Flying with Malaysian Hospitality to Tokyo

[ycp81]

It has always been on my wish list to visit Japan during the sakura season but however due to the expensive airfares to Tokyo, this wish has been on hold for quite some time. However late last year, Malaysia Airlines had this fantastic offer to Tokyo for a price of only S$534 return all inclusive from Singapore and after predicting the dates of the cherry blossoms, I immediatley booked my flights departing on 30th March to Tokyo. How lucky I was when the cherry blossoms did bloomed exactly on the same week I was in Tokyo!! It was also my first ever visit to the land of the rising sun and also my virgin trip on MH! Lets see how great is their Malaysian Hospitality service onboard.

Fast forward to 30th March and I proceeded to Changi Terminal 2 for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, transiting onwards to Tokyo Narita. My friend would be flying on SQ instead, departing later. Check-in was done online the day before (I was sequence number 1 for KUL-NRT sector) and baggage were deposited at the check-in counters and boarding passes collected for the flights. MH has 8 counters performing check-in for the single B737 flight to KL. Impressive!! As I had booked my trips using my Maybank Horizon Platinum credit card, I was allowed to use the Plaza Premium Lounges in Singapore and KLIA for free, something which I did maximize my usage of.

First stop is the T2 Plaza Premium Lounge for a light snack. The lounge was almost empty and the buffet set-up was decent. Has a healthy salad and some drinks in the lounge. Nothing too impressive about the lounge compared to the other airline lounges but a good place for some peace and tranquility.

Almost empty lounge


Buffet set-up


Had a salad and soup



Soon, I decided to proceed to the newly renovated Sunflower garden in T2 to catch the arrival of my aircraft from KUL.

Shot from sunflower garden.


MH607 just arrived from KUL. Slightly late arrival.


Soon after, I proceeded to the gate. The flight was code-shared with Singapore Airlines and Silkair. The flight seemed full with lots of pax in the gate. As usual, boarding had not started even though the screened showed "Gate Closing". In fact, arriving passengers have just disembarked from the aircraft!


30 March 2010
Malaysia Airlines
MH 610
Singapore (SIN) - Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
B737-400
9M-MMQ
Economy Class

9M-MMQ at the gate being serviced.


Probably as the plane was just a small B737, turnaround was quite fast and very soon, the boarding announcement was called. Boarding was conducted by row numbers from the rear of the aircraft and was orderly.

Soon, my first step into a MH aircraft.


Newspapers were available on a cart at the cabin door entrance ala SQ. Was welcomed onboard by 2 friendly crew members. There were 5 crew on this flight, 2 serving Golden Club Class and 3 in Economy Class. Along the way to my seat, crew were greeting assisting passengers with stowage of bags etc. Good first impression here. However, as noted by other trip reporters, the seats are "horribly" colorful!! Business class seats were upholstered in "bloody red" while economy was in a variety of "smarties" color scheme.

Proceeding to my seat. Note the colorful seats!


Seat pitch was quite tight but tolerable for the short 35min flight.


In the seat pocket was only a safety card and airsick bag. No inflight magazines in all seats. Hmm. Probably they are being replaced with the new issue?


Parked beside a SQ A333. We seemed so teeny weeny beside the A330.

[ycp81]

During boarding, the boarding music played was interestingly "kampong" or traditional malay music. Sounds like what you would hear during a malay wedding reception. Boarding was still in progress and the plane was almost full. Seemed like most pax were connecting onto other MH flights in KUL as there were indians, japanese and chinese groups among others onboard.


Soon, doors were closed on time and the safety demo was shown manually by the crew as there was no IFE on MH's 737s. Lights were dimmed for takeoff but before dimming the lights, crew came down the aisle and switched on the overhead lights for pax who were reading. What great service! We had a quick taxi to Rwy02C and were off for the short hop to KUL.

Departure to KUL. You can hear the traditional malay music in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4USMmE9o_hM

Climbing to cruise.


Initially I was only expecting a drinks service similar as what SQ and MI offers and was pleasantly surprised when a stewardess came down with a basket of peanuts and started distributing them.

Stewardess distributing peanuts.


After peanuts were distributed, 2 crew reappeared with trays of a choice of either orange juice, guava juice or water. All were pre-poured into cups. However no coffee/tea was offered.

Salted peanuts and guava juice.


Crew serving drinks.


Very soon, we started our descend into KL. In fact, I think we did not even cruise. Just ascend and descend immediately. Trash were picked up rapidly and cabin was secured for landing.

Landing into KUL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDEaX1_83YE

We had a long taxi to the main terminal where the plane parked beside more MH birds.


Disembarking.


Last look at the "smarties" seats.


Overall, service was good for the short flight. However, it would be the longer haul KUL-NRT sector to see how MH performs. As the plane had arrived at the main terminal, I would have to transfer to the satellite terminal. It has been ages since I last stepped onto KLIA (LCCT not counted).

Departure screen. Note that there are significantly less departing flights than Changi.


Model airplanes exhibit.




The new KLIA jungle boardwalk.

[erfaano]

Great trip report!!
I've never liked the traditional take-off and landing soundtrack.Sound sooo 'stressful' especially when reaching the chorus. But i've always liked 'Malaysian Hospitality'
Comparable to SQ? Not just yet..Haha

[SilverChris]

No inflight mag? That's strange.. Also I've never seen that safety card before. Looks similar to their 772's and 747's

[ycp81]

The flight to NRT, MH88 was scheduled to depart at 2330hrs from gate C1. Proceeded to the gate and went though security. Was observing the plane from the gatehold room and noticed something was wrong as the plane's engines were opened as if some maintenance were going on. True enough, an announcement came and requested all passengers to proceed to gate C17 due to an aircraft change. The current aircraft, 9M-MRJ, was experiencing some technical problems. Our departure time was also rescheduled to 0030hrs.

9M-MRJ with engine shell opened.


As I still had more than an hour of wait, I decided to visit the Plaza Premium Lounge (again courtesy of my credit card) for a bite. The lounge seemed smaller than Changi's but was decent enough for a short stay.

Buffet set-up


Lounge


Light bite in the lounge.


Nearing the new boarding time, I proceeded to the gate where another B772 was awaiting.

31 March 2010
Malaysia Airlines
MH 88
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Tokyo Narita (NRT)
B777-200
9M-MRF
Economy Class

Boarding was not done by rows but being a Japanese destination flight, the boarding process still remained orderly. Entered through door 2L (again newspapers at door) and greeted by crew and shown to the correct aisle. Passed the mini business class cabin and entered economy. Again, crew were friendly and assisting passengers with their luggage. The seat colours on the B772 were not as "bright" as the newly upholstered 737 ones and in fact looks quite similar to SQ's old 777 cabin interior colours. However, MH's 772s were configured 2-5-2 in economy. Good for me as I would only get pass 1 person from the window seat to the aisle but definitely horrendous for the person seated right in the middle of the block of 5.

The mini-business class cabin with only 1 row of seats, just before economy class.


Boarding in process


Legroom was quite good and I can actually cross my legs while seated!


Stuff in the seat pocket. Safety card, inflight mag and inflight shopping catalogue.


After boarding was completed, we had a short wait as our luggage was still being reloaded. Unfortunately, MH does not offer any hot towels now. Also no amenity kits nor menus were distributed. Guess all these frills were victims of cost-cutting. Safety video was shown, which was definitely better than SQ's current new video.

MH safety video from youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkVK8aB7xK0

Today, our inflight supervisor was a lady in fiery red kebaya, sort of like SQ's chief stewardess. We also had 3 Japanese stewardesses onboard, 2 in economy, 1 in business. Boarding music was some sort of jazz music (not the traditional malay music) which was similar to what SQ would play as boarding music back in history. Our flight time was announced to be a short 6hr 20min, which would make up for some of the delay. Pushed back and we had a short taxi to the runway for takeoff.

Takeoff from KUL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smu9dctzxZc

Soon after takeoff, the crew came down to distribute headsets before starting a light refreshment service. Our initial cruising altitude would be 35000ft, climbing to 39000 towards the end of the flight. Inflight entertainment was AVOD and was easy to navigate. Although the entertainment selection was less than SQ's latest IFE system and similar to the WISEMEN3000 system, it was still more than sufficient to while away the time. In fact, the latest movies selection were almost similar on both MH and SQ!! So who is spying on who here?

Light refreshment. Cheese and tuna sandwiches with coffee/tea/green tea/juices. Very substantial and filling snack.


Shortly after service, the trays were cleared. Seeing that I had finished my sandwiches, the stewardess along my aisle was actually nice enough to offer me a second helping! Additional drinks were also offered. Then the cabin was dimmed to allow everyone to sleep.

The flight was mainly smooth throughout. About 2hrs before landing, lights were on again in preparation for breakfast. A visit to the lavatory for some refreshing before breakfast too.

Daybreak.


Amenities in the lavatory. Men/ladies cologne, aftershave lotion and hand lotion. The hand lotion smells much better than SQ's economy hand lotion


Surprisingly, combs and toothbrushes were also available!!

[ycp81]

The sun is rising higher..


As MH do not distribute menus, they used a very innovative way to show the meal choices. The meal choices were flashed in the IFE screens. However, if your screens were switched off, you would miss it. Today for breakfast, we had 3 choices!! Salmon dill with potato, Cheddar omelette with potato or Nasi Lemak with chicken rendang and shrimp sambal.


Crew serving breakfast. Interestingly, the way MH crew conducts their meal service and how they interacted with passengers felt so similar to SQ that if they would to change their kebayas, it would be no different from SQ's service. This set of crew were mainly very good except for 1 stewardess who seemed that she did not want to be there. Luckily she was in the galley most of the time.


Chose the nasi lemak, which was accompanied with a warm bun, raisin danish, mixed fruits, jam and butter, musli bar, orange juice and coffee/tea. It was definitely a very filling breakfast. The nasi lemak was great but the mixed fruits was some canned cocktail fruits in syrup, which was disappointing. What MH lacked is in the presentation of meals, this is something which they can learn from SQ.

Nasi lemak breakfast.


Cabin view. Walking around the cabin, I discovered that there were magazine racks at the rear of the plane with various magazines to choose from.


After breakfast was cleared, we were nearing Tokyo and soon started our descent. Headphones were collected by the crew at this time.

Descending


Turning back to Narita


Speedbrakes up..


Landing at Tokyo Narita Airport! The landing was smooth!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_cmbYst5qw

Thank you for flying Malaysia Airlines


We landed about half hr late, but made up some time enroute. Parked at terminal 2 and disembarked. Crew were along the aisles, thanking everyone for flying with them and saying goodbyes.


9M-MRF at Narita


A sea of red-tails.


Overall, I felt that MH crew are as good if not better than SQ in their service delivery. Service procedures felt similar and crew were very attentive. MH is definitely up there at the top of the league in the software department, but what they lacked is the "posh" and "class", which is mainly due to the inferior hardware. Lack of menus, amenity kits, hot towels, poor meal presentation (even though food is not bad) etc. This is what makes the difference between a SQ and MH experience.

[Stratoliner777]

Great trip report!!! I enjoyed reading it, especially as I've never flown MH before. It's interesting how colorful the 737 seats are, the 777 seats also but at least they are in sections rather than haphazardly colorful. The food probably tastes better than it looks, which is ok. Interesting way to display the menu choices as an overlay of the IFE screen, I've also seen it done with an integrated IFE screen, and JL's economy carts have menu display cards on the side.

[SINFJ]

I must say they have very tacky seat solours in their seat cvoers for their 734s... but thanks for the nice TR

[9V-SIA]

A well written TR. Thanks for sharing.

The Plaza Premium Lounge looks very comfortable.

MH hardware looks unimpressive.

Partly explains why it is cheaper to fly than SQ...

[SilverChris]

To me MH is still a class below SQ, and mostly due to the lack of "class" in some areas like lac of amenity kits, warm towels etc. I guess this is one way they can afford to have low fares

[jadivindra]

To me MH is still a class below SQ, and mostly due to the lack of "class" in some areas like lac of amenity kits, warm towels etc. I guess this is one way they can afford to have low fares

34 inches seat pitch, 2 inches extra legroom and a towel less. Your pick.
Me prefer the towel. he....he

[flyguy]

I'll take the 34" lrgroom - as u never know whee the we towel have been - n have seen how some pax have used it - n at times give the chills even though the towels r washed n reuse.

[ycp81]

I'll take the 34" lrgroom - as u never know whee the we towel have been - n have seen how some pax have used it - n at times give the chills even though the towels r washed n reuse.

On SQ, the towels are not reused. They are disposed after flight.

[Pinkfloyd]

I'll take the 34" lrgroom - as u never know whee the we towel have been - n have seen how some pax have used it - n at times give the chills even though the towels r washed n reuse.

The same can be said of towels in hotels, no? In fact, if you let your imagination run wild for a bit, there are a lot more worse things those towels could possibly have gone through...

Live and let live, a bit of dirt, germs, bodily fluids, etc. won't hurt you...

There is a saying in Hokkien "lar sup chiak, lar sup tua", a direct translation would be "dirty eat, dirty grow up"...

Now where's that piece of chicken I left on the floor last night...?

[SQflyergirl]

Give me the 34 inch legroom any day. Those seats are VERY comfortable.