Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 Business Class Review

With more than six flights per day to Australia, Malaysia Airlines’ presence in Australia is among the largest of a Oneworld alliance airline after Qantas. From its hub in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian flag carrier flies to Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. It also serves London, Doha, Jeddah and many cities across Asia.

Until recently, intra-Asia flying on Malaysia Airlines was also a popular Qantas Frequent Flyer status credit run.

The Boeing 737-800 is the backbone of the Malaysia Airlines fleet. You’ll most commonly find Malaysia Airlines flying Boeing 737s on routes within Southeast Asia, but the Oneworld member also flies them on some services to Perth and India.

Last year, Malaysia Airlines embarked on a controversial refurbishment program for its Boeing 737-800 fleet. The airline promoted this new interior as “boasting a new and premium cabin experience” that was also more environmentally sustainable. Others have less charitably pointed out that the newer version has one less row of Business Class, three more rows of Economy Class and no more in-flight entertainment screens. The legroom in Business Class has also been reduced.

So, what’s the new Boeing 737-800 cabin experience like? Find out as we review Malaysia Airlines Business Class on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok.

Flight Details

Flight number	MH780
Route	Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Bangkok (BKK)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Class of travel	Business
Seat number	2F
On-time performance	We arrived 45 minutes late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I redeemed Qantas Frequent Flyer points to book a Classic Flight Reward ticket on Malaysia Airlines from Singapore to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur. The total cost for the full booking was 30,000 Qantas points + AUD113 in taxes & charges.

A standalone one-way Business Class reward from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok would cost 30,000 Qantas points and around AUD43 in taxes & charges. If you were to buy a Business Class ticket on the KUL-BKK route, you could expect to pay around AUD436 one-way.

Airport Experience

Malaysia Airlines operates four lounges at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). There’s a domestic and an international regional lounge in the main terminal and Business and First Class “Golden” lounges in the satellite terminal.

I visited all three of the international lounges prior to departure. (The First Class lounge is not normally accessible with a Business Class ticket, but I was able to use it due to my Oneworld Emerald status.)

My favourite was the Business Class section of the Golden Lounge in the satellite terminal. This had lots of seating with a nice airport view, showers, a separate napping area, a bar and lots of buffet food options including local Malaysian classics like laksa (one of my favourite foods). It wasn’t at all busy and the staff were very friendly.

I headed over to the gate for my flight at the advertised boarding time. At KLIA, like at Singapore’s Changi Airport, security screening is completed as you enter the gate area.

The flight ended up being delayed, but Malaysia Airlines did not notify passengers of the delay until after the scheduled departure time. By this time, I had already cleared security a while ago and was effectively stuck in the waiting area by the gate, where it was very warm and no drinking water was available. At least there was a toilet available in the gate area… but since I couldn’t bring any water through security, I was feeling dehydrated by the time we eventually boarded 45 minutes late.

The Hard Product

I had flown on the older Boeing 737-800 Business Class configuration the previous day and found the old configuration to be a lot better. The newer Business Class seats definitely offer less legroom. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the in-your-face blue and white colour scheme, although the Malaysian motifs on the seats are a nice touch.

That said, the new seats were reasonably comfortable. I could still fully stretch my legs out under the seat in front.

The seat reclined a fair way back, but the recline function had a bit of an unusual quirk. When reclining, the base of the seat also slides forward.

A cocktail table folded out from between the Business Class seats and every seat had a charging outlet available, along with USB and USB-C sockets.

The seat-back TV screens were ripped out in the cabin refurbishment, but you could stream in-flight entertainment to your own device via MHstudio. There was a small fold-out table on the back of the seat in front where you could conveniently rest your phone or tablet while watching a movie.

Wi-Fi was not available but MHstudio worked fine. There was a good range of TV shows, movies and music, as well as a moving map to follow the flight’s progress. I also liked that you could continue listening to music on MHstudio in the background, without having the App open. This meant I could still use my phone for other things – such as photographing the view as we weaved around some tropical evening thunderstorms.

Unfortunately, the toilet wasn’t in pristine condition. I used it shortly after takeoff and the seat was covered with (what I hope was) water.

The Soft Product

The cabin crew serving Business Class were nice and addressed me by name throughout the flight.

Before take-off, a flight attendant offered me a refreshing cold towel with a choice of water, orange juice, apple juice or guava juice.

Malaysia Airlines doesn’t generally serve any alcohol on short-haul flights under 3 hours – including in Business Class. However, there appears to be an exception for the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route where beer (but not other alcoholic drinks) is available.

Although the crew did not proactively offer it, I was given a choice of Tiger or Carlsberg beer on request. This came with salted peanuts.

I was handed a printed menu with a choice of three hot meals for dinner:

I chose the stir-fried snapper and prawn with steamed rice, Chinese-style mixed vegetables and chilli lemongrass sauce for the main course. This was served with the starter and dessert on a single tray. The crew then came around with a selection of warm breads.

I love Malaysian food and had high hopes for the meal, but the main course was sadly a tad disappointing. The fish was quite tough. But the accompaniments were nice and there was plenty of food for the two-hour flight.

After dinner, the flight attendant asked me if I wanted anything else to drink.

On my flight the previous day from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines served its famous chicken satay. That had been a real treat!

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.