Review of Mann Yadanarpon Airlines flight Nyaung U → Mandalay in Economy

Journey December '18 & January '19

While I just returned from Thailand in October '18, it was now time for me to head back to Thailand once again to start one of my bigger journeys of 2018 (a period of four weeks originally, but decided to add another week to it and travel to Singapore). I decided to book plenty of flights to different cities to explore in both Thailand and Myanmar together with my girlfriend.

A small tip regarding to airlines in Myanmar for domestic flights. In case you want to book a flight with them long in advance, expect your itinerary to be changed from what you originally booked it for. Two or three weeks in advance is sufficient as prices will be the exact same as you would have paid for like six months ago and be sure to verify your flight on their site 24 hours for any change.

So the routing below will give you an idea what my upcoming reports are going to be. Enjoy your read! 

The start of 7Y 131's Journey

As I originally booked flight 7Y 6133 with Mann Yadanarpon a few months ago, I noticed a change in my itinerary when I was preparing my documents prior to leaving to Thailand., which was a bit odd to me. I was changed to flight 7Y 161 that would depart 30 minutes earlier and arrive a hour later as planned. Now that would not be a problem as we would see many other airports prior to arriving on mine, but that flight would never ever reach Mandalay…

Contacting them with my question, I simply received a mail from them with a confirmation of the change of itinerary that would still keep me on flight 7Y 161. Raising my question again in response to their confirmation, they transferred me with no extra charge to 7Y 131, which would be the exact same flight I booked before, but just a different callsign.

Many days later and now time to move to the airport, I simply ordered a taxi with the guest house I was staying in. The ride itself was with a very friendly taxi driver once again who drove us to the airport. Not much traffic around as most traffic was already moved to those touristic spots to watch a spectacular sunrise in Bagan.

About ten to fifteen minutes later, we were dropped off at the airport.

A different look from the front.

Again some wooden kiosks here to check in for your flight. There was already a large number of people waiting, but luckily this long line was meant for an earlier flight from Mann Yadanarpon (7Y 161, the one they changed me before) to Yangon via Thandwe. The left line, which was for my flight, had only a couple prior to me. So it was cleared in about five minutes or so.

Unlike Golden Myanmar Airlines, I received a boarding card with my name, but no seat assigned to you once again. Remember to not throw away your boarding card after as those red markers will be collected once again at your arrival airport.

While we had no chance for any breakfast prior to arriving at the airport, we did walk around the terminal to hunt down some food. 

We found a coffee shop with some snacks available and settled down. 

With about forty minutes left for departure, we decided to pass through security (same style like any other domestic airport in Myanmar, you do not need to empty your pockets and can leave all your electronic devices in your bag) and luckily enough we did have our breakfast prior to that as there was no single amenity after security, but some seats and a dirty lavatory.

Once again announcements are available here as I heard an announcement telling passengers that flight 7Y 161 was delayed by another thirty minutes, though boarding calls were made with the normal wooden sign.

Our aircraft was located at the same exact parking spot my previous flight was parked and definitely could walk, Mann Yadanarpon used one of their buses to bring us over. 

Our ride. XY-AJO, a 5.1 year old ATR 72-600 that has solely been in service to Mann Yadanarpon Airlines

Upon entering the cabin, we received a refreshing towel like any other Myanmar carrier from one of the attendants and I proceeded forward to find a vacant seat. I positioned myself at Seat 4A.

Legroom was good and definitely more than sufficient for a 20 minute flight. I did check Mann Yadanarpon's literature too, but it was not much to report about.

A Safety card 

And a self-explanatory bag.

Safety instructions started shortly after, while engines were firing up and we were off to Mandalay ten minutes ahead of our departure time.

As you can see like many other domestic airports in Myanmar, the apron is directly attached to the active runway and it was a rather busy day time at Nyaung U with a Myanmar National Airlines ATR 72-600, Yangon Airways ATR 72-212 and a Mann Yadanarpon ATR 72-600, who was delayed now by over a hour (most likely some technical malfunction as it did arrive on time) 

At 08.26, we were rolling for an easterly departure to Mandalay. 

Once at safe altitude, the flight attendants appeared on scene to give us a complimentary candy. I opted for a Pineapple pizza sliced candy.

My window view in cruise.

And a rather empty flight. I think the load was around 60-65% for today's early flight and filled mostly with tourists.

Barely 15 minutes from take off, the descent was already initiated and flight attendants came by to collect any trash.

Touch down at 08.52, which meant that we arrived at Mandalay 13 minutes ahead of time and were slowly taxiing to our parking stand with a view of Mandalay's terminal.

Another Myanmar National ATR 72-600 was boarding for a flight.

Prior to deboarding, I captured my seat once again. A rather comfortable sit.

One last look of the plane that brought us over.

As this was the last segment of flight 7Y 131, everyone was required to offload and be transferred back to terminal by bus.

Once dropped off, I followed the monk to the domestic arrivals to pick up our bags.

And luggage was on belt like five minutes later. Though not really clear, a guy was there too to pick up your red cards that was proof that you picked up your bags.

A few people waiting to pick up their passenger.

We decided to grab a taxi to bring us to Mandalay. See below some tourism bonus regarding Mandalay.

Bonus : Click here display hide

Mandalay.

U Bein Bridge

A very nice restaurant in Mandalay, yet a bit expensive in their terms. MinGaLaBar Restaurant.

And a local shopping mall