Malaysia Airlines Review

I’m a bit late in posting this but with all the comments about the forum being quiet lately thought this may be of interest.
Anyway, me and the missus were lucky enough to go to Malaysia for 2 weeks in September, heres a review of the flights;

19.9.02
Flight MH011 MAN – KUL 9M-MPL
Dep. 12.00 local time, arr. 07.30 local time next day
As this flight continues through to Oz we knew it would be pretty full so thought we had best get to check-in reasonably early. We got there just over 3 hours before departure but were unable to get the seats of our choice (one of the rear window rows of 2 on the 744) but got a window seat anyway which was something.
We went through security more or less straight away but wasn’t that impressed by T2 facilities, just a handful of shops and bars, nowhere near as good as T1.
Anyway 9M-MPL “Penang” was towed from the remote parking stand about an hour before departure and we boarded around 11.30. The interior was very clean and bright and was in good condition.
Take off was nice and smooth and above the cloud base the weather was beautiful sunshine. The meal was served within 1 hour , the pilot announcing we would be served breakfast 3 hours before landing (04.20 Malaysia time, 21.20 UK time!).
The 12.5 hour flight passed fairly quickly, much helped by the seat back TV’s and the Nintendo games available, although my screen packed up after about 6 hours. Then after swapping seats with my girlfriend that screen did the same too. I secretly wondered if the cabin crew had fallen out with me (!) but decided that was the time to try and have a bit of sleep.
The seat pitch of 34″ was greatly appreciated although with everyones seats fully reclined it was difficult to get out of seats and in to the aisle.
Unfortunately we were seated on the wrong side of the plane to directly see the sunrise but still got some good views.
Touchdown was fairly smooth and it was amazing to see so many MH planes in one place – stating the obvious I know but nice change from BA and european charters for me!
8/10

23.9.02
Flight MH1146 KUL – PEN 9M-MMX
Dep. 15.00 Arr. 15.45
Fairly uneventful domestic flight on 734. The flight was packed to the rafters and looking a fair bit scruffier than the 747 with quite a dated interior and we had to stack for 10 mins before landing, but fine other than that. The poor stewardesses had their work cut out continually running up and down for thirsty pax with trays of orange juice!
Nice landing in to Penang, similar to Phuket coming in over the beach but not quite as low as St Martin!
6/10

2.10.02
Flight MH1181 PEN – KUL
Dep 19.40 Arr. 20.15
As I expected we were able to check our baggage through for our connecting flight which we were grateful for.
It was becoming dark as our 734 parked up at the gate plus the airport has a film screen on the windows which makes it that much harder to see out in poor light so I wasn’t able to get the registration.
The plane was about 2/3 full so made a nice change to have a seat row to ourselves and spread out a bit.
I think the pilot was on his last flight of the day and made a great rolling manouvre on to the runway and putting on the power. This appeared to be a newer 734 or had benefitted from an internal refit and the difference was clear, much more up to date.
35 minutes later we were smoothly touching down in KL and transferring terminals on the monorail having suffered the immigration queues.
7/10

2.10.02
Flight MH012 KUL – MAN 9M-MPG
Dep. 23.20 Arr. 05.45
After an hour or two to kill in the very pleasant airport we eventually boarded 9M-MPG “Kuala Terrenganau” (see below).
The boarding procedure went a bit pear-shaped after the gate lady abondoned boarding in seat row turn after calling out the first batch.
The captain came on the p.a. just before push-back and gave a very detailed explanation of the route and weather, telling us we may have some turbulence in 5 or so hours time flying over India!
Again the meal was served fairly quickly, the hostesses being very attentive throughout all the flights.
Unfortunately I got a guy sat next to me who took a fancy not only to the arm-rest and half my seat but resting his head on my shoulder! This spoilt the flight a bit but I got a fair bit of sleep so wasn’t too bad.
The other down-side was they ran out of the breakfast choice by the time they got to us so had to settle for a Malaysian curry and rice which was nice, but would have preferred the omelette at 04.30 UK time!
Very smooth touch down by the pilot (who again gave a nice speech on the p.a. before parking up) and a long taxi back to T2.
7/10

Malaysia were a nice airline to fly with, good food and service and on the whole a nice cabin, especially liked the in-flight entertainment system. Fantastic country too!
Apologies for the length of this, but hopefully is of interest.

Attachments: