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The Date's Set: Richard Branson Dresses in Drag on Special May 12 Flight

Right now, somewhere in Malaysia, a red skirt is being tailored to fit Sir Richard Branson.

On May 12, Branson will join Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes on a flight from Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The six-hour trip is a special one, as it's finally the moment Sir Richard makes good on a bet he lost to Fernandes in late 2010, over whose Formula One race team would be ranked higher. Spoiler alert: Fernandes' Lotus Racing team won over over that of Virgin, and the plans to install Branson as a flight attendant on an Air Asia X flight began.

The event has been delayed many times, but finally seats are now for sale from $399 AUD ($420 USD) on the special, one-way flight, and may be purchased online. Be sure to book AirAsia X’s flight D7 237 on Sunday, May 12.

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Another Airline Jumps Onboard the Pre-Ordered Premium Meals Bandwagon

Now that Malaysia Airlines has become a full-fledged member in the Oneworld Alliance, they've enhanced the experience for hungry premium passengers by letting more people in on the Chef-On-Call service.

Originally only for Platinum level frequent-flyers in their Enrich program traveling in first and business class, the perk was eventually offered to all who could pay the big bucks for a first class seat. Now, the folks in the business class cabin get to pick their meal before flying. Unlike the chef programs of a few other airlines, however, there's not actually a chef on-board.

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One Airline's Adults-only Section May Be Better Than First Class

Last year, we talked about Air Asia X's plan to incorporate a section of their economy cabin specifically for those flyers that would prefer to not sit near children. After quick mention that sparked some heated discussion over the topic, the LCC have committed to the passenger enhancement.

Joining the likes of Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways, both of which have some sort of restriction on flying children, Air Asia has reserved the first 7 rows of its forward economy cabin for passengers that can cough up an extra $15 —for advance seat selection, not specifically this cabin— and sit amongst passengers that are older than 12 years old.

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Lion Air Plans Their Own Low-Cost Carrier to Stick It to AirAsia

Lion Air isn’t exactly a pricey carrier if you’re looking to bop around Asia, but it looks like they might just be getting a little bit cheaper. Clearly they’re sensing a little bit of unwelcome competition from other carriers, so they’re doing what everyone else is doing—they’re starting up their very own low cost carrier.

The plan will be to go up against AirAsia in Malaysia, as Lion Air will look to compete for your hard earned money. The new airline will take to the skies around May of next year, and it’ll be known as Malindo Airways. Obviously they’ll start small, but they’re already looking big with hopes of reaching around 100 planes within a decade or so.

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OMG. In-Flight Bubble Tea.

Remember when we recommended what to purchase on your next AirAsia flight? Well, the super budget, yet uber cheeky, budget carrier has added another item to add to the list. Bubble Tea!

If you know the magic of bubble tea, you understand our excitement. If you haven't tasted it's refreshing goodness with little surprises, let us tell you, you are missing out. You may have seen people toting clear plastic cups of tea with black 'pearls' on the bottom, usually punctuated with a brightly colored fat straw. It's flavored tea, mostly chilled, usually served over large black tapioca pearls. The sweet, balanced and exotic flavor of the tea is kind of a big deal in Asia and international cafes.

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Air Asia X Wants to Fly You and 301 of Your Friends to Malaysia, for Free

Round up your friends, because Air Asia X has the contest for you! The Kuala Lumpur-based airline is sending out a call for their latest contest, Friendsy, for one person to win a flight from Sydney, Australia to the Malaysian capital. Sounds like a normal contest, but not so fast. Here is the twist: you can elect up to 302 Facebook friends to fly with you.

Only Facebook fans of the airline can enter to win the dream trip. Once you put together the ultimate travel group, you and your buddies will fly in your very own Airbus A330. Don't worry if you cannot find that amount of people with whom you are willing to travel; the empty seats will not be sold to the public.

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Malaysia Airlines' Newest Ban on Children is Its Most Ambitious Yet

When Malaysia Airlines promised that their new Airbus A380's would showcase bleeding-edge innovations in passenger comfort, we assumed they were just referring to the impressive engineering lengths to which they'd gone: 2 decks and 494 seats' worth of new chairs and USB-enabled entertainment systems. But while technology is important—and no one appreciates slick travel rollouts more than we do—there's more to in-flight coziness than extra legroom and the ability to watch your illegally downloaded House MD episodes on the screen in front of you.

Our buddies over at Australian Business Traveller heard it first that that they're also going to go ahead and ban children from the top deck of their new airplanes.

"Noise-sensitive passengers," by which we assume they mean "everybody," will now be able to reserve those seats secure in the knowledge that screaming babies will be at least one full plane deck below. Thus the first lesson of this post: if you're flying from Kuala Lumpur to London or Sydney this summer, consider Malaysia Airlines.

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Air Asia X Will Charge Anti-Social Passengers Extra

In the States we've seen airfares go from "bundled" to a more a la carte, "unbundled" model. Then Uncle Sam stepped in and claimed it was unfair and moved to a more transparent pricing structure. Naturally, some spirited airlines stomped their feet. All of the pricing changes lately with US carriers actually make us thankful we don't regularly fly Air Asia X.

The long haul cousin of Air Asia has been hugely successful with ancillary revenue, regularly raking in some of the highest figures worldwide. The low-cost carrier only charges customers basic flight prices, providing higher levels of service for further fees. We're not just talking about adult beverages or pillows and blankets; on short and long-haul service, Air Asia charges for food, entertainment and seamless flight connections.

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Flying First Class on Malaysia Airlines Isn't for Cry Babies. Literally.

Forget strangers who nap on your shoulder, clip their toenails in the aisle or talk to you straight through the flight; the universal worst seatmate a flyer could (not) hope for is a crying baby in their ear. Don't get us wrong as we love babies, just not when we've paid good money to get to where we're going in one piece and in peace.

As you can imagine, the frustrations are magnified when noisy babies are brought into the higher priced Business and First Class cabins. Oftentimes travelers choose to pay the premium cost for the premium benefit of sitting in a quieter cabin, in more spacious seats, and maybe getting sleep to adjust to time zones or prepare for a stressful day. And then a baby cries and what's the point anymore?

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The Plastic Pieces are on Their Way to Malaysia for Asia's First Legoland

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of all things Lego to Florida, but now it seems like we might want to turn our attention elsewhere around the globe. The plastic pieces are on the move, and it looks like Malaysia might be welcoming the first Legoland in Asia sometime in 2012.

Apparently bulldozers have already been hard at work clearing around 75 acres or so for the new park, and its 40 plus rides and attractions that will make up the new Legoland Malaysia. This will be the sixth land devoted to Legos worldwide, so if you’ve already been to the other five, you better start planning your trip to hit up the latest and the greatest. There’s over 30 million plastic pieces to assemble, so you’ve still got a little bit of time to find a decent flight.

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Richard Branson, Loser of a Bet, Will Dress in Flight Attendant Drag for Charity Flight

February 21. Mark your calendars now, as that's the date Virgin head honcho Richard Branson is due to dress in drag as a flight attendant for Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia X. It's all the result of losing a bet he made with buddy, former colleague and fellow multi-millionaire Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Air Asia X.

You see, Branson and Fernandes also both have Formula One racing teams, and the bet had it that whoever had the poorer performing team of the season would be dressing up to work the other's airline on a flight as a regular flight attendant. Since Fernandes' Lotus team ranked higher than Virgin's it's Branson who'll be shaving his legs and donning his Air Asia wings for a February 21st London Stansted - Kuala Lumpur flight on Air Asia X.

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When an Airplane Gets the Race Car Treatment

No, that's not a plane honoring the Green Bay Packers. In fact, it's so far from it. In fact, this Airbus A320 belongs to AirAsia, and the new green and gold livery—the classic British racing colors of Lotus—was unveiled a few days ago as AirAsia's CEO Tony Fernandes announced their F1 team, Team Lotus, for 2011.

Just like one of the racecars, the airplane is branded with the racing team sponsors, including CNN, Tune Hotels (a subsidiary of AirAsia) and Bridgestone tires. We doubt it'll intimidate the other airplanes out on the tarmac, but it sure does look sporty.

[Photo: BangaloreAviation]