Malaysia Airlines - What's their Business & First Class

[PaulZ]

Im planning on doing some travel to Europe and am also thinking about doing a RTW next year.

I was wondering what people thought about the service and product on Malaysia Airlines in Business or First Class. Is it comparable to the service and comfort received on Qantas?

I am most concerned about being comfortable on the plane (as i am sure most are) but being 6"4' is a little harder. Do the seats recline flat? I found the BA's First Service and product FANTASTIC.


There is such a significant difference in price, so i am leaning to MH, but have never travelled on them.

Obviously I wont be able to earn points/status through QF FFP, but oh well - saving a 3-4 thousand each trip is worth more than the points anyways.

Paul

 

[QF WP]

Can't tell you about flying in MH's First or Business Class - never stepped foot in their planes.

But here is the link to Malaysian's Enrich FF program details

 

[serfty]

Re: Malaysia Airlines - What's their Business & First Cl

Im planning on doing some travel to Europe and am also thinking about doing a RTW next year.

I was wondering what people thought about the service and product on Malaysia Airlines in Business or First Class. Is it comparable to the service and comfort received on Qantas?

I am most concerned about being comfortable on the plane (as i am sure most are) but being 6"4' is a little harder. Do the seats recline flat? I found the BA's First Service and product FANTASTIC.


There is such a significant difference in price, so i am leaning to MH, but have never travelled on them.

Obviously I wont be able to earn points/status through QF FFP, but oh well - saving a 3-4 thousand each trip is worth more than the points anyways.

Paul

PaulZ, maybe you could consider starting your 'round the world' from one of the asian ports where it can be much cheaper. e.g. Business class round the world (Asia, Oz/NZ, N/A Eur) ex Bankok is about $2.5K less then starting the same segments from Oz; ~$3k cheaper from Sri Lanka. Do a oneWORLD RTW and you have a very good chance at attaining Platimum Status with both Qantas or BA as well as AA.

 

[clifford]

Re: Malaysia Airlines - What's their Business & First Cl

Im planning on doing some travel to Europe and am also thinking about doing a RTW next year.

I was wondering what people thought about the service and product on Malaysia Airlines in Business or First Class. Is it comparable to the service and comfort received on Qantas?

I am most concerned about being comfortable on the plane (as i am sure most are) but being 6"4' is a little harder. Do the seats recline flat? I found the BA's First Service and product FANTASTIC.


There is such a significant difference in price, so i am leaning to MH, but have never travelled on them.

Obviously I wont be able to earn points/status through QF FFP, but oh well - saving a 3-4 thousand each trip is worth more than the points anyways.

Paul

Hi Paul,

You will find the MH service in bus/first class to be exceptional. Much better than QF or BA.

However, one of the drawbacks of MH is that they're not part of any worthwhile FF scheme. You may not want to waste 5 grand's worth of travel for no return (I certainly wouldn't).

For an outlay of 5 grand, I would expect (and do get) at least 100,000 frequent flyer miles, which gets at least a free business class trip to NYC on a *A carrier.

 

[NM]

MH is going about the cabin upgrade on their 747 and 777 aircraft in J and F. Their F suites look fantastic. I have only travelled MH short-haul in both F and Y and found the service to be very good - perhaps not quite as refined as say CX, but still very good.

The food is obviously Asian, and very good. The beverage selection may be little more limited than some other airlines, but is certainly adequate. Even on a short SIN-KUL flight I have been very well treated in F (and it only costs A$45 more than in Y for that sector, including lounge access and premium immigration line access).

The F lounge (Golden Lounge) at KUL (or KLIA as they call it in Malaysia) is very nice with hot meals, Icecream, showers etc. Its in the satellite terminal (C gates) where most MH international flights arrive/depart.

I can't comment on the business class service, but believe they have completing a business class cabin upgrade along with the F upgrades according to their advertising around KUL airport.

 

[ozstamps]

I've done a few RT to Europe in MH First in the past year,and have another booked. The new F seats look terrific. Biz not so hot.

They run RINGS around QF or any USA airline of course.

1995 Dom ($350 a bottle) even pre-departure. Lobster, caviar, truffles, the works.

http://www.aeromalaysia.com/joule/IMG_7498S.jpg - new First

http://www.aeromalaysia.com/joule/IMG_7493S.jpg - close up of F seat

http://www.aeromalaysia.com/joule/IMG_7502S.jpg - new F loos

http://photos.airliners.net/middle/7/6/7/805767.jpg - new F seat with buddy seat

http://www.optiview.com/travel/mhlounge/ - panorama of F lounge in KUL




There is a Pan Pacific Hotel connected to the airport terminal. It is outside the immigration / customs area.

http://klairport.panpacific.com/hotel/location.html

There is also an airside (ie inside immigration / customs) transit hotel. Rooms are available in blocks of 6 hours. An advantage of staying here is that you avoid paying the departure tax as you stay in the sterile area of the airport. A disadvantage is that it does not have as many facilities (pools, etc.)

http://www.klia.com.my/index.php?WebsiteId=13&ch=22&pg=72&ac=49

The commute into the city of KL is not as bad as it used to be thanks to the opening of the airport rail link. 28 min ride from the airport to the city.

http://www.kliaekspres.com/main.htm

You can definitely do some sightseeing in a day. The Golden Triangle area in the city is a good place to start. You may want to go up the KL Tower for good views of the city. You could also go to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) under the Petronas Towers. It is about the most modern shopping centre I've seen in my life. The Petronas Tower is / used to be the highest building in the world.

 

[ozstamps]

The MH First lounge in KUL has motel type rooms anyway, so you do not need the paid ones. A 7 hour sleep and a hot shower makes the trip home a dream.

 

[CdaWorld]

The new Golden Club class is very good. Just traveled KUL-SYD a week ago. Very nice trip and good service, food and the seat was very comfy.

So, if you get the upgraded plane it's fine. The older configuration is not as wonderful.

 

[NM]

You can definitely do some sightseeing in a day. The Golden Triangle area in the city is a good place to start. You may want to go up the KL Tower for good views of the city. You could also go to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) under the Petronas Towers. It is about the most modern shopping centre I've seen in my life. The Petronas Tower is / used to be the highest building in the world.

If going into KL for a day of sightseeing, here are some of my recommendations:

Take the KLIA Ekspres train into KL Sentral. Cost is $35 Ringgit and it takes 28 mins. From there, take the Monorail to Bukit Bintang (cost 2.20 Ringgit). To get to the Monorail station, when you exit the KLIA Ekspres ticket collection, turn left through the walkway to the main KL Sentral shopping area. Then turn right and exit the main building, then down the escalator to the road level below. Then walk through the line of tents selling various wares and cross the road to the Monorail station.

At Bukit Bintang, have a look through BB Plaza and the other adjacent malls. This is the major place for cheap shopping, including movies, computers etc.

From there you walk to the KL Tower. If the day is clear, its worth the 10-15 minute walk from Bukit Bintang to KL Tower. Its on top a hill near the Pan Pacific (Pacific Regency) Hotel, on Julan P. Ramlee (the name of the main road) opposite MUI Plaza and just up the P Ramlee from The Shangrila Hotel.

Then continue on the monorail to KLCC under the Pretonas Towers as mentioned by ozstamps. This is a huge modern shopping mall with almost every label outlet. Prices are not great, but it is huge compared to any shopping mall I have seen in Australia. Take a walk outside and gaze up at the towers.

If its not the busy peak hour (5-7pm), take a Teksi (taxi) to China Town. You are better to flag down a passing teksi rather than take on parked on the side of the street. A passing teksi will operate by the meter and the cost will be about 5-8 Ringgit. A stopped teksi will ask where you want to go and tell you a fixed price, which will likely be 15 or 20 Ringgit if the driver thinks he can get away with it. The busier the traffic the more the fare they will ask. If its busy, consider taking the Monorail back to KL Sentral and then the Putra LRT one stop to China Town.

Then take the Putra LRT back to KL Sentral (one stop, cost 1 Ringgit) and then KLIA Ekspres back to the airport.