Malaysian Airline Review A380 LHR-KUL

[Butch 3,456]

We travelled on the Malaysian Airlines Airbus A380 which had only come into service two months or so previously. It was MH3 LHR-KL-MNL.

 

Price paid £620 per person RTN for the month of October 2012, no fare restrictions and a change of date would be £75 pp.

 

Being a new aircraft it was clean, everything worked and had a nice , modern feel to it. I love engineering, and to me the A380 is pretty much the pinnacle of aviation engineering for the masses. Until you get close to one of these, it's hard to imagine the sheer size of the thing.

 

The seating arrangement in economy is 3-4-3 downstairs and I think 2-4-2 upstairs - I could be wrong though, we were sat downstairs near the mid section Galley

 

Note the multiple (3) Entry tunnels & Crew doing pre flight.

 

 

Inside the plane you're greeted with nice, subtle colouring and decor, plenty of overhead stowage and 10 inch IFE screens with several (hundreds in fact) films, TV programmes and games.

 

 

The interior feels spacious - Galley area where there is always a tray of drinks and some snacks to help yourself to, it saves the Crew a job!

 

 

Headrests move up and down and can fold in for neck support.

 

 

Considering the amount of passengers, the Crew do an excellent job of boarding, organising and helping. They are utmost professionals whom take pride in their job and are a credit to the airline. We were first on board as we had a young 'un with us, but when you see how rude some people can be to the staff, it's no wonder they can get pissed off easily.

 

 

Seatback Tv's are of a generous size and very clear , offering a huge choice of programmes - there is enough to keep you busy for 12 hours plus.

 

 

Another Cabin shot.

 

 

Upon take off you're treated to a gentle progressive application of power, a gentle and comfortable take off which, given the size of the Engines is also very quiet. I was very surprised that there were no jolts, rattles or bangs, just a smooth, comfortable take off.

 

 

 

We took off bang on time, and reached our cruise within the space of 30 mins. Note the vortex from the Engine cowling.

 

 

 

In flight food was served approx 2 hours into the flight. Unfortunately it was total and utter shit, and beyond any doubt the worst food I've ever had on any airline. It was stodgy, cold and bland. fortunately I always pack a few choccy bars and crisps etc for the journey, as I knew Butch Jr would refuse to eat such crap. I wouldn't even feed it to a dog. This was supposed to be Chicken in a cheese sauce with mashed potato. I've yet to see green mashed potato, but I was unpleasantly surpised to see it here. It tasted as bad, in fact worse than it looked.

 

The Crew member was apologetic as they had run out of one choice. On the return journey however, they served an excellent Steak and potato which kind of made up , in part for the shortfall on the outward. (sorry no pics).

 

 

Hungry Askal would refuse such dining. This is my bodyguard when in the philippines whenever I need to go outside our subdivision. I get some very strange looks, walking a dog , but like Mrs Butch said: "nobody likes getting bitten by a dog, and the last place you ever want to get bitten is by a dog is (apart from your cock) in the Philippines & least of all by one of these". his name is Askgal, which is tagalog for street dog, which, ironically, he was until we adopted him. Half of One Ear, one eye & no fear whatsoever.

 

 

Thought I'd include him cos he's my mate.

 

Anyway, overall impressions of Malaysian Airlines.

 

Service is excellent. Another blanket, no problem, more wine, no problem. Very attractive trolley dollies, prompt, efficient attention and they look after families very well indeed.

 

Weight wise, it was a 20kg allowance. In the UK they were ok with 22 kg, but the other end they were very strict. We had to unload 1 kg from one case as it was over by that amount.

 

The whole flight was good, with 2 noteable issues. first, the food was abysmal, almost inedible. Second, the plane was freezing cold. working on the physics that cold air is denser than warm, hence all the cold air from upstairs sinks down and it was bloody freezing. Added to that the fact I was very sick anyway, I honestly thought I was going to "croak" it on the outward.

I had 2 T shirts, a hooded top, 2 blankets and I was shivering contstantly for 4 hours until I managed to sleep. The cold air made breathing hard, so much so that I coughed each time I drew breath, and had to put a blanket over my head to enable me to breathe warmer air. To date, it was the worst flight (health wise) I've ever had, and I've been in a Skyvan when I had the shits, once.

 

coming back however, the flight was almost empty with the exception of the UK Athletics team who'd been to NZ for some competition. If they weren't there it would have been almost empty, hence blankets, pillows and even more helpings of food, wine and booze were handed out with impunity by the very nice Cabin crew.

 

Overall I'd rate Malaysian pretty well, but for Gods sake do something with the heating and the food. I won't be flying them to MNL again because it takes so bloody long. 13 hours to KL, cos you have to go down the coast, whereas to BKK or HKG it's quicker as the route is more direct.

 

Anyway, if anyone has any questions about the airline I'd be happy to answer them, just post away.

 

* Apologies for the issue with the photo's, some were cut/pasted from Thaigers, others from my directory - it's my own fuck up, and the first person who moans about it to me I'll but them a beer by way of apology. It'll be a draft tho.)

Cheers

Butch

Edited November 21, 2012 by Butch

[glynbuk 29]

Thanks for the review Butch, appreciated,

 

I like the A380, flew it in 2009 with Emirates and really enjoyed it(i was in 1st class which helps though )

 

I have 3 legs of my journey to bangkok on the a380 in business class next month, so that is good

Edited November 24, 2012 by glynbuk

[short 215]

Why can't economy have a decent arm rest that is wide enough for two people?

[Dungheap 243]

Butch, nice review mate.

 

The crew usually adjusts the central air con if you ask.

[jacko 8,815]

Why can't economy have a decent arm rest that is wide enough for two people?

Likely because it would have to be taken from the seat width.......

[Sinistersinner 223]

Thanks for the review...

 

The Vortex was cool

[Butch 3,456]

Hi,

As an update, I forgot to mention in my review, the economy seats come with a USB port located next to the IFE screen. However, it would not charge my iPad for some reason, but did charge my android phone. I don't know what the function of it could be apart from charging, but for anyone with an iPad, it doesn't work!.

 

Cheers

Butch