GodAtum

Apparently there is a separate small room inside the 1st class lounge. Conflicting messages ... some say it's for 1st class passengers, some say it's for VIPs. Can anyone please confirm?

GGLwannabe

Last time I was there it was the sin-bin (smoking room), but that was October 2019

quinzinho

What I understood it's for elite Enrich platinum members, who get this rank by invitation based on their flying behaviour on MH only. Anyway, I've seen the room and it's nothing special, just like the rest of the First Class lounge. Also, it's closed still and you gotta wonder if it will ever reopen.

d00t

"Platinum Plus" members is member type I think you're referring to.
My understanding is that the room was for first-class (paid F) MH# pax, and if there are none, then fallback to Platinum Plus Enrich members.

Frankly, the space is nothing special. Better food and service in the J lounge. Kind of makes you wonder how many high-value customers they're turning off by providing such a space without consideration to making it chill-out room that's better than the F side.

There is a similar private room in the main-terminal lounge.
Of course none of this matters since flying MH isn't a thing anymore.

quinzinho

Yup, that's what I meant, thanks.

carrotjuice

Agree wholeheartedly, unless you're really that anti social and prefer a claustrophobic fully isolated enclave.

If you do have time to kill, go have a sit-down meal at the F restaurant, then reflect or read in the quiet calm seats of the F section, then hop over to the J section which feels more vibrant and happening.

GGLwannabe

Yes, there is something a bit too clinical about the entire F lounge. I've never seen more than about half a dozen people in this lounge, so it was always rather too hushed for me. However what really irked me was the almost constant low level rattling noise coming from the chiller cabinet.

It shouldn't be too difficult to create a really welcoming space here, possible even with newspapers less than 3 days old, but so far that seems to have eluded Malaysian Airlines.

SilverChris

It’s a shame, really. In the pre-OW days the F lounge used to be genuinely nice place. Haagen-dazs fridge was a huge plus to me...until the bean counters emptied it out. If anything the successive refurbishments actually did it a disservice.

GGLwannabe

Yes, before I first flew with Malaysian I had heard that their First lounge was rather good, so I was disappointed to discover that it had been 'enhanced' by the time I actually got to use it.

carrotjuice

I miss the demise of the sleeping rooms... they were spartan, but did a nice job when you need them to such as during long / overnight layovers. Now the "enhanced" snooze lounges are covered in non breathable synthetic leather which gets hot once you lay on it for 15 minutes.

And what's with the constant banging of the J toilet door - you can't help but hear it from the snooze room every time someone enters or exits, disturbing whatever rest you hope to have!

carrotjuice

And for a while, there was Kapiti ice cream too... and we all know what the bean counters did next!

clubeurope

The only saving grace of the F/Platinum lounge in my opinion is just the restaurant. Everything else is pretty crappy... although it's nicer than being in the J lounge during crowded hours back in the day...

GGLwannabe

Yes, the restaurant was generally good, although my memory is that the bean-counters had had a go at that too - I hadn't seen lobster thermidor on the menu for some time before my last time there in October 2019.

And the wine selection was pretty poor for a First lounge too.

But, boy would I like to be back there now - or indeed anywhere in South East Asia!

nldogbert

IMHO, they should have just left the part of the lounge out from the renovation plans and used the $$ saved to keep it to the quality as it was. After the renovation, the improvement was really minimal (in fact it seems more of a degradation).
This lounge is indeed to a certain extend what makes achieving Emerald status worth while as it is quiet and not over crowded like most lounges every where else - so it does serve it's function to this extend as I am able to work, have some privacy and relax before my flight. But yes, back to the main topic, I guess the small private room is what they tried to emulate like Thai's First class lounge with private rooms. For me this can be a blessing to have if there are users with kids and (if staff uses common sense) can usher these eligible customers into that are with their kids to minimize disturbance.

I am sure that with clever and creative ideas, this private room can be made more useful. I am curious on how this section of the lounge was before MH joined OW - photos, etc (as I never had the opportunity to use it before it became a OW Emerald lounge).

Cheers!

GGLwannabe

Hmmm, I think they would be better off gutting the whole F lounge and starting again from scratch. At the moment there is a vast amount of wasted/unutilisable space that could be put to much better use. Perhaps even arrange to have a new F lounge designed by someone with previous experience of creating such environments!

And I agree - bring back the sleeping rooms, ideally this time with en-suite shower rooms.