Publication: The New Straits Times

Publication Date: Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Author: Gerald Chuah

Section: Other

Page: 1

FIREFLY launched the Firefly Mobile Application on Thursday (Jan 21) – a new and convenient option to book flights anytime, anywhere via mobile phone.

Firefly Head of Marketing and Communications Angelina Fernandez said during the launch: “Making a reservation is now possible via a mobile phone.

Offering convenience to our passengers has always been our top priority, and this marks our first step in providing a comprehensive online experience via mobile phone”

She added: Survey shows 65% of sales are done via Firefly website and 70% of Firefly’s passengers are from the professional to middle management level, who are always on the move, hence Firefly mobile booking will increase their travel flexibility.

“We have experienced exponential growth in mobile lifestyle over the last few years and Firefly is proud to enhance our representation on these devices”.

Booking flights via mobile phones is an additional channel apart from the current distribution methods in use: via Firefly website, ticketing agents, call centre, airport and ticket offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia; as well as Malaysia Airlines ticketing offices worldwide”

The Firefly Mobile Application is a FREE application that works with mobile phone that support JAVA application and Blackberry, and with WAP, GPRS, EDGE or 3G data connections. Phone and Windows Mobile versions will be available soon).

The system is jointly developed by Firefly and Second Wind Sdn Bhd. Firefly customers just need to register their mobile phones online at Firefly’s website, download the mobile application, and launch it on their mobile phone and start booking.

Booking a flight is now as easy as the Internet booking process as fewer data inputs is required:

Steps:

1. Launch Firefly Mobile Application in your mobile phone.

2. Select Book Flights from the Main Menu.

3. Select your trip itinerary.

4. Verify the traveler’s information.

5. Confirm the price.

6. Enter your credit card CVV number and PIN code.

7. The system will display the Booking PNR (confirmation code).

To register and download the new application visit http://www.fireflyz.com.my/mobile, and watch promotional videos too. Fernandez said: “The introduction of Firefly Mobile is only the beginning. There will be many more soon. “With this service, customers will have a new convenient option to book flights with a unique and simplified payment process at a click of a button or just the touch of the screen”. After the completion of our routes expansion in 2009, our focus is now to enhance and offer more convenience and distribution methods to our passengers.

RM1 fare

In conjunction with the launch, Firefly is also offering RM1 fare for all flight bookings done via mobile phone effective Jan 21 to 28, 2010. You stand a chance to win two tickets to Ko Samui if you are the “biggest spender’ for your mobile booking during this promotional period.

Firefly, the country’s only community airline, which has been in service for three years, offer customers a hassle-free and comfortable traveling experience. There are premium leather seats and plenty of legroom.

Firefly currently serves six cities in four countries. Based in Subang and Penang, it currently operates more than 70 flights a day.

For more info, visit FlyFirefly Sdn. Bhd. at 3rd Floor, Admin Building 1, MAS Complex A, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, Selangor. Call 03-7840 4106, or fax: 03- 7846 6461.

Now you can book flights with Malaysia Airlines and Firefly using your mobile phone.

Passengers can book Malaysia Airlines flight tickets to selected destinations via http://flymas.mobi. You can opt to either pay immediately by credit card or have Malaysia Airlines hold the ticket for up to 8 hours, during which time you can contact them directly to arrange payment. All tickets and flights booked via mobile phone are issued as electronic ticket (e-ticket) and a notification will be sent by email and SMS once bookings have been completed.

To book FireFly flights and tickets via mobile phone, you must first register your mobile phone at  https://mobile.fireflyz.com.my/csp/firefly/Web.Registration.cls. Once you’ve registered, click the link sent to your mobile phone to download the Firefly Mobile Application. Once the application is launched, you’re then ready to start your bookings.

Booking flights and tickets via mobile phone is the perfect solution for on-the-go travelers who don’t have time to sit down at their desks and book tickets on the internet, and who don’t want to wait on the telephone talking to customer service representatives.

http://www.trip-tipster.com/travel_tips/book-flights-via-mobile-phone/

Thanks to technology, the world as we know is getting much smaller at a much quicker pace.

Imagine this fictional scenario. Annie is stuck at the airport waiting for her turn to check-in on her next flight. She got treated poorly by the check-in service agent as she arrived a bit late for her flight. Annie was not happy. She took out her Blackberry and went on Twitter. She tweets about her bad experience with 500 tweeple in her list, and those tweeple retweet to their tweeple, and pretty soon thousands of people know about the bad experience and by then many have built a negative perception about the airline! All in a matter of mere minutes! The world is indeed getting smaller.

As quickly as the internet once changed the business and marketing world, the emergence of social media is transforming the internet marketing world to a totally different level. Gone are those days where the Public Relation/Marketing Department of a company can sit back, relax and engage in traditional one-way marketing. Advertising/marketing was so much easier 10-15 years ago when all companies have to do is advertise during news or prime-time shows such as MacGyver or Majalah 3 and the message will be spread to the whole country.

Then along came social media. With social media, everyone can say anything to anyone, anytime. Social media has been proven to be the most effective way to generate publicity and awareness for a company or organization’s products or services through all forms of social media on the Internet, including online communities, social networking sites, web forums, discussion groups, and blogs.

Throughout the world, almost all major brands from industries across the board have begun engaging social media as the main marketing platform for their products and services. Similarly, the aviation industry has seen picking up the trend and utilizing social media as a mainstream platform. In Asia, credits have to be given to airlines in Malaysia for picking up the trend at the early stage while some airlines in this region are still ‘thinking’ about having a twitter account.

One of the active airlines in the social media world is of course, my favorite airlines, Firefly!

In this episode of my Firefly Review series, join me in looking at Firefly’s social media tools which are their official blog, twitter and Facebook.

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Firefly’s Official Blog – http://blog.fireflyz.com.my/
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This is the place where you can get the latest scoops and stories on Firefly Airlines. The flexibility of blog platform allows Firefly to publish various blog posts including news on Firefly, events, information, promotion updates, experience with Firefly and travel experience at Firefly destinations.

With regular updates, Firefly is utilizing the blog to build greater confidence amongst consumers towards the Firefly brand. Like it or not, Firefly is a small and young airline compared to other players in the local industry hence having a corporate website alone is not enough to create public awareness on the airline. Many have turned to blogs and other passenger’s reviews to find out about the airline, its planes, operations, destinations, prices and safety record. Having a semi-formal blog that also picks up blog posts and articles from all over the net written by other bloggers (AzuanZahdi.com being one of it) will help to create a database of information that are accessible to new and returning flyers of Firefly.

I have been following Firefly’s blog from day one and I have seen many improvements over the last few months. I believe traffic to the blog have also increased and there was even contests and prizes given away via the airline’s blog. Moving forward, hopefully there will be more interesting posts captured both from blogosphere and internally from Firefly. I am planning more interesting posts/stories in the future and I look forward to be sharing it on Firefly’s Blog.

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Firefly’s Official Twitter -http://twitter.com/FlyFirefly
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Twitter is a widely-used free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Twitter is everywhere. Celebrities, politicians, businesses, you and me. Almost everyone that has access to the Internet has a twitter account, following someone and being followed by someone. This phenomenon has created an almost real-time world that co-exists in cyber and real world. With Twitter, latest updates are literally at everyone’s fingertips.

Firefly has its own official twitter. Currently Firefly’s tweets are mainly on updates from their blog and website focusing on latest promos and happenings. These short tweets are useful and effective for people on the move and it’s also more personal as it provides a 2-way communication channel between the Firefly and the customers.

Sharing of experience is also faster as passengers can send a tweet and photo of their Firefly experience @FlyFirefly right after their flight and Firefly would be able to retweet it to hundred others followers.

Moving forward, hopefully Firefly twitter can also be used to provide real-time updates on flight information (delays, cancellation, early arrival) as well as weather and traffic to airport updates so passengers of Firefly can plan their travel even better.

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Firefly’s Official Facebook Page – http://facebook.com/firefly
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This is the strength of Firefly’s Social Media marketing campaign. To date, 10,280 strong fans have joined this Facebook fan page and these fans have created an active online community. Latest news on the airline and the industry, new promos and updates are also shared through this Facebook page but one useful feature that has been the strength of this Firefly Facebook page is the availability of immediate 2-way customer response.

Each day, questions and comments on the Facebook wall from existing and potential customers of Firefly are being answered by Firefly’s representatives. Responds were usually given within hours as most of the questions are really ‘frequently asked questions’ but sometime it may take a while as explanations need to be derived from various departments within Firefly.

Managing more than 10,000 fans is not an easy task especially when things can get repetitive with fans kept asking the same question (Example: How can I get cheap ticket for Singapore-Ipoh on CNY2010?) over and over again. However the Firefly team has professionally entertain these questions/requests at the same time maintaining their fun and charming attitude online.

As the bridge between online and real world is becoming smaller, it is hope that Firefly Airlines will continue engaging the social media as one of their mainstream channel. If you are not following Firefly’s Facebook, twitter and blog, do get out from your cave and join in the fun for a chance to win free flight tickets and cool mystery gifts and the chance to socialize with Firefly-ers from all over the world

See you all online!