Die Die MAS try! SIN-KUL-SIN in Y on MH's new 737-800s

[yflyer]

SIN-KUL-SIN? In Economy? Talk about a recipe for potentially the most boring (and shortest) TR ever written. With a total flight duration of 55 min, all they have time to serve is probably peanuts (and that turns out to be true...). Probably the only flight where the pilot gets on the PA and welcomes you onboard at the top of climb, and in the same breadth tells the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for arrival...

I have not flown MAS for a while. I've done my time shuttling between SIN and KUL on dinky little MAS 737-400's, usually when the SQ flights were full. Got you there and back, but how can you compare an SQ widebody with one of those, even for 55 minutes? The MH flights back then were a worst case scenario. Want to be back for dinner, but SQ is full? Slum it on an MH 737-400.

But times have changed. MAS has joined Oneworld, and on many flights, you get to fly new 737-800's with the new Sky interior which to me utterly transforms the 737 flying experience. These new planes are used by MAS for international routes, and they all come with seatback IFE with AVOD. Maybe a 737-800 is not great if you are flying 4+ hours from KUL to TPE, but on the 55 min hop between SIN and KUL, these are perfect.

If I were SQ, I would worry (just a little!). The new MH is making great strides forward, and joining the Oneworld alliance should be a positive move as well. As for Silkair? Based on my experience on these flights, I would now choose MH over Silkair any day on this route.

Now let's see if I can keep this TR as short as the flight...

[SQflyergirl]

Look forward to seeing if you can make it interesting. Of the hundreds of KUL-SIN shuttle runs i've taken - i DISTINCTLY remember this .... Get on, Go up. Come down. Get off.

[yflyer]

This trip started early Monday morning, on the 6.45am MH flight from SIN to KUL. At that hour, Changi airport T2 was not particularly busy, so getting through immigration and security was quick.

I had flown the old MH 737-400's countless times, and was looking forward to the new 737-800's. The one parked at the gate was in the new MH livery, adorned with the Oneworld logo.

Boarding commenced on time. I boarded, and was pleasantly surprised by how attractive the new 737 interior was. This was an extreme makeover! Till then, I always thought the A320 had better cabin ambience, but with the new interiors, I would say that the new 737 interior matches the A320.



The whole cabin had 777-style overhead bins, with seats in both J and Y done in leather. J was 2-2 in large blue recliners, whereas Y was done in an attractive two-tone red/purple leather.





I found the overall cabin ambience to be modern and stylish.



The emergency rows had extra legroom(although the emergency row seats did not recline.) Each seat had a seatback monitor for IFE.



Recline was average.



There were individual air vents on the overhead panel.

[yflyer]

The IFE screen was in widescreen format, and resolution looked great. But for this flight, all we saw was the welcome screen. The IFE was not turned on for this flight. Would I have better luck on the return flight? Stay tuned!



With the IFE down, I turned to my window for inflight entertainment, and what a wonderful time it was to be in the air, with dawn breaking, and the sun rising in the distance.





It was time for peanuts. MH catering must have been given a mission: SQ serves peanuts. Our peanuts must be better!



As a flyer who has chomped through countless packets of SQ Y peanuts (most recently SIN-ICN, where that was all they served in the first half of my red-eye flight), I have to say that I did prefer the MH peanuts. They were larger and crunchier. But then again, a lot of food in Malaysia is better than in Singapore (The local street food, for example).



I never thought I would post a TR with TWO pictures of a packet of peanuts. And it is the same packet. Short flight lah, got to expand on the material...

Then it was time to descend.

[yflyer]

It was a smooth landing, if any 737 landing can be called smooth, and a quick taxi to the main terminal (not the Satellite terminal, where SQ and MI park). In the distance, you can also see one of MH's A380's in the new blue livery.



We parked alongside another MH 737-800.





As it was a small plane, and just a short walk to the immigration counters, there wasn't a mad rush for the Skytrain, or even a rush for the immigration counters, which always used to happen when I flew SQ. Or maybe folks who fly MH are just a little more relaxed.

Overall, a very promising outbound flight, and a great hard product for a short flight like this.

[yflyer]

While in KL, I stayed at the Hilton at KL Sentral. Great hotel, although there were renovations in progress, and a couple of the restaurants were closed.



You get great views of the surrounding area from most rooms, as well as from the Hilton Lounge on the 33rd floor.



Here are some pictures of the Lounge at the Hilton:



Quite a nice selection of food in the lounge for breakfast as well as pre-dinner snacks.



Apart from the usual Western selections, there was a selection of tropical fruit, as well as a pretty decent nasi lemak.





From the lounge, you could also see the new Starwood Aloft hotel close by, with what looks like a very tempting infinity pool.

[yflyer]

My return flight was a late afternoon flight, departing at 5.30pm.

KLIA is no longer that new, but it has aged very gracefully. The design is still striking, and the airport has been very well maintained. Everything still looks very new. In some ways, I prefer the clean lines and polished stone of KLIA to the riot of colours and decor, without a common theme, that you find at Changi Airport these days.





I headed to the MAS Regional Golden Lounge in the main terminal, which is open to Oneworld frequent flyers.

[yflyer]

This lounge has airside views...





And comfortable seating, complemented by tropical decor...



And a lot to eat...





And drink...



I noticed the bottles of Bottega Brut Rose Prosecco on display (the golden/pink bottles), and went up to the bar to ask for a glass.

The lady at the bar was apologetic and said that those were only there for decor, and would I like champagne instead? I couldn't believe my ears, and for a moment, I almost thought by champagne, she was informally speaking of any ordinary sparkling wine, but no, this was French champagne! With a wide grin, I remarked that this was even better and waited happily as she poured me a glass.

[yflyer]

Among other delights (pasta, rice, sandwiches, a selection of local and western dishes) there were fried chicken wings. Who is counting calories? They were delicious.



There was also a work area...



And a play area.



There were also showers.



One feature I particularly liked were workstations lined up along the window, with good tarmac views. These had power sockets in the desk, and were perfect for catching up on email/work while glancing up once in a while to see what was taking off or landing. Wifi connectivity was good as well.



Overall a very good lounge, given that this is their regional lounge, with an even larger MAS International Golden Lounge in the satellite terminal.

Then, it was just a short stroll to my gate.

[yflyer]

A new 737-800 was parked at the gate...



We commenced boarding 15-20 minutes late (for reasons never explained by the ground staff).



As we took off, we could see a new terminal, and control tower, under construction.



The new terminal, still under construction, is visible in the picture just left of the wing.



The overall cabin ambience was the same as my outbound flight, however on this flight the IFE was on, and I gave it a test drive.



This was modern, responsive IFE, with a widescreen and touchscreen controls, in additional to the handheld controller. There was your usual selection of movies, TV, music and radio + other options which I did not try.

The movie, TV and music selection looked quite comprehensive. The latest SQ Krisworld is still more comprehensive, but I actually prefer the MH system to the older 772 or 773 Krisworld. Maybe this will make Silkair rethink their IFE strategy for their longer flights.





Both audio and visual quality were superb, with movies in particular being very sharp and vivid.



Inflight service was warm and friendly, and yes we had more peanuts, but there would probably be howls of protest if I posted a third picture...

[yflyer]

We landed on a very hazy evening, on runway 20R, and had a fairly long taxi across to T2.



Differences between MH and SQ? Apart from the peanuts? Well SQ is still SQ and in many ways, Singapore Airlines is in a different league. But on a short route like this, there really isn't that much difference between an SQ widebody and an MH narrowbody, particularly one with a new cabin like this one. On the flights I took, both the MH inflight experience and lounge facilities were great. Whether I would be so happy to fly an MH 737-800 on a route longer than 2 hours is a different matter, of course.

Overall, I was very happy with MH's 737-800 service between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. It is a short flight, but one which many of us take very often, and every bit of extra comfort and convenience helps. Next time I fly, would I choose SQ or MH? I don't think it even matters anymore, considering how competitive the new MH service has become.

Next time, the deciding factor will be the peanuts!

[ycp81]

Next time, the deciding factor will be the peanuts!

SQ and MI do not serve peanuts on the SIN-KUL sector. Only coffee, tea, juice or water.

[yflyer]

SQ and MI do not serve peanuts on the SIN-KUL sector. Only coffee, tea, juice or water.

It has been such a long time since I flew SIN-KUL that I didn't even realise that SQ doesn't serve peanuts on this route! Thanks as well for reminding me that SQ and MI serve coffee/tea. MH didn't serve coffee or tea on my flights, just juice.

[yflyer]

Look forward to seeing if you can make it interesting. Of the hundreds of KUL-SIN shuttle runs i've taken - i DISTINCTLY remember this .... Get on, Go up. Come down. Get off.

Thanks for your comment! I tried! (Really!)

At least one person made it to the end...thank you ycp81!

In retrospect, the TR title should have included a warning for those with nut allergies.

[SQflyergirl]

Thanks for your comment! I tried! (Really!)

At least one person made it to the end...thank you ycp81!

In retrospect, the TR title should have included a warning for those with nut allergies.

Hey.. i made it to the end too!

Nice pics and report!

One thing to note - emex row 14 on the 738 does recline. Only row 12 doesn't.

Whilst the MX/MS and Late ML series birds are quite nice to look at inside with their BSI - If you're not in a bulkhead or emex row, they're terribly cramped.

Leaving IFE aside, The FF and early ML series birds have these birds well and truly beaten legroom wise on ALL counts.

In bulkhead J - the older birds have a lot more room, especially on the left hand side

In non-bulkhead J - also more pitch on the older birds

In bulkhead Y - much better on the older birds - greater pitch and the partition doesn't extend all the way to the floor so you can slide your feet underneath.

In emex Y - probably is where they're pretty even stevens, even then the nod goes slightly to the older birds.

In normal Y - the new birds just seem so cramped. the old birds have probably the same pitch, but softer cushions so you sink in a bit more and make more room. This is probably where i'll miss the even older 734's most , which has the entire 738 fleet beaten.

Problem is you don't know which particular 738 goes where - so here's my short seat tip guide:

If in J, always select 1A or 1C. Look up seatmap on the day - if there's a row 30, keep 1A/C. If it ends row 29 - move to row 2/3/4

If in Y, pay for 12/14. If not available at the time- select row 5. 5B and E are always last off being basinnet anyway. If you see row 30 on the day, keep row 5. if you don't - try to move to 12/14 at check in.