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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]

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We Missed Malaysia Airlines Missing "1"

Since we mentioned that Malaysia Airlines has great customer service, we've let them drift off our radar a bit in favor of upstart Malaysian LCC Air Asia, with its promises to spirit us across the whole world for nearly nothing.

And that's a pity, because if we'd been paying more attention to long-term good performer Malaysia Airlines, we might have picked up a really special deal recently: An error was made when uploading prices to the computer system, and the cost of a business class flight from Bangkok to Johannesburg was listed as 11,580 Thai Baht instead of 111,580.

That missing "1" made about US$3,500 difference to the price, and those in the know snapped up bargain-priced business class deals for under $400. Malaysia Airlines has now corrected the error but will honor the tickets bought at the cheaper rate. We just wish it had been us.

Related Stories:
· Pricing Error for Malaysia Airlines [eTravel]
· Malaysia Airlines Heart All Passengers [Jaunted]

[Photo: JanneM]

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Malaysia Airlines Staff Heart All Passengers

We normally just complain about airline service but it was just announced that Malaysia Airlines has won a major award for having the World's Best Cabin Staff. This was the result of a major UK-based survey that questioned over 3 million passengers of 90 different nationalities: that's a lot of questions.

Now putting up with grumpy passengers can't be an easy job, so hats off to the ever-smiling attendants on Malaysia Airlines, who apparently did especially well with "soft service" (that means they're friendly, enthusiastic and attentive). We've had our own Malaysia Airlines experiences and can't complain about anything, except that transitting in Kuala Lumpur airport is really, really boring: maybe it's the contrast between KL Airport boredom and the flight attendants' lovely soft service that makes people vote for them.

Related Stories:
· Malaysia Airlines Crew Voted World's Best [Malaysia Star]
· Malaysia Airlines coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: superciliousness]

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Fly First With Malaysia Air, Bring Your Companion for $99

Calling all sugar daddies....If you've been planing a special getaway to Malaysia with a certain someone, then consider booking now as Malaysia Airlines has just announced a $99 First Class Companion Fare Special. Just make sure your bank account is full.

With full fare round-trip tickets costing up to $10,000, this is practically a two for one deal. And first class seats on Malaysia Air are pretty cushy as they include:

[F]lat bed sleeper seats, gourmet meals, extensive on-demand in-flight entertainment and world-class cabin service awarded the coveted Skytrax Five-Star World Airline Ranking.

Additionally, first class fare gets you entrance into the airlines Golden Lounges in select cities. And again, this is no plain old "presidents lounge" kind of place. The International Golden Lounge in Kuala Lumpur offers massage chairs and foot massagers, showers, a coffee bistro, gourmet food, noodle bar, and even a children's nursery and playroom.

Some more good news? The airline will be offering daily service to Kuala Lumpur by January 16 from LAX. The only caveats on the deal is that you must originate from Los Angeles International Airport and travel to destinations serviced by Malaysia Air and you must book by December 31st, although travel is good for three months purchase.

Of course, the companion fare does not include taxes so remember to account a few hundred bucks for that. The best way to book? Call a reservations agent as their is no online option. Now get going on scrounging up that 10 grand.

[Photo: SpotlightKid]