Review: Malaysia Airlines Regional Business Class

9:25 AM

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Coming-in from Kota Kinabalu and with just an hour and a half for connecting time, I knew I didn’t want to waste time. Thanks to the quick KLIA immigration (and speed walking), I was at the Regional Golden Lounge in no time (you can check that out here.)


At around 4:45PM and after doing some “bird-watching with no actual birds in-sight” thing at the lounge, it was time I start my brief 4-hour journey to the capital of the Philippines: Manila, with a short five minute walk to the gate.

When we got there, they were already starting to make the announcements and I could easily say it was a full-flight judging by the number of people swarming at the jet-bridge entrance.
B737-800 that would ship me to MNL
MH804
Date: March 30, 2015
Aircraft: B737-800
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Manila (MNL)
ETD: 5:30PM
ETA: 9:20PM
Duration: 3 hours and 50 minutes
Seat: 1D (Business Class)

I was greeted with a smile by the purser and the leading stewardess then courteously showed the way to my seat. Afterwards, they immediately offered me a beverage; I asked for the MAS signature Guava juice while my sister asked for a glass of water. After a while, they went back and served our welcome drinks along with a hot towel.
MAS Signature Guava Juice
Since the 4-hour journey is being operated by a regional B737, there’s only once entrance being utilized for both business and economy class passengers, lessening the privacy by a few notches (during the first few minutes).

As the boarding ends, 13 out of the 16 business class seats were taken and I was right, it was definitely a full flight to the Philippines this evening! But everything was done in an orderly manner and I commend the Malaysia Airlines ground staff for that.

Seat

The seat which is a newly refurbished MAS B737-800 product (Boeing Sky Interior), features wide leather seats that looks firm at first glance but is actually pretty comfortable for a 4-hour flight. The small ottoman doubles as an armrest, and with pullout drink holders on the lower part. Since it’s a regional plane, seats don’t really go flat but they recline to a good 30-degrees.

At exactly 5:30PM (GMT+8), we were finally airborne. Just minutes after take off, the Captain comes-in to the PA System, welcoming us onboard MH804 to Manila with information about our flight time and the current weather in our destination.
Climbing out of KUL. Au Revoir Malaysia!
After a few moments, my favorite part of every flight started; and that’s dinner. Since I already tried the Malaysian option on our earlier flight, I wanted to try the lamb-steak this time (together with my usual in-flight ginger ale, of course). I felt bad their Satay tray is not available in this flight but anyways, I was already happy with my lamb option that went really good with my in-flight drink. What’s next after dinner? Dessert, of course! I particularly enjoyed the molten lava cake paired with their brewed coffee (it tasted similar to illy coffee actually).
Sunset at the South China Sea. 2 more hours to go!
After dinner, there were 3 more hours left till we arrive so I decided to check out the entertainment system on my 10.6’’ AVOD Monitor. The albums were pretty good and updated but the movie options didn’t really suit my taste since it wasn’t really updated. I also expected noise-cancelling headphones but the ones they have are just plain normal ones.
10.6'' AVOD Monitor
With just a few minutes left, the captain began his pre-landing announcements and telling us that we were going to land 15 minutes earlier than scheduled.

We began our descent shortly after that and at exactly 9:05PM (GMT+8), we landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, 15-minutes ahead of scheduled arrival.

One thing I noticed about flying with Malaysia Airlines is that it's safe more than ever. I even noticed that they have a small prayer to Allah before taking off (something that wasn't there before). If given a chance, i'll fly with this airline yet again. How can I not? I felt so at home! 


What about you? Do you think you'd try it out anytime soon?


This is my stop before I continue on to Hong Kong!


Photos by Passport Out  

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