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Craig

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Posts posted by Craig


  1. Believe MH is using U.S airlines business model (e.g. narrow seat pitch, non-lie flat J-class on A33E, etc). If the whole industry is driving for low cost approach, the lowest cost operator will has the edge. However, the airline market in Asia is different from the U.S.

    US airlines also offers complimentary upgrades to top tier elites at the very minimum (and earn other upgrade instruments like systemwide upgrades, e-500 stickers etc.), generous miles, no fuel surcharges on award booking, offer economy plus/extra (same economy seats with extra legroom) for elites etc. not saying that MH should follow US carriers, but there are also some perks to US carriers, not all bad.

     

    And if anything MH should adopt from US carriers is economy plus/extra (for their B737 flights) for oneworld/MH elites. Remove one row of economy and then have extra legroom in the front of the Y cabin, and non-elite passengers can purchase these seats at a reasonable rate while offering it for free to its elites.

     

    And most US carriers have flat beds in C - the hard product (just the seat, not IFE etc.) is better than MH A333 C product. To me, MH's C on the 333 is similar to AA's old international C.


  2. BA9 LHR-BKK 2205-1520hr, BA10 BKK-LHR 0020-0625hr

     

    Currently BA have a 744 idling at BKK for over 8 hours, BA could tag KUL to BKK like LH if they wish.

    BA will change its schedule for its BKK flight this winter. Early afternoon departure ex-LHR for an early morning arrival and then mid morning departure ex-BKK. Similar to say KLM's schedule.


  3. I must say, I am impressed with GA's FC based on his report. The seats look very similar to TG's ex-Jet Airways B77W suites and they are great - extremely private and the bed is comfortable.

     

    IME, MH doesn't offers a "wow" FC service - their meal service is *very* similar to the business class - the only difference is an additional choice of main course and different starter and dessert. No personal assistant, their first class lounge food is very similar to the business class lounge (with the exception of 3-4 made to order items), and they serve Spritzer water instead of say Evian or Perrier (first world problems...I know).


  4. If one has qualified to the next Enrich tier (say, Silver to Gold) or re-qualified for the same Enrich tier (say, Platinum to Platinum) by 31August - what happens to the Elite Miles and Elite Sectors that are accrued to the account after that between 1Sep-31Dec?

     

    Does anybody know how this works?

    Most airlines I know with the exception of Delta doesn't allow you to rollover (carry forward etc.) your elite miles. If you've already re-qualified for Platinum, the elite miles you earn beyond the 100,000 is meaningless.

     

    Some carriers like United or American gives you incentives like more system wide upgrades or bonus miles. MH doesn't provide any incentives beyond 100,000 elite miles as far as I know.


  5. I was coming in on MH 67 from ICN earlier today. After take-off, we were estimated to arrive around 16:10 (our schedule arrival time was 16:30). About an hour out, we were told that we would be landing around 16:40 (and we landed around 16:45-ish) due to ATC congestion. All I know is we were holding north-east of KL and kept doing turns for a good 30-40 minutes before we made our way to KUL.

     

    Weather doesn't seems to be that bad at KUL - ground was a little wet, saw a few storm cells on the way, but pretty usual late afternoon thunderstorms in KL area - nothing extra-ordinary. I can't imagine the delays due to severe thunderstorms at KUL!

     

    PS: Does anyone know if landing priority are given to long-haul flights or to short-haul hops at KUL? In the US, priority is given to long-haul flights - if there are any weather related problems, props and short flights are the first to get hit.


  6. CX will move its red-eye HKG-KUL (CX 791) to a slightly more decent departure ex-HKG but still an awful arrival time at KUL.

     

    For winter 2013/2014:

    CX 791 2145 HKG - 0135+1 KUL D 333

    CX 790 1035 KUL - 1440 HKG D 333

     

    I flew CX 791 recently and I wouldn't recommend it (even with a flat bed in Business) - The block time is only 3'50" and due to stronger winds than expected, my flight was only 3'10" and landed at KUL 04:45!

     

    Also, the more popular CX 720/729 will see a mixture of 744/773 on certain days. Previously, this used to be flown solely on the regional 773/772 except for the rare 77W sub. Now if only CX fly this route solely on the 744 and make KUL a F destination :)


  7. I think MH chose a great seat for F on their A380. I have no complaints whatsoever...

     

    I've been on TG, LH, SQ and MH A380 F and I would rank them in the following order: SQ > LH > MH > TG. All of them has its pros and cons, but I'd prefer MH to have their F cabins on the upper deck. Windows are better on the upper deck and much larger bathrooms (e.g. TG and especially LH's bathrooms). MH's F bathrooms are small - even the C class bathrooms are larger than the F bathrooms. LH beds are extremely comfortable and their seat is well designed.

     

    Grr. Reservations still not up for 3rd daily SYD-KUL flight yet. I want that morning departure from SYD!!

     

    It is. Flights begin February 2014.


  8. Looks like MH is going to increase SYD to 3 daily too beginning 03 Feb 2014 (04 Feb 2014 ex-SYD).

     

    KUL-SYD

    MH 141 KUL 0900 - 2015 SYD 333 D

    MH 143 KUL 1925 - 0640+1 SYD 333/772 D

    MH 123 KUL 2250 - 1005+1 SYD 333 D

     

    SYD-KUL

    MH 142 SYD 0850 - 1415 KUL 333/772 D

    MH 122 SYD 1530 - 2055 KUL 333 D

    MH 140 SYD 2155 - 0320+1 KUL 333 D

     

    And Perth goes from 10 weekly to 11 weekly

    KUL-PER

    MH 125 KUL 0930 - 1500 SYD 333 D

    MH 127 KUL 2000 - 0130 +1 SYD 333 D x123

     

    PER-KUL

     

    MH 124 PER 1630 - 2200 KUL 333 D

    MH 126 PER 0230 - 0800 KUL 333 D x234

     

    Flights are open for reservations :)


  9. A little OT, but Israel can issue Malaysians a tourist visa on a piece of paper and they will stamp your entry/exit on a piece of paper too (SOP for immigration at TLV nowadays). The Israeli government are fine with Malaysians visiting Israel. If you keep it on the DL, chances are, the Malaysian government will not know you visited Israel for tourism purposes.

     

    So we can actually fly Israelis Airlines... from BKK?

    No you can't. Because immigration officials at BKK write your incoming and outgoing flight number on the passport stamp. If they see "LY 82/84", they'll know where you flew to.


  10. I figured as much. From what i know, not one single FFP except enrich is crediting MH Z automatically. I am wondering if it's from MH's IT side, or the fact that Z at one stage was used for Oneworld redemptions in F.

     

    AFAIK, Z is still used by CX and AA for F Class redemptions (MH's F awards is booked into P). IME, My MH flights booked in C and V are credited to AA within 1 week, if not faster.


  11. Hi all, I have a question...Since FY flights can now be booked under MH website....can we bank the miles we fly in FY (but booked under MH codeshare) into other FFP like CX Marco Polo Club ?

    No. FY is not a OW affiliate and thus will not earn any miles on any OW carriers other than MH. MH currently does not have any regional affiliates (like KA of CX or American Eagle of AA).


  12. Rumor has it that MAS might re-deploy the A380 somewhere else this winter. However, nothing is certained yet at this moment ...... :nea:

     

     

    :hi:

    My bet will be NRT on the MH 88/89 run (which can fit in based on the current schedule - a little tight, definitely doable with 6 A380s serving LHR, CDG, HKG and NRT).


  13. If the NTSB issued an apology statement I'm inclined to believe the source of the error is from the NTSB. The local news station logically will just follow, since they deemed the NTSB as credible source. But then again, like the NTSB chairman said, "hindsight is 20/20".

    The NTSB issued an apology because an intern "acted outside his scope...he erroneously confirmed the names". True - but don't KTVU at least read through these names and know that they are being punked?

     

    The actual names of the pilots are far from being shortened first name. (There is no shortened names in East Asian names by the way).

     

    The local TV station should have checked and would have realised the names sounded stupid anyway. Apparently a summer intern at NTSB decided to have a bit of fun in his/her job and picked the wrong time and occasion to do it.

     

    I guess he will be the real "Ho Lee Fuk" soon, when they placed disciplinary action against him. One word summed up his action: "stupidity". Guess he lost his job as an intern and that is going to look great on his CV

     

    I am not saying it's a shortened given name - I am giving examples of how people will slip these names into the teleprompter for laughs. I didn't want to spell out "MIke Cunt, Mike Koch and Dick Hertz" - These are all valid given names and surnames.

     

    PS: There are shortened given/first names in East Asia (not so much with Chinese names since there are only few alphabets to begin with), but I know Thais and Malays have shortened names (e.g. Zulklifli can also be known as Zul and I probably can't pronounce the entire name for some Thais).


  14. Previously, TBIT was competing with LHR as the world's worst major airport to travel through....refreshing change.

    Disagree. Old TBIT was way worse. Never been to a first world country's airport with such awful bathrooms!

     

    Most if not all (?) foreign/international airlines use TBIT. MH is using TBIT.

    AC, NZ (moving to TBIT in a few years time), KL, AF (non A-380 flights), AZ, CA, VS, VA, AM, AV, WS and certain QF flights comes to mind that use other terminals.


  15.  

     

     

    To use their 6 A380-800 like how Air Asia X is using their A330-300 ? It is a disaster for a premium focused airline such as MAS. As reported here a few months back, it is quite a norm for MAS flights operated by the 388 to be severely delayed due to some technical issues. It will make thing worse if they keep on pushing too far.

    Not like Air Asia X, but more in line with other 380 operators. I believe MH is the only carrier with 1 full frame available 24/7. If they do a SYD/MEL (capacity permitting), it will be tight, but a NRT/ICN turn will allow plenty of groundtime at KUL as well.


  16.  

    The timing of 66/67 wont really be optimised for an A380 from which HKG 72/73 is kind of a filler from between the arrival of MH3/21 and departure of MH2/20 in the night.

    Actually they can still squeeze in another East Asian destination with 6 A380s. Only 5 frames are needed for the LHR, CDG, HKG flights. They could easily do the KUL-ICN flight.

     

    Having that said, I am surprised that they'll use it for ICN instead of NRT. Seems like the new visa waiver policy for Malaysians will encourage more Malaysian tourists to Japan in addition to MH and JL's relationship.

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