thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 13044 times:
Reason For Trip
One month into the new year, and its Chinese New Years. This meant a short holiday and long weekend. Therefore I decided to head back home to Perth with my family for some relaxation.
03 Feb 2011
Jakarta (CGK) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Garuda GA 820
Aircraft: B737-800
Registration: PK-GFE
1st Flight: 05 Aug 2010
ETD: 0845
ETA: 1145
Flight Time: 1hr 34mins
Seat: 1F (Executive/Business Class)
Pre Flight
Decided to fly Garuda as much as I can on my CGKKUL legs now, mainly due to the fact that GA has stopped using the venerable B733 to KUL and the route is now exclusively served by the B738. As usual I arrived just in time to a very quiet Soekarno Hatta Airport, check in took no less than 5 mins and the next thing I knew I was already in the GA lounge just killing time.
GA International Lounge
Looking out the window of the lounge and what do I see, A Lion Air B739ER, I think Lion has already received in excess of 35 birds of this type
Inflight
Load was pretty light with J only 4 out of 12 seats taken and Y about 60% full. Flight went by quickly and most of my time was spent looking out the window and also catching up on the news.
I personally think GA has one of the best J cabins on the B738’s
Greasy but really nice Fried Rice was served
Goodbye PK-GFE
03 Feb 2011
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Perth (PER)
Malaysia Airlines MH127
Aircraft: A330-300
Registration: 9M-MK?
1st Flight:
ETD: 2010
ETA: 0120 +1
Flight Time: 5hr 10mins
Seat: 5A (Golden Club/Business Class)
Pre Flight
Being a public holiday in KL, I managed to catch up with all my friends for lunch and also coffee. They dropped me back at KLIA with about 1.5hrs to spare before my departure to Perth.
Inflight
Cabin Views of the awful red in J
Inflight Mag and Menu
Bye bye KL
Inflight meal, awful presentation, but tasted really good
Again being a public holiday, the load was pretty light in this sector with J being only about 40% full, didn’t look at the loads in Y though. As usual the crew were great in J and after the meal service managed to chat with a couple of them at the galley. I actually only found out that the crew for the MH127 evening flights like this one I am taking do not layover in Perth, but instead they will return with the same aircraft back to KUL, albeit as passengers, another cost saving measure from management. The crew even admitted they know that this is a really terrible product to be flying on the longer regional routes as the seats and cabin offerings are really out of date. But I was also happy to know that MH will also receive their first of a new batch of A333 in April and in May they will start flying to BNE. And fingers crossed, I am indeed booked to BNE at the end of May so I hope I will get to fly the new bird. By the time we finished chatting I managed to get about 1.5 hrs of sleep before it was time to descent.
My bird after offloading us in PER, waiting for a short 1 hour before her turnaround back to KUL
In no time I was already in my car on the way back home, another flight gone, and another great MH crew.
12 Feb 2011
Perth (PER) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
Malaysia Airlines MH124
Aircraft: B777-200ER
Registration: 9M-MRP
1st Flight: 01 Nov 2004
ETD: 1630
ETA: 2200
Flight Time: 5hr 00mins
Seat: 2K (Golden Club/Business Class)
Preflight
Sadly, as fast as it began, its now time to head back to Jakarta for work. The airport was really quiet today and check in took no more than 3 mins. After check in I just walked around the terminal abit before proceeding to passport control and into the MH lounge. Was told in the lounge that the flight was slightly delayed, but when we pushed back, it was not even 10 mins behind schedule.
My bird and spotting the usual suspects leaving PER on a late sunny afternoon
As usual, airside was just a total mess as a whole load of flights were departing, QF and SQ to SIN, TG to BKK, Pacific Blue to DPS and also a NZ B767 coming in from Auckland.
Inflight
For some reason, by the time I got onboard I was really tired, maybe I just wasn’t really looking forward to going back to work again. But alas, got to earn the dough to finance my travels ☺ ….
Cabin Views
I’m starving, whats there to eat?
Departure views
This was the bush fire that was responsible for the bad air quality in Perth metro area the past week
IFE
Meal was good as usual and after watching a few shows, I dozed off and woke up just before final descent.
And guess what, we docked right next to my bird to CGK the next morning. PK-GMH
Another great flight by MH, as usual!
13 Feb 2011
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Jakarta (CGK)
Garuda GA 819
Aircraft: B737-800
Registration: PK-GMH
1st Flight: 04 Mar 2010
ETD: 0800
ETA: 0900
Flight Time: 1hr 39mins
Seat: 1F (Executive/Business Class)
Preflight
Still sleepy when I got to KLIA. I really walked around like a zombie and stumbled into the lounge where I just sat down and starred into thin air. When boarding was called, it was another zombie walk to the gate. GMH still sitting where I left her last nite
Inflight
Even before pushback I was starting to doze off but not before noticing that this is a pretty full flight to CGK. By the time I realized it, we were already touching down in CGK and yet another end to my adventure. Just took a few shots before I really slept!
My next upcoming adventures, well, actually mostly are for work:
9 March Zurich & Genva in TG F on the A346 and LX A321
15 March London & Paris in TG F on the B744 & B77W
9 April Tokyo & Hiroshima in TG & on the B77W and NH B772
21 April Bali in GA J on the B738 & A332
End May Brisbane with MH all new A333 in J
sq_ek_freak From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2000, 1585 posts, RR: 21 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 12585 times:
GA looks great!
Also out of curiosity, I've noticed you frequent all the major SE Asian carriers quite frequently, with SQ being the glaring exception. Is there a reason for this? Do you prefer TG/MH/GA/CX over SQ?
Initious From Singapore, joined Dec 2008, 1011 posts, RR: 16 Reply 4, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 12472 times:
Hello ThaiA345, thanks for yet another wonderful reports on the usual GA and MH J classes but with a different twist! Envy the flights that you will be taking in the following months - If only I get the chance to fly like you do! TG is really a fine carrier and I will be flying them in J again this month to DXB and I'm sure they won't disappoint.
Do you finance all the F flights on TG by yourself or is it paid for by your company? If it is being paid for then you have a wonderful employer! Nevertheless, looking forward to your never-ending streak of TG First Class TRs!
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 5, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 10346 times:
Quoting nethkt (Reply 1): They are the same as MH's on the B738 and Bangkok Air Airbus A319!
Interesting, did not know MH new B738 also has the same seats
Quoting a1ring23 (Reply 2): Any idea when MH is going to phase out/update J on the older 330s?
Actually they are due to get their 1st of a new batch of A333 in mid April, not sure of the seats in them though. 1st route will be KUL-BNE. and i am booked to fly that bird at the end of May
Quoting a1ring23 (Reply 2): The J class on GA's 738s look nice.
They are my favourite J seats on any narrow body for the time being
Quoting sq_ek_freak (Reply 3): Is there a reason for this? Do you prefer TG/MH/GA/CX over SQ?
I actually like SQ too, but i am reserving them for the long haulers as their regional product is just average. Actually booked 2x on the suites of the A380 in Aug and Dec this year to LAX
[quote=Initious,reply=4]If only I get the chance to fly like you do! TG is really a fine carrier and I will be flying them in J again this month to DXB and I'm sure they won't disappoint.
TG uses the B772A or on rare occasions the B772ER. J seats on the B772A are first gen lie flats (like MH) and on the B772ER are 2nd gen, but still lie flats...and be warned, on the 2ns gen the footrests are really floppy and annoying!
With regards to my flights in F, my company is actually owned by my family, but we put a cap on J flights max. So in my case, sometimes i finance the upgrade to F out of my own pocket or i use my mileage
Initious From Singapore, joined Dec 2008, 1011 posts, RR: 16 Reply 6, posted (2 years 2 months 2 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 9824 times:
Quoting thaia345 (Reply 5): TG uses the B772A or on rare occasions the B772ER. J seats on the B772A are first gen lie flats (like MH) and on the B772ER are 2nd gen, but still lie flats...and be warned, on the 2ns gen the footrests are really floppy and annoying!
I've flown both the lie flats you mentioned. For those on the 772A which will be operating my flight, it is similar to those on the A346 and I can say that the footrests are quite floppy and I was worried that they might fall off anytime! By all means I'm not a small sized person. Those on the 77E seems nicer with the larger TV screens and the seats are more comfortable. Do not have much memory about the footrests but I guess there was not much of an issue with them.
Unsure if you are aware of this but I actually flew the same airplane and same seat as you on my BKK-SIN flight, on the Boeing 777-2D7/ER HS-TJS on seat 12A.
thaia345 From Indonesia, joined Oct 2006, 814 posts, RR: 17 Reply 7, posted (2 years 2 months 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 8657 times:
Quoting Initious (Reply 6): Those on the 77E seems nicer with the larger TV screens and the seats are more comfortable. Do not have much memory about the footrests but I guess there was not much of an issue with them.
Actually on the 77E's the entire lower part of the foor rest (from your shins downwards) are really floppy....
Quoting Initious (Reply 6): Unsure if you are aware of this but I actually flew the same airplane and same seat as you on my BKK-SIN flight, on the Boeing 777-2D7/ER HS-TJS on seat 12A.
That i didn't know hahhaah so who warmed up whose seat here? ehehehhehe
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