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CU L8R: Now book flights via SMS
By Nick Easen for CNN
(CNN) -- Malaysian air carrier AirAsia's month-old booking service via short message service (SMS) is proving a big hit with travelers. Now you can check schedules, find out the fares, receive news of the latest promotions, choose the flight, book and pay for the seat and have it confirmed all via mobile phone. At a cost of US 3 cents per SMS, the airline has already received more than 450,000 mobile text inquiries and bookings in the first month of launching the service. "We are the first airline in the world to introduce SMS booking," Aliza Zainal Anuar of AirAsia told CNN. "It is already popular amongst business travelers, they enjoy the convenience it brings," she added. In a country of about 10 million mobile phone users, and only three million Internet users, the Malaysian-based airline thought that SMS would be the best way to get in touch with their customers. At present the service is exclusively for those who have signed up with one mobile operator, but it will soon be expand to cover other telecommunication companies. However, AirAsia is not the only airline to get in on the SMS act. Australia-based Virgin Blue is about to roll out an after-booking service for mobile phones. If you book a flight with Virgin Blue through their Web site or travel center they will send you a text message with your flight details and itinerary. "It will be popular because people will have their flight details with them in their mobile phone at all times," Nicholas Grant of Virgin Blue told CNN. "They will not have to refer to their diaries, PDAs or paper copies to confirm their details," he adds. Some carriers already use SMS facilities to advise travelers of delays, but this is the first time it has been rolled out for other services. Yet AirAsia is not sitting still, it has plans to broaden its SMS services. According to Zainal Anuar, the airline is looking to airport check-in and buying travel insurance via SMS. According to the New Straits Times, AirAsia invested US$ 789,000 to develop the SMS booking system, in collaboration from mobile phone operator Maxis and Dutch-based technology firm Getronics.
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