no a A330-300, it was scheduled for a 772 up until a week before the flight. Don't know why they changed it. It was bearable but was slightly disappointed because it was an overnight flight and I wanted the bed. Other than that, I was really impressed with Malaysia Airlines.

Yes, you could visit the MH international lounge on arrival in KUL, but make sure you leave enough time to get through immigration (for transit pax, separate from the facility for pax terminating in KUL) to transfer to your domestic flight in Y.

MH's one and only international lounge is located at the satellite building. It never had an international lounge at the main terminal building (MTB) - just a domestic lounge, which you will not have access to as you will be flying in Y (unless you have status with MH's FFP).

Your aircraft from SGN may park at the MTB and upon leaving the aircraft, pax will be directed to the international level of the MTB. From there, take the train (every few minutes) to the satellite building to get to your lounge. You do not have to tell the attendants that you have a flight to catch in Y, as this may lead to some "resistance" given that you are on transit - just keep an eye on the clock for your next departure. You will need to show your boarding pass stub to indicate that you have just arrived from SGN in C.

To get to your domestic flight which will depart from the MTB, just take the train back to the MTB, look for the domestic transfer sign and go down one level to go through immigration (the elevators/ stairs to go down one level are actually BEHIND the train platforms) and off to your gate. Here, try not to follow the crowd who would tend to head forward and down the esculators towards arrivals immigration.

I assume you will have been issued your domestic flight's boarding pass at SGN.

If your SGN flight parks at the satellite building, then just go straight to the lounge in the same building, before heading to the MTB to catch your domestic flight
.

They will usually ask you if you have a connecting flight. And they always give me a funny look when I said no, but nevertheless wave me in.

In fact as recently as earlier this month that son of a gun airplane greeted me at LAX. Judging from the grumbling among the C-class crowd, I am not the only one that will be using CX or SQ for KL flights the next few months.

It is quite tragic that MH, after doing a wonderful job on the re-fits, is unwilling to convert those last two (IIRC) planes and instead would rather upset high rev customers on the LAX route (not sure if this is scheduled or if it only happens with eq. issues, given that several people I know have had this experience in the past year).

Errr...got an unrefurbed ship when I flew upstairs from SYD to KUL on Dec 26...so its not just LAX....but at least the check-in staff apologetically advised us that this would be the case. Expectation management is a good thing ! ...anyway the rest of the service (and the other 3 flights SYD <> LHR) was pretty darn good...maybe not the equal to SG or CX but then I didnt pay their (higher) prices either....

Funny, my son (16 at the time) flew Malaysian and reported back that his only drink options were alcoholic and the FAs just kept pushing wine on him. I can only assume it was true, since it wasn't like I was meeting him and he had to explain anything. :)

Astute move - they've probably secured his loyalty for life without any of this messing about with Frequent Flyer cards.

Mind you, as a muslim carrier, I can't believe they didn't have any non-alcoholic drinks onboard ;)

First time I hear of MH being described as a "muslim" carrier.

MH is a private company, and I am not aware of any regulation prohibiting non-muslims from owning or heading the company; though I am sure some politicians will ensure that a non-muslim will never head the airline again. Also note that the stewardess do not cover their head with the muslim attire though food served are definitely halal.

I am sure you are also aware that half the population of Malaysia are non-muslims.

I almost always fly MH.
For me it is a very good airline. (standards are same as SQ)

Flight attendents are very friendly and food & service is ok!

Golden club class is magnificient but not affordable for most of us :S
Business class is not worth the price difference with economy for me.

Good luck deciding...
just do it and expierence... ;)

ciao
Martine

Whilst I appreciate that may have been lax terminoloy on my behalf, it is equally laudable to suggest that they had no soft drinks available...

Fair enough, but wasn't it government intervention that brought about the demise of alcohol in the business/first class cabin on domestic and SIN flights? Seems like undue influence on a supposedly private concern if you ask me - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ight=malaysian

Also a number of staff do have their heads covered which underlines this "theme" - is it check-in and assorted ground staff at KLIA that i'm thinking of?

OT: Doesn't Malaysia have religious police? Doesn't Malaysia have laws forbidding marriage of a Muslim and a non-Muslim?

Well, a non-Muslim is heading the airline today... Idris Jala, the current CEO, is a Christian. Are you saying that after Idris (who is doing a fine job from what I can tell), no more non-Muslims? Why?

The term I should have used should be "Bumiputra" instead of Muslim. Majority of Bumiputras are Muslims (though some from Borneo are Christians) and for simplicity on FT I continued to use the term Muslims since someone mentioned MH as being a Muslim airline.

I wasnt aware the current CEO is a Christian. If he is indeed a Christian (he has a muslim name though), I apologise for the misinformation.

I remember that thread. Quite honestly I believe it was done as a cost saving exercise and I wasnt convinced it was government intervention for the following reasons :

1) Certain politicians would have claimed victory and would push for no alcohol flights to be extended to international flights, but nothing was reported in the press as far as I know.

2) They could have excluded SIN-BKI (since its international ) from the list of no alcohol flights but they chose to include it.

3) At that point in time, price difference between Y and C domestic fares were quite minimal (something like USD20 for an hour flight). Its doesnt make commercial sense to serve alcohol with that kind of fares.

4) I believe alcohol is not exempt from the exhorbitant taxes on domestic flights. How many bottles of wine can one buy with MYR80 at full price ?

I do,however, agree with you that the government does have a strong influence over policy matters, rightfully or not. They are afterall still the controlling shareholders.

I thought he is very much a Muslim from Sarawak. When did he convert?

ANyway, though MH is a public-listed company, it is very much (>75% of shares) owned by the Government and Government-related agencies. Additionally, the Gov has the so-called golden share that ensures that it gets MH to do what it wants it to do.

I do think the lack of alcoholic drinks on the domestic runs is more an economics issue rather than a religious issue. Also, I think the KUL-SINvv runs do serve some form of alcoholic beverages, at least in F.

Re. muslim attire, interestingly, the cabin crew of MH Charters wear entirely different attire to standard MH and some do cover their heads (the head scarf/ covering is designed to go with the attire).