Trip report: Malaysia Airlines Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Sydney
Three hundred pounds to fly to Australia from the UK? Another three hundred for business class? That was the deal that was on offer from Malaysia Airlines last month, and here at lux-traveller we couldn't resist, even if these fares are one-way, and a per-sector upgrade.
Hence, I flew in economy from London Heathrow on the excellent A350, the subject of a separate trip report.
Checkin at London Heathrow offered an upgrade to Business Class for £1100 for the LHR-KUL sector, the lowest price plusgrade was offering, but I declined, having already upgraded the short 8 hour flight from KL to Sydney for only £300.
And so we pick up the flight at Kuala Lumpur airport, and the newly refreshed lounges.
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur Business Class Lounge
I counted however without the check in desk and the lounges refusing me access unless I swapped out my BA card and putting in the Qantas number, which happened twice. No matter, I thought, I'd just put in the correct BA number on exiting the lounge, which not only resulted in me getting a dirty look, a comment about wasting their time swapping numbers, and indeed a failure for it to be logged by the computer.
The Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur Business Class Lounge has recently undergone as huge revamp, as lux-traveller has reported, but still looks quite similar to it's old incarnation. There was plenty of space, and buffet style catering.
I also had a oneworld Emerald card, which gave access to the Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur First Class Lounge, and enjoyed a quick snack before boarding and a glass of champagne.
There is a dining room here with pre-flight dining, but the staff told me it would take a good hour for me to be served, so I declined, considering it took them 15 minutes to even get me a drink. Speed is not of the essence in Kuala Lumpur, I decided.
Just fifteen minutes after entering the lounge, and boarding was called, so I rushed to the gate. Security at KL takes place at the gate itself, and then we were left to wait for another 20 minutes before boarding actually started, which was somewhat less than premium.
However, once on board I was immediately offered a boarding drink. Boarding drinks consisted of lime juice or water. I thought that Malaysia Airlines were still dry on the ground, but there was champagne, strictly on request.
- Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Review
- Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines Business Class Lounge Review
Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 Business Class Seat
My aircraft was an Airbus A330-300 which had been fitted with the newer business class seats, with only a few 'single' seats, which the airline finally completed fitting to it's 15 strong fleet just last year.
Thankfully, I avoided the six ex Air Berlin A330-200s, which Malaysia Airlines also fly, and which have even poorer seats.
Does Malaysian Airlines have flatbeds in business class?
Yes, of course - there are fully-flat beds to replace the older 'lie on a slope sleepers'. However, not every seat offers direct aisle access, and the surprise for me was how narrow the gap was to squeeze through between the aisle and the window seat. At 8cm, or 4 inches, you need quite small legs to get to it.
There are only three pairs of 'double' seats on MAS' new Airbus A330, with the newest layout business class seats alternating between a 1-2-1 and 1-2-2 layout, giving all but three passengers (2K, 4K, 7K) direct access to the aisle. Alas, I was in that 2K seat.
The seat itself extends into a 193cm long, 52cm wide, fully-flat bed, with the seat linking up to a small ottoman under the TV screen. Being a daytime flight there was no mattress pad, just a pillow and blanket, and nor pyjamas.
The seat is easy to lower, with buttons beside the seat, and to make the seat larger, I found the side armrest can be lowered out of the way, by twisting it clockwise and pushing it down.
There are more controls in the side panel for lumbar and legrest support plus a massage feature.
A small storage cupboard with a mirror is built into the side of the solo seats, but not the dual ones, where you can place your headphones and amenity kit, but not many passengers seemed to know it was there.
However, I didn't plan to sleep, as it was a daytime flight, but my seat companion had other ideas, and put his seat into bed mode almost as soon as we'd taken off, and that made getting out of the seat tricky, to say the least.
Once the cabin doors were closed, there was then a strange game of musical chairs, with three customers all asking other passengers if they could move as they didn't like where they were sitting. One passenger with a baby also requested the bassinette at the front, to the visible annoyance of the passenger who had made themselves comfortable there.
Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 IFE entertainment
Seatback TV on the Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 was a major disappointment. Sure, there is a nice large 16-inch HD screen, but the touchscreen I had was mostly unresponsive, and even the handset didn't work particularly well either, with worn select and right scroll buttons - the ones most in use.
Even when I could access the system, it was slow and tedious to find what little content there was. Alas, apart from one of two Hollywood releases of the past few months, most of the films were several years old, and all of the TV series were of some non-descript US based series I'd never heard of.
Adding to the woes are the really cheap noise cancelling headphones, which just like in the older business class, seem to wear out with a single trip: ours had a faulty cable which created a large buzzing in one ear, however it was impossible to get a replacement as at least three other passengers in the aircraft had the same problem, and the crew ran out of replacements.
Needless to say, IFE is not a strong point of Malaysia Airlines.
There is no wifi on board, but at least there is a USB port, and a main power socket which takes most plus, including square pin UK / Hong Kong plugs.
Malaysia Airlines Business Class Amenity Kit
Before the cruise, the the crew handed around nice Porsche Design amenity kits. They have an eyeshade, socks, a dental kit, mouthwash, Acca Kappa moisturiser, lip balm, and a fold-out comb. However shaving kits and more toothbrushes are in the toilets.
Malaysia Airlines business class food - inflight meals
The 9am departure from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney serves breakfast after take off, and as such there was no bar service, instead table cloths were laid, and half an hour later, there was a tea and coffee trolley.
However, having arrived off the flight from London, my body clock said it was dinner time, and the crew did offer champagne on demand, with two champagnes on offer on the menu. The Philipponat Royale Reserve Brut NV Champagne was quite drinkable.
Then a very slow breakfast service began, with a fruit plate, yoghurt, and croissants with butter and jam.
The meal service then wait straight into 'lunch' mode, without really a gap. The menu had a choice between grilled beef medallion, oriental fried Mee Hoon, or Ricotta Hotcakes.
Finally, there were ice cream or Ceylon tea blueberry cake.
Around two hours before landing there was a refreshment meal, with a ham and cheese toasty, or rather a Croque Monsieur, as it was called on the menu.
Again, I was struck by how 'premium economy' the whole experience was. This was followed by another tub of ice cream.
Finally, at last Malaysia Airlines' legendary satay sticks as a main course after the desert.
Logical, the meal order was not!
I did consider using Malaysia Airlines' Chef On Call service, but in three flights on MH Business Class, my meal has only ever made it once, and on that notorious occasion, the overnight flight to Sydney, the crew refused to let me have my steak for dinner on takeoff, and insisted on serving it for breakfast, at 6am, an hour before landing - with it must be said a decent choice of wine to wake up with.
However, Malaysia's Chef On Call does seem to be ever increasing, with decent breakfast options like omelettes, plus many lamb, beef and fish variants, to the tune of 26 dishes.
Malaysia Airlines business class service
The crew on the flight was warm and friendly, with the cabin crew addressing passengers by name, but they did seem overly rushed, perhaps because it was very much a full cabin.
The crew were also determined to do everything in the order of their service sheets, which made me wonder if they were very new. They left empty plates sitting on the table for ages, and had to be reminded to top up wine glasses.
About an hour before landing, the crew came through the aircraft and collected all the headphones, and were insistent on them being handed over, so that left an hour without anything to watch: hardly what you expect in Business Class, and seemed to imply the crew didn't trust their passengers. The timing was also weird - why an hour before landing?
But the biggest downside was the utterly weird meal order, with breakfast running straight into lunch. And then only a sandwich for dinner, followed by ice cream and satay sticks. This randomness has been a feature of every Malaysia Airlines flight I've been on.
Malaysia Airlines business class review
So, was it worth the odd £600 to fly in Business Class to Sydney? Why, definitely, again and again. Having much more space, and decent meals makes it worthwhile considering this is cheaper than many economy flights.
Having the single throne seats would also dramatically increase the quality on the flight.
However, if I was looking for a real luxury Business Class experience, I'd look elsewhere. It feels rather like premium economy, with a few extra frills.
And then, two weeks after the flight, came the hangover.
I was amazed to find that Malaysia Airlines upgraded into Business Class counts as the original economy booking for Frequent Flyer miles. Which was discount economy (O booking class), which earns zero miles on Qantas (mind you even Business Class earns at the discount economy rate).
Again, don't fly on Malaysia Airlines if you want to earn any miles by doing so!
Never before have I encountered such belligerent lounge staff, and a huge loophole in mile earnings, as the Qantas / Malaysian airlines partnership.
See the full Trip report: Malaysia Airlines Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Sydney video:
| Trip report: Malaysia Airlines Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Sydney | |
|---|---|
Lux-traveller.com rating:7 out of10  | |
| Seats: | 4 - Good Buasiness Class seats, but the doubles are very close together |
| Food: | 6 - Good, but not amazing |
| Service: | 3 - Pretty poor, inexperienced |
| IFE: | 4 - Good quality, but poor interface, little content |
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