Craig

We can fly however many times a day we want to ADL and it wouldn't matter because ADL is unlimited. MH's BNE suspension was already reallocated to other carriers last year (IIRC). As of 6th March 2024, all seats to Australia have been utilized.

Problaby because they are down 2 frames? 9M-MAB was supposed to operate MH 3 on 4th May was canceled. I'd imagine that's due to mechanical because that frame is still in London. 9M-MAE is probably undergoing heavy maintenance check as it hasn't flown since the end of March. Two LHR-KUL cancelations in 3 days isn't ideal.

How bad was the thunderstorm around 14:00-16:00 today at KUL? Departing flights were severely delayed and a few arrivals were diverted (KL809 to SZB, FM889 to SIN, MH53 to JHB, IU820 to MKZ 🧐 etc.). Oddly enough Air Asia seems to have fewer diversions.

Seems like they are finding cities to fly their 330s now that SAW is scrapped. I've seen OD flying their 333s to BKK and BKI in recent days.

I have the impression that the KLIA budget or exec taxis are more expensive than metered taxis or Grab since they are all by zones? Or was I mistaken? I haven't taken the official KLIA taxis in ages and Grab was quite a long time ago since the train is quite convenient now.

Are those planes certified to fly in Malaysia?

Whilst looking for flights, it appears that CZ will be increasing their CAN-KUL from 4x to 5x daily beginning July. As a result, the midday ex-CAN B789 departure will be down gauged to 2x A320, making CAN-KUL 4x A320 and 1x B789 instead of 2 B789/A320 each now. Departure time from CAN: 08:05 (B789), 11:20, 12:20, 17:35, 20:55. Departure time from KUL: 02:20, 08:55, 13:25 (B789), 16:55, 18:00. MH on the other hand, doesn't appear to be maintaining 7x weekly, with some random days without a flight to CAN.

They filed for 7 weekly flights but as it comes closer to flight date, they cancel a few flights. Next week is showing 3 flights a week and the week after 5 flights a week. I am curious if anyone flies with them when you consolidate flights like this. Combining two flights a day into one is bad enough but they are combining a few days of flight into 1 day. Maybe don't expand that aggressively but do it so they don't have to cancel their flights. Passengers will get pissed off. Up till now, AK still can't shed their image of flights cancelations even though it's a lot better now.

This is something I don't quite get. Why is there a rush to get jet ops back at SZB when FY is not ready? Is this because of slots (apply for slots now and it's a use it or lose it kind of thing?). All these cuts will make FY even less desirable to anyone who wants to fly with them. PEN-SIN from 14 to 1 (if there aren't any typo) is just crazy.

KE's 333 (either version) are fine; OZ's 333 on the other hand are not from a passenger perspective.

AK is still flying to/from TWU with reduced cruising altitude. 27-29k.

Will you be saying the same with what Capital A group has become since they left LCCT? I don't even know if that area is large enough to accommodate all of AK Group, let alone Scoot, Jetstar etc. Can you imagine immigration in that tiny little shed? And what happens when there's a thunderstorm? No one should be allowed outside during a thunderstorm (including ramp staff). Please don't listen to a businessperson or a politician. And where would he get the money or approval to fund "an airport" which will include runway(s), ATC, and the whole nine yards. I remember he was adamant about not using aerobridge. I disagree with him on this. They should use aerobridge. If he's fine using it in DMK and other airports, he should be fine using it here. MAHB shouldn't build a terminal/airport catering to the need of 1 airline even tho they are the main tenant. But WCT is not the best contractor. Their plan is always to maximize retail instead of flow of passengers. I don't even know if they are an architecture firm. Their escalators are scattered all over to maximize pedestrian flow inside the mall instead of creating convenience to passengers. The original plan for T2 was a mirror image of current T1 with a total of 4 satellites (2 each on each terminal). That was supposed to be good for up to 100 million pax when it was first designed. But of course, that was designed before Air Asia. T2 is too late to be saved. What can be saved now is the Subang Airport. They haven't rebuild anything yet and based on the rendering, it appears to be another KUL T2 in the making. WCT can build a mall in the airport. But build it after security/immigration. Most travelers arrive at the airport between 1 and 3 hours before flight. And if I haven't cleared immigration and security, I wouldn't dream of going to a mall because I don't know how long that's going to take. So most people would want to check in, clear immigration and security and then hang inside the secure area. But T2 is completely opposite. There's almost nothing inside. Everything is in landside.

Those aren’t lie flats. I am thinking more in the line of Diamond Seats (found on AA’s 321T cabin) or Aero Vantage / Vantage Solo (found on B6’s Mint and SQ 7M8).

They can build something inferior. No granite floor tiles, no high ceilings etc. but does not cause any inconvenience to passengers. Having to walk through a shopping center to get to check in desks whilst carrying all your luggage is plain dumb. Passenger flow is just not there. Same. Other than the bus, I don't think T1 is bad. It flows nicely. You only have to go down the escalator once for either domestic or international departures from check in to gate and down the escalator once for international arrivals from gate to meet & greet area. One thing I would say is poorly designed is the C/Satellite concourse. All the airline lounges are on the 2nd level and passengers will have to find the obscure lifts/escalators and take it up a floor (MH's lounge is even worse where you have to do quite a big u-turn). You never really have to walk far for gates at T1. Longest walk is probably G10 to H10 if you are on a transit and that's maybe 1 km? Even from check-in to C27 is not that bad of a walk. Train station is just below where you exit the sterile area or just before check-in. T1 was designed by a world-renowed architect (Kisho Kurokawa).T2 was designed by well, the same company that brought you Paradigm Mall in Kelana Jaya. Same confusing layout, parking that doesn't work, lifts and escalators that are not conducive to people flow. And the best part is? They will be the one redesigning the re-construction of Subang Airport. T2 lounges (IIRC, only they only have PPL in T2) is located in the shopping center itself. Passengers have to lug their bags through the whole complex and check-in, and then go back to the shopping center with slow incline escalators instead of those steps but shorter escalators (there are step escalators but you have to find it and it's not the most easy place to find them). If I read MAHB's report correctly, YTD (Jan-Feb. 2024), T1 handled 4,885k pax where as T2 handled 4,117k pax. But if you are on the ground at the airport, it always feel like T2 is busier and more chaotic. I'd like to think bad design contributes to part of it. T1 whilst busier just looks calmer and more serene.

Maybe quite far down on the list of things they need to fix but one of my pet peeves is that they display cities/airport arbitrarily on their FIDS. LHR is "London", KIX is "Kansai", NRT is "Narita", TFU is "Tianfu", BKK is "Bangkok" where as DMK is "Don Mueang" etc (and your passport stamp will say Bangkok Intl Airport for DMK and Suvarnabhumi Airport for BKK). It'd be nice if they display it something like London-Heathrow, Tokyo-Narita, Chengdu-Tianfu etc. Not all travelers are familiar with airport names.

This and I think the ME conflict was just an easy excuse. Doesn't help that they fly into SAW instead of IST. Batik have some sort of a code-share agreement with TK (but it's more for beyond KUL connections rather than beyond IST). There are no connections beyond SAW as most airlines there are LCC (unless they are self-connecting).

I have used that function during covid as well (granted they were all domestic flights then). I don't recall a huge schedule change or cancelations with MH for my post covid travels with them, so I wouldn't know. My MH experience is usually delays on the day of travel and it's too late to do anything about it. But a travel waiver is a bit different. It allows passengers to rebook themselves if they are flying on these dates, whether or not their flight is canceled/delayed.

Seems like EK still hasn't recovered from their meltdown a few days ago. Pictures of people sleeping on the terminal floor, bags taking forever (if they are ever found/delivered), no communications from EK, poor IT, no weather waiver. There has been a few people complaining about how MH handled this Mt. Ruang situation too. They can't rebook online nor can they cancel online (not too sure if they booked via OTA). MH could learn a few things from American/European carriers by issuing travel waivers due to force majeure and enable their IT to allow passengers rebook themselves (rebook themselves to another day within a window or full refund if their flights are canceled).

Seems like a few regional flights have been affected due to partial closure around Kota Kinabalu FIR. MH603 to SIN and MH784 to BKK has been canceled. As a result, MH788 to BKK will be up gauged to 332.

Are BI’s plane built differently? They seem to have somewhat normal operations. 🤣 We have relatively decent drainage system but sometimes it does get overwhelmed. But developers are eyeing a few of those retaining ponds for development. So who knows in the future. And I am also surprised that some people don’t understand why SMART tunnel is closed during heavy downpours and blame poor planning when the tunnel floods 🤣

It seems like Air Asia has a travel waiver in place. Would be nice if MH let passengers know what their options are and also waive change fees and fare difference if they manage to reschedule within 30 days (this is very generous). I am curious if MH's waivers will be channeled through to OTAs etc. Even better would be a full refund option but that almost never happens on AK 😅 I can see people typing DUB for Dubai and click on the wrong one.

That and also this was once in a century storm. Not saying that they shouldn't invest in proper drainage system, but countries do not usually build drainage to handle a year's worth of rain in 24 hours. If KL had 140+mm (5+ inches) in 24 hours, it'd overwhelm our drainage system too but of course it wouldn't be as bad as what Dubai experienced, but good luck to Sri Muda or Puchong. Are there still a lot of post-raya demand? I still see MH 7xxx series flying around so I assume there will be some backlog. What does black/blue box on your map indicates? I am curious how many South Africans end up in JHB when they are supposed to buy a ticket to JNB (JHB is often referred to Johannesburg in South Africa with the exception of air travelers, just like how 99% of Malaysians call Air Asia AA *facepalm*).

Good to know. Thank you.

Interesting. AK5136 (KUL-BKI) is on approach to BKI, AK 5302 (JHB-BKI) is on its way to BKI, and MH 7427 (SDK-KUL)is taxiing out as we speak. It looks like the whole Sabah East Coast all the way to North Sulawesi is no go. There's also MH3061 (SDK-TWU) which I guess they are flying below the ash clouds. DXB is kinda like a meltdown. So a few order of magnitude difference 😅 This is probably why US/EU carriers (especially UA/AC) invested heavily on their IT to make sure that passengers can rebook themselves rather than calling/in person at the airport. I don't know if EK has that capability. But then again, I don't know if Malaysians are tech savvy enough to change their flights themselves when a Gen Z doesn't know how to read 24 hour clock system.

MH has canceled several flights to/from Sarawak and Sabah due to Mt. Ruang's eruption in North Sulawesi. You'd think that this would be more prominent on their website but no, it's like a small rotating ticker at the top. I wish more Asian airlines (cough *MH*) have EU/North American carriers style waivers for weather/industrial related events (industrial much less common here). Free change if you want to change your flights for an extended period (usually 2-4 weeks) or free change and waived fare difference if it's within a few days from the affected day(s). MH used to offer free changes, waived change fees for schedule change and it can be done online - not too sure if they still have this.