Today you’re joining me in Kuala Lumpur where I’ve just arrived from a short-haul flight with MH to connect me from Kuala Lumpur to Perth.
The evening flights to Perth are operated by the A330-300 which features Malaysia Airlines’ “latest” business class cabin.
I booked this flight using Qantas Frequent Flyer Points, 61,200 points and $103 in carrier surcharges and taxes.
In this post:
Lounge Experience – Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge
As a One World Emerald status holder, I get access to the “first-class” section of the Malaysia Airlines “Golden Lounge”. While the intentions of this lounge are good, to me it feels sad and dated; not quite the Golden name it’s supposed to live up to.
The lounge has a separate dining area where a limited menu of a la carte dining is on offer. As I hadn’t had lunch yet, I settled for the Oxtail soup and the ribeye, medium.
While the soup was tasty, it lacked any presentation. Moving on to the steak, this got worse. It appeared to be one of the cheapest cuts of meat Malaysia Airlines could muster, cooked well-done and completely unacceptable for human consumption.
Let me be clear, I LOVE Malaysian food! But everything on the menu seemed to be catered to Western tastes “chicken with mash”, “steak with mash” etc. Surely they could hit the ball out of the park by offering some local delicacies?
Once on board, things improved. The crew were friendly and proactive, offering welcome drinks to guests after being seated. Even in business, they managed to address everyone by name which was a nice touch.
The Cabin – Malaysia Airlines A330-3000 Business
Malaysia Airlines has a fairly odd configuration in business. It’s a mix of 1-2-1 and 1-2-2. This means the A side of the cabin is probably the best place to be for solo travellers while couples can either get the middle seats or settle for a twin seat on the right-hand side.
The cabin itself is on the slightly older side but still well maintained and perfectly comfortable, after all these are the seats you’ll find on Qantas, EVA and many other airlines albeit in a slightly different setup. On the A-side, seats are staggered between being directly next to the window or directly next to the aisle, personally, I prefer the window as the middle bulkhead offers extra privacy and shielding from the aisle. 5A, in my opinion, is the best pick as it’s away from the bathrooms/galley and away from the economy class section.
Seats recline into a fully flat bed and have a massage feature as well. Onto the IFE, this leaves little to be desired. The displays are extremely old and very cumbersome to operate. The same goes for the content on offer, it’s extremely limited so don’t expect to be entertained for long!
Malaysia Airlines is promising fleet refreshments and IFE overhauls in its welcome message from the CEO in the latest onboard magazine so I’m hopeful Malaysia Airlines can come up with something new over the next few years – soon after writing this, MH confirmed it will soon introduce a brand new Collins Aerospace Super Diamond business seat onboard its upcoming A330neo fleet!
Malaysia Airlines Business Class Dining
After takeoff, the famous Malaysia Airlines Satay cart comes around, I can never decide if Singapore Airlines or Malaysia Airlines does the best airline satay but let’s say it’s a draw.
For starters, there’s an option of salmon as a starter, chicken, beef or fish for mains (exciting!). I figured I’d give the fish a chance, and while the entree was well presented and tasty, the same consistency is lacking with the fish which is of poor quality and rendered to a chewy texture. For dessert, there’s a cheesecake which is “ok”.
Summing Up
Overall, Malaysia Airlines offers a solid business seat on the A330 but food quality could be drastically improved upon. I would like to say MH is my preferred choice to get to Asia but right now I would rather fly Qantas or Singapore Airlines which offer a far more consistent soft product.
