In Malaysia, it seems that getting away is as easy as 1-2-3. An Islamic judge in the predominantly Muslim country ruled in July that, under Shari'a law, a husband could end a marriage by text messaging "I divorce you" to his wife three times. Now text messaging is being used in the service of another (and more pleasant) kind of getaway. AirAsia, a domestic low-fares carrier with regional ambitions, recently implemented the world's first-ever short-message-service (SMS) ticket-sales system. Using cell phones, customers dialogue with a computer, which, over an average of eight text messages, takes care of everything from flight availability to accepting payment to assigning a seat.
Though AirAsia is the first carrier to sell seats through SMS, other airlines have used mobile-phone technologies for bookings before. Japan Airlines, for example, has allowed users to book flights via i-mode (a service providing pared-down Internet access via mobile phone in Japan) since 1999. The AirAsia sms system might soon become just as routine. Since its inception at the end of August, more than 8,000 seats have been booked by thumb. How many were reserved by fleeing husbands is anyone's guess.
