Seen too many of your great reports over the years, I finally decided to post one myself. Pardon the lack of picture, I will try to make that up as more reports come along. Flying is almost a fortnightly affair for me due to my base being in Singapore and home in Kuala Lumpur. My countless experience with LCCs has always been mundane, boring and straightforward, not worthy of a report. However recently prices of the SIN-KUL and vice versa route has been soaring due to preference of tourists, mainly from India and China to fly via KUL to SIN due to cheaper fares. Hence for my recent trip, I scoured through the legacy carriers instead for comparison and found a very competitive rate offered by MH, giving me the opportunity to try out their services for the first time since their restructuring. My outbound flight was uneventful, and will not be reported. The return trip however was something else, here goes:
Flight No: MH 613 Registration: 9M-MXF Date entered service: FEB 1, 2012 Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-800 Departure Time: 17:25 GMT+8 Arrival Time: 18:25 GMT+8 Flight Duration: 1 hr
MH encourages OLCI or self-check in at the kiosk in KUL, hence I arrived at the airport with slightly more than an hour before departure. Since there would be no lounge visit for me this time around, and with the KUL tarmac predominantly occupied by MH, I decided that an hour prior to departure would just be alright.
Departure was at the main terminal of KUL, gate B6, not the Satellite one that is usually used by foreign carriers and MH widebodies.
KUL only does security check at the gate, hence the gate area only opens slightly under half an hour before boarding is called. However for this particular flight, it only opened 15 minutes prior to departure (which was 17:25 and not the boarding time of 16:55) for reasons not known.
To exacerbate the matter only 1 set of staff was performing the security checks, with no priority enforced whatsoever. Security check was painfully slow and a mess with passengers forming queues from all directions. Apologies for the lack of pictures at this point as I did not intend to post a review at that point in time due to the terrible boarding service. By the time I was through security, it was well over 18:00 and the MH ground staff were hurrying passengers to board.
The waiting area was also shared with a delayed Malindo Air (OD) flight to Denpasar-Bali that was scheduled earlier than mine. Passengers belonging to both flights were squeezed into an area barely enough for one Boeing 737. There were passengers sitting on the floor and carry-on luggage blocking the path towards the entrance of the gate itself, creating total chaos to boarding. To cut the story short, I had to navigate through the mess to board.
This was the first picture I mustered. Boeing 737-800 interior with BSI.
The chief purser had actually apologised profusely on the delay of departure despite not being the fault of the airline. Decent service to start with, and something that is not expected for MH of today. Seems like its legacy of Skytrax 5 Star service is still living in some of its staff.
IFE shortly after take off. Actual flight time is only 35 minutes.
Despite the short flight time, all movies and TV shows was made available to passengers at the gate. Simple and functional IFE system only let down by a unresponsive touch screen. The interface was frustrating to navigate though. However the controller solves this short fall.
Seat pitch of 30" was just sufficient for my 180cm height for an hour long flight, anymore would be a different story. They are not very different from the LCCs. Seat width of 17" also mimics that of LCCs. This is something that MH has to address in the upcoming order of 50 Boeing 737MAX if it inspires to be a Skytrax 5 Star airline again.
In flight service started shortly after, and despite the short flight time, look what MH actually offered.
Service was always with a smile and the stewardess greeted each passengers while service was being carried out, and this was in the cattle class, not J. Credits where credits due, this is impressive from MH. My frequent experience with other regional carriers have not yielded such services in Y, with CX particularly bad in Y and Y+. Only in SQ and GA have I experienced such courtesy in Y.
3 choice of drinks to go with the ice cream, Orange, Apple and Water. The colour of the liquid is self explanatory.
Approaching SIN. Typical of flights arriving Singapore Changi Airport in the evening, you are bound to experience a holding pattern while your flight is en route for landing. After 4 loops and 20 minutes later, we were finally given the go ahead for approach.
View from my window on approach. Huge construction going on to add a Runway and the massive Terminal 5 to SIN. Estimated to complete by 2021 giving SIN a total passenger capacity of 145 million passengers a year.
We landed at 19:05 which was a 30 minutes delay and the chief purser again came on the PA to apologise for the delay. Announcements were made very clearly with no attempt by the Asian chief purser to fake a Caucasian accent, which i personally find very irritating and insincere.
Great short flight from MH and I do sincerely hope that they keep this up and keep this consistent across all the flights they operate.
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Verdict
Malaysia Airlines
7.8/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew9.5
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering8.5
Kuala Lumpur - KUL
5.1/10
Efficiency2.0
Access9.0
Services2.0
Cleanliness7.5
Singapore - SIN
9.6/10
Efficiency10.0
Access9.5
Services9.0
Cleanliness10.0
Conclusion
Surprisingly decent flight from MH. Hard product is a tad disappointing, especially when MH was known to have very comfortable hard products in Y previously. Service was also erratic in their flights with my outbound SIN-KUL flight bringing disinterested service attitude while this MH613 flight being an excellent one.
I sincerely hope that with the new people at helm, MH would start thinking about improving all aspects of its product while keeping service as excellent as what I have experienced in this flight. Time to wake up and challenge the regional big guns.
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Thank you for the excellent FR! I do wish there were more pictures, but considering your mindset at that time, this is understandable. Welcome to Flight Report!
Good decision! A well written report from a distant land is always a delightful read.
Pardon the lack of picture, I will try to make that up as more reports come along
That seems to be something common to most of us flight reporters! My first report sucked. But things improved in time, and now my reports suck a little less, I think. :)
Flying is almost a fortnightly affair for me
That's great! This will give you more chances to notice different aspects of your flights every time, and the changes in the service of different airlines, perhaps?
only 1 set of staff was performing the security checks, with no priority enforced whatsoever. Security check was painfully slow and a mess with passengers forming queues from all directions
That does't sound good for an airport that will soon deal with 145 million passengers! Does that happen very often?
despite the short flight time, look what MH actually offered.
I can't believe my eyes! I hope LATAM is reading this!
no attempt by the Asian chief purser to fake a Caucasian accent, which i personally find very irritating and insincere.
I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Do you mean you were expecting the purser to fake a Caucasian accent? Why should he do that? What is a Caucasian accent like?
Thanks for sharing this interesting report. Keep the good job!! :)
That's great! This will give you more chances to notice different aspects of your flights every time, and the changes in the service of different airlines, perhaps?
Definitely and more will be posted in the future, if I come across a decent one.
only 1 set of staff was performing the security checks, with no priority enforced whatsoever. Security check was painfully slow and a mess with passengers forming queues from all directions
That does't sound good for an airport that will soon deal with 145 million passengers! Does that happen very often?
The security problem occured in KUL and not SIN whom the 145 million passengers are due by 2021. SIN almost never give passengers such bad experience, hence its consistently high rating both here and in other sites. I do hope that it does not occur that frequently in KUL.
despite the short flight time, look what MH actually offered.
I can't believe my eyes! I hope LATAM is reading this!
Haha, let's hope they do.
no attempt by the Asian chief purser to fake a Caucasian accent, which i personally find very irritating and insincere.
I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Do you mean you were expecting the purser to fake a Caucasian accent? Why should he do that? What is a Caucasian accent like?
Well being asian myself, we speak English with an accent of our own, just like nations whom English is not their first language. However if you frequent Asia, you will realise that Asian pursers always try to mimic a British or American accent/slang without much success which mars the statement they are trying to make, and for that I find it quite irritating as they are trying very hard not be be themselves and sincere.
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4 Comments
I do wish there were more pictures, but considering your mindset at that time, this is understandable.
Welcome to Flight Report!
Welcome onboard!
Good decision! A well written report from a distant land is always a delightful read.
That seems to be something common to most of us flight reporters! My first report sucked. But things improved in time, and now my reports suck a little less, I think. :)
That's great! This will give you more chances to notice different aspects of your flights every time, and the changes in the service of different airlines, perhaps?
That does't sound good for an airport that will soon deal with 145 million passengers! Does that happen very often?
I can't believe my eyes! I hope LATAM is reading this!
I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Do you mean you were expecting the purser to fake a Caucasian accent? Why should he do that? What is a Caucasian accent like?
Thanks for sharing this interesting report. Keep the good job!! :)
Thanks very much for reading my review.
That's great! This will give you more chances to notice different aspects of your flights every time, and the changes in the service of different airlines, perhaps?
Definitely and more will be posted in the future, if I come across a decent one.
That does't sound good for an airport that will soon deal with 145 million passengers! Does that happen very often?
The security problem occured in KUL and not SIN whom the 145 million passengers are due by 2021. SIN almost never give passengers such bad experience, hence its consistently high rating both here and in other sites. I do hope that it does not occur that frequently in KUL.
I can't believe my eyes! I hope LATAM is reading this!
Haha, let's hope they do.
I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Do you mean you were expecting the purser to fake a Caucasian accent? Why should he do that? What is a Caucasian accent like?
Well being asian myself, we speak English with an accent of our own, just like nations whom English is not their first language. However if you frequent Asia, you will realise that Asian pursers always try to mimic a British or American accent/slang without much success which mars the statement they are trying to make, and for that I find it quite irritating as they are trying very hard not be be themselves and sincere.
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