Dear all,

Here is my Chinese New Year return to Hong Kong trip report! First off, just want to wish everyone KUNG HEI FAT CHOY and Happy Chinese New Year! Safe trips to wherever you are heading! Due to the last minute nature of this trip and the limitation of my time frame (I had a dinner earlier that evening and could not get to the airport till 9:30pm), my choices are limited and I was checking kayak and orbitz, and accidentally found this “A” (Buy J, Upgrade to F) fares on Malaysian Airlines for USD $2400 (one-way), and my other choices are Korean Air or Asiana, which left around midnight, but the price is about the same. I have also considered flying EVA, which is a bit cheaper but I am not that impressed with its Premium Laurel Class, so why not go for Malaysian, especially I have always wanted to fly its first cabin and I can no longer use NW miles to issue one. So I booked that ticket to Taipei, and then a separate CX ticket to Hong Kong. (There will be no CX report, since it was a short TPE flight on a boring regional Airbus A330-300. But I overheard a lady telling the F/As that the new business class product is disappointing. The seat is too narrow, and the purser tells her that the seat should be better on longer segments. I feel bad for the CX F/As, who have to answer the bad “new” business class products almost at all flights, even on a seemingly unrelated flight.)

February 4, 2008
MH 95 LAX-TPE Lv2335 Arr0610+2 Boeing 747-400 9M-MPP Putrajaya

Photo Link:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QbNHDNy5bqKJo

Check-in:
Los Angeles’ Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) was not as busy as I anticipated due to the Chinese New Year holidays, and since I arrived two hours prior to arrival, the check-in area was very deserted. MH was located on the furthest right row (Row F) and the first couple of counters. The security person immediately asked if I was in first class, which I replied “yes,” and he immediately added the unique first class priority tags to my two pieces of check-in bags. I asked for luggage identification tags and he immediately went to the back room and got me a couple baggage identification tags, not to mention those are special first class luggage tags. The wait was pretty long for first class standard and the parties in front of me seemed to have some ticketing problems. The agents were also slowed to react and none of them spotted me at the first class line, till I waved to the agent, who was the security personnel managing the check-in line. The check-in agent was polite and addressed me by my last name. They had problems reading my passport, but had no problems tagging my bags all the way to Hong Kong. The agent thanked me and my bags were taken to the security checkpoint by one of the security agents, and the agent also came back to me and told me that my bags were through. Very nice and thorough service! For folks traveling through TBIT, the procedure is check-in with the airline first and then you have to bring your bags to the TSA security checkpoint, which is now located in the middle between airline check-in counters at each aisle. They are clearly marked, but lots of construction is still going on, which never seem to go away, or just prove that TBIT is simply too small to handle the increased international traffic.

Lounge:
Security checkpoints were fine and I was through within fifteen minutes. The check-in agent did not tell me which lounge to use, but since I know MH does not belong to any alliance yet, I just go to the generic airline lounge located below the Oneworld carriers. China Airlines, El Al, Air Tahiti Nui, EVA Air, and a number of non-alliance affiliated airlines share the Los Angeles International Airport lounge. The elevator on our side was broken this evening, and we had to walk up the stairs and I felt bad for the OW passengers, who had to climb two sets of stairs, and if you need elevator, a guard has to escort you to a special elevator, which had to be accessed through some secured area. There is a separate first class section, which is okay. The décor is very business-oriented and more functional than luxury. It lacks the modern touch. There is complimentary wireless Internet access, and the food and drink selection is fairly limited with some vegetarian sushi rolls, cut fruits, sandwiches, and some of the typical packaged snacks, some cheese and crackers. I stayed around to read emails using the free wifi service. Then I headed towards the gate area, which was definitely busy. I guess everyone checked in really early these days, so the non-chaotic scene at the check-in area was just a mirage. Arriving two hours prior to departure is a bit late these days.

List of planes I saw this evening:
EVA Air Boeing 777-300ER B-16705 (the earliest evening LAX departure) and the second one used a bus gate this evening
China Airlines’ Boeing 747-400 B-18215
Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 747-400 B-HUE (CX 881 and a downgrade of 74J to 744)
Korean Air’s Boeing 747-400 HL-7488
Qantas Airways’ Boeing 747-400ER VH-OED to SYD (from JFK) at T-4

Boarding:
Boarding began early at 10:50pm at Gate 101, the furthest gate from the terminal and also the future A380 gate. (If you ask me, I still don’t think that gate is ready for A380 yet, and just thinking the passengers at the sitting room, there will simply be not enough seats for all A380 gates, plus all the jumbo jets nearby. I hope LAX plans on expanding the sitting room.) The agent was efficient and the line was managed properly and there was a separate priority line. The agent thanked me by using my last name, and once I entered the plane, the F/A immediately found a colleague to escort me to my seat, 2K, this evening. The F/As were friendly, and Liza immediately hang up my jacket, and her male colleague, (forgot his name but was very tall), immediately came by to offer me a drink and made some small talks with me regarding going back to Asia for the New Year. I bought a box of brownies for the crew, since it was the New Year, and they definitely appreciated them. The flight definitely started off with a good note. The menu and wine list were already at the seat, and I will get back to my thoughts later. A glass of Dom Perignon and a warm hot towel was the first service. Newspapers and magazines were spread out at the central console and I helped myself to the LA Times (as I was really nervous for Hilary on this Super Tuesday matter) and USA Today. Malaysian papers were also offered, but I did not see any Taiwanese papers, which were a bit disappointing, since the plane came in from Taipei, and loading extra copies of papers should be easy. Boarding was completed soon and door was closed at 11:28pm, and F class was almost completely full with only 1A and 1K remained unoccupied.

Flight fact:
We pushed back at 11:36pm, which was pretty quick for this busy time at TBIT, and head to R/W25R. After a Qantas’ Boeing 747-400 took off, we took our turn and lifted off at 11:48pm. Our estimated flying time was fourteen hours and twenty-five minutes, but later we were able to cut ten minutes from it. The flight route took us across the Ventura County and we climbed up to 32,000feet, as we crossed the California inland area and headed towards San Jose, San Francisco, Concord, Napa, Ukiah, before heading off the coast as we left the US inland after passing Eureka. We traveled along the Canadian and Alaskan coast, and climbed up to 34,000feet before crossing the Kodiak Islands and the Alaskan city of Egegik, and climbed up to 36,000feet as we crossed the Being Sea, and crossed tip of Kamchatka, and Kurile Islands, and climbed to 38,000feet as we entered the Japanese airspace through the city of Fukushima. We flew past Aizuwakamatus, Ueda/Nagano, Matsumoto, Kuwana, Kyoto, Osaka Itami Airport, Kobe, and Takamatus, which we climbed to 40,000feet, our final cruising attitude. We passed by cities of Nobeoka, and Kagoshima, before heading straight towards Taipei. We hit some moderate turbulence at 2:09am, 5:07am, 9:04am, and 11:58am.

Cabin and seats:
The new Malaysian Airlines’ first class cabin is nicely designed and I am able to take one picture after landing at Taipei. The cabin has eight single seats along two sides, and two pairs of seats in the middle for couple traveling together. The seats are similar to SwissAir current first class seats but MH uses a warmer shade of blue color and a burgundy red colored headrest. The cabin was open and airy, and the seat was well padded and very comfortable in upright position. One of the nicest design is the abundant of the use of classic window shades, and instead, there is an electronic controlled window shades, and the F/As can close all the window shades at one time without bothering passengers and similar when arrival. And there are two electronic button on the seat console, and the first one was the window directly next to you, and the other button is for the three windows in front of you. You can adjust the window height. A very clever design but just wonder, what happen if the button was broken? Will it be a big hassle to fix it?

What I like about the cabin/seat?
1. I really like the color of the fabric of the seat, as well as the related bedding materials. The seat is very comfortable, and you can select a large number of seating positions, and the stool in front can be used as a small storage area, as well as for your foot, as well as a seat if you have a partner, who wants to share a meal with you, but that seat will not be too comfortable though. I indeed saw a couple having the supper together.
2. The Personal Television (PTV) is huge and the dining table is also huge. They are fairly easy to access.
3. I really like the placement of the outlet (and yes it does not need any special EmPort or whatsoever), which is at the bottom near the stool. It makes sense and the electrical cord won’t be placed in an awkward position.
4. Another important aspect is the comfort level when in the bedding position, which is pretty nice. The seat is well padded and the additional bedding provided by MH is nice. There is a mattress pad, as well as large size pillow and a comfortable silk blanket, which feel very nice and keep you warm. The blanket is also long enough to cover me from neck to feet.

What I don’t like about the cabin/seat?
1. My first major complain is the lack of meaningful storage space. There is a small storage bin for shoes and some kinds of reading materials at the stool, and there is a small bin for glasses and small items right next to the seat and next to the entertainment control console. Then there is a similar size small storage bin next to the stool, which is not that useful as it is not accessible. There is no space for a computer bag, and everything has to go to the overhead bin. If it is a full flight, there will be not enough storage space based on the assumption that everyone brings a personal item and a roller on suitcase.
2. Privacy – this seat is nice, but as you can tell, there is not much privacy, which most F passengers seem to value. It does not bother me much but it can use a larger partition screen, which can also used for an additional personal light.
3. Lighting situation – this is not really a seat problem, and also a personal problem. As you can tell from my pictures, they are blurry because there is no way that I can take a good cabin picture without using the flash. The mood lighting is fine with me – especially slowly brightening during breakfast, but I think each seat can use one more set of light, and I don’t know why the airline won’t activate one more set of the reading light. There are three light bulbs above each seat, and why not activate all of them. I like bright lights for reading and the personal lamp is not that adjustable, as the arm of the lamp is not flexible or movable.

There are two first class bathrooms and one on each side, which makes good sense, and I don’t know why some airlines have to place two bathrooms side by side. The bathrooms are large, filled with amenities, and kept clean by the cabin crew throughout the flight.

Meal service:
I think Malaysian Airlines has cut back too much in this aspect and the meals between first and golden club class are almost identical, with a few exceptional differences. I don’t have problems with first and business class sharing some appetizer choices or entrée choices, but I have a problem when first and business class are offered the same number of courses of meals, and as you all know, I care about food and before making any further comment, I believe for first class, a proper main meal service should offer a beverage with canapé service (satays are fine), a proper appetizer course (at least two choices), a soup or salad course (should be both really), a proper entrée course, a dessert service, a proper cheese and fruit board, and then a tea & coffee service with pralines/sweets/cookies. For supper, there can be modification and folks indeed want lighter food items, which has more to do with quantity and quality of food and selection of ingredient at each course, and the cheese plate can be eliminated. Most importantly, first class passengers should be offered more flexibility and should be given the choices to order a fuller meal or a lighter meal. I asked for the menu for the inbound flight KUL to TPE, and TPE to LAX, and let me tell you, the supper service on a late LAX-TPE flight actually had a heartier meal offered with more choices of food then the full lunch service from KUL to TPE, or the first meal service from TPE to LAX. When I look at menus from past MH first class flights, more food was offered then, and lots of cutbacks had occurred, which was sad to see.

However, I am impressed with the satay starters, the nice dessert service, and the fact that Dom Perignon is still offered, which many airlines have long abandonned.

Here is the transcript of the wine list and menu (which I include the TPE-KUL segment, even though I did not fly that sector):
Beverage and Wine List
Champagne
Dom Perignon

Red Wines
Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel 2004, Sonoma Country
Chateau Laroque 2002, AOC St-Emilion Grand Cru Classe

Whites Wines
Rustenberg Chardonnay 2005
Chartron Et Trebuchet St. Aubin Premier Cru Chaterniere 2002

Los Angeles to Taipei
Our Signature Appetizer
Malaysian Satay
Served with Cucumber and Raw Onion in a Dipping Peanut Sauce
Marinated in fresh shallots, turmeric, garlic, galangal and lemongrass and char-grilled over a charcoal fire. This traditional dish available in chicken and/or beef epitomizes the flavors and passions of Malaysia

Fresh from the Oven
Enjoy a variety of bread fresh from the oven
Served with unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil

Appetizer
Crab Bisque
A Tasty Crab Bisque Made from Dungeness Crab
Served with Crab Meat and Diced Tomato with Cilantro Pesto Croutons
Or
Seared Ahi Tuna
Complemented with Basil and Zucchini Coulis
Or
Fresh Fine Lettuce Salad
Lightly tossed in Balsamico

Main Course
Grilled Beef Tenderloin
Served with its own jus and Accompanied by Parsnip Mashed Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables
Or
Steamed Fish Oriental
Steamed Cod Fish with Ginger and Spring Onion
Complemented with Steamed Rice and Stir-Fried Chinese Green and Carrot
Or
Lemon Chicken Tangine
A Delicious Lemon Chicken Moroccan Style
Complemented with Bulghur Wheat Salad and Lemon Confit
Or
Gnocchi Pasta with Goat Cheese
Sautéed Gnocchi Pasta Accompanied by Shiitake Mushroom, Cherry Tomato and Soft Goat Cheese

Dessert
Chocolate Lava Cake
Served with Vanilla Sauce
Have it plain or topped with ice cream
Or
Fruit Bavaroise
Served with Raspberry Coulis
Have it plain or topped with ice cream
Or
Fresh Cut Seasonal Fruit
The healthy choice, plain or topped with ice cream

Ice Cream

Selection of Gourmet Coffee and Tea

For a savory end to a meal, we also serve selected cheeses with crackers and dried fruit, available on request.

Moments of Indulgence
There’s nothing quite like a hot cup of tea or coffee when you’re lost in a good book or engrossed in a movie 39,000ft in the air.
In addition to the range of teas and coffees to soothe and rejuvenate, we also offer a range of snacks both hot and cold. Whatever your fancy, from muesli bars to filled rolls, chocolate, fresh fruit or a helping of noodle broth with shredded chicken, tofu and seafood, or just cheese and crackers, let us know.

Perk Up Breakfast
As a starter to our Breakfast Service, we are pleased to offer a hydrating and nutritionally replenishing Health Drink made up of yogurt, honey, cereals and fruit juices.

Breakfast Starters
Variety of Fruit Juice
Fresh Cut Seasonal Fruits
Muesli or Cornflakes
Served on request with your choice of Full Cream or Low Fat Milk

Fresh from the Oven
Enjoy a variety of bread and pastry from the oven
Served with butter, jam, honey or marmalade

Main Course
Vegetable Frittata
Italian Style Vegetable Omelette
Served with Hash Brown Potatoes, Chicken Sausage and Vine Ripe Cherry Tomato
Or
Nasi Lemak
A Traditional Malaysian Breakfast served with Prawn Sambal
This Fragrant Delight of Rice, Cooked in Coconut Milk and Pandan Leaves, Hits Just the Right Spot with its Spicy Sambal Accompaniment Achovies, Cucumber and Boiled Egg Complete the Meal.
Or
Mixed Fruit Crepes
Caramelized Banana with Golden Raisin Crepes
Served with Assorted Berries Coulis

Taipei to Kuala Lumpur
Brunch
Fruit Yogurt
Fresh Cut Seasonal Fruit

Fresh from the Oven
Enjoy a variety of breads fresh from the oven
Served with butter, jam, honey or marmalade

Main Course
Braised Chicken Italian Style
Braised Chicken with Tomato Basil Sauce
Served with Italian Flat Noodles, Buttered Carrot and Broccoli
Or
Sweet and Sour Prawns
Complemented with Egg Fried Rice and Chinese Mixed Vegetables
Or
Cheese and Mushroom Omelette
Accompanied by Chicken patties, Sauteed Potato with Onion, Cherry Tomato and Asparagus spears

Dessert
Lime Cheese Cake
Served with Strawberry Coulis

Selection of Gourmet Coffee and Tea

For the supper service, I had the soup, which is a nice Crab Bisque soup – rich and full of crabmeat, but shouldn’t a lighter clear soup be served at this kind of late night flight. The breadbasket is relatively weak compared to most of the Asian airlines, and only a choice of thin garlic bread, olive ciabatta roll and wheat rolls. There should be four choices of bread for first class. The entrée was disappointing even though the presentation is supper. The fish tastes fine and moist, but there is this strong fishy smell. The dessert is nice. To be honest, I am fine with the food for the supper, but will really appreciate a separate appetizer course (a proper course like the seared ahi tuna), followed by a soup and salad course. There is an optional cheese plate, but fresh fruit should at least be offered after dessert course. Proper pralines should also be offered. It is first class right?

For mid flight snack, a snack basket is offered at the galley, which features prepackaged cheese wedges, crackers, Planter’s Peanuts, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars, and apples, as well as a pita bread sandwich filled with sliced chicken breast, sliced tomato, dill pickles and lettuce.

I also think the breakfast service should be a little bit more sumptuous, as the supper service is a bit lighter. The cereal service is optional, but I feel like a more formal cereals or yogurt course should be offered like other major Asian and European airlines. The special breakfast energizer drink this morning was strawberry smoothie. The fruit plate features sliced melon, cantaloupe, and pineapple, as well as a bunch of grapes. For breadbasket, it offers more variety this time, with a choice of croissants, wheat toasts, soft breakfast roll, and blueberry muffins. I had the crepe, which is filled with caramelized bananas, and tasted great. I ended the meal with more chamomile tea.

I have to say the meal service in MH first class suffers too much cutbacks, and a few more courses can easily make the meals more first class style, and MH should pay more attention in differentiating the meal services between first and business class, other than the superficial use of different plates, linens, and presentation style.

Flight Attendants:
Malaysian Airlines definitely has a high quality flight attendant team, which is friendly, polite, and helpful. They are able to communicate with passengers and give a more personalized touch. They addressed me by my last name at all time, and always smiled. However, there are few areas that they can work on, such as telling passengers about the optional items at the menu. The menu states that you can have cheese plate after dessert or cornflakes during breakfast, but you really have to ask for it, and the F/As won’t offer to you automatically. The water round is a bit less attentive in the first half of the flight, especially MH does not have individual bottled water services like most airlines these days, so I am more attentive to my water glasses not being filled up. (This is for the management – there should be a proper water glass, to be more specific, water glass without a stem, and really individual bottled water is almost standard these days. Don’t cut back on this relatively inexpensive item!) I also want to thank Liza and the rest of her colleagues for providing wonderful services throughout the flight, and they deserve high marks. I think MH F/As are up to par with other Asian airlines and the personal factor is very high.

Amenities:
I took pictures of the high quality La Prairie amenity kit, pajama and slippers. They are all high quality items and they are on par with Asiana, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore Airlines.

Entertainment:
On demand system is available with a good choices of Western and Asian choices of movies, and videos. The game function is great, and the i-explorer (Sky Map) is great to play with. However, the entertainment choices are not as good as SQ or CX though. I also give high marks to the system, which works perfectly and does not have delay reaction towards the controls, and everything works smoothly, which is surprisingly important these days because many airlines rush to offer these high quality entertainment system, but suffer poor reliability.

Landing:
Descent started at 1:33pm LA time/5:33am Taiwan local time, and Taipei was pretty cloudy, misty and windy this morning, and not much view to see until passing the broken cloud layer at 3000feet. After passing the final cloud layer and some light chops, the landing gears came down at 6am, and we touched down on R/W6 at 6:03am and parked at gate B5 five minutes later (two minutes prior to scheduled arrival time).

Conclusion:
I paid the “J to upgrade to F” fare, so my expectation is really not that high. MH fulfills and surpasses my expectation in many ways, and the friendly and personable F/As made redeye flights, a personal dislike, more tolerable, and the seat is very comfortable for a long overnight flight, and I like the overall ambience and décor of the cabin. The use of the blue and burgundy red color tone on the fabric of seats and cabin amenities work well. My major problems are first the lack of lighting at the cabin during the boarding phase (brighter light should be turned on especially when you try to store bags and doing those mundane things), and more personal light options need to be added to the seats, and lastly the lack of storage spaces for books and magazines, and larger storage space for a computer or personal bag. The meal service is satisfactory, but really lack the special first class touch. I feel like that I am having the same old supper on business class, but simply served in a nicer plate and served individually, instead from a cart, and once again, MH should restore a separate appetizer service, followed by soup or salad immediately on all lunch, supper, dinner, or light repa service, and the F/As should be encourage to remind passengers about those optional meal courses. The meals simply lack that additional magical first class touch. The new amenity kit is nice and I am glad to see MH introducing sleepwear and high quality items. The bathrooms are well stocked and most importantly, kept clean throughout the flight. Real cloth towels were used and there was a clearly marked trash bin for those cloth towels. For this fare, I think MH does a good job, but if it aims to lure full fare F passengers, more work need to be done especially a desperate need to improve the quality and quantity of meals and better ground experiences at out-stations like LAX.

Next Report will be on BA Club World!

Carfield