Review of Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Miri in Economy

Report #70: AK5640 - Chasing MYY's afternoon departure bank

This will be my report on flying on AirAsia economy class from Kuala Lumpur KUL to Miri MYY, a short-haul flight within Malaysia, on board their Airbus A320. This review will be much shorter than usual as I was pretty tired after the bus ride before the flight.

Background

My initial plan was to fly from Miri MYY to Kota Kinabalu BKI on MASwings so I could get a taste of both their AT7 and DHT (which thanks to their schedule change didn't materialize), so I needed to get to MYY early enough to take care of the formalities. To make the matter worse, unlike BKI or even KCH, there are only so many flights from KUL to MYY so I needed to get the first available flight from KUL in the early morning.

I booked the flight direct from the carrier's website, which costed me RM91.50 (~US$23) + 500 AirAsia BIG points.

Trip to KUL and check-in

I alighted the international bus from Singapore at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan, Kuala Lumpur's intercity/crossborder bus terminal. Afterwards, I bought an airport bus ticket and went to the departure area.

The ticket costed me RM11 (~US$2.75), which was pretty normal as far as airport bus goes.

When I alighted from the bus from Singapore I was provided with an early breakfast package containing dates, chocolate bread, and mineral water.

Boarding was called a couple of minutes prior to the scheduled time of departure.

We zipped through the expressway following an on time departure, and departing in the early morning also means no traffic jam so that ….

After the bus ride we were approaching the airport terminal.

As usual, I was dropped at the bus terminal, which meant taking a couple of sloped moving walkways to get to the departure floor.

Taking an early morning departure means unnecessarily passing through still closed shops.

After a short walk I reached the check-in hall, which even at such an early hour was already quite packed.

FIDS for the early mrning.

AK required all domestic passengers to self check-in, failing which they would charge RM10 (~US$2.5) for the convenience of checking in at the counter - I had already done so through the app so I could pass by these machines.

I went straight to the domestic departure where I needed to queue for a while before going through security.

It was nothing special, really - for example, LAG was allowed for domestic flights like in Indonesia, and despite the queue I was through in 4 minutes.

KUL transit area and departure

Like on the main terminal, passing by the luxury shop was a necessity here.

After those shops the view turned to aisles with shops and lavatories scattered around. The terminal was a huge one, and added with narrow corridors meant that they could skimp on the moving walkway.

I decided to lounge around at the gate while waiting for departure.

The plane for the early morning was 9M-RAO, at that time a 1 month old 320.

Boarding was called with priority enforced, and after it was almost time to depart I became one of the last to leave the gate.

KUL wouldn't be complete without aerobridges, so we used one for this flight.

It was soon time to board the plane.

On board

Flight: AK5640
Plane: 9M-RAO
STD/ATD: 07:00/07:06
STA/ATA: 09:00/09:25
Seat type: Standard economy class (aisle seat)
Details: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/9MRAO/history/20190510/2300Z/WMKK/WBGR

After I was welcomed by the flight attendant, I made my way into the cabin, which looked immaculate.

Legroom was of course tight, but it's QZ anyway so I couldn't complain.

As you would expect from most LCC, seatback consisted of a table and a literature pocket, though at least the tray table didn't become yet another ad placeholder.

The usual magazine and catalogue were there.

Did I also say they offered some hot meals cheaper than pre-book on certain times?

As usual, you can't skip the safety card and the almost plain airsickness bag.

Me on the seat.

A couple of minutes later we started our pushback and therefore the safety demonstration as well.

If only I was lucky enough, but my seat row happened to have the window at shoulder level, meaning that I couldn't take shots during takeoff (or for that matter, almost throughout the flight).

If only I was lucky enough, but my seat row happened to have the window at shoulder level, meaning that I couldn't take shots during takeoff (or for that matter, almost throughout the flight).

A while after the fasten seatbelt sign was switched off the flight attendants sprung into action offering buy-on-board.

While I'd love to try the buy-on-board foods, though, I've got my full meal from the airport so I decided not to partake on the offerings from the flight attendants.

Following my breakfast I conducted my lavatory visit, which was still spotless.

As much as I loved the new plane, I couldn't help but to notice how small the sink was - in fact, it was so narrow my hand wouldn't fit.

The view of the cabin from behind as trash was collected.

While waiting for the crew, I had a look at the rear galley, which had also been made more compact.

Since I couldn't get a clear view of the window from my seat, why not get one by the rear door?

The rest of the flight was uneventful, being an early morning where people like me were still bleary-eyed and I decided to doze off for the rest of the flight.

Time passed by so quickly when you tried to sleep, so I only started taking photos again when we started deplaning.

After bidding farewell to the flight attendants I made my way across the aerobridge.

I walked further into the terminal through the corridor leading to the terminal.

One last view of the plane.

Arrival at MYY and post-arrival trip

I was directed to the interstitial corridor after reaching the terminal building.

Sarawak state is unique in terms of immigration policy due to the state having its own border on top of what I was subject to when entering the rest of Malaysia, meaning that interstate and international flights are both subject to immigration check.

There were a couple of counters, though truth be told only one of them was for foreigners, which took me 5 minutes to clear.

After the immigration check (and a check on the outbound ticket from Sarawak) I was issued with a 1-week visit pass to remain in Sarawak state.

After the immigration check I went downstairs to the arrival floor.

The airport had clearly started showing its age.

Without any luggage to claim I made my way outside into the public area.

Since I had loads of time to work outside I decided to take a Grab ride from the curbside.