freddo

On to the trip!

MAS has had a series of very generously discounted fares, in Business and Economy. Granted, their product in C is really yesteryear, with the lie-flat seats that slope so much. Still, when you're out looking for a bargain, and happen to spot a good sale to Los Angeles, it's hard to resist! Couple that with a week's holiday to burn, it was easy to piece an itinerary.

Finally, we're flying off

KUL-NRT
MH92
BOEING 777-200


The journey to the airport was like any other. Taxi arrived, taxi departed (drove very fast) and taxi arrived airport. Being deposited across MAS' premium check in counters saved some lugging of the bags!


Selamat Datang

In a nicely 'segregated' area, lies MAS' premium class and Enrich Gold check in counters. Whilst Enrich Platinum and First Class passengers benefit from even further segregation with plants and frosted glass (to avoid the prying eyes of lowly Business and Enrich Golds) -us 'lowly scrum' have similarly designed counters, which seem to "allow for greater 'interaction' with passengers" 'ala-CX F' I was told.


Either way, there was an army of personnel waiting to: 1) take and tag my bag ...2) do the actual check in ... 3) stand and look pretty/handsome. There wasn't any queue, and I was cheerfully checked in.


"Selamat jalan Mr Freddo" they quipped, as I made my escape from the army of kebaya clad ladies and green suited men.

CHECK-IN SCORE: 10/10

Security was fast, laptop-in-bag, shoes on. I made my gateway to the Golden lounge, Satellite.

Shall we lounge?



The MAS golden lounge, KLIA, is the flagship lounge for MAS. Dare I liken it to the Galleries in LHR, or SilverKris in SIN? We shall soon see.

Whilst vast, it was filled with passengers. There was a breakfast buffet being offered, featuring very tasty nasi lemak with rendang, Western options and some pastries...but let's face it. This is no CX The Wing, or SQ SKL. The furniture is chipped, there is a lack of workstations, lose wiring at the TV, electrical company ads (oh the horror) and wierd dark corners, devoid of furniture. The liquor is well hidden, and seating, whilst comfortable, provide no privacy nor feel of exclusivity. The toilets (horror)- old, chipped, dirty tiles...no shower attendants...oh my, this isn't really the flagship of a 5-star airline is it?

And if you want to sleep? Forget it. Every 5 minutes (I kid you not, I timed it) there were announcements:

1) Flight to London
2) Mr and Mrs X for flight to Dhaka
3) Final call for flight to London
4) Mr X please go to gate now, Mrs X is waiting
5) Absolute final call for London, please leave now, gate closes in 5 minutes
6) Absolute absolute final call for London (you'd think it'd have flown off already)
7) oh, did we miss Hong Kong in between? Calling Hong Kong now...
7) repeat all steps for every flight

...and in between, just when you thought you get a second of silence, bing-bing it goes on again, and then off...like they pushed it mistakenly.

Note: Any Enrich member can pay a fee to access the lounge. So, if you want to check it out, flying in Y, just join Enrich online and pay the fee...I recall it was around...USD30?

LOUNGE SCORE: 4.5/10- only because it had nice food

To the Plane!
"Welcome onboard sir, first row on your right please..."


Old is gold, they say, but the same doesn't hold for airplane seats. The fabric is clean, and seems newly re-upholstered, but the seat is just...old- it slopes, very much, when fully reclined. My my, it didn't seem like I'd have a good night's sleep. Of course, MAS has never been a prime candidate for the latest in seats and gizmos (unlike her more glamorous sister, SQ) There was a nice, quilted blanket on every seat, and a pillow. Now, when this 777-200 was first configured, it had a First class, Golden Club and economy class. During the cabin refurb some years back, they did away with First, resulting in a very spacious Business class cabin. The seat pitch is one of the best I've seen. Amongst carriers that still use these first-gen lie flat seats anyway.

"Anything to drink?"..."and you?" a drinks round followed, as passengers streamed in. Service wasn't as warm as I'd expected, and last name use was certainly not the norm...which is hardly surprising for a non-Asian carrier...but MAS? The famed MAS, who a couple of years back proclaimed MH = Malaysian Hospitality? Service was acceptable, but a shining example of crew was probably a single Japanese crew member, who was polite, patient and always wore a big smile. There were a few other stewards and a stewardess who forced a few smiles when needed. Otherwise, service was strictly just...service. Nothing wrong, but nothing memorable either. No one went out of their way to make you feel particularly welcome. Tumi amenity kits were handed out, and they were outfitted with miniature Clarins products. The bathrooms, on the other hand were stocked with Aigner for him and her. Very aged ones, I must add, as the bottles were so faded and obviously constantly refilled to the point that you had to squint to see you were not splashing aftershave instead of hand lotion.

Let's dine


I would be lying if I said I was hungry, but for the sake of journalism, I shall partake in today's offerings. Oh, who am I kidding? If anything, people have always been telling me of how fantastic the food on MAS is. Forget booking the cook, or having a sky-chef (oops, I meant a food decorator with fancy cap) on board. MAS food ranks high up there. High expectations, let's see if it's met.



Unlike the liquor in the lounge, MAS doesn't hide it's world-famous Satay. One of the benefits of flying in MAS' premium cabins on longer routes are these "Charcoal, hand-grilled chicken and beef skewers with peanut sauce and traditional accompaniments - now, before I go further into detail, I've lived in Malaysia's satay town, Kajang, nearly all my life- so you can safely say, I know my satay.

BRAISED BEEF RIB IN DEMI GLAZE

with gratinated potatoes, roasted root vegetables and glazed apple

I have to admit, at this point I was stuffed, and skipped dessert.

WINE LIST

DINING SCORE: 9/10


In-flight Entertainment

A few episodes of the big bang theory, with their terribly lousy headphones that do not come with noise-cancelling. What 5-star airline in Business class deprives passengers of noise-cancelling headsets?

Otherwise, there was an acceptable selection of movies and quality music- If only they provided quality headphones.

IFE SCORE: 5/10 Please change those headphones


I fully reclined the seat, caught some shut eye, and we were soon landing in Narita.


The Narita Quickie

Technically, just a 1.5 hour stop. The same plane continues on to LAX, with a change of crew.
I was hoping for a better set this time!

All belongings are taken off, because the aircraft will be cleaned. Hence, whilst the plane was being 'refreshed', business class passengers (and OW elites) will access the nearest lounge, which was the Qantas lounge, although in theory I suppose OW elites can access any OW lounge here.

I apologize, I don't have pictures of the QF lounge, but it had a fantastic view of the QF 747 headed back to Sydney, and a nice array of Japanese food. I had to squeeze some work during the 45 mins I was there, so no enjoying! Majority of the passengers were QF, but we MH ones we warmly welcomed like family Thank you, OneWorld!

Next slide, part 2 NRT-LAX

freddo

Next part...

Are we there yet?


NRT-LAX
MH92
BOEING 777-200

Boarding was soon called and it was handled with typically swift Japanese efficiency.

Due to the aforementioned work I had to execute earlier, I didn't board with the other Business class passengers, and boarded at the last minute, finishing and sending that last email. Thank you, Japan, for fantastic internet service.

We seem to have many new joiners on board today in Y- probably most from KL had disembarked at Narita.

Settling into the same seat I left around an hour ago, everything's been cleaned and replaced. Every passenger has a new blanket and pillow, menu (even though it's the same one)

The crew were as good, or bad as the previous one. Service was mediocre at best, again save for a sole member of Japanese crew serving the Business class cabin- even that, she wasn't a shining example. Passengers were rarely addressed by name, wrong orders for dinner were replaced without apology (even accusing the passenger of ordering that when we both heard it was something else) But otherwise, the service was okay, but just don't come expecting service of an airline that won "Best cabin staff" for many times in a row.

Dinner is Served



I shamelessly admit I skipped dessert...how could I? The Japanese make fantastic desserts!

Tasted as good as it looks! Again, dining on MAS didn't fail- The food was good quality and quantity- no fussing with 'designer' tableware here, but everything was on well-presented China, on starched tableclothes and frequent refills of your drink choice.

After everything was cleared, I fully reclined the seat and had snoozed till three hours out of LAX.

Now, I have to say, Lunch was served before landing, but my batteries were flat by this time. MAS does offer in-seat power but only with an Empower adaptor, no USB on these aircraft




DINING SCORE: 9/10 - one of the better meals I've had on a plane


Welcome to USA!
Landing was smooth, and we were soon at our gate. Immigration was also surprisingly quick, and it was just a little wait before priority baggage came out- at last an airport which knows how to read and understand these! ^

Overall
MAS is a good airline, and like many of her competitors, have their Pros and Cons.

Positives
In-flight dining was fantastic, and so was the check-in service, which is important as first impressions count. The blanket was comfortable, the Tumi in-flight amenity kit, decked with Clarins goodies was also welcome. Restrooms were well stocked with Aigner products.

Room for Improvement
Given how much MAS prides on its in-flight service, one would have expected more. Years ago, all Golden Club Class passengers were addressed by name. Now, it seems that this isn't a priority. They provided acceptable service, and was there when needed, but nothing more. Would have been good on any given airline, but expected just a little bit more from MAS. (Things did change on my return trip, will type that out when I'm free!)

Thanks for reading!

quirrow

No full lie-flat on C for a transpac? Wonder what was the price for this routing? Considering they joined oneworld whose other members include Cathay Pacific, I wonder how many MH C flyers will start to fly via HKG for their transpac flights now since CX has full lie-flat on all of its long-haul fleet. Any chance of MH's A380 being moved to operate this route?

oneworld82

JL doesn't have fully-flat seats on transpac either. And neither does AA... quite shameful, really. Overall, MH seems more like a 4 stars than a 5 stars airline.

freddo

Many MH C regulars who do the transpac route I know still prefer MH because it's cheaper when booked early, around USD5.5k, which would explain why the cabin is almost always full! - but I have recently seen CX being around this price too.

Another reason is because MH's Enrich frequent flier grants 150% of miles flown in C, as vs 125% on many others- it does add up!

I did speak to a crew member if she heard any plans of the A380 for Transpac but so far the response has been negative...

freddo

and neither does non-OW neighbour, TG. The overall experience feels very 4-star, indeed.

Sam7

freddo thank you for the trip report! I've been searching for this particular trip report on MH to no avail.

I will be flying this exact same route in a week and I look forward to it. I have a few questions:

1) You seem to have had plenty of sleep despite the angle lie flat seat. How was it? Did you have a specific position to get comfortable enough to get some shut eye?
2) What's the champagne serve on nrt-lax? Was it Deutz?

freddo

You're welcome Sam!

1) Side or back would probably be best...but as I sleep on my stomach, it was a little hard to get comfy. That said, the blanket was quite good, and I requested an extra pillow to boost the seat abit...and that was better, though mind you this is no SQ or CX flat bed.

2) Deutz as well. I personally found it tastier than the nasty stuff served on SQ C

Sam7

freddo Thank you for your prompt reply!

Annalisa12

I hard hardly any sleep on MH angled flat seats. They were horrible no matter what position I tried. If you can find a comfy angle, DO NOT change it! You'll never get it again!

Who test drove those seats and decided they were suitable???

Thanks for the report.

SESTAR

I guess you are not a big fan of their announcements. I happen to like it. They do it very calm and smooth.

quirrow

JL is upgrading their fleets though, and the 767s to YVR will have full lie-flat soon, and they do have a 77W to JFK that will be fitted with full lie-flat if I remember correctly.

CX does have J prices at around $6k if you book early as well. From this report, I guess I won't be considering MH for transpac anytime soon.

BTW, NH sometimes has special fares LAX-NRT at around $3.6k for F, and I am pretty sure one can easily get NRT-KUL for $2k in J. Another routing for thoughts...

freddo

agreed! must have been someone who doesn't fly long haul or fly, at all.
I look forward to when they will finally decide to refurbish, but that seems to be light years away! apparently they still think the product is 'updated'

MatthewLAX

Sounds much worse than UA, with in-seat power and a great lie-flat seat.

freddo

Hardware wise, yes...but service and dining wise, my friends still think MAS is miles above, although personally I've found UA's service to be quite allrite...