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Climb Aboard New Routes from Virgin America, JetBlue and Sun Country

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Virgin America:
We knew this was going down, but we thought we’d pass along a reminder as the time is drawing near. Virgin America is getting ready to start up service out of Newark Liberty International Airport, as they plan to fly all the way over to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Sounds like things should start doing their thing on April 2—that’s next week—and there will be three flights in each direction every day of the week. To promote the new service they’re even running a little bit of a deal and a contest. They’re calling it “Fly Like a Boss,” and you can score up to 25% off your flight and maybe even a freebie as well.

· Malaysia Airlines:
They may hate children, but they don’t hate new destinations and new options over at Malaysia Airlines. Now that they’re part of the oneworld airline alliance they must have ants in the pants or something, as they’re all eager to spread their wings.

This week they announced that they’ve got their eyes on Australia, as the carrier is planning to fly nonstop between Kuala Lumpur and Brisbane. Airbus A330s will be the airplanes heading back and forth, as the daily flights will start doing their thing on June 20. It’s technically not an entirely new option, but it is a boost in service as there are apparently plenty of passengers looking to head between the two cities and the two countries.

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New Routes Galore from Hawaiian Airlines, US Airways, and Qatar Airways

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Hawaiian Airlines:
We can never get enough of Hawaii, so it’s good that Hawaiian Airlines is busy adding more flights between the islands and the mainland. This time it looks like Portland, Oregon is the carrier’s focus, as Hawaiian Airlines is sending some of their new Airbus A330s back and forth between Portland and Honolulu. Demand for the flights must be up, as they’re now getting ready to start things a little sooner than initially planned. It’s roughly three weeks early, as things should now take to the skies beginning on April 20. In case you’re interested in booking something for you and your crew, the flights depart Portland at around 10am and arrive into Hawaii around 1pm—all times local.

· Qatar Airways:
It might not be the vacation destination of 2013, but this year has certainly seen a boost in service when it comes to flight in and out of Iraq. This week it looks like Qatar Airways is planning service over to the country, and they should begin as soon as this summer. As it stands now the plan is to fly between Doha—that’s in Qatar—and Basra—that’s in Iraq—beginning on June 3. After that there will also be some flights over to Sulaymaniyah beginning on August 20. The flights will run four times per week once they start up, so there’s plenty of options from which to choose.

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What's Up with the Oneworld Airline Alliance in 2013

There's been some big, exciting news in the aviation world, and some bankruptcies and some mergers that cross the lines of traditional airline alliances. These shake-ups will redraw alliance lines and might affect your ability to earn and burn frequent flyer miles to your dream destination. Let's discuss Oneworld since the recent American and US Airways merger will mean the most for US-based travelers.

We already know that the New American will be sticking with Oneworld, which means the inevitable departure of US Airways from Star Alliance. In general, this doesn't open up a wealth of new US destinations, but it actually expands an already thorough South American network and opens a few new European cities to Oneworld.

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What Malaysia Airlines' Addition to the Oneworld Alliance Means for You

We knew it was happening, but now it’s official. Your travels around the world have just gotten a little bit easier, as Malaysia Airlines is now the newest member of the oneworld global airline alliance. They’re joining buddies like American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific—along with plenty of others. Plenty of stuff will remain pretty much business as usual now that Malaysia Airlines has found a new family, but there’s also a few changes that will improve the way you get around.

One of the newest things we find most useful is the ability to burn frequent flyer miles on Malaysia Airlines flights. All those flights on American Airlines to spots like Dallas-Ft. Worth and Chicago just got more valuable, as they’ll now jet you all the way over to Kuala Lumpur. From the United States options are somewhat limited, but redeemable flights exist out of Los Angeles International Airport to both Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo. After that you’re in Malaysia, so your options to travel even farther are plentiful.

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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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Malaysia Airlines Psychs Up for Their First A380

One airline is pretty excited to get their hands on their very first Airbus A380, and that airline is Malaysia Airlines. The arrival of the first plane is still out for delivery—we’re assuming they use UPS—but that doesn’t mean that the airline isn’t already planning what to do with their big bird. Expect all kinds of new technology, new seats, and other new airplane bits and pieces to be stuffed inside the A380, as of course Malaysia Airlines wants their plane to be the biggest and the bestest in the skies.

July 1 is scheduled to be the big day, as the plane is to fly the plane three times per week between London-Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur route. That’s just the first plane too, as there are plans for other new A380 deliveries to fly between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney as soon as August of this year.

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Qantas' RedQ Business Class Airline Just Can't Take Off

We have seen a number of airlines come and go—lately it's more going than coming—but some airlines don't even have the opportunity to take off. Last week, negotiations with potential partners stalled, forcing Qantas to scrap the idea of creating an ultra-premium airline based in Asia.

When we first talked about the airline, a concept named RedQ, the idea was to cater to the quickly growing Asian corporate market by being one the first to have all-business class airplanes hopping around major cities in the region. In its infancy, the new airline was to compete with flights from Singapore, with a proposed hub based in Kuala Lumpur. And then Malaysia Airlines agreed to join the Oneworld alliance.

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What's Up with the Oneworld Alliance in 2012

After a challenging year for some of the founding members of the Oneworld alliance, 2012 will surely be brighter. In 2011, the alliance saw American Airlines file for bankruptcy and Qantas' chief grounding the entire network to challenge labor disputes, plus Iberia closing out the year with rounds of employee strikes.

There were some shining stars, however, with the finalization of International Airline Group (the conglomerate that combines British Airways and Iberia), Cathay Pacific offering overhauled cabins and in-flight amenities, and Japan Airlines emerging from bankruptcy stronger and more stable.

As we get going with 2012, we can't help but notice the huge changes happening amongst these airline buddies. Oneworld is the world's smallest of the major airline alliances, yet consistently hits the high marks in passenger ratings. With the addition of 3 new carriers, Oneworld will gain a fighting chance to excel in years to come. Here's what's happening meanwhile:

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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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Don't Check the Seatback; These Airline In-Flight Magazines are on Your iPad

Pay attention, because you may never hear us admit this again: in-flight magazines aren't all that bad. Actually, some are quite good! We've been known to actually take them home and read the articles or—gasp—rip out pages and magnet them to our fridge for future reference. If you're a closet fan of in-flight magazines like we are, then this is your time, friend; more and more airlines are moving their print rags to be in more than just your seat-back pocket, but in your iPad too (and iPad 2).

Here's the airlines and their iTunes-downloadable iPad magazines:

United/Continental Hemispheres: This is the newest player on the scene, as the merger airline only launched their iPad version earlier this month. March is the first issue, featuring the Mexican Riviera and Peru's culinary scene. Happily it makes great use of iPad's interactive features, allowing for 360-degree image views, videos and direct links to buy advertised products (of course advertised creatively). Hemisphere is free to download direct from iTunes HERE.

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Malaysia Airlines Boots Up First iPad Ticket Kiosks

A different sort of iPad kiosk being tested

Are you one of the almost 3 million people who have purchased Apple's new iPad? We already know that Australia's low-cost airline Jetstar is, since they'll be the first airline to bring the gadgets onboard as in-flight entertainment next month. But now Malaysia Airlines is also getting in on the game by becoming the first carrier to use iPads as kiosks for selling tickets.

If you're in Kuala Lumpur say, and you'd like to buy yourself a Malaysia Airlines ticket and you'd prefer to drop by their offices to do so, you'll now find the new "iPad MHkiosks" there, which ask you to select your itinerary and pay with a credit card. You'll then immediately receive confirmation via SMS and email. The kiosk eliminate any need to print tickets and you steer clear of having to pay an admin fee, such as you would pay using one of their agents.

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Boeing Unveils a New 737 to Please the Big & Tall

Mountain men, rejoice! Freshly announced from Boeing is a new, taller 737 cabin design which will free up more headroom and actually allow passengers of average heights to stand up in their seats and stretch. Gone are the days of contorting yourself while waiting to grab your carry-ons and disembark.

To reconfigure the cabin of the workhorse 737, Boeing looked at the spaciousness of the upcoming 787 Dreamliners (set to roll out in Seattle within a week) and the pivoting overhead bins of 777s of 15 years ago. The result, the "737 Sky Interior," features these tucked-away bins to relieve the claustrophobia of the past while borrowing a Virgin America's touch of mood lighting to highlight the lofty aisle.

So where will the more statuesque folk feel more comfortable flying in the future? Boeing has already sold a bunch of these 737s, which also include fuel-conserving engine upgrades, to big and small airline names alike: Continental Airlines, FlyDubai, GOL of Brazil, Lion Air Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle and TUIfly. Just don't go wearing your 10-gallon hat on board quite yet; sadly these big babies won't be hitting the tarmac until next year.

Related Stories:
· Spiffed up 737 will let passengers stand tall at their seats [Seattle Times]
· Boeing Unveils Performance, Comfort Changes to Next-Generation 737s [Bername]
· Boeing Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Seattle Times]