mkgrip

I wanted share a recent experience I had with Malaysia Airlines:

I was flying from Stockholm to New York (Newark) with MH90 in (in Y) to catch a connecting flight with Delta to Kansas City (in F). I chose MH instead of Skyteam of Star Alliance I have a status with, to try it out, as the 5 star Skytrax rating seemed to suggest that it could be a pleasant experience even without the frequent flier perks. Oh boy was I wrong...

I booked the flight several months in advance. The first sign of trouble was though, that the e-ticket receipt I received showed 20K as baggage allowance even though their website said 2PC for flight to and from US.
Well... better safe and sorry, let's call them. I tried calling their reservation center in Sweden (as that's where I was departing9 with no luck getting through. Next I tried Finland, they answered the phone, but not the question, they didn't know anything about the US flights as they said they only deal with the flight to Asia
OK, semi understandable, I'll call the office in New York then, they'll surely know about the flights to US, right?. Well, the machine I reached knew a great deal about the schedules, but I was unable to get through to any real person that could have helped me... Fine, I'll email them. I went to their website, got the email address and send them the question as email. They still haven't answered.... Finally I called their line in Malaysia on got the confirmation that the baggage quota was 2PC. So all is well, though certainly no 5 Star Airline service so far.

Even though I what should be plenty of time to connect, almost 6 hours between EWR and JFK, I decided to play it safe and check-in online to get a seat close to the front to speed the process of getting out of the plane. I practically waited on the computer for the 24h deadline to be able to check in. After the deadline came I tried to check-in, only to get an error saying that it's not yet the check-in time. I tried again in an hour with the same message, same thing hour after that and so on, until the final attempt just before leaving the hotel to go to the airport a few hours before the scheduled departure, still getting the same message about it not being check-in time yet.

I got to the airport in good time, only to the check-in counters that there were no where near enough of. The moment I saw the line and the speed it was progressing, it was clear to me that we'd never leave on time (and we didn't). To make things worse, after completing the business class and first class check in, they closed those counters immediately, instead of turning them into Economy check-in to help speed to process, and thereby ensuring that the flight would be delayed even more. By that time time the boards were showing "Final call" for the flight. The check-in personnel however seemed to be in no hurry at all, and no information was given to the terribly slowly moving line. The overall check-in speed in time taken to check-in one passenger was probably the worse I've seen on any airline and route. It could take ten minutes to check-in one passenger!
When I finally got to the desk, they didn't have any seats left (the flight was overbooked) so after spending some 5 minutes in the phone (no hurry in here either) they gave me a boarding pass with a seat request and sent me to the gate with an employee, running through the airport being hurried by the staff all the time (several other passenger where with me aswell). So NOW all of a sudden we were in a terrible hurry (it was no some 10 minutes after scheduled departure). I would have understood the haste otherwise, but no when the hurry ended the moment we got to the gate, as it took another 15 minutes to get the seats arranged.

With absolute no thought wasted on how delayed the flight would be or how annoyed the passengers were getting, they started shuffling the passengers around the plane. While standing at the gate waiting for my seat I heard them at least "having to upgrading one more passenger to C from Y" (which judging by the tone was the worst thing that could happen to their precious C-Class), the downgrading him back to Economy as a seat suddenly appeared out of nowhere and finally staff going to the airplane to check how many economy seats they had left (apparently their computers don't keep count).
Finally I was told to board the 744 with a member of the crew showing me my seat, which was supposed to be somewhere in the back of the plane. When I got there through the empty C-class and full Y-class, it turned out that the seat was taken, and that the passenger sitting there was on the seat assigned to her. After that I was pointed to a couple of other empty seat in the back (the only ones in Y) but before getting there, they told me that those were crew seats, and I could not use them. Then was taken to the front of the now even more delayed plane to the seat 34F, which when we got there turned out to be occupied by an other passenger who wasn't on a wrong seat either.
After all this they decided that after all there was no room in coach and moved another passenger out from an emergency exit seat supposedly to the C-class (I'm guessing this was the same person that was already upgraded and downgraded once while I was waiting on the gate). So finally I got to stow my luggage sit down, relax and decide that the situation could be worse. They had put me through a lot of crap, but at least they gave me an exit seat, which in my opinion is the least they could do. Well, after sitting there for about 15 seconds to my great annoyance an employee told me to get up again, and the other passenger was downgraded again and moved to back to the exit seat.
At this point I was really starting to get pissed off, but complied as there was really nothing I could do (and because to be honest I was hoping they would just deny me boarding and bump me to SK, which for sure would be better than this, I would gladly switched to Ryanair at this point). Well, I wasn't denied boarding but instead I was showed to the empty "crew seats" that I was denied access a couple of minutes before (in the very back of the plane with no recline whatsoever. I sat down and after the cheesy safety video we took of.

After a whike they began the drink service, which unfortunately skipped me. Pretty much in line with the service so far, but no problem, I could always use the crew call button... or so I though. The crew call button on my seat didn't work, and neither did the one on the seat next to me. Great. So I just had to wait about half an hour for a crew member to pass to get my drinks. While ordering my drinks I also mentioned that both the crew call buttons were inoperative, and got an answer: "it's ok"... for sure it is for them... less work when they don't have to serve people anything. Again not a big deal, but added up to all the other miserable service I'd received.

At now point of this experience was I ever apologized for any of the inconvenience, even though you didn't have to be a mind reader to see from my face that I wasn't happy with their service.

If this is what they call the famous "Malaysian Hospitality" and "5 star service" then I rather keep to the decent non Malaysian 3 and 4 star airlines from now on. I'm certainly going to avoid MH from now on, and tell everybody I know to do the same as long as there is any other decent alternative. Certainly won't miss their ARN routes.

Altough I must admid I would be curious how their C-class meals are. They have to be phenomenal if upgrading and extra passenger to C (me or somebody else, I really don't care) costs more than keeping a packed 747 with a crew on duty and APU running for an extra 45 minutes plus the business lost from angry passengers (I'm guessing the other passengers with a similar experience and the C and F passenger waiting for the seat lottery in Y to be completed didn't enjoy the situation either.

I really wonder if I should write a complaint about this, as I'm not they read that kind of mail either, and if the give a damn about the people in the cattle class in their Malaysia office anyway, as they certainly don't in ARN or onboard.

To be fair, couple of the male flight attendants were true professionals and did their best to keep the customers (including myself) happy. This didn't apply to the whole crew though, as some would just take your drink order and never be heard of after promising to be back with your drinks shortly.

I don't expect too much when flying in Y, but this was just ridiculous. Even if I had no status with them is not the way to treat any paying customers (and I certainly doubt anybody that has gone through that would want to be a loyal customer to them anyway)

mario33

It doesnt make any difference whether or not you have status with them; absolutely no recognition at all (except for lounge access for gold members and above).

Oh yes, their precious business class seats. I have been a victim myself with their upgrade-downgrade game and was even left to fend for myself (with no offer for overnight assistance) in a foreign city when they cancelled my flight.

GPS123

I once took SQ 001 from SFO with stop over in HKG for 1 week, then continue to SIN.
I called SQ service line in the U.S. and inquired about the luggage restriction from HKG to SIN. They told me they don't know, and asked me to find out when I am in HKG.
Am I supposed to throw away half of my luggages if I found out the inter-asia luggage allowance is only half of cross-pacific allowance?

Tech Noir

Sounds like a pretty terrible introduction to MH! I'd certainly think twice about flying them if I'd had to put up with that. Have flown MH long haul in C class a couple of times and was quite satisfied, though service on-board can be a bit inconsistent. Haven't tried Y.

No doubt you have already written to MH customer service; hopefully something positive comes of this. Have you tried SK on this route?

mkgrip

I actually haven't emailed them yet but I probably should when I find the time. I haven't flown SK on the route (AF, AY or BA have usually given me the best deal transatlantic), but from other experiences about the airline I'm pretty confident it is better.

stefan.aerts

You get what pay for and MH dont charge too much these days. Over rated and still thinking they are a 5 star carrier when they dont even come close to 3 star IMHO

Guy Betsy

What's this got to do with this thread????

In any case, the SQ res lines in USA is answered in India - which of course are clueless to anything other than yes or no.

But any ticket which touches the USA/Canada, has 2 pcs bags thru out your entire journey even when you make a stopover.

bagspacked

Just got off a series of MH flights - my flight into KL was late and they held my connection (which was the only one in the next 3 days to IST from there) for me for 30 minutes which was a help. The plane was pretty old but the service and food was great. Granted this was in C . . .

elitetraveler

If you took the time to write the length OP post, why not take half the time to write a brief letter with bullet points on your complaint?

That said, I think your res line issues, inability to check-in online, a long Y check-in line, an inoperative crew call button and a delay of about 30 minutes on departure are hardly major issues. I guess having them rolled into one trip makes it frustrating.

Also, how late was your flight on arrival? It couldn't have been delayed much by the departure delay.

My flights over the years in MH F have always been excellent, but it's a different game up there.

sebastravel

Many of the issues appear to be the responsibility of the handling agent.
If I remember well in ARN MH's handling agent is Menzies, and the following would apply only if it is the case. I had the misfortune to deal with them in several occasions in ARN (flying BAand LX) and their attitude, overall service and friendliness is close to what you would have gotten in SVO 20 years ago.

Check ‘in lines are always long, no premium class recognition (patchy priority tagging), unfriendly and “take it or leave it” attitude. I have seen empty C class check'in stands next to kilometer long lines in Y class and not the sightless desire to transfer pax from one line to the other. In my last flight from ARN I travelled with a baby stroller and was forced to check it in 'for safety reasons', according to the crew on the plane it is the only airport in Europe with such a policy, and they pointed to outright laziness from the local handling workers. I’m not claiming this is the case, but might be an indicator to the awful service experience by the poster. I haven’t flown MH for more than 15 years so I can’t comment on the in-flight experience, but for the landside part, the handling agent certainly has a big part of responsibility.

The following might be OT but Let’s face it, ARN (specially T2) is never a nice place to fly to or from, dirty and super expensive restaurants (30 SEK for a 33cl bottle of water??? ARN is in the Sahara??? ), long queues for check in and security, the despise look you get when flying premium classes, lousy lounges, and the boards reminding you to be vigilant of pickpockets (I saw myself an Indian man shouting for help after being robbed in the check-in area), everything makes you feel like you are in a 3rd world airport rather than in Scandinavia. It certainly does not improve the overall impression of the airline you travel with.

mkgrip

Yes, they (and the many other things that were wrong with this flight) do add up, plus the main thing here was not the slight delay let alone the crew call button, but the fact that customers are treated like cattle and made run across the airport only to wait for half an hour while shuffled around the plane and upgraded and downgraded multiple times.

Trust me, I'm not the kind of guy who starts whining when my red wine is 2 degrees too warm in Y, and while I'm sure I'm not an experienced flyer in Flyertalk standards, this still is the worst service I've received on any of the hundreds of flights I've been on, including the ones on LCC:s.

I also wrote to MH about the disaster, and will let you know if I ever get an (non automated) answer.

Guy Betsy

Doesn't matter cos MH will stop flying to ARN end of Sep.

I flew around the same time as you, but from ARN to KUL.

Check in was fine. We were there 3 hours prior departure and managed to get the emergency exit seats which is a godsend as one of my friends is tall!

You could saved all the troubles of ringing every MH office around (which you should have just stuck with Sweden though) and checked on their website which clearly states that baggage allowance on all sectors to/from the americas is :

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/uplo...nformation.pdf

Tech Noir

Are they dropping the NYC route? (on which ARN is currently a stop) Or perhaps flying via another port?

BearX220

They're dropping NYC/EWR and their sole US landfall will be LAX.

Guy Betsy

Same for TG.

I wonder why NYC/EWR doesn't work for other carriers other than SQ and CX.