kuala lumpur Travel Guide
Tags: Airplane News / Airline News / Air Asia / Air Asia X / LCCs / Budget Travel / Travel With Children / → All Tags
Baby Born On Air Asia Plane Gets Free Flights For Life
In our next life, we'd like to return as a baby born aboard an Air Asia flight. Talk about lucky—a pregnant woman on a flight between Penang and Kuching on Borneo went into surprise labor while in the air, prompting the plane to try for an emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur, but the baby popped out before they could get on the ground.
After the successful delivery, the mother and child were transported to a KL hospital, where they were visited by the higher-ups at Air Asia, who presented them with the rights to free flights for life. Assuming that Air Asia will be around until the kid hits retirement in something like sixty years, he could really make a name for himself traveling around Asia—or beyond, since Air Asia now also flies to both London and is busily signing paperwork to come to both Paris and Los Angeles. Boy oh boy are we jealous of this little boy. The question now is...did he kinda join the mile high club just being born up there?
Related Stories:
· Lifetime free flights for baby born on plane [AFP]
· Talking With Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes About US Plans [Jaunted]
· Air Asia coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: jetalone]
Tags: Airfare Sales / Air Asia / LCCs / Budget Travel / Asia Travel / Travel Deals / → All Tags
Air Asia's Big Sale Makes Us Want To Book Some $17 Flights
One of our favorite low cost carriers, Air Asia, is not just cool because it keeps adding more routes—like Kuala Lumpur to Paris on the cheap and the Indian destinations like Thiruvananthapuram just to name a couple of last week's highlights—but it's also giving us ideas for our 2010 travel plans by holding a big airfare sale at the moment.
For bookings made between now and Sunday, you can get bargain tickets for travel between January 11 and April 30, 2010 for a bunch of Asian routes. The cheapest flights get as low as 19 Ringgit ($5.50) but they're mostly internal Malaysian flights; to get from Kuala Lumpur to further afield, there are deals like KL to pretty much anywhere in Indonesia or Thailand for 59 Ringgit ($17) and KL to Australian destinations for 199 Ringgit ($58). Get booking fast or we might snap up all the seats first.
Related Stories:
· Air Asia [Official Site]
· Let's Go Thiruvananthapuram! [Jaunted]
· Sarkozy Approves Air Asia X's Low-Cost Flights to Paris [Jaunted]
[Photo: Auswandern Malaysia]
Tags: Airline Rumors / Air Asia X / New Routes / Gossip / Kuala Lumpur Travel / → All Tags
Air Asia X Wants to Long-Haul You From New York and California
Update: Just heard from our tipster, the plan is to have the flights be direct to KL from Cali and JFK.
We love airline rumors! It's been a long time since we had something juicy to talk about. So let's get gossiping.
A tipster says that Air Asia X is looking to possibly expand its routes to Kuala Lumpur and they have their eyes set on the United States.
Azran Osman Rani (CEO of AirAsia X) has been talking to JFK and 2 California airports regarding launching long haul service from KL. There's nothing definitive lined up, but the time-frame would be in about a year.
Now, we're working on tracking down when this would be an alliance between Air Asia and another airline, or if Air Asia would man the flight(s) the whole way. But if you've got any more inside scoop, we'd love to hear it. Similarly, would you fly Air Asia X from the states to KL on their no-frills planes? Let us know.
Related Stories:
· Inside The No-Frills, Long-Haul Flight on Air Asia X [Jaunted]
Tags: First-Person Flight Reviews / Air Asia X / LCCs / Air Asia / Travel Videos / → All Tags
Inside The No-Frills, Long-Haul Flight on Air Asia X
As regular Ryanair self-abusers know, the world’s first long-haul, "no frills" flight is not a concept that particularly fills us with longing. But Air Asia X’s launch sent prices from London to the Far East plummeting when booking opened last November, so we were intrigued. But would people really put up with no frills on a 13 hour flight? We turned reluctant guinea pig to find out.
A quick admission to start with. We were originally told that this was the inaugural flight to KL. Except when we got to the Air Asia launch party the night before, we realised it wasn’t – the first flight was taking off as we listened to The Saturdays. However, with the glitches we experienced on day two, we’re kind of glad we didn’t catch the first one.
Tags: Air Asia / Tony Fernandes / Airports / International Airports / → All Tags
AirAsia Growing So Much It Deserves Its Own Airport
What do you do if your low-cost airline finds the local airport simply too crowded for your liking? Well, if you have the confidence of Tony Fernandes and you're in charge of always-growing AirAsia, you just decide to build your own airport.
AirAsia has plans to build an exclusive-use airport in Kuala Lumpur, closer to downtown than the main airport and ready to fly 30 million AirAsia passengers around annually from March 2011. Tony Fernandes reckons this will cut AirAsia’s costs by 30% and bring down ticket prices even more.
Enter the Malaysian government. Although they approved this airport before, the rumor now is that they will backtrack on the agreement and tell AirAsia to live with the normal airports instead. Pretty safe bet that Tony Fernandes isn't at all impressed with that. And if it means losing our cheaper fares, neither are we.
Related Stories:
· AirAsia Braces Itself For KL Backtrack [AsiaOne]
· AirAsia Unveils Plans for Own Airport [AFP]
· AirAsia’s Grown Uninhibited By Its Narcissism [Jaunted]
[Photo: JasonDGreat]
Tags: Ferris-Wheels-of-the-World / Ferris Wheels / Attractions / Tourist Attractions / Malaysia Travel / → All Tags
Ferris Wheel Travel: Eye on Malaysia Gets a New Home
The next time you travel to Kuala Lumpur, don't expect to find the Eye on Malaysia. The nearly 200-foot-tall Ferris wheel is going on a sort of permanent vacation.
It's been decided that the wheel needs to be dismantled and transferred to elsewhere in Malaysia. The ride was constructed last year in conjuction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 event, but now its contract is up and it's got to go.
Tags: Bus Tours / Buses / Malaysia Travel / WiFi / Free WiFi / → All Tags
Kuala Lumpur Is Hopping
Hip Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur is suddenly promoting their Hop-On Hop-Off bus service, although this government-sponsored scheme actually launched more than a year ago. The tourist bus works a circuit past 40 major sightseeing spots and shopping malls, and on one RM38 ticket ($12) you can use it for 24 hours, while RM65 ($20) gets you 48 hours.
Sometimes these buses are a good value; sometimes you'd do a lot better just taking cheap public transport around a city. The jury's still out on the KL version, though something caught our eye on the website that we haven't been able to verify yet: They mention having WiFi on board their buses.
If it's free and fast, then we're all for the KL Hop-On Hop-Off, except that we might do more hopping on than off to catch up on all our emails while we see the sights.
Related Stories:
· KL Hop-On Hop-Off [Official Site]
· Kuala Lumpur Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Srini rules]
Tags: Asia Travel / Magazines / → All Tags
TimeOut Launches in Kuala Lumpur
The magazine that showed us the ins and outs of New York, London and even Beirut has launched in Kuala Lumpur. TimeOut has been one of the few stand-out travel publications over the years, so we're excited to hear about their new magazine and website featuring this bustling Southeast Asian hub. Now you can fly there on the cheap and know where to go.
TimeOut's KL web site covers happenings and happening spots around the city -- from bookstores to bars, from comedy clubs to clearance sales. It's a great tool for expats and even locals, but what we wish it had is maps; addresses don't mean much to the unfamiliar traveler.
Either way, it's a cool addition. And we'll be looking out for seven more launches from TO in 2008, including titles from Hong Kong, Bangkok and Jakarta.
Related Stories:
· TimeOut KL [Official Site]
· TimeOut launches KL site [Journalism.co.uk]
· KL Travel coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: AirAsia / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Tony Fernandes / → All Tags
AirAsia Boss Has Really Big Plans
If you haven't really heard much about AirAsia yet, never fear: according to the CEO Datuk Tony Fernandes, the whole world will be flying AirAsia soon.
Fernandes really loves his airline and has huge plans for it. The first low cost carrier in Asia, coming out of Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia has been flying for over 10 years now and is ready to conquer the world. Fernandes dreams of making the AirAsia brand as big as Coca-Cola and the airline's reach as significant as European LCC Ryanair.
Some of the latest plans for AirAsia's future include pioneering PDA check-in, adding 175 new aircraft to its fleet and having AirAsia advertising adorning football stadiums. And hopefully, remembering to give us good service at a good price.Related Stories:
· Sky's Not the Limit [eTravel]
· Air Asia is as Good as Formula One [ENP]
· AirAsia Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: lastsham]
Tags: Airlines / New Routes / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Tiger Airways / Jetstar / → All Tags
Finally We Can Fly KL to Singapore On The Cheap
So much action in the flight routes of Australasia, so little time to fly every one of them. Big news this week came as Singapore and Malaysia finally opened up a route between the countries to competition. Until now, this flight has cost around $320, a crazy amount for just 55 minutes in the air.
There are plenty of potential takers for budget flights on the KL to Singapore route, with Tiger Airways (a 49% subsidiary of Singapore Airlines) and Qantas offshoot Jetstar already putting their hands up. AirAsia, a Malaysian low cost carrier, is also part of the market, with two flights per day on the route. It's now possible to grab tickets for only the cost of the airport taxes and charges.
And while the liberalization of this route is only partial--just four flights per day have been allocated to the budget carriers--the experts are predicting the traffic will triple within the next two years. The good news is that more openings of Southeast Asian routes should follow by the end of this year, which means we can fly more often and more cheaply. We're going to need some more time off work.
Related Stories:
· Win-Win As KL-Singapore Air Route Opens Up [The Age]
· Flash Mob and Shop at KL's Petronas Towers [Jaunted]
· Will Lion Air Roar Into Australia? [Jaunted]
[Photo: S J photography]
Tags: It's Summer Somewhere / It's-Summer-Somewhere / Asia Travel / Flash Mobs / Crowds / → All Tags
It's Summer Somewhere: Flash Mob and Shop at KL's Petronas Towers
With an average high temperature of about 90 degrees year-round, you'd be safe to say that it's always summer in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. KL is modern and full of interesting sights to see and a whole lot of shopping, plus it's home to the tallest twin buildings in the world: the Petronas Towers.
And it's at the base of the Towers, home to one of KL's numerous shopping centers, that tourists might have been confused by a recent flash mobbing. Word of the sudden public meeting was spread by bloggers and at the appointed time, one of the mobbers tore up a newspaper in protest against a mainstream media mogul. Hundreds of people were suddenly there, and just as suddenly gone. (Reminds us of that hipster swarm in NYC.)
But if flash mobbing isn't your idea of a good time, then take a ride to the top of the Petronas Towers for a fantastic view over the city. If you get one of the free passes (1,700 per day), you can cross the Skyway that joins the two towers at the 41st floor. Of course that's only half way up--it's 88 floors tall--but you don't want to get greedy.
Related Stories:
· Malaysia's Foreign Tourist Arrivals Hit High [Forbes]
· Kuala Lumpur Gets a Metblog [Jaunted]
· Flash Mob in KL [Metroblogging]
· Flash Mobs coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: superciliousness]
Tags: Air Asia X / LCCs / Low Cost Carriers / Asia Travel / → All Tags
Asia Air X About To Leave Nest
We were there when new low cost carrier Air Asia X was first born, but it's only just now about to make the maiden flight from the nest.
Air Asia X is a long-haul budget airline born of Air Asia and Fly Asian Xpress, and their first flight is due to take off on November 2, flying between Kuala Lumpur and the Gold Coast in Australia. Word is that routes from KL to Melbourne will start up in March 2008 and that London Stansted is also on the cards. China, Korea, India and the Middle East are also future destinations.
Air Asia X is still such a close spin-off of Air Asia that it doesn't even have its own website yet; the pages it does present, however, are full of not-very-funny uses of their name's final letter, like "X-citing low fares" and "X-emplary levels of safety". While we wait to see if this Malaysian-based LCC starts up a few more interesting routes, right now we're just keen to see if it's X-tremely cheap and X-tremely punctual.
Related Stories:
· Asia Air X is Born [Jaunted]
· Airports Gear Up For LCCs [news.com.au]
· Air Asia [Official Site]
[Photo: jubeiz]
