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Malindo Air Business Class to Trichy

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  • Malindo Air Business Class to Trichy

    Hi all, hope all of you are safe from Covid.

    This is a long overdue trip report that was undertaken back in start December 2019, when travel was still normal and the world was business as usual.

    I had been making a lot of trips to and fro Trichy in the months of November and December to be with my sick grandmother. This trip was immediately after my last Semester 1 Exam at NUS.

    Tickets were booked quite last minute, and my regular airline of choice Indigo with its perfect flight timings were offering seats at a high rate, due to the last minute request. This was also in line with the rates offered by Air India Express, another airline which offers a direct flight to Trichy.

    We were in a Dilemma on whether to book the flights when i read about malindo Air online. A quick search on their site showed up business class tickets for 2 and just $200 over the economy class fares on the budget airlines of 6E and IX. It was a no brainer and we immediately booked our tickets albeit with a transit stop at KLIA .

    Just when we thought we hit the jackpot, the flight to KUL was delayed by 35 minutes due to late arrival of aircraft and flight to TRZ was delayed by over an hour as well. Due to the delay on the second leg, we landed at TRZ together with 3 other international arrivals and the Immigration queues were crazily long for such a small airport to handle and there were no proper queues as well.

    Coupled with the extra security checks at Indian airports for arrivals and 2 flights sharing the same baggage belt to collect luggage totally exhausted us by the end of our journey.

    The trip started on the evening of 4 December at Terminal 3.....

  • #2
    Flight: Malindo Air (OD808)
    Scheduled Departure: 1710
    Actual Departure:1800
    Actual Arrival:1850
    Aircraft: B737-800
    Class: Business
    Seat: 2A

    Arrived at Changi T3 Row 1 for check in and we received our boarding passes for both legs of our trip and our baggage was tagged all the way to Trichy.




    We were also given lounge cards for the Ambassador transit lounge at T3. This was my first time ever visiting a lounge and was excited.

    Ample seating areas were available, though my favorite were these cubicle type seating areas which came complete with charging ports.



    Tried out the food and drink available,








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    • #3
      Soon we headed to the gate B6 for security and waited for boarding.

      A SQ A380 having just arrived, taxied to the gate beside us...




      Our 737 just landed,




      Our 737 taxiing in,




      Boarded and served a welcome drink, chose the orange juice.




      Seat position controls,

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      • #4
        Soon we started taxi for departure,

        We taxied across the bridge (not sure of the name, under which there are roads leading to changi),




        There was a queue behind us for takeoff,




        Our turn after the silkair infront,

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        • #5
          Some Post takeoff views,













          Lavatory shot,


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          • #6
            Soon, table set and a meal was served.







            Chicken/Veg pizza, cake and drink. I had the chicken pizza. Nothing great but at least we had some real food.

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            • #7
              Since we were flying close to sunset, here are some sunset shots,













              Cabin lights dimmed for arrival,


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              • #8
                We landed at KLIA at one of the furthest gates from the transfer desk. After a long walk, we headed to the transfer desk. Many passengers were affected by the late arrival of the plane from Singapore, especially one family whose connecting flight to Kathmandu had closed gate and departed and they were rebooked on the next morning's flight to Kathmandu and were provided with hotel accomodation and transfers. We also had new boarding passes issued as the gate changed which lead to the delay.

                We collected our lounge pass for Sama Sama express lounge and headed there. We wanted to freshen up which was why we chose the lounge instead of collecting a food voucher. The lounge was forgettable, the food was not good and we were one of 2 families in the lounge. I headed for a quick shower, the shower cubicles were clean, hot water was available and towels were provided.








                Soon we left the lounge and headed to our gate for boarding.

                Here is a look at our aircraft,




                Ample legroom,




                Emirates A380 spotted while taxiing,


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                • #9
                  After takeoff, dinner orders were taken, choices were either a chicken curry/lamb briyani or a vegetarian dish. I had the lamb briyani.




                  Meal came with salad, chocolate fudge cake and 2 bread rolls along with salt and pepper shakers, yogurt and metal cutlery. Drinks were also served and refills done without asking. Amazing crew on this sector and i honestly didn't expect this from Malindo.

                  Headphones were provided for the IFE system but i already had my own Sony XB900N Noise Cancelling headphones with an adaptor for use with the IFE system. The pillow and blanked provided were comfortable as well and rest of the flight was spent watching movies on the IFE and also took a short nap.








                  Soon we landed at Trichy and disembarked via stairs. business class pax had a separate bus to immigration which was good.




                  We landed together with a scoot A320 from Singapore, 2 Air India Express from Dubai and Sharjah and the immigration was packed, with no proper queues and it was chaotic, we also had to undergo additional hand baggage checks and 2 arriving flights were sharing one baggage belt. All in all the delays of our plane really wrecked our arrival experience.

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                  • #10
                    Final thoughts:

                    Malindo J is a decent entry level business class product with an amazing set of crew (atleast in my sector)

                    I would not hesitate to fly them again, just hope they would stick to their original schedule without any delays.

                    All in all, an amazing first time J class experience.


                    Was supposed to have done a J class on SQ 787 around this time if things were normal, but alas.

                    Not really sure when I will be flying again.


                    Until next time, Stay safe and Take care. Hope I provided with an interesting read over this lull period.

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                    • #11
                      Thanks for sharing, balajih67!

                      I'm not really a fan of business class on narrowbodies like A320's or 737's, unless they happen to be one of those rare narrowbodies configured with a long-haul J product (Like this transcon configured AA A321, which I had the pleasure of enjoying for a short 1 hr BOS-JFK sector...)

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by yflyer View Post
                        Thanks for sharing, balajih67!

                        I'm not really a fan of business class on narrowbodies like A320's or 737's, unless they happen to be one of those rare narrowbodies configured with a long-haul J product (Like this transcon configured AA A321, which I had the pleasure of enjoying for a short 1 hr BOS-JFK sector...)
                        Second that yflyer.. everytime i fly domestic in USA its like a roulette.. especially when I fly trans-continent US in narrowbodies..

                        I had a pleasure to fly UA757 Polaris business before all hell broke loose back in early March from MIA to EWR for my flight home next morning.. Maybe due to its timing but its so comfortable i fell asleep before it even take off and woke up only when the wheels touched down briefly waking up to lower the seats and visit the john when the cpt announced his descend.

                        I can never sleep through in those regional business seats

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                        • #13
                          Thank you Balajih,

                          Is this your first time on business class? Glad that you enjoyed it. Now you might get hooked on it

                          For next time, may be you can check Sri Lankan Airlines. I think it costs similar as Malindo and I think it is more reliable and you can accumulate OneWorld points too. Some flights to Singapore are on more comfortable A330s as well (at least pre-covid).

                          I hope your grandma is well now. Take care and stay safe.

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