Malaysian Airlines System - MAS

...and lovely isle I traveled Malaysian airlines, and they will be my airline of choice for such long (26 hours last time) bouts of travel in the future. Let me tell you why. (Oh please, please let me).

WHY I CHOSE TO FLY MALAYSIAN
Malaysian Airlines was recommended to me by my younger brother and his wife who had flown with them on a fairly recent trip to Europe and were very impressed with their personal entertainment systems. ...
...first pleasant surprise was that Malaysian airlines were substantially less expensive than other major airlines. (This certainly makes a difference when you are trying to save your hard earned Australian dollars, knowing they are going to be reduced to virtually naught when converted to the mighty pound). On a return flight from Australia to England in February 2003 we paid around AU$1770 (approx £657) including taxes for Malaysian airlines tickets ... more

England. Beautiful England. So wonderful in so many ways and yet such a nightmare to get to!

The first time I flew from Australia (my native land) to England (land of things ancient, green and royal) was in 2000 and on that fateful occasion I flew economy class on Qantas/British Airways and for many and various reasons (not least of which was that my only entertainment was a small television at the end of the cabin) came to regret it. So it was that on my second flight from Australia to this small and lovely isle I traveled Malaysian airlines, and they will be my airline of choice for such long (26 hours last time) bouts of travel in the future. Let me tell you why. (Oh please, please let me).

WHY I CHOSE TO FLY MALAYSIAN
Malaysian Airlines was recommended to me by my younger brother and his wife who had flown with them on a fairly recent trip to Europe and were very impressed with their personal entertainment systems. As my husband and I are people easily swayed by persistent nagging (ie. "You have to fly with them, you have to!" repeated at every family get together for over a year) we decided to give it a go.

THE PRICE
Our first pleasant surprise was that Malaysian airlines were substantially less expensive than other major airlines. (This certainly makes a difference when you are trying to save your hard earned Australian dollars, knowing they are going to be reduced to virtually naught when converted to the mighty pound). On a return flight from Australia to England in February 2003 we paid around AU$1770 (approx £657) including taxes for Malaysian airlines tickets as opposed to approximately AU$2100 (approx £780) for Qantas/British Airways.

THE MENU
There was a substantial specialist menu catering for a variety of levels of vegetarianism (from fairly low level – such as I was at the time – so just no meat, to people who are very serious about animal welfare and have no animal product at all) and catering for other food requirements (I am afraid I did not pay as much attention to this as I was only interested in my own tummy at the time). All the food served was Halal, so Muslims would not need to order specialist food, and all the food we received was delicious and of a very high quality.

CHECK IN & BAGGAGE
As for all international flights our check in time was well in advance of leaving (we arrived at the airport around 3 hours prior to departure just to be on the safe side – and to leave lots of time for duty free shopping!). The attendants were polite and helpful, understanding about our slightly overweight baggage (normally there is a hefty AU$20/kg overweight charge) and were happy to answer queries such as would I really be getting vegetarian food – on our Qantas/British Airways flight they had apparently not been informed that I wanted this and so I couldn't really eat until we reached our first stop over and they could inform the ongoing flight. You will be pleased to know that I did get my vegetarian meals and that they were tasty and inventive (curiously, despite the fact that the regular menu was often vegetarian anyway I was always served something different from the rest of the passengers).

The baggage allowance was one suitcase per passenger with a weight limit of 20kg plus a carry on bag (and any duty free). However, you are also allowed to take on a handbag and/or laptop in addition to these.

THE IN-FLIGHT PERKS AND SERVICE
Malaysian Airlines don't offer the kind of freebies that Qantas/British Airways did - eye-shades and bed socks when we flew in 2000 (Well, not really freebies as we paid for them with the increased cost of our ticket) - but in my opinion they offered something infinitely better – hot face towels to freshen up with. OK so you don't get to keep them but when you are entirely exhausted after flying an incredible number of hours there is nothing better than putting a damp, warm, fragrant face washer on your head.

There were also the personal entertainment systems (which, if you can remember back to the beginning of this opinion was the reason we were badgered into using Malaysian in the first place). The system is fairly simple and ingenious. In the back of the seat in front of you (if you can picture that) was a small television screen. A remote control/game controller with a retractable lead was clipped into the arm of your chair and could be pulled out when you wanted to use the system or put away again at meal times so that it didn't interfere with your rather limited personal space. The system had a menu including a choice of several new movies catering to a variety of tastes and in a range of languages, as well as games (Super Nintendo such as Super Mario Bros, Zelda etc) and flight information including distance travelled/to travel, time at destination and current position, altitude and a world map showing your approximate position.

My only problem with this system was that if it was faulty you were stuck with it. You either had to put up with it or move to a vacant seat elsewhere (not acceptable if you want to stay close to your companion or keep an eye on a child you are travelling with). Both of us found had some difficulty with our system at some point. In the first leg of the journey the sound on mine wouldn't work and on the second leg neither of our games systems would function. Also, the quality of one of the movies was so bad that it was unwatchable and despite several tries I had to turn it off.

Meals were served at regular intervals and snacks and drinks were available between main meals on request (I usually prefer not to have to request however and did like that on Qantas/British Airways they came around more often between meals to offer snacks etc. rather than waiting for you to ask). For those not on a specialist menu there was a limited selection you could choose from e.g. the beef or the chicken. This meant that if something was not to your taste you had at least one other option that might be if you could get it before it ran out.

As with check-in the flight attendants were friendly and helpful and never seemed annoyed with you if you pushed the little summoning button (this is one of my secret fears and so I loathe pushing the button). The were all dressed impeccably and were well groomed, which makes little difference to service but helps you to feel as though you are in the lap of luxury despite being crammed into a small metal tube hurtling at enormous speed through the sky.

TOILETS
I know it is strange to have a whole section devoted to them but I am one of those people who have a terrible need to pee every half hour or so, and when you are trapped on an airplane this can be somewhat of a nightmare. Malaysian Airlines, you will be pleased to know, have enough toilets that you rarely have to wait for one, and if you do it is not for long. (Usually the longest wait is about an hour after they have done a coffee/tea run so if you get in at about ¾ of an hour you are sure to avoid the rush). The toilets themselves were clean and well stocked and not too scary (I also have a fear of being sucked down one of those terrible toilets with their hideous whoosh sound – argh!).

SPACE
I suffer terribly on long haul flights no matter what the airline as I am prone to leg cramps and they are made worse if I am inactive so I am not objective on these matters. However, my husband (who is taller and more leggy than me) tells me that there was sufficient leg room for him to stretch his legs a little and that it was probably on a par with Qantas/British Airways. As in any economy seating on an airplane though you can't expect to be comfortable if you are trying to sleep, there is just no space to recline your seat to a sufficient level and you have limited options for where to put your feet. It did help that we were provided with comfortable travel pillows and blankets, however. Not that the blankets were necessary as the cabin was kept quite warm.

SUMMARY OF GOOD POINTS
• Less expensive than other major airlines
• Specialist menu and Halal as standard
• Speedy, polite and helpful at check-in
• Hot face towels
• Personal in-flight entertainment system
• Delicious food with menu selections
• Friendly attendants who looked fabulous
• Lots of toilets
• Enough space to stretch your legs a little

SUMMARY OF BAD POINTS
• Entertainments system sometimes broken resulting in either no/limited entertainment or moving seats away from travelling companions
• Having to request snacks rather than having them offered
• Uncomfortable sleeping arrangements (standard on all economy air travel).

RECOMMENDATION
I would certainly recommend Malaysian Airlines to anyone planning a long haul economy flight. The prices are reasonable, the food is delicious, the staff are helpful and attentive and despite some difficulties with the personal entertainment system it still offered personal choice in entertainment and catered to many tastes and when travelling long distances this is very important. The chance to play games is also of great benefit if travelling with those who don't have the attention span to watch a movie quietly (like children or certain husbands ;)). I am very glad my brother and his wife nagged me as much as they did and I can see myself in years to come joining in their chorus. "You have to fly with them, you have to!"
 

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