I - AIRSIDE II - BOARDING III - FROM APRON TO THE AIR IV - CATERING 1 - SNACK V - CATERING 2 - DINER VI - CABIN + IFE VII - DESCENT AND LANDING TO JETBRIDGE VIII - Deboarding IX - Immigration, luggages and customs X - Exiting the airport
As explained on the routing's first FR, Malaysia Airlines was for us the quickest way to Australia. On the plus side, the two MH flights are codeshared with KL, meaning I got qualifying flights and status miles by flying MH even if it is oneworld alliance and not Skyteam.
I - AIRSIDE
We got to the transfer desk at KUL airport at 3:10PM, it is located just by the Jungle Boardwalk. As said in the previous FR, the lady here told us our flight is scheduled to leave at gate C26. Because we are outside a boarding gate, we have a few seats but we are at the end of the pier so there is not too much noise except a few flights around us, like 1 or 2 in 4 hours but not at our gate.
In theory, pre-boarding should start at 5:45PM as indicated on BP which I think I lost. Here is passbook (very good point from MH being a codeshared flight). In fact I'm a bit lying because I ordered special MH Gourmet meals, meaning I saw the booking number from MH. I used it to do the online mobile check-in and for Passbook.
MH A380 in the distance
II - BOARDING
Pre-boarding was postponed to 6:05PM and then 6:15 PM. I couldn't take pictures of the gate monitors because police was just under it for security.
Just after security, we were welcomed by a MH employee by a warm bonjour or bonsoir I don't remember, so in French. Very surprising ! We then headed to our gate, which was open :
But no instructions whatsoever… Could we board or not ? No idea. We were with two other frenchies and because we did not know what to do, we decided to stay on the boarding gate and not going towards the aircraft. It was the right thing to do as crew wasn't onboard which means, according to international air travel rules that no passenger can board…
A while later, the aircrew arrived. They did not say a word to passengers like good evening or something, they did not even paid attention. One aged, one young, not the best cocktail as we all know. They seemed unhappy and they were late.
Our aircraft for tonight is 9M-MTL and was deliverd in March 2013. It is new and it feels.
III - FROM APRON TO THE AIR
Pitch is good, normal. We have a two pieces folding tray. I'd say padding is 60% in Y, maybe 50% in J. We are at least 9 french people onboard I could hear.
We started pushback at 6:55 PM, 10 minutes late.
EK 773ER by our left side, A6-EGJ. Behind, SIA A333, QR A346 and another MH A333
773ER QR, A388 MH, 742 RR White in the distance
Again, 773ER QR + A388 MH
2 A388 MH
Closer
Blurry
Now famous MH 777s
9 MH 738
Old 742 White, still seems airworthy
Old Saudia 742 waiting to be scrapped
Sunset
Beautiful sunset here in Southeastern Asia
Take off on a very bad runway, you will see by yourself !
We were airborne by 7:15PM, 20 minutes after scheduled departure.
Our route goes into SIN and near CGK then into the Indian Ocean to reach Australian coastlines.
IV - CATERING 1 - SNACK
Good point, incoming passenger cards and Ebola cards were handed at the beginning of the flight, which gave us a lot of time to fill the forms along with a nice little snack of peanuts and orange juice.
V - CATERING 2 - DINER
At 7:42 PM meals were served. As I said, I ordered two MH Gourmet meals for 17€/pax. It is quite expensive but I wanted to be sure to eat fish and not meat because it is malaysian. So, well, I did not really have an other choice.
Talking about protocol, muslim prayer was not displayed on IFE upon take off, which is unusual and alcohol was avalaible onboard. Maybe there is a special protocol for Australia ? For the SYD-KUL, there was a prayer so maybe it depends of the crew, whether it is Chinese or Malaysian muslim, don't know.
I chose Prawns and rice noodles. from MH Gourmet. As we were seated row 12, we were not served first (weird protocol for a special meal), lady at row 11 was. Anyway, we were second.
Here it comes : The bread you see on the right hand side is hot and soft. The orange juice is not so good, industrial as always. Malaysia (the country I mean) isn't good at orange juices !
The entrée is a salmon salad with very nice spicies tomatoes, cream and avvocado.It was very well prepared and tasted excellent.
The main dish now, hot enough, a lot of quantity but the prawns were not so good. They were too cooked and not shelled which caused a bit of an inconvenient to eat considering the small space. But the overall experience still is ok. I had to eat the second main because my mother was complaining (as always) having to deal with the prawns. Her meal was exactly cooked the same.
To finish, we had a nice little chocolate cake. Honestly, I have no idea where does the chocolate comes from, but it sure tasted like an upscale one.
When we ended the meal, the female FA in charge of us came to ask if MH Gourmet was good, she seemed doubtful about her own product but I answered her it was tasty so she seemed relaxed ^^ Maybe some pax did complain about it.
VI - CABIN + IFE
A while later (8:50PM) lights were dimmed so we could recline our seats and start to lean. On the seat in front of me, under the Panasonic ex2 IFE, we have a USB port which works along with the IFE My files and charges your device. I plugged in my iPhone 6, which has a big battery and it was charging pretty fast. IFE has a good function : PIP, picture in picture.
As you see, we started our cruise very high, the aircraft not being too heavy.
It is a shame I couldn't take a proper picture of the moon reflecting into sea because it was very visible but iPhone camera couldn't.
We reached Australian coastlines by Port Hedland and sky along the flight was mostly clear but due to some turbulences, Captain did let the fasten seat belt sign ON.
A bit better ? Nope
The pillow is huge and the blanket in a better synthetic than AF ones or maybe it is not even synthetic because it felt like cotton. As you may see, I was very comfy even with all my bags under the seat in front of me. I did not sleep because of the timezone, I wasn't in the mood but I could have. In fact, MH has the same seats (along with IFE) than KL but the reclining is not limited on MH whether it is on KL. KL has extra fee seats Economy Comfort which are in fact these used by MH at every seat. It means that KL could perfectly have that reclining but doesn't want to… :)
VII - DESCENT AND LANDING TO JETBRIDGE
We landed in Perth at about 00:20, 5 minutes late which is good. We flew at more than 910km/h so flight was indeed fast.
Electra from Royal Australian Air Force (yep, blurry)
Here was as well the A333 from SIA but with RR Engines, we had PW4000 ones, very quiet.
VIII - Deboarding
Deboarding via DOOR 1L for everyone. We waited till J class ended deboarding. Sorry, no pics because I wanted to rush to be first at immigration and customs^^
IX - Immigration, luggages and customs
We went through automated border control, did not work for me cause the picture it took was too fast and I did not have time to remove my glasses but my mother did it good. I got to the assistance desk and I had to fill Ebola card because I did not see we had to… The agent seemed a bit bored by that but I apologize when coming back and she smiled and said everything was ok.
We took our luggages in a few minutes and headed to customs. A long queue awaited us. We walked though lines and waited a little bit. There was a midway check with side door, maybe ethnic profiling or looking at the luggages'sizes. And because we were dressed like we always are when travelling, like suits and high cost shoes, they let us avoiding customs immediately. So I was reaaaaally happy with that happening at 1AM after 22hr journey.
X - Exiting the airport
We took a cab for 39.69 AUD at night, not too expensive compared to France. We reached our hotel (Novotel Langley in Perth CBD) at 1:14 AM, 59 minutes after scheduled arrival time in Perth airport. Unbeatable!
The hotel itself is well, normal for a Novotel, centrally located not far from Barrack Jetty and Bell Tower.
Please come back in a few hours when I will put my trip pictures about Perth and my whole trip, it will better illustrate city and surroundings (magnificent btw)
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Verdict
Malaysia Airlines
9.3/10
Cabin10.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering8.0
Kuala Lumpur - KUL
7.5/10
Efficiency8.0
Access10.0
Services5.0
Cleanliness7.0
Perth - PER
10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
I have quite nothing to say about MH. It seems like a good machine on this flight. Comfort is amazing. Crew were friendly and handed several times glass of water, they helped to put luggages in the overhead compartments, they installed a bassinet with smiles etc. Catering, well, overhaul experience is fine. Main meal could have been cooked better so that is 2 points penalty considering I paid for it. IFE is good quality, content is there, some recent movies in French were available but mostly Englis I believe. My mother watched one Run All Night - Liam Neeson but I kept listening to my own music so I can't tell much more. I loved the airshow as always. Punctuality was great despite the aircrew late arrival, they did prepare the aircraft in 20 minutes, which I admit frightened me a bit.
About KUL, that part of the pier (C26) is desert. No shops, just boarding gates. More silence but if you want something you have to cross the whole terminal again. Hopefully, for those who don't like to walk, there are treadmills.
About PER, amazing! Between deboarding and being in the cab, 40 minutes, to pass : immigration, get our luggages and through customs.
2 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Thank you for this great report. Glad that you enjoyed the flight. The MH gourmet looks quite good though. To me, MH is a great carrier. I really hope they can bounce back.
Thank you for your comment! Well, I don't really know MH but 2 flights with them and I saw an excellent airline in action. They should keep their A380s !
Thanks for continuing this series with us! I think this is the first report to PER I've ever read. I always forget how close the west coast of Australia is to SE Asia, really not that long of a flight.
“They did not say a word to passengers like good evening or something, they did not even paid attention. They seemed unhappy and they were late.” -First impressions matter, and this certainly doesn’t bode well for a good flight, but I guess from your overall scoring the crew turned out to be okay. Some older reports talked about crew discontent following the airlines restructuring.
Nice spotting at KUL. There are too many MH liveries, they need to sort that out.
I have never heard of MH Gourmet before, but then again I’ve never flowing MH before. It does sound very expensive at 17€, especially when you consider the value of 17€ in Malaysia. Was MH Gourmet designed to be selling J-meals in Y? Do you know what the regular Y meals were? How did their starter/dessert compare? Serving shrimp in shell on a plane doesn’t seem very practical.
I remember from other reports that there are some inconsistencies in hard product on their widebody fleet, but it looks like you got one with a newer hard product.
There are a few FRs to PER in French at least, that explains why I wanted to go there :) Indeed flight is very short ! I did not really count my first feelings toward the aircrew, I could have, but at the same time I feel like the FAs are more important than pilot's behaviors for a good flight. If they fly safe, I'm grateful. It is strange that pilots were in that mood because I think no pilot will be fired to keep the hope of growth (MH did say that at least) For spotting, too bad I had the wrong camera mode selected! But the newest liveries are just gorgeous in my mind, both on the A380 and the A330/737. It matches beautifully. 17€ or MYR70 to be precise. Not cheap for Malaysia I agree ! I don't think it was J meals, maybe something like Premium Economy meal, a small improvement to be honest because for the return trip, meal was not MH Gourmet (only from KUL) and still was excellent. Unfortunately menus were not handed (just oral choice) so I can't tell you about the regular meals but I saw a good quantity nonetheless. When combining crew/catering/seat comfort, I'd say it is the best Y class I've been on for a long haul. I saw KE was pretty good as well so I'll try them next time !
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4 Comments
“They did not say a word to passengers like good evening or something, they did not even paid attention. They seemed unhappy and they were late.”
-First impressions matter, and this certainly doesn’t bode well for a good flight, but I guess from your overall scoring the crew turned out to be okay. Some older reports talked about crew discontent following the airlines restructuring.
Nice spotting at KUL. There are too many MH liveries, they need to sort that out.
I have never heard of MH Gourmet before, but then again I’ve never flowing MH before. It does sound very expensive at 17€, especially when you consider the value of 17€ in Malaysia. Was MH Gourmet designed to be selling J-meals in Y? Do you know what the regular Y meals were? How did their starter/dessert compare? Serving shrimp in shell on a plane doesn’t seem very practical.
I remember from other reports that there are some inconsistencies in hard product on their widebody fleet, but it looks like you got one with a newer hard product.
Indeed flight is very short !
I did not really count my first feelings toward the aircrew, I could have, but at the same time I feel like the FAs are more important than pilot's behaviors for a good flight. If they fly safe, I'm grateful. It is strange that pilots were in that mood because I think no pilot will be fired to keep the hope of growth (MH did say that at least)
For spotting, too bad I had the wrong camera mode selected! But the newest liveries are just gorgeous in my mind, both on the A380 and the A330/737. It matches beautifully.
17€ or MYR70 to be precise. Not cheap for Malaysia I agree ! I don't think it was J meals, maybe something like Premium Economy meal, a small improvement to be honest because for the return trip, meal was not MH Gourmet (only from KUL) and still was excellent. Unfortunately menus were not handed (just oral choice) so I can't tell you about the regular meals but I saw a good quantity nonetheless.
When combining crew/catering/seat comfort, I'd say it is the best Y class I've been on for a long haul. I saw KE was pretty good as well so I'll try them next time !
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