H C Chai

Well said Tony! I was also so confused everytime I ordered something from McD or Pizza hut in Malaysia. Lets hope these restaurants won't introduce any extra 'hidden charges' like what AirAsia or MAS did. Otherwise we will be seeing a McD advert saying RM0.99 burger with a small print saying "excluding government taxes, adminstration fee and fuel surcharge" !

Yes I like BA pricing system. No hidden surprises! This makes me appreciate them even more...

Could it be the reason that they didn't take into account currency fluctuation when updating the fares? If I am not wrong the Ringgit used to have the same value as Singapore Dollars until the early 80's. This also happen on the MAS coach service from Senai to Singapore, RM12 if you are taking the bus from Malaysia and S$12 on the other side of causeway!

Just saw this on the metro.co.uk... I always find it a bit irritating when airlines are advertising their fares excluding the non-optional extras such as airport taxes, insurance, fuel surcharge and adminstration fees. Since passengers MUST pay these 'extras' in order to fly from A to B and the money is collected at the same time the ticket is purchased, why can't these airlines advertise their fare as 'all inclusive' instead. This situation is so common in Malaysia, not just our homegrown AK and MH are doing this, even SQ is doing the same thing. And i find it so confusing to compare ticket prices....

Great pictures! Over here in the UK ANZ is having inaugural offer of GBP299 inc taxes for LON to HKG roundtrip. This is only about GBP30 more expensive than Oasis cheapest fare (GBP75 each way + taxes = GBP265+) Looks like flying from to HKG is getting cheaper and cheaper these days

Hmm can anyone able to tell what is the seat pitch in Y class? It is not mentioned in the SQ website, but someone from flyer talk mentioned it is only 32" I always thought that SQ 77W and 380 will have 34" pitch in Y class

Hmm may I ask what is "MRTC"? I would love to see SQ serving a mixture of 77W and 380 on their SIN-LHR run. Makes it more interesting. Thier 744's are still good but Y cabin are starting to look a bit tired and out of date especially compared to the middle eastern carriers e.g. Emirates, Qatar and Etihad which have bigger PTV's and moodlighting.

But isn't it going to be a little while before SQ starts replacing its ageing 744 with 380 and 77W on the LHR-SIN run? Heard that the first A380 will be doing SIN-SYD instead of SIN-LHR

BC, I also have the pleasure of having fun with MAS online booking system about a week ago. I had made almost 10 attempts to book a domestic flight, entering my credit card details over and over again. I finally gave up and phoned their helpline, too bad have been told the fare was only available online and I couldn't book it through the call centre.

Wow, this is definitely great news! Never flew with AB, would love to give them a try one day. Heard that they are excellent by LCC standard... seat allocation, free drinks and IFE etc.

I haven't flown with AK myself but have booked two flights with them for travelling in December this year. One of them KCH-SBW, I booked it in late July. A few days later the flight has been retimed from 2055hrs to 1810hrs. The second one is KCH-JHB, booked the afternoon flight but realised a few days later the flight no longer exists. It was my sister who booked this flight so I won't be able to log on or find out what happen to this flight. All I can say is - why the * put your ticket up for sale when you cant even decide on the schedule!? AK schedule keeps changing ALL the time especially on flights within Sarawak and between Sarawak and the Penisular.

I would go for Qatar. Heard from some people who were on both Emirates and Qatar flights and they all said Qatar is better. I tried Emirates earlier this year on LGW-DXB-KUL vv, they were good too, I like their huge PTV and generous serving of inflight meals. Cabin crew were friendly and informal. The let down is their seat width on 777 (10 abreast vs 9 abreast on MH and SQ), which can be quite uncomfortable even if you have an average size person sitting next to you.

Did anyone been to the MAS website lately? It seems like MAS has changed its pricing system for the domestic flights, but the website isn't working!! (at least for me?!) I have tried 4 times to book a RM0.00+45(tax) flight from Sibu to Kuching but it didn't get through.

Found this on the TTGAsia website, looks like Austrian is pulling out of KLIA next March! http://www.ttgasia.com/index.php?option=co...12558&Itemid=26 Austrian to quit KLIA and Changi By S Puvaneswary KUALA LUMPUR – Austrian Airlines will terminate its six-times-a-week Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney and thriceweekly Vienna-Singapore-Melbourne flights by the end of the 2006/2007 winter schedule. Country manager for Malaysia and Singapore, Mr Wilson Tay, citing reasons for the pullout, said: “Spiralling fuel prices and vicious competition had diluted yield earning, thus rendering the direct kangaroo route services too cost intensive to be operated profitably on a sustainable basis.” However, load factors on the longhaul flights utilising a Boeing 777 aircraft had been rather good, 83.8 per cent last month and averaging in the high-70s. That leaves the airline with only one route in South-east Asia, between Vienna and Bangkok, operated daily. “When the operation ceases in March 2007, Austrian Airlines, and previously Lauda Air, would have served Kuala Lumpur for nine-and-a-half years and Singapore for almost three,” Mr Tay said. The trade expressed disappointment. Worldwide Aviation Sales managing director, Mr Christopher Tan, said: “Thereafter, there would be no other direct connections to Vienna as Malaysia Airlines (MAS) had also ceased flights in June. We have also lost one of only two airlines that fly directly to Sydney from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) – the other being MAS.” MSL Travel’s chief executive, Mr D Ramchand, added: “Austrian Airlines offers a bridge linking Austria, the centre of Europe, to Malaysia and Australia. When this bridge is broken, it will affect tourism, cultural and business ties between Austria and Malaysia.” Golden Tour World Travel moves more than 800 passengers annually on its European tour packages. Managing director, Mr Jason Lim, said his company’s tour packages to Eastern Europe would be affected. “Centrally located Vienna was an ideal gateway for us, but now we may have to consider Munich or Frankfurt.” General manager of Sime Darby Travel Group, Ms Margaret Mah, hoped Austria would keep a representative office in Kuala Lumpur after going offline, but Mr Tay said he was “uncertain”. Two other European carriers, KLM and Lufthansa, fly from Amsterdam and Frankfurt, via Bangkok, respectively to KLIA.

Nice photo! Thanks for sharing... Not too sure exactly when and how long it was leased, but I have a MAS timetable in 1989 and 1990 at home ( ) which show this plane was doing KCH-SIN and KUL-SIN run between 1989 and 1990...

Here are my contributions.... I took this beautiful bird in October last year, from KCH to SBW. It was a short hop (40 minutes) but the trip was amazing. The plane didn't fly as high as the B737 and you get to see beautiful scenery along the way. This was my first and only time flying on a MH's F50 ... Taking a rest in SBW, next stop BTU, then BKI Cabin View Safety card and refreshment - can't remember whether its orange or mango, taste like a mixture of both! View of Sarawak rainforest en route

I found out that Airasia has also increased their fuel surcharge/ admin fee the same time as MAS! They have gone up from RM35 to RM40 for flights within the Penisular and RM50 to RM65 for flights to East Malaysia! Ouch!!!

I wonder if are they going to use the A320s on these routes, or bigger planes? I thought Australian Airlines is doing all the 'low cost' international routes, is there a plan to 'merge' these two airlines together, AFAIK they are all subsidiary of Qantas?!

Opps... sorry for the confusion. I am talking about SQ B777-200 and B777-300, just curious to find out which 777 has AVOD fitted and which one hasn't....

Hi Just wondering if anyone knows which MH / SQ planes have AVOD in Y class. Have all MH B772 and B744 been retrofitted? I also learnt from the SQ website that not all their B777s are installed with Wiseman 3000. I am not sure whether it means the -200 or -300 version, or both?

Hi there I have linked the images in photobucket but have been unable to edit or delete the attachments I have uploaded earlier this morning. Can this only be done by the adminstrator? and Thanks Gavin and Pieter for the info! A380 Landing Rear view of A380 Eva Air B777-300ER Air Madagascar ATR-500 Jet Tran Air 'Super Q' MD80 Embraer 190 and finally...a congested site

Thanks for the explanation about the ATR Pieter... Yes the weather here was really crap yesterday. I bet it was the first time in many weeks it actually rained! It has been consistently dry and sunny since mid-June, but I guess yesterday mother nature decided to have a chage... Opps I don't know about the details of the MD80, in fact I was quite surprised to see one in the Airshow... I got there at 1pm and the airshow has already started, I didn't get to take a lot of photos because it rained quite hard later in the afternoon. Gavin this is my first time uploading photos, I don't know why the pictures are shown as attachement. Do I need to save the pics in other websites and create an external link? Hope I am not taking too much space in the forum....

Went to Farnborough Airshow with a friend yesterday. It was my first time seeing an A380 in real life, wow the plane is BIG!! Thought it would be nice to share some pics with you guys..... A380 Landing Rear View of A380 Eva Air B777-300ER AFCADs_of_locals.zip Air Madagascar ATR-500(?) Jet Tran Air 'Super Q' - I wonder if this is the latest version of MD80? Embraer 190 and finally.... a congested site!

Does this has anything to do with NZ starting the AKL-HKG-LHR flight?!

Yes the fare published on Malaysia Airlines website do not include taxes and fees, this really p*** me off because from the customer point of view, the fares don't reflect how much one has to pay in total, therefore they are meaningless. AirAsia is doing the same thing too, a couple of years ago their taxes are only about RM16 for a domestic sector, now it is RM50! I think all other major airlines are doing the same thing, the only exception i know is Emirates.