Craig

MH accepted its invitation June 2011 and it's expected to join late 2012 or early 2013 (which is still within the time frame although on the slower side: 12-18 months are the norm). I believe the formal induction date will be announced 7 weeks prior. But I don't believe QR will be formally inducted into OW before MH. MH will have delay for another year if that's the case. MH seems to co-operate more with the members elect than the members itself. MH has code-sharing agreements with QR and UL and limited reciprocal FFP benefits with UL. Not even a single OW carrier has reciprocal FFP benefits with MH as of today!

Not really. 3 needed for the twice daily LHR turns, 1.5 needed for the CDG turn, 1 needed for the NRT turn and 0.5 needed for the HKG turn. There are still a lot of ground time for the A380 at KUL. The three 380s can run MH 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 -> 2 rotation (still with about 3-5 hours ground time in KUL between turns). Two A380s can run MH 20 -> 21 -> 72 -> 73 -> 21 (with about 4-5 hours ground time between 73 -> 21 turn) and the last 380 frame can do solely MH 88/89 turn with about 6 hours ground time in KUL. Not many airlines have an extra A380 sitting around whole day just in case of irrops.

That's very low fleet utilization if the A380 is only serving LHR twice daily and daily CDG (the current A380 utilization is already low as it is - with one of the A380 sitting at KUL for 15+ hours!). A380 departures from KUL: 1 mid morning for MH 4 2 late evening for MH 2/20 A380 arrivals into KUL: 2 early morning from MH 3/21 1 mid afternoon from MH 1 Could definitely fit another HKG and NRT rotation for the 6 A380s. 3 A380s can do the twice daily LHR runs, 1.5 is needed for daily CDG run and 1 is needed for the daily NRT (MH 88/89).

CDG attracts of a lot premium traffic. Both SQ and TG sends their A380s to CDG even though it's not a *A hub. CX flies to CDG twice a day (with the 2 flights leaving within an hour or two apart while they only fly once a day to FRA). Oddly enough, AF can't even make BKK work! This is great news for Europeans who want to fly MH A380 in C/F while avoiding UK's APD! 6th frame is for NRT (GDS is showing A380 while MH's website is B772). Seat map corresponds to B772 though (and F cabin is still not available for sale for MH 88/89).

When is MH going to increase its KUL-RGN flights? I know for sure there were a lot of J tickets sold between RGN and KUL last weekend. That aside, SQ is starting its own services, TG just increased it from 3 to 4 daily, NH recently started services to RGN and MH is still serving RGN with one daily flight? (plus it's the only OW (elect) airline to serve RGN!)

About time MH has a RON at BKK! MH 796 is perfect for connection from Australia and other parts of SE Asia! MH 797 OTOH is good for O&D, MH 4 to LHR / connection to other SE Asia? It's too late for morning Australia departures (the time difference really makes it hard for any SE Asia with the exception Singapore to connect to MH's morning Australia flights). I would assume so. TG 419/420 crew also overnight in KUL (with a better schedule: 22:20 - 08:05). Same goes for TG 401/402 (BKK-SIN turn) - crew overnights at the Crowne Plaza SIN. Now if only TG offers daily service on 419/420! TG 420 offers plenty of connections to Indo-China, China, and day flights to FRA, LHR and CDG!

My former city of residence, San Diego - great views of downtown if you are sitting on the left hand side.

You may be right since I only fly out of LHR/EU in award premium cabin. I noticed that if I do an OJ (into LHR out from FRA), it significantly reduces my taxes (APD and UK departure tax dropped). Either that or it's one of the SHARES features that I like (out of the thousands that I don't). Haha. Yes FRA can be quite daunting for newbies but if you've been through there a few times, it's easy. It's even easier if you leave from the FCT I find FRA much easier than CDG or LHR, but the easiest of all would be AMS/MUC/ZRH.

Typo? OJ FRA-CMB-KUL drops the APD (as long as you have a separate London-FRA/CDG ticket). IIRC, you would need to pay the Chirac tax if you fly out of CDG in a premium cabin. UK flights to/from FRA, more often than not, arrive/depart from FRA's B concourse since A is mainly Schengen or US bound flights (Z concourse). I haven't transit at CDG for a very long time, but I do recall that T1 is a total dump and that transfer between terminals is a PITA. T1 and T2 are really far from each other. Maybe I've been through FRA so often that I know it inside out (especially Terminal 1), connecting in FRA is usually painless for me. There is also a train in the secured area that runs between the A gates all the way to Terminal 2. And if you have Avios miles, use it for LHR-FRA/CDG. Not only does it drops the APD, but also, it's only 4,500 Avios miles plus $20 USD in taxes and fees for either sectors!

LAX is way easier to say than Los Angeles International and we have 5 airports in the Greater LA area - LAX, Burbank, Ontario, Long Beach and John Wayne (Orange County) and we all refer to them by this name. We also call SFO, SFO

Maybe that's their block time. I've flown with them several times and ET has extremely early boarding time! I recall it was like 1h 30m for a 767! Everyone was on board 30 minutes before and pushed back 25 minutes prior to STD! The 767 is pretty dated The 77L looks much better.

IIRC, I think Angeleno means people who live in LA

Nope. I hold a Malaysian passport with a US visa just like most of you. American passport is a lot easier coming into the US and even easier with Global Entry, but I need to stand in line just like any other foreign nationals.

As an Angeleno who frequents LAX, 2' 40" is sufficient for your transfer. MH arrives at the tail end of the peak period (where most Asian flights have already arrived and may have also left back to Asia). You might hit the European traffic more so than the Asian traffic. I have done seat to curbside in 30 minutes at LAX before and I have stood in line for almost 2 hours before too! So, it really depends on when your flight lands. You want horror? Try connecting at Washington-Dulles between 2 and 4 PM! You'll likely miss a 2 hour connection and that's in the same terminal!

The SQ Elite Gold Lounge is for *G members traveling in Y only. *G members traveling in C/F on any *A carriers can still access the SKL C/F lounges respectively.

IIRC, BKK is the busiest airport in SE Asia so no surprise there! The number of airlines/destinations served out of BKK trumps any other SE Asia airports. Also, keep in mind that January is the high season for Thailand's tourism industry.

Also worth noting that Chinese New Year was in January this year - hence most Asian airports recorded double digit growth compared to that of 2011. So let's hope this is not a one time growth but rather a continued and sustained growth.

But SQ also has tons of India-US connections and their premium cabins are doing extremely well. PEK - Probably aircraft utilization, but the 18:10 departure ex-KUL is great for business passengers - get a whole day's worth of work and fly home. There isn't a perfect schedule for KUL-PEK/Japan/Korea flights - you either lose a whole day or a redeye. The redeye to Japan/Korea is preferred for O&D passengers compared to the daytime flights. LAX/NRT - I meant the whole schedule (ex-KUL and LAX) move forward 3-3.5 hours earlier. MH will miss the curfew for NRT if they depart 1-2 hours later - again, passengers won't be able to connect or get to downtown Tokyo with a midnight arrival (they are already left with limited choices as it is). The most ideal solution is to move all of the flights 3-3.5 hours earlier, just like the old MH 92/93.

I've read a couple of posts in various forums on this site and other sites about MH's S12 changes - thought I'd consolidate them here. MH S12 changes: Los Angeles, USA - increase from 3 to 4 weekly, via NRT instead of TPE (tip of the hat to LAXIntl) MH092 KUL-NRT 1100-1910 772 x246 MH092 NRT-LAX 2040-1510 772 x246 MH093 LAX-NRT 1715-2030+1 772 x246 MH093 NRT-KUL 2205-0430+1 772 x357 London, United Kingdom - Introduction of the A380 services wef July 1, 2012 (tip of the hat to Airline Route) MH002 KUL2340 – 0550+1LHR 388 257 MH003 LHR1200 – 0725+1KUL 388 136 Daily A380 LHR service wef Aug. 25, 2012 from KUL and Aug. 26, 2012 from LHR Airline Route's Blog Beijing, China - increase from 7 to 14 weekly (tip of the hat to Airline Route) MH370 KUL0020 – 0635PEK 333 x457 MH392 KUL0900 – 1515PEK 333 457 MH360 KUL1810 – 0020+1PEK 772 D MH361 PEK0130 – 0740KUL 772 D MH371 PEK0900 – 1515KUL 333 x457 MH393 PEK1635 – 2250KUL 333 457 Taipei, Taiwan (tip of the hat to Airline Route) MH366 KUL0925 – 1405TPE 738 D MH367 TPE1505 – 2200KUL 738 D *3 weekly KUL-TPE-LAX 772 cancelled. Airline Route's Blog Amsterdam, Netherlands - downgrade from 744 to 772 (tip of the hat to Airline Route) MH016 KUL2355 – 0655+1AMS 772 D MH017 AMS1200 – 0630+1KUL 772 D Airline Route's Blog Other changes not reflected in the GDS yet: Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Increase from 9 weekly to 11 weekly wef Mar. 25, 2012, and 14 weekly wef May 1, 2012 Jakarta, Indonesia - Increase from 40 to 42 weekly services Medan, Indonesia - Increase from 13 to 14 weekly services Manila, Philippines - Increase from 2 to 3 daily B738 services Bangkok, Thailand - Increase from 27 to 28 weekly services Since I am based in LA, all I can say is that the LAX schedule is awful! If slots are available, it will be much better for them to move it 3-3.5 hours earlier for the more traditional SE/E Asia-NRT-US schedule. The LAX arrival is poor for connections anywhere east of the Rockies (other than Denver/Houston), the KUL-NRT is too late for any JL/AA flights to US/Canada other than HNL. I guess on the plus side, passengers are not required to have a forced overnight layover anymore coming from the US.

MH Business Lounge is really nice (haven't been in there, but from the pictures I see, it looks really good). The best first class lounge (or rather terminal in my case) I've ever been to is Lufthansa First Class Terminal (FCT) in Frankfurt! Nothing beats private security, private passport control (you don't even hang on to your passport - you give your passport to the agent at check-in and then they will give you back prior to boarding with all immigration formalities done for you), private duty free-shop, cigar lounge (with complimentary cigars), fine dining (made-to-order menu items), personally chauffeured to your plane in a Porsche (Paramera or Cayenne) or a Mercedes (S-Class or whatever that van is called if there is a group of people boarding the same flight) and of course, a bathtub complete with a yellow rubber ducky at their FCT! I don't think they need to provide lounge access to OW members worldwide. MH elites can use other OW lounges which will save them from opening one in HKG etc. I believe there is a pretty decent lounge for all OW members in most cities served by MH.

I don't think it's possible for MH to change the seats on the A333 now (and maybe the first 45 B738s) - MH would have already signed the contract for the seats and it can be very costly to change it midway through delivery. However, they can upgrade the B772 seats to that of the A380s.

My 2 cents bet that the new startup is going to be in Singapore. Qantas wants this to be a premium airline and Singapore will be the perfect place for it (KUL/Malaysia doesn't really generate that much premium traffic).

Anyone read the cash flow? The MYR $1.5 billion cash reserve is gnarly!

My emphasis bolded - Malaysia have anti-trust laws? That's news to me!

It's actually an upgauge (although not by much). The 772 seats 35-247 while the 333 seats 36-247 (an additional seat in C). Although the seat pitch is reduced, passengers get a newer product with better IFE and more importantly, in-seat power.