May 26, 2003 09:04 PM
7165 Views
(Updated May 26, 2003 09:05 PM)
This year in January we made a trip to Chennai, after five long years! It is not easy to take up a long flight, which costs you a lot! Well, from St. John’s, Newfoundland, we flew to London by Air Canada and from London to Malaysia by the Malaysian Airlines.
When my husband told me that we are going to fly by MA, (Malaysian Airlines) I was really excited. There was a reason for my husband’s selection. We could have flown by Gulf Air, which is much cheaper. But since he anticipated the Gulf war in Iraq anytime, he chose MA, so that we won’t get stranded at the airport.
The aircraft was very modern. From London to the Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia, the flight time is quite long. It would have been rather boring, if not for the service of MA. The In-flight service was great! For your entertainment pleasure, personal TV screens are provided in all classes. I could enjoy all the benefits in the economy class, which a passenger in First class would enjoy. Personal televisions offered 11 channels and 19 audio channels with a selection of music, comedy and children’s programmes.
When you are bored with the long flight, there are games to try! Airshow was available at a click of a button. You can select “Games” for a choice of 36 Nintendo Games, four single PC Games and three Multiplayer PC Games. You can also play Chess, or Inflight Trivia or talk on the phone, using the seat-to-seat functionality with any onboard colleague, who is in a different section of the same aircraft.
You can select “News” for hourly updates of live world News, Technology, Weather etc. You can select “Infotainment” for Malaysia Now, Golden Holiday, and Onboard Services information.
On Board services are worth mentioning. You can call anywhere in the world from the comfort of your seat. You can use the telephone facility you can find on every seat in B747-400 aircraft through which I flew. I heard that for First class passengers, a power point for their personal computers is also available.
I was worried about the seats as ours was a long journey. To my relief, it was not bad at all. You have enough legroom to adjust your seat and go for a nap if you like. We were provided with blankets and pillows to sleep comfortably.
The food served on MA was quite good. I won’t call it a tasty meal, but was okay, neatly packed. I think, since I am used to very hot food, I couldn’t enjoy the somewhat bland touch in the meals served. We got two full meals served, being a long flight. Both Asian and Western food was included in the menu. I saw the Stewardess serving Children’s meal as well. They served food and drinks every two hours and I remember eating all the time! The staff on the plane were always polite, attentive and friendly, even with some of the more 'challenging' passengers who take advantage of the free drink and food. That’s my observation about the staff.
Inflight reading was another enjoyable experience. We could get a selection of international and Malaysian newspapers on board. I found the cabin crew very pleased to assist any passenger if they needed help. You can also buy duty free goods on board which sometimes can be slightly cheaper than in airports. I was just looking at the other passengers, mostly buying packs of cigarettes and bottles of Beer.
MA also organized an extremely plush hotel, transport and lunch for absolutely no charge for two of us flying on to Chennai. But, we couldn’t take up the offer, as my husband was not comfortable with the idea of leaving the airport to stay in a hotel. We just stayed in the Kuala Lumpur Airport itself for the next 12 hours to catch our connecting flight to Chennai. The Airport was very grand. We were roaming around, window-shopping. Yes, we bought something very useful. It was Axe Oil, which is very useful for muscular pains and we could get original Axe Oil at Kuala Lumpur Airport.
With my experience, I would certainly say that MA offers excellent services. Its fare may be slightly more expensive as compared to some other airlines, but taking into consideration the high quality of its services, it is definitely worth traveling by MA. Hope you all get a chance to fly by MA and experience all the nice things, which I shared with you. Good luck!
