After spending 36 hours in the garden city, with my hotel being in the district of Katong (Holiday Inn Express Katong which I can certainly recommend), I was ready to visit a new country I haven’t been yet to : Cambodia. But before this, I had to fly to Kuala Lumpur and with my flight to Phnom Penh being the following morning, I decided to spend the night at the Sama-Sama Express Transit hotel within the satellite terminal.

Checking-in at the MH counter in Singapore was reasonably fast as I used the priority desk. Since my first leg to Singapore was booked using BA Avios and the second flight was booked cash (Business class promotional fares), I had to ask the agent to combine both reservations on my checked-in bag so I won’t have to retrieve it in KUL, and this was done swiftly.


Singapore Changi Terminal 2




Very well organized airport !


I like those old-fashioned departure boards !




MH check-in area

After a first quick bag security screening, and immigration clearance, I was into the international terminal and as I was quite early, I decided to use for the first time a Priority Pass partner restaurant to have dinner, compliments of Priority Pass. TGM is the partner restaurant and is located inside the upper floor food court of Terminal 2. A special « business menu » is available for Priority Pass cardholders and consists into a bento and one drink. I opted for the Salmon teriyaki bento with Takoyakis and an iced green ted. The food was very good !


After "mini-security"


Food court SIN T2


TGM restaurant, Priority pass eligible


Very good bento box !


Even Oppossum liked it !

Singapore airport terminal 2 is a pleasant place to be, with some indoor gardens and nice rest areas available all across the terminal. One thing I liked there is that besides the usual luxury brands outlets, you can also find « regular shops », like convenience stores, pharmacies, or affordable clothing and souvenir shops. This is something most of the European airports have forgotten to include nowadays…


SIN T2




Indoor garden

About an hour before departure I decided to visit the SATS lounge MH uses in SIN. This lounge is used by many airlines other than Singapore airlines and it’s Star Alliance partners. The lounge was pretty busy, although I managed to find a nice spot in a small room on the side. the catering at the lounge was pretty basic, and I was glad I ate at the TGM restaurant before !


SATS T2 Lounge entrance


Inside SATS T2 lounge


Quite busy...




Buffet options













On a side note, I took the opportunity to purchase a StarHub prepaid SIM card which works in several Asian countries, the USA, Australia and New Zealand (full list of covered countries is available on the StarHub website), and I will recommend it for any traveller in Asia, together with the excellent AIS Sim2fly sim card from Thailand (also available on Amazon). For one having a bank account in France, I can also recommend the no-contract SIM card from Free mobile covers an impressive number of destinations for only 20 Euros / month. I used the monthly 25 GB (not a typo) data allowance in EU, Russia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, USA and Argentina without serious issues, and the list of countries covered is increasing on a regular basis.


StarHub prepaid SIM card, works in most of Asia + US, Canada, Australia, and NZ


Found a nice spot far from the crowd !



My flight was supposed to leave at 21:20 but was « re-timed » (Malaysia Airlines nomenclature for delayed) to 21:50. If there is one and only one thing I hate about Singapore Changi airport is that you need to clear security at the gate, with zero priority handling of premium or status passengers. I eventually arrived at the gate 21:10 and it was still showing the previous flight on the screen leading to lots of confusion for the passengers (there was also zero staff available around). By 21:25, people started to gather around the gate entrance without much information until the first few security staff arrived and the screen got updated to MH610 to Kuala Lumpur. The security screening was quite chaotic at start as 2 lanes got opened, but later on, the security staff figured out there were not enough and they decided to close one of the lanes, creating even more mess. I eventually got through security and waited for another 20 minutes or so in the waiting zone next to the gate.

The inbound flight for KUL arrived at 21.50, so there was no way we could leave at the « re-timed » schedule. not that I cared anyway as my connecting flight out of KUL was the following day…

By 22:10 priority boarding was called and I took my seat 2A.


Departure board. Just put "delayed" instead of "retimed"


My gate to... Kuala Lumpur ?


And all those passengers had the same comment as me !


Ok, seems like it's the right one !


Before...


... During ...


... After !


Finally boarding !

Malaysia Airlines MH610, November 23st 2018
SIN Singapore Changi - 21:20 (departed 22:40)
KUL Kuala Lumpur Intl - 22:10 (arrived 23:40)
Boeing 737-800 – 9M-MXW – Seat 02A, Business class, window.

We left the gate at 22:40 and there was a 20 min wait before taking off from Changi airport. The business class cabin was quite full that evening and was configured « American-style » in a 2-2 layout. The seats were comfortable, especially considering the short duration of this flight and was equipped with a USB port and a power outlet. An individual IFE screen was also available.


My seat 2A




Reclining controls


Plenty of legroom


View from my seat...

A choice of water or fruit juice was offered before departure and shortly after take-off, the flight attendant came to offer a small chicken sandwich or a fruit salad and was addressing to the passengers using their last name. The chicken sandwich was ok, especially considering this was a 40-minute flight…


Welcome drink




Safety video


Prayer before departure... MH always broadcast this on individual screens


Departing SIN

Malaysia Airlines is quite strict concerning the use of electronic devices during taxi, take off and landing, and I was reminded that I was not allowed to take pictures during the taxi to our departing runway (Although I was in flight mode, I find this to be quite ridiculous rule, and they call for the usual, one reason fits all, « safety reason »).


Chicken sandwich

We arrived at our gate at 23:40 and disembarked into the main terminal, where most of the outlets were starting to close.


Short route to KUL


Arriving at the main terminal of KUL



I used 9000 Avios for this flight, and paid 38 Euros of taxes.

I have been to KUL airport only a couple times and this was several years ago, but got quickly familiarized with the airport configuration. The Same-Same transit hotel being located in the satellite terminal, I took the aerotrain for a few minutes to get there.


Aerotrain linking the main and satellite terminal


Inside the Satellite terminal

The « satellite » terminal handles most of the long-haul flights and wide-body aircrafts, while the « main » terminal mostly deals with the smaller jets, the domestic and regional flights (although there could be some exceptions once in a while). MH operated 3 lounges in total in KUL, the domestic lounge, located at the ground floor of the main terminal, which serves, as the name indicates, domestic flights only; the regional lounge for international flights is located on the upper floor of the main terminal; and the « Satellite » lounge, which is actually their main flagship lounge is available… inside the satellite terminal !

This lounge (or should I say those two lounges, as there is a distinction between the business class and the first class lounge) has been renovated recently and I was looking forward to trying it. Since I was not feeling very tired yet and wanted to get a drink and a small snack before going to the transit hotel, I decided to give a try and ask if I could visit the lounge (it was about midnight - this lounge is open 24/7). The lady at the front desk said this was not an issue, although the first class lounge was closed at that time, she invited me to visit the business lounge, on the left side of the counter.






MH Golden lounge "Satellite" terminal

The lounge was pretty desert at those late hours and was, I think, only open to accommodate passengers flying on the QR flight to Doha which departed at 2.15am.

The lounge is pretty big and has one bar at the entrance of it, featuring some outside views, two buffet areas, a family section, and plenty of seating. A nap area is also available (mens and women’s are separated) and showers are available in the restrooms. Finally, complimentary wifi is available and its speed was good.


Business lounge entrance


First, you see the bar area (not staffed at the time of my visit)


Business lounge entrance






Lots of seating available tonight !




Kids / Family area


Nap rooms


Inside the male nap room

Considering this was clearly not the peak hours, the buffet was a bit more restricted in terms of choice, although it was enough to accommodate my late night hunger.


Buffet options at midnight







I stayed about 20 minutes in there, before deciding to go to the transit hotel, where my room was granted to 7 hours… (I booked the 6-hour package on hotels.com - The cheap trick there consists in checking-in a few minutes after the hour or the half-hour mark so the attendant grants you 30 or 60 minutes extra sleeping time depending on his/her mood :-) Call me cheap, but I prefer spending the additional 40 MYR / hour for something else :-D)

The room was ok for one night, the bed was comfortable, and every time I stayed at this transit hotel during this round the world trip, I got outside views. I understand from the floor map that not all rooms have outside windows though and the first rooms when entering the hallway are much bigger, but noiser, than the ones located towards the end.


Hotel entrance, next to gate C5


Hotel lobby. Also acts as a lounge with some snacks


Sama-sama express KUL Satellite terminal






Good night !

And Good morning!