading to significantly higher profits.

European airlines had increased passenger demand of 5.1 percent — again double the capacity increase. Europe was hardest hit by the harsh December weather though, which slowed demand growth for the continent to 3.3 percent that month compared to November.

Carriers in the Asia-Pacific region — led by China and India — recorded 9 percent year-on-year growth in passenger demand in 2010.

Geneva-based IATA, which represents some 230 major international airlines, said the coming months would be marked by oil price uncertainty. An earlier forecast of $9.1 billion industry profits in 2011 was based on an oil price of $84 a barrel.

With turmoil in the Middle East driving prices higher, Bisignani warned that airline profitability could be squeezed. “For every dollar increase in the average price of a barrel of oil over the year, airlines face the difficult task of recovering an additional $1.6 billion in costs,” he said.

Via Yahoo! News

To celebrate the occasion, Dato’ Eddy Leong performed a symbolic flag-raising to mark Firefly’s presence in KLIA and this was witnessed by Dato’ Azmi Murad, Senior General Manager, Operations Services of Malaysia Airports.

Firefly's first customer at its Airport Ticketing Office in KLIA. (From left: Angelina Corrina Fernandez, Firefly head or Marketing & Communications and Pn.Hamidah)

According to Firefly’s Managing Director, Dato’ Eddy Leong, opening a ticketing counter at KLIA was a natural progression from the decision to base its new Boeing 737-800 operations at the award-winning airport. “Firefly’s operations in KLIA will focus on offering unbeatable value at lowest fares. We will beat our competitors hands down with our low fares.

“This is made possible with our decision to use the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a capacity of 189 seats, which has allowed us to achieve one of the lowest cost of available seat per kilometre (CASK) among our competitors. We also have the advantage of leveraging on our parent company Malaysia Airlines’ infrastructure such as maintenance engineers and ground handling operations to keep costs low.

“The value passengers get in return besides low fares is also a pleasant experience and comforts such as aerobridge services and the convenience of an Express Rail Service – that we’re offering these benefits at fares as low as ours is indicative of our commitment to deliver value to our passengers. You don’t have to cross the tarmac under the hot sun to board our planes.”

Firefly will begin its operations on January 15, 2011 from the Main Terminal Building of KLIA to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu twice daily, and from January 24, 2011, four times daily and three times daily respectively. One of the key features of the B737-800 operations is that passengers can enjoy even greater savings with the Standard and Premium sets of services that let passengers buy several add-on services at low prices.

For example, the Standard set comprises an in-flight-meal, bottle of mineral water, 15+5kg of checked baggage allowance and Preferred Seat selection, and costs RM38 only, which is 40 percent lower than if the add-on services were bought individually.

Dato’ Azmi Murad said: “Malaysia Airports is pleased with Firefly’s decision to base its Jets operations at the Main Terminal Building, KLIA which will contribute to the growth of KLIA as a transit hub and enhance the connectivity offered. We look forward to working with Firefly to further improve the passenger traffic and bring in more tourists as it’s one of the key drivers of the Malaysian economy.”

Located within the departure hall, opposite Check-in Island C to D, Firefly’s new airport ticketing counter opens from 8.30am to 5.30pm and, sells tickets to all Firefly routes, add-on products such as in-flight meals, check-in baggage allowances and Standard and Premium sets of services. The opening hours will be revised to 5.30am to 10pm from 15 January 2011 onwards.

To date, Firefly has 21 airport ticketing offices and projects to open another six airport ticketing offices in 2011. The latest all-in fare promotion for the East Malaysian routes is RM59 one way for the travel period of 17 January to 15 May, 2011. Booking period will end on 16 January, 2011.