kyushuman

This is a work in progress, and is quite long, with as many details as I can remember. I'm too lazy to insert the Bold letters, but if you read this you'll get a good idea of the experience. A very strong F product on MH was tested with a nearly 12-hour delay, but in general a nice trip. MH service was generally good to excellent--and consistent over the 4 flight segments, which had a total of 4 different crews.
I will say ahead of time that in both F and C on MH, there is a minimum of FOUR towel services: Upon boarding, before dinner, after dinner, and just before landing. Add two more for long-haul flights with 2 meals. Drinks that are unique to MH include Iced coffee, and some nice juices: in addition to orange and apple, MH serves 100% mango and guava as well. Bread is always offered multiple times, and portion sizes are decent in C, ridiculously large (in fact, all you can eat, since everything is served from a cart, and you can sample all 4 entrees and side vegges if you want.


MH 785 Sched. Departure 12:00, Actual 12:10
Sched. Arrival 15:15, Actual 15:05
A very good experience--an empty check-in area about 75 minutes before the flight, entry to the TG Business Class lounge (go upstairs, it’s quieter and brigher, with natural skylights). Good snacks and drinks offerings. I made it to the gate about 2 minutes before boarding started, so I pretty much just zoomed onboard.
I was welcomed aboard and offered a drink, the usual MH Business Class choice of orange, mango, or guava juice, along with water. I took mango. After take-off, we were offered drinks again, and then came the lunch cart.
The menu is as follows:
Lunch
Seasonal Salad
Complemented with French Vinaigrette Dressing
Entrees
Grilled Chicken, Served with a Hoisin BBQ sauce. Fried rice with green peas and stir-fried mixed vegetables
Fried Sea Perch
with Soy Sauce, Asparagus, and Carrots, served with stead rice and kailan with Oyster Sauce
Chinese Style Vegetarian Dish
Fried Beancurd and mock prawns with vegetables, steamed rice
Dessert
Chocolate Gateau
Bread Selection

I took the fish entree, and it was nice. There was some turbulence, and FAs were told over the loudspeaker to stop serving all hot beverages--so coffee was out. I should have asked for an ice coffee, but anyway it was a decent lunch service. I was offered bread at least 4 times! It’s only a 2-hour flight, so soon after lunch was cleared, we were beginning to descend.
Luckily, it’s a short flght, since the A330 they use has NO IFE, even in Business Class. That’s trouble, since they also use this plane for a few flights a week KUL-KCH-PER and also to PEK, both of which are 6-hour flights. Kinda long with no IFE and no personal DVD players or anything.
My bag was already on the carousel when I got to baggage, so I got right out and found the Shangri-La counter, where I arranged my ride into town.
Ratings:
Check-in/lounges: 5/5
In-flight service: 4/5
Baggage: 5/5


Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur

If you don’t have a free transport, be sure to take the KLIA Ekspres, a 30-minute fast train into the city. But I’d paid the “Value Rate” at the Shangri-La, which I think is known at most hotels as the rack rate. But Shangri-La makes it worth your while, in my opinion. The Value Rate includes Free Unlimited Laundry (I did about US$100 worth on one day!), shoe shine, breakfast for two, free broadband internet access in room, round-trip airport limo transfers (a Mercedes, stocked with bottles of water and a cool towel in the back seat), and--best of all--(for my 01:05am flight) a 6pm check-out. The Value Rate this time was about $127++, which is a lot more than other 5* hotels in KL, but to be honest I have never had a bad experience at a Shangri-La, and I was in a “I’ve been on the road 6 weeks, staying at 2-3* hotels, and I need to be pampered”) mood.
I often will pay the “Value Rate” at the Shang, and this was the perfect time to do it: I had a pile of laundry to do, wanted to be online a while and catch up on emails, have a nice breakfast, and, generally, after staying in a 2-star hotel in BKK the past few weekends (hello, cockroaches!), I wanted to get treated wonderfully. I was. This hotel has excellent, personal service, even though it was 100% full when I was there. When I checked in, they asked me if I would mind checking out at noon the next day--but I asked them to try and let me stay until 6pm due to my late flight, which the Value Rate allows--it doesn’t say “based on availability” or anything like that. But she said they were actually “minus 7” for the following night, so it might be difficult. At worst, I was welcome to freshen up in the gym showers if I needed to, but that didn’t sound too great. Anyway, I said ok. What could I do?
The next morning, when I got back from the very nice breakfast (most unique feature: a chocolate fountain, where you could dip fruits!), there was a message on my voicemail saying I was welcome to stay till 6pm. Yay. They remembered little ol’ me!
I went for lunch at a street stall a block from the hotel, went shopping under the gorgeous Petronas Towers and then down Sultan Ismail at Lot 10, and then hit the gym--a SUPERB gym, with a complete range of weight and cardio machines. The pool looked nice, and seemed to get sun most of the day, though I didn’t sample it.
I went and hung out with friends and had a light supper, anticipating my nice in-flight food, after my 6pm check-out, and got my Mercedes back from the Shang to KLIA at 9pm (even though I had originally asked for a 10pm limo, they had changed it in about 15 seconds. A wonderful last moment to my stay).
Room comfort/amenities: 4/5
gym/breakfast: 5+/5
service: 5/5
One of the better hotel experiences I've had, especially since it didn't begin so well--they more than made up for my worries of checking out early! Nice job.


MH 201 KUL-JNB
Sched. Departure 01:05, Actual 12:20pm(!)
Sched. Arrival 05:40, Actual 16:25
Seat 2A, First Class
B747-400 (old F configuration)
F Load: 6/14

If you read the flight times above carefully, you will see that this flight had some major problems. It was not delayed on the boards when I arrived for check-in at 10pm, but by the time I got to the check-in levels, it had been moved back 6.5 hours, to a 7:35am departure. But they checked me in anyway, saying that the flight control center was still saying “on time”.
By the time I got to the First Class lounge in the satellite terminal, the woman there told me that the boards were, in fact, right, and that I should have a seat and she’d let me know about hotel arrangements.
At the hotel (the Pan Pacific KLIA, a short walk outside of the terminal, thank god!), I was given a just-ok room and (though I wasn’t told about it) found out from another pax that there was a small supper in the lounge for us. I went and had some sandwiches and fruits.
When we finished the supper, the screens at the hotel now said departure was 12:05pm! So, an 11-hour delay it was. No reason was ever given for the delay.
Business Class was completely full, and looked even more full considering the entire downstairs portion of C was full of the Argentine BB players--that 50” pitch isn’t much when you’re 7 feet tall! Worst of all, Y looked to be 100% full! I can’t imagine--they were sent into the city for hotels, 1 hour each way, and then had to be packed in so tightly on their trips. Yuck!

The one good thing was that I got a good night’s sleep, a full 8 hours, because the later delay allowed us to sleep in. A buffet breakfast was ok, but after checking out of the Shangri-La in the city, this hotel was, sorry to say, not up to scratch. In addition, there were several interactions with staff where I was made to feel like a leper, since I was a “delayed flight customer” instead, I guess, of a “real” customer.... I don’t like it when hotels do that, especially since nobody forced them to take the discounted rate. I expect to be treated pleasantly at a 4* (it can’t be a 5*, can it?) hotel.

Pan Pacific Hotel KLIA:
room comfort/amenities: 3/5 (everything a bit dated, no wi-fi)
gym/breakfast: 3/5 Breakfast was fine, but nothing special. The gym, though, is open 24hours, a good bonus.
Service: 2/5 Definitely felt like a second-class citizen at times.

After getting a golf-cart ride back over to KLIA and the MH check-in the next morning, I was given a new BP, and zoomed thru immigration. The night before, an official just wrote “delayed flight” on my passport exit stamp, and so it was no problem.
Suprisingly, I only saw one pax get angry though all of this. I was on a 4-day trip to Buenos Aires, so it was eating about 15-20% of my trip away... but I didn’t really care much. Others, I’m sure, were less than happy, but they made the best of it anyway.
One bonus: also staying at the hotel, and sharing my table for the late supper, was the entire Argentine National Basketball team, on its way back from China for a tournament! Wow, a bunch of hotties.... and quite well-behaved, actually. Too bad they were in Business Class, though.....

Upon boarding, I was not greeted, not helped to my seat, and was not helped with my bags. In fact, service was, I’d say, just ok, with some spurts of greatness. For the first few hours after the meal service finished, there were no FAs to be seen, and I was getting a headache from the alcohol, but there was no water refills.
But then after I took out my computer to work, my water glass was filled at least every 15 minutes from that moment onward. Food was nice, presented well, and there was plenty of it. Nobody was ever rude, but to be honest I was treated much better--and more personally--on my BKK-KUL connection the previous day. Still, who can complain with only 6/14 FC seats full, we got plenty of attention. In fact, 2 of the 6 seemed to be MH employees (maybe a pilot dead-heading?), as they were seated in the yucky Row 4, and always served last, not given everything we were (like the Amenity Kit).
Amenity Kits were nice, with the usual stuff, but in addition there was an evian facial spray, in a quite large bottle, as well as Listerine breath strips (in addition to regular mouthwash). I got a “mens” one, so the womens could be different.
Luckily, the new AVOD was onboard this flight, though the new FC seats weren’t. About 25 movies and over 75-100 full length CDs, which you could make a “jukebox” from. Quite nice! So in general, things were good. Although they say there is laptop power, it doesn’t work with my Macintosh, or I needed a different cord that I don’t currently have. I think it's "Empower", the cord for which of course I left in BKK! Anyway, the man in front of me had no problem, so some people do seem to know what to bring, or maybe the MH attachments for PC are standard.

I am guessing that, because of the flight delay, they catered a completely different offering today, so there was no printed menu. Instead of (I’m guessing) what would have been a late supper and breakfast, with our scheduled departure and arrival times (hey--just what we had at the hotel!), we got a full lunch and then a late supper.

Here is a menu, generally from my memory:


Lunch

Satay Course, beef or chicken or both, with accompaniments

Caviar with accompaniments OR Salmon with balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I had caviar, and I'm sure you could ask for both caviar and salmon if you wanted)

Corn tofu soup--decent, but nothing special.

Entrees:
Venison in red wine sauce
Cheese Tortellini
Sea Perch with cream herb sauce
Chicken Piccata
I sampled the fish and the tortellini. Quite nice. I wasn't in the mood for venison, but an interesting offering!

Cheese course--3 cheeses to choose from, served with Port

Fruit--papaya, melon, and grapes

Dessert-- warm bread pudding with a creamy topping

Then was offered ice cream (cups of Haagen-Dazs, Choc or Vanilla), which I took later on

Coffees

Drinks choices were the same on all 3 segments, and there WAS a drinks menu when I asked for one:
Champagne: Dom Perignon
Red Wines; Merryvale Starmount Cab Sauvignon, 2001; La Bernardine Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2000
White Wines: Murrietta’s Well Livermore Valley Vendimia 2001; Meursault Domaine Jean-Marie Bouzereau 2002.
Aperitifs: Vermouth, Campari
Cocktails: Bloody Mary, Manhattan, Gin Fizz, Collins, Screwdriver, Sours, Highballs, and Martinis

Spirits: Chivas Royal Blue, Johnnie Walker Black Label, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Gordon’s Gin, Smirnoff Vodka, Congac Hennessey XO, and Bacardi Rum.

Beers: International Selection

Liqueurs: Grand Marnier, Drambuie, Tia Maria, Bailey’s Irish Cream (which wasn’t actually loaded, because I tried to have some but they couldn’t locate any)
Port: Taylor’s Fine Tawny


No midflight snacks were offered, but then again I didn’t ask, since I was quite full from lunch.


A light meal was served with about 2 hours left in the flight. It was a supper, with just an appetizer, then a choice of 4 entrees, and some fruit for dessert. Good, but I was still full from the first meal!

We arrived to a bus gate, and all JNB pax were loaded into one bus, then transit pax were loaded into other buses and brought to the terminal. I found two lounges I could enter, both in the lower level at the opposite end of the terminal from the MH bus gate: The KLM lounge (I have NW World Clubs access with my Platinum Status even when I’m not flying a Skyteam carrier), open in the evening, and also another lounge, where Diners Club cardmembers could enter. The KLM lounge had decent snacks and drinks offerings, slightly more than the Diners one; also much less crowded at 5pm. But there was no MH lounge for F or C pax.
I must say, the transit experience at JNB was truly trying: hot, crowded buses and terminal, a bus gate, NO announcements, and no lounge access for F. A huge scrum trying to board at the bus gate with the 300+pax all going at once. You’re on your own, even in F.
With an actual gate in CPT, and no construction and more friendly and awake handling agents, things were much better there. If you don't have to get off at JNB, then don't. CPT is a good spot to stretch your legs, though, and the lounge (upstairs from the South African Airways lounge) has a good offering of newspapers, and some decent snacks and drinks. Very friendly lounge matron, too.

JNB-CPT
Sheduled departue time: 07:00 Actual: 18:55
Scheduled Arrival time: 09:15 Actual: 20:40
Seat 2A, First Class
F Load: 2/14

This was actually the most attentive, friendly service of the 3 segments, probably because the crew was only working this 2-hour flight. There were only 2 of us in F, so there was plenty of food and drinks to go around. I had Dom with my snack ( three hot savouries, I believe a mini-pizza, a seafood puff and one more. All were good, and were served with an excellent mango salsa. The flight was over all too soon, though I did manage to polish off about 2/3 of a bottle of Dom. I really don’t drink much as a rule, so this is a treat for me!

CPT-EZE
Scheduled Departure: 10:45 Actual: 21:55
Scheduled Arrial: 15:35 Actual 02:40
Seat: 2A
F load: 6/14

I mostly slept on this flight, but was awake for the meal services.
Again, no menus, since usually you get a full lunch and supper, while we got more of a dinner and then a supper. The food was excellent, with several unique things: Again, 4 choices for entrees (3 meat as well as a vegetarian pasta), and also 4 side dishes; plus white rice and mushroom risotto. In South Africa, they loaded a bunch of half servings of Passion Fruit, chilled and served with a spoon. I’ve never had it fresh. Oh my! It’s amazing! I ended up having 2 on JNB-CPT and 2 on CPT-EZE. Yummy and sour!


Arrival into EZE was not a very good experience. While I did get through immigration quickly, it took nearly 60 minutes (at 3am!) for my bag to come out. It had been tagged F class, but still F class bags loaded in KUL came out last--there was one other woman in F, and hers came after mine. Most Y pax had already taken their bags away by the time ours came.

One FA told me that the original reason for a 6-hour delay was a late-arriving aircraft, and then the delay was extended another 5 hours because of mandatory crew rest. FAs apologized a few times, but MH really didn’t do well for some pax: I met a couple in CPT who had gone to the airport at 8am, were allowed to check in, check their bags, and go through immigration, before they checked the screens, seeing the 11-hour delay! Nobody had told them. In addition, nobody told the CREW who joined us at CPT about the delay, either, so (according to one of the 3 FC FA's) she had already put on her make-up, dressed, and taken the crew bus to the airport before finding out they had an extra 12 hours! Somebody in KUL needs to be better at handling this, especially when they have 12 hours to do so. They knew about the delay by about 21:00 on Tuesday, and which was about 16:00 Tuesday South African time--so plenty of time to notify pax and crew. Like I said, though, for us pax boarding in KUL, it was quite painless, since we just stayed longer in the hotel.

I would give the following for the flights:
Service/Food: 4/5 Some seemed to be going through the motions--like on KUL-JNB, and I think part of that is because there were victims of the longs delay as well. Most, though, really were excellent--on JNB-CPT, after eating, I grabbbed a blanket and reclined my seat to take a nap. Within 5 seconds--less, actually--the FA had run into the galley and turned down the F class overhead lights! That says a lot. On CPT-EZE, after I woke up from a long sleep, I went to the restroom and when I came out, the FA was waiting there to ask if I wanted anything to drink. Nice.
Seat/IFE: 4/5: It is not lie-flat, but I would guess the seat pitch is over 75”. It is actually very comfortable--I got about 3 hours sleep on one flight and 5 on the last segment--and the new AVOD is great--so many CDs to choose from!
Handling of Delay: 2/5
Baggage: 1/5

The return trip is in a few days, so I will be sure to post that later!

Coathanger

Nice trip report so far! Sorry to hear about your delay at KLIA, though the service recovery wasn't too shabby considering other horrendous experiences (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457361). I personally think that MH crews are good but overrated from the SkyTrax survey. Just my 2 cents

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Fliar

Great report, thanks! (as a sidenote, SQ also offers iced coffee, and even iced mocha!).

BBT in NY

Kyushuman,
Thanks for this nice report! I did not know that MH had such an interesting routing (especially the JNB-CPT segment).

Did you use your NW miles for this award? I am curious to know how difficult was it to snag it...
Would they allow a stopover in South Africa?

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report!

kyushuman

Thanks for the reply.
To answer your questions: Yes, it was NWA miles. I "do my time" on NW metal, but when it comes to redeeming miles, it's almost always on MH or KLM metal, and always in C or F.
It was totally easy to get; all segments were available about 8 weeks before my trip, and I even called to change dates before ticketing, and everything was available. Based on past experiences booking MH seats with NW miles, MH is often EASIER to book in C and F than in Y! It only goes 2x(Wed and Sun. early AM ex-KUL) per week, so you have to be flexible with which days you want to go. Loads were light in F, but seemed almost 90-100% in C and Y, at least on the way to EZE.
Here's the other oddity with this routing:
To be honest, I've been to EZE before, so, although I love it, I would have preferred to go to CPT for this 5-day trip. But NWA's mileage charts say this EZE trip is only 140K in F, while to CPT would cost a lot more miles--240K instead of 140K! Odd, but true. Even Australia, a 5-8 hour hop from KUL, costs 140K (the same as my ticket). So EZE it was.
I even tried to put in a CPT stopover, but, according to the Elite Line rep, this would force the mileage required to the "higher of the two destinations"--even though the plane stops in CPT on its way to EZE. Anyway, that is how I ended up with the EZE instead of CPT flights--2+10+2+9.5 hours in F was great.
If you can get the "New" F class on MH, even better--but to be honest, I slept much better on these older loungers than on the NW new "flat but slanted" seats. Maybe that's the Dom effect? Anyway, it's a great use of miles.

BBT in NY

Thanks again for the useful information! The 1st thing I did after reading your trip report was to check the NW award chart and see that it would only cost 140K! I could not believe it... Amazing deal for the distance flown and on top of that, it looks like there are good availability too.

I agree with your comment on the new WBC seat, nice, but not great for sleeping.

Enjoy your stay in Argentina!

stephem

Thanks for the trip report. There is a long thread on the EZE-CPT/JNB routing on the NW board, raving about this flight and the award level (for US-JNB) and essentially showing how to time the USA-EZE portion of an award so that you have a few days in EZE before the next MH flight arrives to take you to JNB. As a result this in not treated as a stopover. You can then fly back thru europe on KLM/AF and take an actual stopover on the way back to the US. This is an incredible value for the miles, we've got a trip from the US to SE Asia (on MH) planned for this winter and are getting ready to unload the miles for the US-EZE-JNB-Europe-US flight next year.

onedog

Great report. Thanks for sharing.^

francophile

Great report. I'm eager to red the trip report for the return trip.

SMART51

Great report.Thank you
But between the delay and the actual flying time that must have been a very long and tiyring trip,even in First.
Good luck on the return

TrayflowInUK

BBTinNY, I second kyushuman. I was worried about availability in F, but I got the dates I wanted first time for MAN-KUL-AKL and return using WP miles.

kyushuman

EZE-CPT
MH 202, Boeing 744, “Old” F configuration
F Load: 6/14
Scheduled Depart: 20:20 On Time
Scheduled Arrival 08:?? On Time
Flight Duration: 6:55
Seat 2A

Well, after the 3 nights in BA (instead of 4 due to the delays on the outbound) I was tired and ready to head back to BKK. It is recommended in several guidebooks to take “radio taxis” in BA, so I booked my return with a promotional coupon I had gotten on the inbound from the Ezeiza company, located just outside of the arrivals hall, for A$35 (about US$12). Punctual, friendly, and efficient.
Upon entering the departure terminal, you could see this was a busy time, mostly for departures to the US: DL, AA, and UA had lines, with DL being by far the least organized. MH had separate F/C lines, but with my timing I arrived at the F counter just after the crew had started checking in their bags. So I waited about 5 minutes before that was done; still that wait was much shorter than for those in Y.
I asked if I had anyone next to me, and again the answer was no, not on the first leg, but she couldn’t guarantee it on the last 3 legs. I didn’t know if that meant those were more full, or if her computer just didn’t let her see the other 3 legs.
Immigration, security, and more awaited me after check-in. The wait for security was 15+ minutes; immigration was at least that long or more, so give yourself plenty of time when departing EZE in the evenings.
The EZE lounge MH (and several other airlines apparently use, since it was packed) is the Amex Lounge, which is a complete waste of time: Drinks at a bar, so you have to wait your turn; no snacks--(none!) Not even pretzels. No reading materials in English; blaring TVs. So unless you have a major delay, and you want a place to hang out, it’s not worth even stopping by.

Boarding was on time. One major problem flying F/C with MH is that, except ex-KUL, there was NEVER a separate call for Premium Cabin pax, which you could take either of two ways: F/C can feel free to board at their leisure, OR they are forgotten. I think it’s the latter, since whenever I went I felt like I was jumping the queue. Worst offenders is in transit in South Africa, but even in EZE there was none.
Upon boarding, I turned left into the nose of the plane and was welcomed with, “You must be Mr. Kyushuman”. Yes, and that means the flight isn’t full, since there was just one other pax there. Once again, once the door was closed, the same family as on the outbound (I think they were the wife and 2 kids of the purser) were moved into F, but the kids were well-behaved, and the ticketed pax were always served before the non-revs. Also, the FAs were very friendly to all.
Pre-departure drinks were offered, just about anything you could want, but they were out of mango juice. I had guava instead.
After departure, another drink was offered, and I went with Dom Perignon ‘96, which was lovely. There was no caviar on any of these 4 flights, but food was excellent again. Amenity Kits were handed out, and they were different from the outbound: These were Aigner kits, in a brown leather case; the outbound were another brand (I can’t remember now) but were also nice, and bigger, but seemed to have similar products. Also on this flight we got menus. I mentioned to the FA that there hadn’t been menus on the outbound, and she explained that was because of the delays, the catering was completely different from usual: breakfast had become dinner, lunch had become snack, etc. So this time, since we were on time, they could use them.
The crew was the same as I’d had on the inbound: With only 2 flights per week (Wed/Sun departures ex-KUL), crew had plenty of time off, though it was a 16-day trip in total for them, with 6 separate legs. Nicely, though, after 3 days, they all were very refreshed and perky. Best of all, ALL 3 FC crew from my previous flight came up front to greet me, with the IFS stopping by first to apologize because she was located upstairs, so she wouldn’t be able to work with me, but if I had any questions or comments she would be happy to come down. In her stead, though, she said that her colleagues would take good care of me. Like I said, MH service isn’t polished and formal, kind of by-the-book, like SQ’s wonderful F service; instead it seems more genuine and friendly. You never know what to expect with MH F, and just about always, that is a good thing.
So here is the menu:
Dinner

Hot Savouries
Creamed Seafood Vol-au-Vent, Mini Beef Patty, and Spinach with Feta Cheese Puff.

Hors d-ouevre Deluxe
A selection of Stuffed Calamari with Olive Concasse, Salmon Mousse on Blinis topped with Salmon Roe, and Cucumber Cup with Spicy Beef Salad

Choice of Soup
Cream of Asparagus with Garlic Croutons, or Clear Ox Tail Soup with Diced Vegetables

Seasonal Salad
Crispy and Fresh Lettuce Mix with Asparagus, Tomato, and Red Radish Combined with your choice of Lime Coriander Vinaigrette, or Pepper Mayonnaise Dressing

Mains
Steamed Cod
A Delicate Chinese Preparation of Steamed Cod Fillet basted in Garlic, Ginger, and Soya Sauce

Slow Braised Rack of Lamb
Complimented with Minted Demi-Glace and garnished with sprigs of Rosemary

Sumptuous Grilled Chicken Leg
Served with a Delicate Tasting Mustard Sauce

A Simple Combination of Spinach Ravioli
with Tomato Basil Coulis

Vegetables and Accompaniments
Herb Roasted New Potatoes with Skin
Saffron Tagliatelle seasoned with Olive, Anchovy, and Watercress Sauce
Fresh Sautéed Asparagus
Roasted Tomato Halves
Chinese Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables

International Cheese Board (usually 3 kinds, which they open the package in front of you), served with Port.

Seasonal Fresh Fruits, including my favorite, Passion Fruit!)

Chocolate Cake (served cut from a whole cake brought up on the cart!)

Liqueurs (Baileys, Drambuie, etc)

A selection of international coffees and teas, with cappuccino and espresso also available

Bread Selection (usually about 4-5 kinds, including garlic bread)


I have a few comments about the food service on MH: I like that it’s almost like a buffet, where they bring the cart and you point to anything you want that looks tasty. It’s served hot and fresh, and you can have more of whatever you like. Every time I got the salad, they put on at least 2-3 tablespoons of dressing, completely filling the bowl with dressing. So I’d recommend getting the dressing on the side. The actual main courses on most of my MH flights were never that amazing, but the sides often really hit the spot: On this flight that was especially true: the Tagliatelle, and the mixed Chinese veggies, were excellent, as was the Ravioli main; but the lamb was tough and uninteresting. There is only one choice of dessert, though it was quite good on just about all of my flights.

I ordered green tea after the meal, and had a few refills. Very nice service, though with all the courses it took a long time, so I was ready to sleep. I was asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast, and I said I did, but it would be fine to wait and do a quick service at the end of the flight if possible, so as to maximize sleeping time.

There was some kind of gunk on my blanket, which I showed to the FA, and she grabbed it and got out some very nice down comforters from the front closet--OH MY! These were so satiny, comfortable, and wonderful....if you don’t get one, ask if they have it. They may be for the “New” F cabins, since they seemed quite new; anyway, I slept like a baby for the next 3 hours or so, when I was woken for breakfast. I didn’t have all of the courses, but did make it through most! I always just asked for, essentially, a “tasting” of each course, and of course they were happy to oblige. The FA apologized that this was “just” a continental, not a full, breakfast, but I was too full from the huge dinner to imagine eating eggs or savory stuff anyway.

Continental Breakfast

Health Drink (it was a berry-flavored smoothie, really tasty!)

Fresh Fruit Juices

Seasonal Fresh Fruits (These didn’t include any passion fruits, so I asked if she could hunt any down from the earlier service, and just like that, I was served a big plate full of them!)

Corn Flakes of Muesli
Served with fresh or Low-Fat Milk

Bakery Selection
Muffins, toast, croissants, and Danish, served with Jam, Marmalade, or Honey

The flight was quite bumpy both ways across the Atlantic, so it wasn’t an easy one to work, I’m guessing. Still, everything was very nicely done.

Arrival into CPT was at a dreaded bus gate, and I was first off the plane. Like before, there is no lounge offered to F/C pax; you’re on your own for about 70 minutes in CPT and also JNB. I went straight to the Diners Club lounge upstairs and used the internet, and drank some water, heading back to the boarding area to get on the buses. No problems there.


CPT-JNB
Scheduled Departure: Actual:
Scheduled Arrival: Actual:
Seat 2A
F class load: 4/14, which seemed to include 2 deadheading pilots
Flight duration: 2 hours

Service was excellent on this flight, just like the on the outbound: The FAs have just 2 hours to do a quick refreshment service, and so are perky, busy, and outgoing. I was greeted and told:
”Hello, Mr. Kyushuman, I’m xxxxx, the IFS for this short flight. I hear you like Green Tea and Dom Perignon, as well as Passion Fruits. I wonder what that says about you! (smiles); Would you like some Green Tea now, before takeoff?”
WOW.... I don’t know if that has happened to anyone else, but I was impressed. When the crews switched, they took the time to find out what the F pax enjoyed. Beat that!

After takeoff, I was offered the quick meal:

Refreshment

Hot Savouries
A selection of Savoury Peas and Tomato Puff, Crab meat Ball on Skewer, and Cottage Pie Tartlette.
Accompanied by Chilli Sauce

Seasonal Fresh Fruits

Service was good, and I enjoyed a few more glasses of Dom. Plenty of food and drink refills were offered and accepted.
All too soon, we had landed in JNB, and this time we were at a real gate, not a bus gate, so it was already much better to me. JNB is no fun at the bus gate waiting area--hot, very crowded, and disorganized. This time, it was fine. I made my way to the Diners Lounge, and it was very empty, as opposed to the last time, when it was completely packed out. Every lounge matron I dealt with in South Africa--all 5--were extremely pleasant, polite, and welcoming. Very nice! They had a few snacks, and a great choice of herbal teas, along with drinks and a good view of the departure boards.

Back on Board, ready for my last F segment! Ahh, so sad.....

JNB-KUL
Scheduled Departure: Actual:
Scheduled Arrival: Actual:
Seat 2A
F Load: 2/14
Flight Duration: 9:50
Upon boarding, I was told it was just 2 of us today, so she wouldn’t be using the cart for service, I could just order whatever I wanted from the menu. Would I like to eat now, or later? I asked if it was a full or continental breakfast, and since it was a full breakfast offered before arrival, I decided to eat right away, since there would be plenty to eat later. She then said that she’d heard I’d asked for slippers on the first leg, EZE-CPT, but there weren’t any onboard. Well, now some had been put onboard, so would I like some? Also, she had mango juice.... which I’d also asked for on the first leg. My goodness!

After the usual parade of hot towels, pre-and-post-departure drinks, and a greeting from the IFS, it was Lunchtime.

Lunch

Malaysian Satay
Our Famous Charcoal Grilled Chicken and Beef Skewers
Topped with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Hors d’ouevre Deluxe
A tantalizing combination of Quartered Avocado Boat with Prawn, Beef Salad with Gherkin in Tortilla Cone, Smoked Salmon Beggar’s purse, and Cucumber and Mango Salsa

Choice of Soup
Seafood Consomme with Quenelle and Diced Vegetables
or
Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Pumpkin Cubes and Garlic Herb Croutons

Seasonal Salad
Fresh baby lettuce with Cherry Tomato, Black Olives, and Cheese Crouton, bound (sic) with your choice of Caesar Dressing or Olive Vinaigrette

Mains

Pan-fried Kingklip with Garlic Soya Sauce Chinese Style

Spicy Chicken Tandoori

Tender Braised Rack of Lamb with Minted Demi-Glace

Pumpkin Ravioli with Spinach and Porchini Mushroom sauce

Vegetables and Accompaniments
Batonnet of Carrot and Cucumber Achar
Bok Choy with Garlic
Yellow Patty pans with Tomato Concasse
Biryiani Rice
Olivette Saffron Potato with Dill

International Cheese Board

Seasonal Fresh Fruits

Ginger and Plum Pudding
Served with Caramel Sauce

Bread Selection

Once again, very good food, just a bit repetitious--on two legs of this trip, Lamb with Minted Demi-glace was served, as well as a chinese-style fish, and a ravioli....... so while the quality is good, I think just looking at the menu, some different choices would be good. That said, on the outbound they did offer venison on one segment, and I didn’t eat it. Maybe they have tried others, and these are the favorites?

The 744 was equipped with the AVOD with lots of movie and music choices, so there was plenty to do when you weren’t sleeping. Oddly, though, the plane still had the “July” IFE, which I had already watched on the outbound--my outbound was August 3rd, and the return was August 7th, so while neither was even in July, it hadn’t been changed yet.

I was woken for Breakfast about 2 hours before landing, and was asked if I wanted all the courses. I just skipped the cereal course, but tried the rest. Once again, the Health Drink was excellent!

Breakfast

Health Drink (this time it was an Apricot Smoothie, really nice)

Fresh Fruit Juices

Seasonal Fresh Fruits

Corn Flakes or Muesli
Served with Fresh or low-fat Milk

Mains

Soft Poached Egg on Muffin, with cream sauce

Mushroom and Spinach Burger
Complimented with Cream Sauce

Sautéed Seafood
in Tomato Basil Sauce

Vegetable and Potato Pie

Vegetables and Accompaniments
Whole Asparagus and Baby Carrots
Sautéed Mushroom and grilled tomato
Macaroni with Cheese and Tomato Sauce
Broken Potato Quarters Sautéed with Onion and Chives

Bakery Selection
with Jam, Marmalade, and Honey

I was winding down with my meals, and so just went for the seafood and some of the macaroni and cheese, which was really good comfort food! Upon landing, I was first off the plane, and then headed for the MH lounges. Even with my F boarding pass from the 20+ hours flight from EZE, since my connection KUL-BKK was in C, I was sent to the C lounge. I understand the rule, but to be honest if I’d paid for F all that way, I’d expect to be in the F lounge. I went to the C side, and it was actually packed. The food selection is similar to the F side, and you order coffees and such from the same counter as the F pax, but it doesn’t have the elegance and quiet of the F lounge. Just my 2 cents.

KUL-BKK
Scheduled Departure: 10:00, Actual 10:00
Scheduled Arrival: 11:05, Actual 11:15
C class, seat 4A
C load, about 50%
Flight time: 2:05

There was a meal served on the flight, but I was still full from the earlier flights, so I just sampled the food. The FA seemed disappointed I’d left the main course with just one bite out of it, but I told her it was OK, but I wasn’t hungry. I did eat the fruit, bread, and sides, though.

Service was very friendly, warm, and personal, with one FA standing out as especially attentive. I woke up with a blanket on me that I hadn’t even felt being put on me--and my window shades had been drawn too. Very nice.

Upon Arrival into BKK, I was ready to head to my hotel, and my bag was one of the first off, so I was soon out of there. 11:15am is apparently a great time to arrive into BKK: You just never know if it’ll be crazy or not! I often arrive late at night from the US, or early in the morning, and both are truly nuts: immigration can take 3 minutes or 30; bags can come quickly or not; and the taxi queue can be short or 30 minutes. This time, there was no queue for anything. I was in my hotel room near Lumpinee Park by about 12:15, an hour after touchdown.

In all, MH does a great job with F. Service is warm friendly, and attentive. The F cabin is the last to fill up, so even when Y and C were full on the outbound, and the rest of the plane was packed, the F cabin was tranquil and lovely. I am guessing the food is not much different from the C service, except there are a few more courses--like caviar on the outbound-- and nothing is pre-plated, even cheeses, fruits, or desserts. Drinks are similar, with Dom Perignon offered in F.

My Scores for the return:

In-Airport MH Services (lounges, check-in, boarding): 2/5
Onboard Service: 5/5
Food, IFE: 4.5/5
Overall experience: 4.5/5

Can’t wait to go somewhere on MH F next year! I’m in fact writing this in Y on a Northwest flight NRT-MSP, packed to the gills, and was thrown a brownie for my “mid-flight snack”--and no, I can’t have a full can of Diet Coke, just a cup. I have to ask for another cup later if I want one. Back to reality!

olafman

Great report! It seems like such a shame to fly all the way to CPT and not enjoy it. But EZE is a wonderful place too.

I look forward to flying MH some day. They sound like a good airline.

TrayflowInUK

Outstanding trip report, kyushuman, I can't wait to take MH!

eutow

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and interesting TR!

I was particularly interested to read your comments about the differences in service between MH and SQ. I was also very impressed by the communication taking place among the cabin crew between flights, so that your preferences from one flight were noted in the following ones. That sort of responsive service is really top-notch!