FIREFLY OFFERS MOBILE BOOKING AND EMPTY SEAT OPTION

KEE@FSWMAG.COM


DON'T YOU LOVE HAVING AN EMPTY SEAT NEXT TO YOU WHEN YOU FLY?

OF COURSE YOU DO!

WE ALL DO.

Each time I fly, I pray to Buddha and Jesus the seat next to me is empty so I have unrestricted elbow room and can put my hand carry bag, books or whatever on the seat. This is such a luxury and sad to say, my petitions to Buddha and Jesus are seldom answered!

Now , Firefly has a solution---buy the seat next to you!

Now you are guaranteed no ugly, fat, old slob ends up sleeping on your shoulder and dripping saliva on your Zegna shirt!  

This is nothing new as my rich friends have always done this but of course on normal airlines they pay full price! Some even gave up Business Class to buy 2 Economy tickets to enjoy the luxury of space at a fraction of the price! 


One Economy ticket to London in July costs RM 3,929 whereas a Business Class ticket on the same flight costs a staggering RM 35,262! Two Economy tickets cost only RM 7,858 and you might as well buy 3 tickets for a total sum of RM 11, 787 so you occupy an entire row and can sleep on your back once the armrests are lifted!


And you save RM 23, 475!


Sure, sleeping in Business is more comfortable as sleeping on 3 seats is not the same as a flat bed in Business but I would rather use the savings of RM 23,475 for shopping. 


The shock of Business Class fare made me forget to ask the price of First Class!


Anyway, now Firefly is offering this Empty Seat deal.

Firefly rolls out Mobile Booking facility and Empty Seat Option

Subang – Firefly introduces its Mobile Booking facility and Empty Seat Option today for the convenience of passengers. 

Its Mobile Booking facility allows passengers to make flight bookings, buy additional checked-baggage allowance and pay for sports equipment fee, all from their mobile devices. In addition, passengers can also retrieve their booking details anytime, anywhere if they don’t have their flight itinerary with them and change the flight time or date up to 48 hours before scheduled time of departure. 

Available as a free app from the Google Play Store for Android mobile devices and iTunes for iPhones and iPads, Firefly Mobile can be downloaded, installed and ready for use within minutes. 

Firefly’s mobile booking facility was disabled last year with a promise that it would be revamped to offer passengers a better booking experience; and now Firefly has kept that promise and more with the new and improved Firefly Mobile.

Firefly’s Head of Marketing & Communications, Angelina C Fernandez, said:  “Our passengers’ convenience and user experience have always been our top priorities so when we realised that we could improve the offerings on Firefly Mobile, we immediately took steps to do so. It took longer than we had anticipated because finding the right partner was critical to a successful user-friendly product, and as rule we don’t compromise on quality.”

Firefly’s Empty Seat Option allows passengers an opportunity to purchase the empty seat next to theirs, thus allowing them a more comfortable journey. Passengers can use the empty seat they had purchased for the entire duration of their journey.

To apply for an empty seat, passengers enter their flight details on the Optiontown website and pay a small, fixed sign-up fee and an empty seat fee. The empty seat fee is dynamic and is determined by Optiontown. 

Three hours prior to scheduled flight departure, passengers will receive an email from Optiontown on the availability of the empty seat next to theirs. If they are unsuccessful, they will get a full refund of the Empty Seat Option fee within five working days after their flight departure date while the sign-up fee is non-refundable. 

Angelina said:  “We’re sure the Empty Seat Option will be embraced by passengers, especially those who want to stretch out a bit and passengers travelling alone a bit more privacy.”

Optiontown manages Firefly’s Empty Seat Option and provides post sale customer service such as providing refund to those passengers who are unsuccessful in securing their seats. 

Tenon & Groove, LLC owns and manages Optiontown. The company is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA and has wholly-owned subsidiaries in Canada and India.

Background on Firefly

Firefly, a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, began operations in April 2007. Currently, it operates a fleet of 12 ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft out of Penang and Subang, connecting secondary destinations within the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle as well as providing air linkages between Malaysia and Singapore.

Firefly provides incredible value as well as convenient flight timings and excellent service
to its passengers.  On the ATR 72-500 aircraft, passengers are allowed 20kg checked-baggage allowance, provided complimentary in-flight refreshment, assigned seating and convenient city airports.

Firefly had also received numerous awards and recognition.  The most recent was on April 2012 when Firefly was accorded Most Promising Brand of the Year by Putra Brand Awards. Five months prior to this, on November 2011, Firefly was conferred “Superbrand” status. Other awards received include the 2010 Frost & Sullivan Value Airline of the Year award and the Green Initiative of the Year 2010 award by Leaders in Aviation in conjunction with the Doha Aviation Summit. Firefly is also recognised as the Best Brand in Aviation for the Brand Laureate.

Firefly connects with the world through Facebook and Twitter.