9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 21 Reply 2, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 14627 times:
Tag U! Thank you for being the first one to reply.
PK-YTJ is surely one very old aircraft, her first flight was back on 7 November 1978 with Brittania Airways, that's make her almost 31 years old now (she's even older than me). That kind of interiors (holes in the cabin, damaged seats etc) are what make flying is so much thrilling in Indonesia. You know the feeling of "Oh my gosh, we are going to crash but we are not!" and such when taking on this kind of airlines.
The KCH-KUL sector was actually my very last flight with MH on domestic sector where a selection of 2 hotmeals inside a tray was offered to the passengers. At that time, some flights have started to give out the snacboxes (mark I). Since I was fasting, I skipped the meal service so I didn't know what was offered on that day, but I bet it was Chicken with Rice together with Fish and Potato as per the usual affair. I was actually wished the snackboxes were dished out on that flight, so that at least I can take it home, you know, get more for my money. All my flights with MH afterwards (domestic and within South East Asia with the exception of certain routes) were served with the snackboxes.
Zonks From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 166 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 14599 times:
MHTripple7 From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 1050 posts, RR: 5 Reply 6, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days ago) and read 14457 times:
GREAT idea and good sense of humor. I've never heard of Batavia Air. Thanks for sharing.
9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 21 Reply 7, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 14411 times:
Thank you so much for the compliments guys, greatly appreciate it.
@MHTriple7
Batavia Air is one of Indonesia's largest low cost carrier and happened to be the largest airline operating in PNK (in West Kalimantan, Borneo), where I started the journey. KCH (my transit point) was one of the 2 international destinations that the airline serves (the other one being CAN).
What most interesting about Batavia Air (7P) to me is that they have quite a handsome fleet of ancient Boeing 737-200 Advance series, most of which are in their late 20s and early 30s and used to serve in the US in their heyday back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Who could have imagine this strong 'retirees' still serving the friendly skies?
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 8, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 14363 times:
Hi 9MMAR,
brilliant idea to post this cartoon tripreport. Very original, as well very informative and good to read.
Nice to fly on the old B732, although I would hesitate slightly when such an aircraft is waiting for me in Indonesia. The interior is not taken care of since some time, and therefore I highly doubt about other parts inside the aircraft (how have they taken care of other mechanical items?).
Nevertheless, great to see it still in action, and also MH seems to do well with their older B734's. Only got positive experiences on MH myself, flew them 3 times (B772 and B744), but indeed their crew are among the best I've ever seen.
Regards,
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
9V-SPJ From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 740 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 14310 times:
Great new, innovative way of posting a trip report!
9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 21 Reply 11, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 14200 times:
Again, thank you very much guys for the kind words!
@Airbuseric
While there are some security concerns over Batavia Air, I guess I was lucky to have flown them on 44 sectors, the majority of which onboard these ageing Boeing 737-200 Advance series aircrafts, without any incident. Here is my FlightMemory page for your viewing pleasure. http://my.flightmemory.com/9MMAR
MH's Boeing 737-400, a total of 37 aircrafts in the active fleet at the moment, will start being decommisioned beginning late 2010 as the new batch of 35 Boeing 737-800s, which MH purchased at the Farnborough Air Show in 2008, will be joining the fleet. MH at the moment has leased 3 ex XL Airways' Boeing 737-800s from ILFC as some sort of preparation to operate the variant.
Ryanair!!! From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4652 posts, RR: 27 Reply 13, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 14005 times:
interesting format....
For the benefit of readers...
Para (or pada??) penumpang yang terhormat, kita telah tiba di Bandar Udara Internasional Kuching Malaysia. Waktu di Kuching adalah satu jam lebih awal waktu di Pontianak bla bla bla....
Dear respected passengers, we will be arriving in Kuching International Airport. Time in Kuching is one hour earlier (awal) from Pontianak (shouldn't it be the other way around? I thought PNK is an hour behind KCH?) bla bla bla...
Welcome to my starry one world alliance, a team in the sky!
9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 21 Reply 14, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 13833 times:
@Traveladdict
Batavia Air's tagline is Trust Us to Fly. I trusted them and so should you. Haha...
@Ryanair!!!
I am pretty sure it's Para penumpang = PassengerS
Waktu di Kuching adalah satu jam lebih awal dari waktu di Pontianak. So if it is 1 pm in PNK, it will be 2 pm in KCH (satu jam lebih awal = an hour ahead of). I think you got confused with my definition. Or was I confused with my own definition?
Abrelosojos From Venezuela, joined May 2005, 4915 posts, RR: 55 Reply 15, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 13554 times:
Wonderful TR format. I wish I could be even 1% as creative as you . One suggestion - perhaps increase the picture size? Thanks for sharing, and the time you put into it.
Traveladdict From Malaysia, joined Feb 2009, 45 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 13468 times:
Satu jam lebih awal could mean Kuching is "quicker" thus it's 2pm in Kuching and 1pm in Pontianak, or it could mean "earlier" thus 2pm in Pontianak and 1pm in Kuching. It's all quite confusing. There wouldn't be a way to tell from an announcement like that what time it was. "Para" is a common word in Indonesia, similar to Malay's "Kepada".
Ba319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8259 posts, RR: 56 Reply 17, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 13019 times:
Hi,
First off, very creative, I'm very impressed, thanks for the time & effort put it this, however, not really my idea of a TR, it's too comic book for me.
RGElectra80 From United States of America, joined Dec 2008, 358 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (4 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 12845 times:
Awesome! Thanks for taking your time to make this.
Feel free to check out my Flight Diary: flightdiary.net/alenart
ThaiA345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 19, posted (4 years 2 months 2 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 12686 times:
Hi Boss!!
Another great and brilliant TR from you. The comic strip style is something different and nice to read, however, the only draw back is that the pictures came out a little bit on the small side.
Anyways, where do the 3 ex-XL airways B738 fly to? What seats do they have in J?
9MMAR From Malaysia, joined Jul 2006, 2099 posts, RR: 21 Reply 20, posted (4 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 12502 times:
Thank you so much guys for the responses.
@Abrelosojos
I have the comic strip trip report saved in a larger size file, but they seemed impossible to be uploaded into the hosting website. But maybe I'll try putting lesser photographs in each page in my next composition, if I decided to make one. And it took a significantly less time to complete when compared to the normal essay trip reports that I have posted before.
@ThaiA345
Maybe I'll continue with this format for trips that are too routine for me (like your CGK-KUL sector), where we have only little to say and photograph about it.
The leased B738s are currently being deployed to domestic routes. 9M-MLA has been spotted many times in PEN, KCH and KBR. I think 9M-MLC is still being tested. All this aircrafts are inheriting the old XL Airways interior. The Business Class cabin shares the same seats as those in the Economy Class.
MH responded about the issue of Business Class passengers being assigned with this Economy Class seats in the other forum.
Quote: We have recently leased 3 B737-800 aircraft. Customers will notice some differences in the seat arrangement, seat pitch and recline. The aircraft has a 3 seat configuration. For our business class customers’ comfort and convenience, the middle seat will be left empty. We are aware that there have been complaints and we are currently doing service recovery.
This is a short-term arrangement while we wait for our new B737-800 aircraft which will be delivered at the end of next year.
We regret the inconvenience.
Thank you.
Regards,
Dr Amin Khan
Senior General Manager, Network Revenue Management
Malaysia Airlines
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. One suggestion - perhaps increase the picture size? Thanks for sharing, and the time you put into it.
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