AirAsia X, KUL-MEL Premium Flatbed (1-2-1 config) and a KLIA T2 fiasco (or how to nearly miss your flight)

[Austman]

This is a review of AirAsia X's Premium Flatbed offering, KUL-MEL, and a bit of a warning about KLIA T2 (or how to nearly miss your flight!).

If you mainly want a comfortable flight at a reasonable price, AirAsia X (D7) Premium Flatbed can be reasonable choice.

Some of AirAsia X's A330s have a 1-2-1 Premium Flatbed configuration where the seats are equal to many of the best current business class offerings on full service airlines. My AirAsia X A330 flight, on an ex Philippine Airlines A330, turned out to be one.

The Premium Flatbed ticket includes some in-flight food and drink selections ( x 2 for this flight). But it's BYO entertainment.

Overall it was quite a good experience.

KLIA T2 however, needs to be handled with some care. I only just made it to the gate in time!

 

[Austman]

With a Premium Flatbed ticket, there are many inclusions, some on the ground and some in the air.

The only two "add-ons" that I paid for were MYR 9 for a Tiger Beer and MYR 90 for an extra 7kg Carry On. The rest in the list below were included in the ticket price.

The total cost for KUL-MEL, one-way, with those two extras came to MYR 2,807 or about AUD 1,028.

Here is my ticket:

 

[Austman]

KUL-MEL 12:35-23:45 D7 212 Premium Flatbed

The flight departed a few minutes early and arrived about 45 minutes early.

It was a pretty good flight. My seat, 2A, was equal to business class on many airlines. It was horizontal lie-flat and as a "1" in the 1-2-1 layout, it was also nicely private.

Waiting at my seat was a bottle of water, a big and comfortable pillow and a good quality blanket.

AirAsia X crew are delightful. But their in-flight service is about supplying pre-ordered food and drinks and selling food, drinks and duty free to pax that didn't order any or who wish to buy more. There's no real curtained off area for Premium Flatbed. There might be curtains but any pax can use any toilet etc.

AirAsia X's inflight food purchase offerings can be easily found on-line. On some routes they also offer inflight alcoholic beverage purchase offerings that are not so easily found online. This was one of those routes - so I have included that menu here.

IMO JQi's business class is a better in-flight service experience. But my seat on AirAsia X today can't be beat!

 

[Austman]

To the food.

It's a rather simple, single course, hot offering. No starter, bread or dessert. They come with water or tea/coffee. Other drinks have to be paid for.

But the food in the container is actually pretty good and the serving size is quite substantial. The crew ask what time you'd like your meals. I had the first meal shortly after take off and the second about 90 minutes before landing. I purchased a 187ml wine to go with each. Interesting the wine comes in glass (not plastic) bottles:

 

[I love to travel]

KUL-MEL 12:35-23:45 D7 212 Premium Flatbed

The flight departed a few minutes early and arrived about 40 minutes early.

It was a pretty good flight. My seat, 2A, was equal to business class on many airlines. It was horizontal lie-flat.

Waiting at the seat was a bottle of water, a big and comfortable pillow and a good quality blanket.

AirAsia X crew are delightful. But their in-flight service is about supplying pre-ordered food and drinks and selling food, drinks and duty free to pax that didn't order any or who wish to buy more. There's no real curtained off area for Premium Flatbed. There might be curtains but any pax can use any toilet etc.

AirAsia X's inflight food purchase offerings can be found on-line. On some routes they also offer inflight alcoholic beverage purchases. This was one of those routes - so I have included the menu.

IMO JQi's business class is a better in-flight service experience. But my seat on AirAsia X today can't be beat!


View attachment 480476View attachment 480477View attachment 480478View attachment 480479

SO what lounge access was included - any interesting option to, thanks for the report

 

[Austman]

SO what lounge access was included - any interesting option to, thanks for the report

It was the Plaza Premium at KLIA T2. But a bit more on that to come...

 

[moa999]

Nice win. I think D7 only have 2 330s in this ex-PAL config. Most are 2-2-2 angled flat.

 

[Austman]

Nice win. I think D7 only have 2 330s in this ex-PAL config. Most are 2-2-2 angled flat.

It was! And a pity that the big screen in front of you is just a bit of a mirror!

 

[Austman]

As you can see above, Included in the add-ons is "AirAsia Duty Free".

This is a MYR 50 discount offer if you pre-purchase duty free. The duty free is later delivered to you, at your seat, in-flight.

After booking your ticket, you get an email with a discount voucher code.

I actually used it. I'm not sure if it was a great bargain or not (MYR 228) but it certainly was convenient:

 

[Austman]

And, in keeping with the AirAsia experience, I decided to stay at the land-side KLIA T2 Tune Hotel the night before my flight.

This was not primarily done to save money. It was done out of convenience. The hotel is more-or-less attached, land-side, to KLIA T2.

I was on an international flight, arriving at KLIA T1 at about 18:30 and had to get over to KLIA T2 for my AirAsia X flight the next morning. I couldn't be bothered going into KL or with hotel shuttle busses or Grabs to nearby hotels. I just wanted a bed for the night and easy access to KLIA T2 in the morning. So, after KLIA T1 arrivals migration, I caught the free land-side shuttle bus from KLIA T1 to KLIA T2. It actually arrives almost next to the KLIA T2 Tune Hotel.

Surprisingly the KLIA T2 Tune Hotel, my first time ever at a Tune Hotel, was not too bad! The room was very, very small but it was modern and quiet.

The hotel common areas, being the restaurant, a separate bar and an outdoor garden area were great! There was even a guest laundry - MYR 10 for the washer and MYR 10 for the dryer. So my laundry was all done while I was having dinner at the bar - perfect!

It's no 4 or 5 star property. But after all the AirAsia offered discounts it came to USD 60.04 (why USD I don't know) for the night:

 

[clifford]

Yes, I've stayed at thr Tune KLIA2 and it's very convenient, but not particularly cheap for KL. I didn't depart on Air Asia, but had to go to T1 for my OmanAir flight. But it was still very convenient. KLIA2 is more of a very large shopping mall than an airport. It's a complete maze.

 

[Austman]

Yes, I've stayed at thr Tune KLIA2 and it's very convenient, but not particularly cheap for KL. I didn't depart on Air Asia, but had to go to T1 for my OmanAir flight. But it was still very convenient. KLIA2 is more of a very large shopping mall than an airport. It's a complete maze.

In AUD it came to $91.30 in total. Still not too bad.

I'm glad you mentioned the shopping mall part of KLIA T2.

KLIA T2 really does seem to be a shopping mall primarily (land-side and air-side) with an airport terminal added as an afterthought.

That whole concept and the enormous distances you have to travel - past numerous shops and eateries - as well as the usual airport processes along the way - just to get to your gate - up to almost 1km from the check-in desks to some gates - together with a bit of AirAsia pedantics - and the fact that the air-side processes at KLIA T2 are not quite the same as they are at KLIA T1 - caught me out.

I'll post more on my departures experience at KLIA T2 next.

 

[jase05]

Yes, I've stayed at thr Tune KLIA2 and it's very convenient, but not particularly cheap for KL. I didn't depart on Air Asia, but had to go to T1 for my OmanAir flight. But it was still very convenient. KLIA2 is more of a very large shopping mall than an airport. It's a complete maze.

We have stayed at the Aerotel at KLIA2 before but haven’t flown out of there.
We had an evening arrival into KLIA1 and then an early morning departure so just caught the terminal train there and back.
Hotel wasn’t bad especially when the Sama Sama was charging the earth that day

 

[markis10]

But after all the AirAsia offered discounts it came to USD 60.04 (why USD I don't know)

Probably to get around restrictions on trading of the Ringgit since they are managed by the Ormond Group.

 

[Austman]

Departure morning.

With the Premium Flatbed you get 7kg carry-on and 40kg checked luggage allowance included.

I was trying to be HLO with a single carry-on bag of allowed dimensions. But my carry-on weighed a few more kg than 7kg.

With a scheduled 23:45 arrival time in MEL, I was keen to stay HLO so I could get out of MEL airport and home as fast as possible. I was willing to pay an additional MYR 90 for an second 7kg carry-on. Done.

With the additional 7kg carry-on purchase, both bags are supposed to be 7kg or less. I was hoping that logic might prevail and that AirAsia X, considering I had now paid for 14kg of carry-on and had not used any of my 40kg ckecked allowance, would allow me to keep a single carry-on that was more than 7kg but less than 14kg. If they said no, I had a fold-up heavy duty plastic bag that I could transfer some kg into. Both bags would then be under 7kg. But they would take up more locker space (not really a problem in an A330 business class cabin) and be less convenient for me to handle.

With more than 2 hours before my 12:35 departure, I found the Premium Flatbed check-in desks. I had earlier checked-in online so had a BP. There were a couple of pax ahead of me and an AirAsia staff member checking that you qualified for that check-in line. The staff member saw I no luggage to check-in and had paid for 14kg carry-on. It's all on the BP acronyms. With just the one carry-on bag he told me "you can go straight to the gate". Great! Maybe logic had prevailed? He also told me my online BP was enough to get me into the Plaza Premium lounge.

So off to the Plaza Premium lounge, I went!

 

[Austman]

The Plaza Premium lounge.

With a Premium Flatbed you can get lounge access included. At KLIA T2 that's the Plaza Premium lounge.

It's a curious lounge in that it's land-side and is not actually even in the airport terminal! It's located in the Gateway@KLIA2 shopping complex which abuts the terminal. It's also not on the same level as departures. It's down a floor. So it's a bit of a walk from and to the actual KLIA T2 check-in area.

It's not a bad lounge. It's pretty small but comfortable. It has reasonable food and drink offerings. The only included alcohol on offer is Carlsberg on-tap beer. I noticed that the Carlsberg was very popular even before 11am!

There is a flights departures screen in the lounge. But it was just a single page of the 16 or so next departing flights. It didn't scroll to later departures. By the time my flight finally appeared on the screen it was showing "Final Call" ! It was still about 70 mins before departure.

Oh dear, I've maybe left things too late ... I was out of the lounge quick smart and walking past the Premium Flatbed check-in desks again 5 or so minutes later. With still over 60 mins to departure, check-in for my flight would have been still open. The gate closes 20 mins before departure. Could I make it to the gate in 40 to 45 minutes?

Photos of the lounge, including one with the flights departures screen are on their website:

Plaza Premium Lounge (Next to Aerotel Kuala Lumpur, gateway@klia2, KLIA Terminal 2)

Book your Kuala Lumpur International Airport lounge access and enjoy instant confirmation. Plaza Premium Lounge (Next to Aerotel Kuala Lumpur, gateway@klia2, KLIA Terminal 2) is conveniently located at Level 2M, gateway@klia2 (next to Aerotel KL), Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2.

www.plazapremiumlounge.com

 

[Brissy1]

The Plaza Premium lounge.

With a Premium Flatbed you can get lounge access included. At KLIA T2 that's the Plaza Premium lounge.

It's a curious lounge in that it's land-side and is not actually even in the airport terminal! It's located in the Gateway@KLIA2 shopping complex which abuts the terminal. It's also not on the same level as departures. It's down a floor. So it's a bit of a walk from and to the actual KLIA T2 check-in area.

It's not a bad lounge. It's pretty small but comfortable. It has reasonable food and drink offerings. The only alcohol on offer is Carlsberg on-tap beer. I noticed that the Carlsberg was very popular even before 11am!

There is a flights departures screen in the lounge. But it was just a single page of the 16 or so next departing flights. It didn't scroll to later departures. By the time my flight finally appeared on the screen it was showing "Final Call" ! It was still about 70 mins before departure.

Oh dear, I've maybe left things too late ... I was out of the lounge quick smart and walking past the Premium Flatbed check-in desks again 5 or so minutes later. With still over 60 mins to departure, check-in for my flight would have been still open. The gate closes 20 mins before departure. Could I make it to the gate in 40 to 45 minutes?

Photos of the lounge, including one with the flights departures screen are on their website:

Plaza Premium Lounge (Next to Aerotel Kuala Lumpur, gateway@klia2, KLIA Terminal 2)

Book your Kuala Lumpur International Airport lounge access and enjoy instant confirmation. Plaza Premium Lounge (Next to Aerotel Kuala Lumpur, gateway@klia2, KLIA Terminal 2) is conveniently located at Level 2M, gateway@klia2 (next to Aerotel KL), Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2.

www.plazapremiumlounge.com

You're walking past the check-in desks which is presumably still open (>60min before dep), and yet worried about making the flight! Waiting for your next reveal episode.

 

[Austman]

Here's a satellite photo of the whole KLIA T2 complex. With the Tune Hotel, the Gateway@KLIA2 shopping complex, the Plaza Premium lounge location and my gate which was in the Q pier, gate Q10:

 

[Austman]

You're walking past the check-in desks which is presumably still open (>60min before dep), and yet worried about making the flight! Waiting for your next reveal episode.

They say you should be able to make it to any gate from the check-in area in about 35mins. That's probably about right if everything goes smoothly.

Like KLIA T1, there's 4 or 5 processes you have to go through for international departures:

1. Initial international departures entrance check.
2. Passport control.
3. Customs/initial security check (bags only). I'm not sure what this even does?
4. Final full security check (you and your bags).

Where and how they are done in KLIA T2 is not quite the same as KLIA T1. And I had minor issues with 3 of them!

 

[jase05]

Here's a satellite photo of the whole KLIA T2 complex. With the Tune Hotel, the Gateway@KLIA2 shopping complex, the Plaza Premium lounge location and my gate which was in the Q pier, gate Q10:

View attachment 480989

Wow, what a mess. Ive mentioned we’ve stayed at the Aerotel and notice the Plaza Premium lounge right next to the hotel entrance but didn’t realise how far away it way from the gates