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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