The service offered by Malaysia Airlines on such a short flight (40 minutes in the air) between Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi is pleasantly surprising.
For this last section of my “outbound” trip, I only have one more hop to make between Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi and for that I chose Malaysia Airlines already because of previous positive experiences with them and also because of the lack of credible and interesting competition on this route.
You will find all the articles about this trip in Malaysia at the bottom of the page.
Arrival at the airport and check-in
Leaving without regret the very disappointing Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur I chose the fastest and cheapest way to reach the airport: cab (or rather Grab) to the Kuala Lumpur Sentral station then KLIA Ekspres to the airport.
A KLIA Ekspres not so express because since the COVID it stops at all the stations between the station and the airport but considering the distance and the traffic jams it remains the most efficient and comfortable way of transport for my taste. At the antipodes of the RER B at Roissy?
Once arrived at the airport I go to the check-in counters of Malaysia Airlines. A vision of horror!
Ah, the business class check-in is elsewhere? I prefer that!
The check-in will take 2 minutes with a lovely staff. I then pass through security just as fast and head to the Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge Domestic.
After a very comfortable wait I go to the boarding gate at the supposed time of the latter.
Boarding
I arrive right on time and the boarding room is already full of passengers waiting for the process to start.
Our B737 is at the gate and waiting for us.
He will wait for us for a long time because I don’t see any agent of the airline at the counters and one minute later we are informed of a 30 minutes delay.
20 minutes later I see the crew arrive, but still nobody to manage the boarding. The two boarding agents will arrive one minute later.
The boarding finally begins. Two lanes are materialized (business and status/economy customers) but passengers jump on them without listening to the instructions and the staff has to clean up by removing from the business class lane those who have nothing to do there and who seem to be surprised by it.
I am finally the first to enter the aircraft.
The cabin
Unlike European airlines and like most Asian airlines, Malaysia Airlines has a specific seat in the business class of its single-aisle aircraft with a 2-2 configuration versus 3-3 in Economy.
It’s a pretty good recliner. This is my seat of the day.
The IFE is not of first youth but for 40 minutes spent in the air does it matter?
On closer inspection, it’s more worn than it looks.
The seat controls are manual.
The legroom is more than sufficient.
Not as premium and new as the Singapore Airlines B737 I had between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur but it does the job. And we know that Malaysia Airlines is not in the same health as Singapore Airlines.
Something I thought had disappeared since the COVID: the airline continues to distribute a paper magazine on board!
During the boarding we are brought water, an orange juice and a cold oshibori. We are also asked if we want to eat during the flight (the only dish proposed is a chicken satay) and the drink order is taken.
We are ready to go!
We will be 7 passengers in business class for 4 rows or 28 seats available.
The flight and the service
We take off and it takes a while to break through the thick cloud cover over Kuala Lumpur.
The dish is quickly brought to us.
Not much but for the duration of the flight it’s already a lot and apart from Turkish Airlines I don’t remember having ever had hot food on a 40 minutes flight (see here on Istanbul-Izmir).
Plus it was good and it’s definitely better quality than what I had on Singapore Airlines on a flight of equivalent length.
Hardly we go out of clouds that we return inside to descend on Langkawi.
Landing and arrival
The island appears little by little above us I finally feel on vacation.
We arrive safely at Langkawi International Airport.
The term international airport always amuses me here when you see its size. In fact if Langkawi is a tourist island and there are many hotels the choice was made to not to develop tourism too much to preserve the natural ecosystemIt was decided to give priority to quality tourism and therefore not to develop the airport, which is more than sufficient for the volume of tourists that the island wishes to receive.
One disembarks by a staircase and I say goodbye to our 737.
My suitcase will be delivered very quickly on the luggage conveyor and I can order a Grab (the local Uber) to reach my hotel.
The staff
There was little to do but it was done efficiently, with a smile and politeness.
Bottom line
A very good experience for such a short flight and better than Singapore Airlines on a flight of equivalent length the day before. A good soft product is always better than a good hard product even if you prefer to have both.
All articles on this trip to Malaysia
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