Summer in and around Osaka region by MH

[ycp81]

Sanjusangendo




Last stop, Kiyomizu Temple.














Ramen dinner!




Around Namba area. Really too hot to walk around much. So spent most of the time in shopping centers and restaurants.




Kanidoraku Honten, a totally "crab" restaurant. Nothing but crabs! The lunch set menu was totally worth it!




Drooling at all the food sold at shopping center food sections.




Last dinner in Osaka at Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M. One word, awesome!! Melt in your mouth wagyu beef and equally tasty kurobuta. All for a very reasonable price as well, thanks to the weak Japanese yen. Beef will never taste as nice ever again (except probably in New Zealand where I had an equally delicious steak as well).

[ycp81]

It was an early start on the day of departure home. As the flight was at 11am, I had to take the 810am bus from OCAT to Kansai airport, arriving at the airport at 9am, exactly 2hrs prior to departure.

Check-in for MH was at row A, which was also shared with AirAsiaX (D7). 5 counters opened for each airline. Snaking queues were seen for both airlines, with D7 incidentally also departing at exactly the same time for KUL. SQ also departs for SIN at 11am.




As I had performed online check-in earlier, I was able to bypass the snaking queues, drop my bags at the internet check-in counter, and obtain my boarding passes for both sectors. I was pre-allocated 11A, the first row of economy.




Then it was through immigration and security, which was rather busy this morning. Luckily the North wing was not as busy as the South wing, which saw snaking queues at the entrance to immigration. For those who are unaware, one can clear immigration and security at either wing, similar to Chang's Terminal 2, as both will end up at the same departure hall duty-free shopping area. The north and south wing of the shopping areas are just replicas of each other, just like BKK. Did some last minute shopping for Japanese goodies.




Flight information display. MH and D7 to KUL, plus SQ to SIN, all at 11am.




At Kansai, one would have to take a shuttle train to the gates, even though some are only a rather short distance away, just like our departure this morning from Gate 13. Well, at least got to do a bit of plane-spotting.

ANA B737s




Cathay B773, Thai B744 and Finnair at the far end.





07 August 2013
Malaysia Airlines MH53
Osaka Kansai (KIX) - Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
A330-300
9M-MTF
Economy Class


At the gate.




9M-MTF will be operating the flight today.






Soon, boarding started. A row for Business and Economy each. It was not done by row numbers, but Japs being Japs, the boarding process was still very orderly. Again, most pax were of Japanese origin.




Asiana A321 and EVA Air A330 parked beside.




Boarding the aircraft. There were newspapers available at the door.

[ycp81]

I was one of the earlier ones to board.




Great legroom at 11A!




IFE screen, handset, USB port and power outlet at the side and bottom of the seat.




Wing view. However, it would be my first and last wing view of the flight as a stewardess then approached me and my seatmate and request if we could swap to the middle bulkhead seats as there were 2 babies allocated there but only 1 bassinet point. So one of the couple would require the bassinet point in front of 11A/B. Being a nice pax, I agreed as I would still have a bulkhead aisle seat, though I admit I was a tad disappointed with the loss of the window seat.




My new seat at 11G had even better legroom! All the bassinet points were filled up and again the flight seemed totally full in economy.




A rather friendly stewardess then came around to each pax with baby to explain the use of infant seat-belt and use of bassinet.




Doors were closed slightly before 11am and we taxied for departure shortly after. During takeoff, I saw both D7 and SQ taxiing out. Guess we are the earliest one!

Just after takeoff.




After takeoff announcements by the female inflight supervisor. We had one of the few MH female inflight supervisors today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUYD5LkUvZY


Crew then assisted to set up the bassinets. The babies were still very cooperative and quiet thus far.




Headsets were distributed, followed by peanuts and drinks. I chose an apple juice. Also started on a Korean movie.




After which, meal carts were set up in preparation for lunch. Meals were served from the rear to the front.




As it was a full flight, it took a while for the meal cart to reach my row. There was a choice of chicken with rice or seafood pasta. I chose the chicken with rice, and apparently I took the last of it as the last few passengers to be served had to take the seafood pasta. Also had a beer, and was served the entire can. On the tray were a starter, soba noodles, water, bread with butter, main course, fruits and chocolates.




Soba noodles and condiments, butter for bread, chocolate and pre-packed water.

[HUGE AL]

Wow. In all my years of flying, I've NEVER seen a bassinet in use...let alone set up!

Excellent pictures! I'm hungry!

[ycp81]

Starter of jap-style chicken salad with olives. It was tasty.




All condiments added into the soba noodles.




Sweet and sour chicken with rice. Nothing too imaginative but still not too bad.




Sweet cut fruits of apple, melon, orange and grapefruit. The segment of orange was hidden under the melon slice.




Cleaned up everything!




We were already flying beside Taiwan after the meal trays were cleared.




View of the cabin.




Then I dozed off for a short hour's nap and by the time I woke, we were already flying beside Vietnam. It was also rather turbulent then. I had not missed out by not having the window seat as the view was cloudy throughout almost the entire flight!




A refreshment was served about 1.5hrs to landing. As the seatbelt signs were turned on due to turbulence, no hot beverages were served. Instead, I had a cold Oolong tea with the cake and ice-cream served. Here is where MH excelled as compared to SQ, by retaining its refreshment service prior to arrival into destination on Japan flights. It was most welcomed on day flights as we passengers would definitely be feeling peckish 2hrs after lunch. Really impressed with MH for the refreshment!




Delicious muffin-like cake.




Very nice green tea flavoured ice-cream!




Service wise, this set of crew was really good! As I was seated near the babies, I had observed how the crew would assist the families with the babies so as the make the journey more bearable. They also responded to all requests promptly, and I saw how they had remembered and delivered a pax's request for hot tea when it could not be served earlier due to turbulence. The inflight supervisor would also come down frequently and check on the families with babies. Overall service was comparable to SQ on a good day.

Red-kebaya inflight supervisor carrying one of the babies while chatting with the passengers.

[ycp81]

Before we start our descend, a video on Malaysia was played.




Nearing Kuala Lumpur, where I would have a 3hrs layover due to our early arrival.




Landed uneventfully at KLIA and parked at the satellite terminal. My seat during disembarkation.




Seats 11H/K. As can be seen, these bulkhead seats have really great legroom!




Passing Business Class. Seemed that MH distributed slippers to Business Class passengers.




Bade farewell to the great set of crew and start of my 3hrs layover. I was really pleased with MH's service on this sector. The bulkhead seat, generous catering, coupled with great crew, made this one of the better flights I have flown in economy so far. Well done, MH!

Airlines from the gulf at KLIA. Emirates whale and Etihad B773ER.




Proceeded to Plaza Premium Lounge again to "waste" the hours away. This time round, the lounge was not that crowded.




Bar counter where both hot and alcoholic drinks are prepared. Desserts are available too!




Pastries to choose from.




For my light dinner, I had a freshly prepared fish-cake noodles.




Along with items from the hot buffet.




Desserts with teh tarik to end! I had 2 rounds of desserts!

[ycp81]

Some plane-spotting from the lounge. KLM B772ER departing for Jakarta. Lionair B739ER pushing back soon as well, most probably also heading to Jakarta?




Sri Lankan A343 taxiing for departure as well.




SQ, MI and MH at KLIA.




Just completed one of the shortest (or probably the shortest) scheduled A330 flight in the world.




Silkair A320 heading back to Changi.




Ethiopian B763 arriving from BKK.




After a couple of hours of lounging, I left the lounge, hopped onto the Skytrain and headed over to the Main Terminal for the final flight home.




SQ, MH and JL seen form the Airtrain.




MH's big bird in the distance.




Mostly MHs at the Main Terminal.




The little bird that would be flying be back, 9M-MXD.




Gatehold room was rather crowded. Looked like a full flight again!

[ycp81]

07 August 2013
Malaysia Airlines MH607
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Singapore (SIN)
B737-800
9M-MXD
Economy Class


Plane being prepared for the flight.




Malindo taxiing pass.




Boarding started slightly late. Passed the Business Class cabin.




And into economy to my seat at 17A again. The legroom on the BSI aircraft seemed slightly less than the leased ones.




Welcome aboard! The only female stewardesses seen on this flight were on-screen as the flight had an all-male cabin crew!




At the gate with another plane sharing the other arm of the aerobridge.




Boarding in progress.




Boarding completed and we pushed back with engine startup. Leading crew made the welcome announcement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lApKn8HdPQY


Safety video playing during taxi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzCYhzhDGiM


Taxied along Rwy32R.




Holding for takeoff.




Pilot announcement prior to takeoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAJ1kE2TBAo


Takeoff from Rwy32R.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neXQSQbOyp8


Climbing to our low cruising altitude.




Announcement after takeoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaaMcNVV74M


Flight map and inflight entertainment were switched on for this short flight. However you would need your own headphones if you needed sound. I stuck to the flightmap for this very short flight.




Again, peanuts and juices were served. I had an orange juice.

[ycp81]

A very short flight indeed! We were nearly there barely 10-15min after departure!




However, after nuts and juices were served, the crew came down again, offering these small boxes to passengers!




The box contained a couple of dates. Guess this was a Hari Raya festive treat!




We were nearing Changi, but the pilot came on and announced that due to congestion, we would have to slow down our approach. Thus we flew leisurely at 500km/h along the southern part of Singapore, offering some nice views as well! But this lengthened our flight time to 45min.


Passing Jurong Island.




CBD area.




Overflying Batam.




Our flight route. We flew up north again and approach from the north.




Final approach over Tekong's military training camp.




Landing on Changi's Rwy20C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPkC_cUcd0


Taxi to the gate and passing KE B773.




Lots of Tigers and a single SQ.




Parked at gate F40.




Disembarking.




This concludes my very long report on MH and trip to Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. Hope you have enjoyed reading. Comments are very much welcomed!!