I needed to clear out my MH Enrich account as I had no intention to continue with them any longer. I have points accumulating over at QF so I figured it would be better to consolidate all my activity into one account. Being based down under during the last few years, I suppose it was a logical choice.

Thus, I had a slew of options for a one-way JCL ticket in my swansong with Enrich so I began to look at the network to see where should I head to. My plan was to veg out for 2 weeks so I needed a balance of somewhere comfortable and away from the crowd, at the same time not too remote I’d be away from creature comforts.

Langkawi, I haven’t been back there since 1999. A few taps and clicks of the mouse on the Enrich website and 5 minutes later, I was all set to go with a 24hr stopover in KL to do what else but eat and catch up with friends.

Changi Airport – Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport
Malaysia Airlines
MH 604
Boeing 737-8H6 (9M-MXN)
Seat 1A
Business Class
0950 – 1050H
Duration: approx. 1hr

11 Jan 2017

Took an early bus to the airport as I intended to have brekky at the lounge. Although I have checked in and had the boarding pass in my phone, pre-immigration security strangely turned me away and asked me to get a physical one from MH at the counters. Changi, not sure if you’ve realised the world has moved on?

Physical boarding pass was swiftly issued and off I went in search of the lounge. My bad, I should’ve done my research. The Golden Lounge at Changi no longer exists. I arrived at the location where I thought the lounge would be and found it all sealed with major construction going on behind. Headed over to information only to be told MH no longer operates a lounge. Instead, I was invited to use the SATS Premium Lounge.



How times have changed! I was so looking forward to some satay at Golden Lounge. Bummer!

There were no announcements at the lounge for boarding to I thought I’d better make my way there soon. It was a long trek to one end of the F concourse finger pier.

Greeting me at the gate today was 9M-MXN, at the time of writing the aircraft was slightly over 4 years of age. Flying Malaysia Airlines in their 737s is akin to Russian roulette, you’ll never know when you end up in a leased aircraft with a sub-standard non-MH interior which has seen better days. Ah, the interest in putting myself in such precarious situation gets my blood pumping.



Today, MH has decided to grace me with their “normal” 737 equipped with the whole works.

Don’t know why people love to crowd the entrance once boarding announcements have been made, only to be turned away. I was allowed through the heaving mass of people who didn’t seem to understand logic.





Welcomed at the door was cordial by Vera and Rosli (who was the IFS). First thing I noticed was how warm the interior was. I wouldn’t be too concerned if the aircraft was parked overnight and it would normally cool down once we get airborne. However, this plane just landed from KUL and was doing a turn around. Which could only mean one thing, air conditioning wasn’t working.

YCL looked like it was full and JCL had 7 pax.



Pre take off niceties were carried out which consisted of cold towels and drinks. By now, my several passengers were already taking out safety cards from the front pockets. Not that they wanted to find out what to do with oxygen masks, instead we were all in unison physically fanning ourselves to cool down.

Vera went front row to row taking orders for our meals and kudos to her for addressing each and every one of us by our names. We had a choice of:

- Chicken murtabak
- Vegetarian sheperd’s pie

The conversation behind me in Row 2 went something like…

“Good morning Mr X? After take-off we are serving a meal. Would you like chicken murtabak – it is an indian pancake, or the vegetarian sheperd’s pie?”
“If it’s a sheperd’s pie – how can it be vegetarian?”
“Err… Hahahah”

That was one of the most awkward conversations I have ever heard. By the time Vera came to me, she just half-sighed and muttered “vegetarian pie”. Seriously dude, just chill and don’t be a smart ass. The crew was just mouthing off the menu prepared by flight kitchen. I swore I rolled my eyes into another dimension.

Rosli very nicely welcomed the frequent flyers with status individually and thanked them for their patronage, which I thought was a nice touch. Unfortunately, Mr X behind me was one of them. What a dickhead.

With that all done, welcome announcements came on from the IFS followed by the flight crew. Push back was on time while the safety video played on the in front of us. My armrest has a PTV but it remained stowed for this flight, Didn’t feel the need to deploy it.




We were right in the midst of Changi’s morning departure bank and were soon stuck in a line up for take-off on 02C, which I swore happened 5 months later.

It was a beautiful day for flying, we took off and did a left turn over Johor to fly past Johor Bahru. My face was literally plastered to the window as I was mentally eyeing landmarks on the ground like a psycho.



As the gradual climb continued, the crew were soon released to quickly dish out our meals. Vera was observed to speed past us along the aisle to secure the curtains behind. YCL must not see that a meal is being served up front, the resulting pandemonium would be unimaginable.

Because the upper tiered fliers had to be attended to before everyone else (there seemed to be a lot of them) I was the last to be served being seated in 1A, ironically.





The dish came with a daal (Indian spiced lentils) to dip it with. The entire meal set up looked as if the daal had exploded in the oven leaving messy stains everywhere. Rosli saw what I was presented with and leaned over to apologise…

“Mr Soh, please allow me to get you another one. The sauce, this is just too messy.”
“Oh don’t worry, I am so hungry I’ll eat it off the floor! Seriously, don’t worry about it!”

It is little touches like these which separates good and excellent service. The murtabak was actually not too bad despite me not being a fan of daal.

Also, I didn’t want to worry about it because as soon as I took the first bite, flight deck came on the blower to announce we were about to descend for KUL. The dish was really hot, like steaming hot. Couple that with the non-functioning air conditioning, my head was understandably shiny from perspiration. Took me less than 10 mins to chomp down the murtabak.

As Vera came by to clear the tray, she took the time to engage in a little convo.

“All done, Mr Soh?”
“Yep, thanks”
“Chocolate? Wanna keep it?”
“Diet, got to watch my figure. Plus, its really warm and I’m melting!”
“Oh my god, me too”
“What happened? Air con not working?”
“Don’t know what wrong with this aircraft today”

By now, I looked back and realised all of us had very shiny foreheads. I didn’t envy folks behind the curtains. It must be hell being cramped together in this heat! Thankfully this was only SIN-KUL, cannot imagine being stuck any longer in this oven like condition.



We could not have landed any sooner. Thankfully, we didn’t have to taxi far and docked at the main terminal building over at B concourse. As soon as the door opened, I think many of us just ran into the aero bridge, the first blast of air-conditioning never felt so good.

Oh my lord, thanks MH! I felt my pants and the back of my shirt, realised it was thoroughly soaked with perspiration. Urgh!

Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport – Langkawi Int’l Airport
Malaysia Airlines
MH 1432
Boeing 737-8FZ (9M-MLI)
Seat 1F
Business Class
0900 – 1010H
Duration: approx. 1hr 10min

12 Jan 2017

Spent a fantastic day in Kuala Lumpur and its time I continued on to Langkawi. Got an Uber from Intercontinential Hotel in Ampang to Sentral, and from there caught the KLIA Express to Sepang.


I’ve already checked in with my mobile boarding pass in hand, it was very expeditiously scanned at the domestic departure entrance by immigration officers and off I went in search of Golden Lounge. Hear that, Changi? I didn’t have to faff around with a printed boarding pass!





The inside was fairly quiet with a handful of business type people hanging about either looking at their phones or laptops. I just headed straight for the buffet and helped myself to some nasi lemak. There was also a noodle bar serving laksa. Other than that, there were also your run on the mill toast, cereal, yoghurt and fresh fruits. If you weren’t into spicy and needed something warm, then sorry – no eggs and bacon for you.






From the Golden Lounge, you’ll have an awesome view of the A concourse and aircraft parked there would seem like it was within touching distance.

In no time, I found myself heading to the boarding gate. Domestic holding pens in KLIA aren’t enclosed and it seemed today we were operating a full flight out to Langkawi. Once again, we had passengers who didn’t seem to understand English and stood up to crowd the entrance as soon as gate agents made pre-boarding announcements.

Whatever…



Looking outside, 9M-MLI looked set to receive us and this was a new aircraft for me to log. At present, it is about 6.5 years old and a leased aircraft. So, it looked like I got Russian-rouletted this morning.

Gate agents had to holler to the crowd at the entrance to allow families with children and Business Class passengers through. On entering the aircraft, Rosie and Raman (IFS) greeted us at the door and welcomed us in.





On first impressions, it was an older 738 without the Sky Interior. Seats while comfy, looked like they had seen better days. My armrests had missing knobs to operate the seat, so there was no way for me to recline. There was also no footrest. Window shade looked very fragile and the handle was half torn. It felt as if one more attempt to pull it down would be the end of it.


Obviously there’s no seat 6B on MH’s 737s



Rosie came by with drinks and towels followed shortly while boarding was in progress. JCL was eventually filled with the exception of the seat next to me and 1C across the aisle. Thankfully the air conditioning was working on this aircraft.



As boarding for YCL slowed down to a trickle, Rosie went about taking our orders – once again taking the effort to address us all by name. Meal options for this 1hr 10min sector was no different from the flight before, so I opted for the vegetarian sheperd’s pie.

Announcements were made in both Bahasa and English. I have always wondered what was the norm for domestic flights? I have encountered some flights that do announcements entirely in Bahasa and other times it is a mix of both. An English safety video was screened from the ceiling mounted fold down screens as we pushed back on time.



A taxi past the satellite terminal showed multiple heavies in preparation for their morning departure bank.

In no time, we powered down the runway and headed north for a very quick flight towards paradise. Morning mist meant that much of the ground was shrouded and nothing of much interest emerged outside my window.





With curtains quickly drawn behind us, Rosie quickly emerged again to lay down our meal linens. Meal trays then were distributed individually from the galley and we all had our meals in front of us in no time. It helped that more than half the cabin elected not to eat and preferred to sleep.



Let’s see… the vegetarian sheperd’s pie which Mr X on the previous flight had an issue with. It came with a little tin foil of strange looking red sauce with mushrooms in it. At some stage, sauce and pie were supposed to go together but I just didn’t see how. Pie was very bland (did they forget butter?) and the sauce a little too sweet for my liking. It wasn’t MH’s best work,, I have to say.

After 2 attempted bites to like the pie, I left it alone. No amount of sauce would have helped. Perhaps Rosie saw that and decided to leave a packet of nuts on my tray at a later stage.

Now THAT tasted much better!

Rosie came by to collect the trays and asked if I needed a top up for drinks. Nice touch, but I declined. By now, we were cruising above Penang and that also meant we were also descending towards Langkawi.

Arrival announcements came on to prepare the cabin for arrival.


Good morning, Penang!

I was really looking forward to visiting Langkawi again after all this time because it has really been a long while. Being seated on the correct side of the aircraft, I saw Langkawi sleepily looming in the distance seemingly out of nowhere across the vast horizon.





With the cabin secured, we nosed further down for a final approach and landed smoothly down the runway. We finally parked beside a Malindo Air 737 and stairs was connected for us to disembark.



Somethings never change, Langkawi’s charm of a remote bay disembarkation remained true to form and we were left to our own devices to walk a pretty long distance towards the international arrivals portion of the terminal. There was no one to direct us, we just looked out for signs and played follow the person in front. Since I was the first one off the plane, everyone else followed me. However, there were guards on hand to blow loud whistles at us should we attempt any selfies on the tarmac.

Since I had no check in luggage to collect, I was literally out of the plane and into a taxi within 5 minutes.

CONCLUSION

MH was a mixed bag of nuts for me during this trip. The Russian roulette of their 737s reared its ugly head for the 2nd sector. Whatever met us at the boarding gate wasn’t what was advertised. It’s like buying sexy lingerie from a Heidi Klum collection online only to find whatever that was delivered in the box you received only covers one boob.

While I get that different aircraft might be configured depending on needs, having missing knobs and a half torn window shade just doesn’t bode well for an airline that used to be 5-star. Perhaps they key word here is “used to”.

The non-functioning air condition on the 1st sector was definitely a deterrent which stopped me from enjoying what was otherwise a perfect flight. It was stifling. Air nozzles were of no use because they weren’t dispensing cold air and was better off shut. I was very sure if the flight progressed further, passengers would have fainted from the heat.

However, consistently on both flights – the crew was amazing. Once again, we have the airline using shoddy or malfunctioning hardware and had to rely very heavily on apologetic cabin crew to get through the flight. I cannot fault the service protocols of MH. In fact I think they’ve been pretty on the ball especially of late in light of sad events that has happened over the last few years.

From mysterious crashes, to mass retrenchments – the remaining survivors have kept their chin up and has showed me they seem grateful to have made it this far. I salute you, and do continue to provide the excellent service and shoulder the airline’s sometimes unfair burden on yourselves.

Here’s to many more flights on MH!

LANGKAWI


Ombak Villa


Langkawi Skybridge, a perfect setting for Final Destination


Fishing village


Sunset at the hotel


Getting some grilled fish at a fishing village...


... with lots and lots of chilli!


Coming from South Australia, beaches around the world can't compare. But still, it is nice to lay back with a cold drink to relax.

Once again, an amazing trip report, with your trademark brand of humour punctuating the lines.
Thank you!
Sumantra.

Your reports on MH do nothing to inspire confidence in the airline, especially maintenance wise. It doesn't bode well for their future if they can't get the simple little things right. Perhaps that is harsh, but they really are an airline that has to prove itself, especially with so much competition (and as I type this a MH A330 has just flown overhead on descent into SYD!).

Have never been to Langkawi (B is a Penang girl, so that's as far as we get), but the food sure made me feel hungry.

Thank you for the amazing trip report, Ryanair!!!. Your trademark punchline is second to none!

Sorry to hear you got their non-BSI/standard leased B737NG. MH currently has few flying around (9M-MLE- 9M-MLJ), these are largely deploy on domestic flight (PEN and LGK are top offender) and occasionally to regional flying; furthest to TPE). Like what you've metioned it is a Russian roulette. MH was supposed to retire 21 B737NG including all these non standard B737NG during Christoph Mueller's time. However recent development to increase flight to China means they will stay for longer period.

Btw, some passengers prefer the non-standard B737NG over the MH's own since the seat pitch in Y is much longer.

Have a safe journey to Down Under!

sumantra wrote:

Once again, an amazing trip report, with your trademark brand of humour punctuating the lines.
Thank you!
Sumantra.

Howdy! Thanks for stopping by!

allrite wrote:

Your reports on MH do nothing to inspire confidence in the airline, especially maintenance wise. It doesn't bode well for their future if they can't get the simple little things right. Perhaps that is harsh, but they really are an airline that has to prove itself, especially with so much competition (and as I type this a MH A330 has just flown overhead on descent into SYD!).

Have never been to Langkawi (B is a Penang girl, so that's as far as we get), but the food sure made me feel hungry.

I'll be on the A330 tomorrow evening for my red eye back to ADL. Can't wait as this will be my first time trying their new JCL since it was launched. Yes, ADL was one of the last to receive the new seats. I hear what you say about the confidence bit. Sometimes I tear my hair out just looking what they're trying to do. Maybe it's my soft spot for MH, all these years they've stumbled from one issue on to another. Even Chris Mueller himself had admitted trying to turn MH around was a challenge because of the "stubborn old guard" but it isn't impossible. This said old guard mentality is still very evident, unfortunately. Take away the fantastic cabin crew, the airline is literally littered with them. All you need is for something to go wrong and watch what they do with service recovery (or lack of). There are so many horror stories and the internet doesn't forget, unfortunately. So far I've been very lucky and not had any major issues with them and didn't need to resort to writing to the press to ensure my beef with them is heard.

Mmmmm..... Penang. Langkawi has no fight with Penang when food is concerned. However, Langkawi is worth a visit simply because in the space of 17 years I've not been there, NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

juliuswong wrote:

Thank you for the amazing trip report, Ryanair!!!. Your trademark punchline is second to none!

Sorry to hear you got their non-BSI/standard leased B737NG. MH currently has few flying around (9M-MLE- 9M-MLJ), these are largely deploy on domestic flight (PEN and LGK are top offender) and occasionally to regional flying; furthest to TPE). Like what you've metioned it is a Russian roulette. MH was supposed to retire 21 B737NG including all these non standard B737NG during Christoph Mueller's time. However recent development to increase flight to China means they will stay for longer period.

Btw, some passengers prefer the non-standard B737NG over the MH's own since the seat pitch in Y is much longer.

Have a safe journey to Down Under!

OMG Julius, you have no idea how some of us watch the MH 737 ops like a hawk whenever we have to fly. I knew someone who flew one of the non-standard 737s to TPE (in JCL some more!!!) and wound up with a window shade that refused to be pulled down. He was provided with a copy of THE STAR to be shoved against the window for shade. He also order the SFML. Think it was the catering kitchen's off day as well. He basically got the same eggs and potatoes brekky, with an added thin slice of fish to denote it as SFML. Sedih right? Poor guy didn't even have a PTV. Instead he was handed one of those Smarties-A330 era portable entertainment devices.

I really have no qualms about MH limiting these birds to domestic or regional flights lasting no more than a few hours. But to see them as far afield as TPE, BOM or even PER is a bit much lah!

So now, tomorrow evening I will be watching with bated breadth to see which rego will fly me SIN-KUL. Hopefully the air con will be working.

Like everyone else, I see MH making strides in trying to better themselves. Just wish the progress was was a little more consistent.

Cheers
R

A report of the return flight from LGK is available in part 2 of the following report. Link provided below:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1354689

Video of the landing available via the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m02xQQGa7cM

Ryanair!!! wrote:

sumantra wrote:

Once again, an amazing trip report, with your trademark brand of humour punctuating the lines.
OMG Julius, you have no idea how some of us watch the MH 737 ops like a hawk whenever we have to fly. I knew someone who flew one of the non-standard 737s to TPE (in JCL some more!!!) and wound up with a window shade that refused to be pulled down. He was provided with a copy of THE STAR to be shoved against the window for shade. He also order the SFML. Think it was the catering kitchen's off day as well. He basically got the same eggs and potatoes brekky, with an added thin slice of fish to denote it as SFML. Sedih right? Poor guy didn't even have a PTV. Instead he was handed one of those Smarties-A330 era portable entertainment devices.

I really have no qualms about MH limiting these birds to domestic or regional flights lasting no more than a few hours. But to see them as far afield as TPE, BOM or even PER is a bit much lah!

So now, tomorrow evening I will be watching with bated breadth to see which rego will fly me SIN-KUL. Hopefully the air con will be working.

Like everyone else, I see MH making strides in trying to better themselves. Just wish the progress was was a little more consistent.

Cheers
R

Hahas, I know right? Those non standard B737NG is really troll master. Good if it is for short hop, not anything more than two hours. It is kind of sad to deploy such sub par aircraft to lucrative routes such as PER, TPE and BOM as we know those flight are always full. Even D7's A320/A333 seems to be much better than those troll masters. I feel so bad for your friend who got it for TPE. It shows up pretty often for TPE. I won't hold my breath for SIN, but my prayers are for you. CGK, SIN, HCM and BKK have very high chance of getting one. Fingers crossed for you. Even if you get a BSI-one, hopefully the air vent works!

While overall financial status on MH has stabilised and load factor has improved tremendously, there are many obvious details the management has left out, for example long lines at baggage drop counters in early morning at KLIA, support for special needs individuals, Enrich members support service, cabin cleanliness, food presentation, and the continuous downsizing/ closing of MH lounge. They are close to being hybrid airline.

Nice report Ryan! Nice that MH still have hot catering on these short flights, even if it's not 5*.

Regarding the "veg" shepherds pie, that just just need to go into any decent supermarket, find the veg section, and they will soon find that you can buy pretty any meat based dish sold as veg friendly! So it does indeed exist, and may possibly have been correctly labeled (even if I think it's a travesty!)

Wow.. Making my heart nostalgic now. This route was the first and only route I've ever had to chance to fly first class on. Back in 1995. I remember how incredible it was to be able to sit in the very front of a brand new a330-300. Hence the name mh 330 f.c.

Langkawi is beautiful.

How things have changed.

Thank you for posting and bringing back very very dear memories.

Regards,

mh330fc

Wow. The presentation of the meal is so classy, not. Sure it's a short flight and a hot meal is welcome. But aluminium foil in business class? A sturdy plastic container could be substituted - maybe the kind that EK used to have in economy. They could be recycled rather than just scrapped, but I know, MH is trying to reduce costs.

That grilled fish looks yummy.

Hi guys,

sorry for the late reply. Been flying...

gabrielchew wrote:

Nice report Ryan! Nice that MH still have hot catering on these short flights, even if it's not 5*.

Regarding the "veg" shepherds pie, that just just need to go into any decent supermarket, find the veg section, and they will soon find that you can buy pretty any meat based dish sold as veg friendly! So it does indeed exist, and may possibly have been correctly labeled (even if I think it's a travesty!)

We are actually pretty spoilt in Asia as far as short intra-region flights are concerned. The pointy end gets multi course meals dished out on a short hop. However, it gets under my skin when people try to pick apart in-flight catering and go all out to split hairs and find fault. You want a multi awarded meal? Go to a restaurant.

mh330fc wrote:

Wow.. Making my heart nostalgic now. This route was the first and only route I've ever had to chance to fly first class on. Back in 1995. I remember how incredible it was to be able to sit in the very front of a brand new a330-300. Hence the name mh 330 f.c.

OMG I actually remember MH A330s from the first batch when it had a 3-class layout! I remember getting seated in 1A and it had a pinkish seat fabric? I struggled to find a difference between those seats and JCL besides larger seat pitch.

KruegerFlaps wrote:

Wow. The presentation of the meal is so classy, not. Sure it's a short flight and a hot meal is welcome. But aluminium foil in business class? A sturdy plastic container could be substituted - maybe the kind that EK used to have in economy. They could be recycled rather than just scrapped, but I know, MH is trying to reduce costs.

That grilled fish looks yummy.

Yeah I agree the aluminium foil looks a little tacky. I just clocked another JCL flight on MH last week and these aluminium cup made an appearance too. But this time it was satay on a very short hop. Satay isn't meant to be classy. Hehehehe...

I've also seen aluminium foils used to hold sauces in American carriers especially when they serve steak.

Not just grilled fish, but anything seafood which is grilled has my vote.

Cheers and thanks for popping by

Regards
R

Below is the link for the landing video in LGK...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m02xQQGa7cM

Ryanair!!! wrote:

Yeah I agree the aluminium foil looks a little tacky. I just clocked another JCL flight on MH last week and these aluminium cup made an appearance too. But this time it was satay on a very short hop. Satay isn't meant to be classy. Hehehehe...

I've also seen aluminium foils used to hold sauces in American carriers especially when they serve steak.

Not just grilled fish, but anything seafood which is grilled has my vote.

Cheers and thanks for popping by

Regards
R

Are you "experienced" enough on these flights (<1 hour) to know what they usually serve, in business class (or "Golden Club Class" as they still like to print on the baggage tags) of course. I have been served satays and the breakfast with sausage and wedges before but I guess the meal served is very random. From my travel experience on MH throughout the years I can say that they are consistently inconsistent, and are a great example of Malaysia Hospitality. That tagline is very apt but in unfortunate ways as the service industry in Malaysia is sometimes inconsistent and unorganized, while being spectacular at another time, ridiculously rigid in some aspects but very lax in others; sums up MH, really.

rttlnsnk wrote:

Are you "experienced" enough on these flights (<1 hour) to know what they usually serve, in business class (or "Golden Club Class" as they still like to print on the baggage tags) of course. I have been served satays and the breakfast with sausage and wedges before but I guess the meal served is very random. From my travel experience on MH throughout the years I can say that they are consistently inconsistent, and are a great example of Malaysia Hospitality. That tagline is very apt but in unfortunate ways as the service industry in Malaysia is sometimes inconsistent and unorganized, while being spectacular at another time, ridiculously rigid in some aspects but very lax in others; sums up MH, really.

Well, MH will be MH. Patchy progress and sometimes it works, other times it remains to be desired. I suppose this is what gives the airline character. Am sure Bellew is continuing Mueller's momentum of over hauling the carrier after the latter's unexpected departure from the airline. From what I can tell, lots still need to be done but the progress they've made since they allowed an "orang asing" to take over the reigns has been worthy of mention. So far, I like what I see.

Cheers
R