Mohd Azizul Ramli

Managed to get on hold of the December 2018 edition of Up to Speed (BA's internal magazine for staff). Featured is their upcoming A350-1000. What were known and revealed as of today: 18 aircraft in the fleet. All -1000. First aircraft is to arrive in July 2019. New Club World seat (if you are familiar with the current Club World seat on the Dreamliners BA is sending to KUL, you then know how exciting this bit is. Club World is the mid and long haul Business Class in BA's lingo). Descriptions of the new Club World seat: "a larger seat, all-aisle access, increased privacy and storage. Various cabin refinements." It will have a 3-class cabin. Aircraft range: 350km further than the A380. Wifi (finally!) The big question is, will the airline send this new aircraft to KUL? Those who frequented flight BA33/34 will know how high the loads are and that KUL is desperately needing a little upgauge of equipment. The only thing going against KUL at the moment is the fact that the aircraft will be configured in 3-class cabin. Currently, the Dreamliners that BA is sending to KUL is configured in 4-class cabin.

Probably the first of its kind in the world - a J+.

To share with the forum: 1. Bringing cash in and out of the UK. The cap is EUR10,000. https://www.gov.uk/bringing-cash-into-uk 2. London is a truly contactless city (the equivalent term in Malaysia is paywave). People pay by contactless (paywave) everywhere for everything (cap to £30 per transaction at the moment). Paying by cash is antiquated and is no longer a way of life. 3. Even if he managed to go to Harrods to spend those £150,000 for handbags and watches, he may still be nabbed under the UWO (Unexplained Wealth Order). The UWO made huge headlines in the UK last month after a wife of an Azerbaijani banker was arrested for spending £16 million in Harrods. She once spent £150,000 a day in Harrods, the same amount Muhamad Aziz planned to spend in his short layover spree. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45812210 4. Harrods doesn't mix with Primark. He claimed to be Harrods but his look, job and overall profile is Primark (with a receipt to prove). I think that's why the NCA manager regarded his story as "so far fetched as to be almost laughable". The NCA (National Crime Agency) is equivalent to the MACC/SPRM in Malaysia. This is the original news from the NCA's website: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/1510-money-laundering-air-steward-claimed-cash-was-for-harrods-handbags 5. Compared to Malaysia, money laundering is a huge offence and is strictly enforced in the UK. The regulator, the FCA (equivalent to the BNM in Malaysia) is overbearing on its anti-money laundering supervision and is proudly publishes its collection of fines from individuals and banks. The most recent landmark fine for money laundering was last year to Deutsche Bank, which was fined for £160 million. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/2018-fines 6. From the MH Rumour Department:

A Malaysian air steward has been jailed for 12 months for money laundering in Britain after he was caught trying to smuggle £150,000 (RM807,300) in cash out of the country. The National Crime Agency (NCA), a British law enforcement agency, reported that Muhamad Aziz, 37, had been sentenced to 12 months' jail after pleading guilty to money laundering charges at the Isleworth Crown Court last Thursday (Nov 22). The report said Muhamad Aziz was about to fly on a flight from London to Kuala Lumpur when he was stopped by security officers at Heathrow Terminal 4 airport. It said the officer then had alerted Border Force personnel after they found £100,000 (RM538,200) cash in a roller bag and £50,000 (RM269,100) in a black suit carrier when they were scanning his bags. Muhamad Aziz and the cash amounting to £150,000 (RM807,300) found in his possession. – Pix from NCA website According to the report, Muhamad Aziz claimed he had brought the money in from abroad into the UK. He also said he had initially wanted to spend the money on handbags and watches in Harrods, a department store. However, Muhamad Aziz claimed that he was unable to spend the money as he was "too tired". The report added that he had also refused to explain two receipts he had from apparel store Primark, which was issued on the same day, including a customer registration card from a Malaysian money exchange bureau. The report added that the Heathrow NCA operations manager Ian Truby had said that Muhamad Aziz's story was "so far fetched as to be almost laughable". "He was a cabin crew member for 15 years and would well have known the regulations about carrying cash into and out of the country. It seems that he decided to use that employment as a cover for his criminality. "Organised criminals rely on cash couriers like Muhamad Aziz to move their profits around – his was a key role in a long criminal chain – so tackling this illicit flow of money is a priority for us and our partners. "The money found here will be forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act," Truby was quoted as saying. According to the report, Heathrow Border Force director Nick Jariwalla had said the cash which was forfeited would be returned to the public's coffers. Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/11/24/mas-air-steward-gets-12-months-jail-in-britain/#WefcJL1wcsXCrIAv.99

Per spies from the AK Gossip Division:

So in layman's term, my airport tax to Heathrow from KLIA will be RM123. On the reverse side, the Heathrow airport tax to KLIA now is £123. Strange coincident. Both exhibits above are assuming I am flying non-stop with MH and BA only. Good observation.

Jin Air recently made a big buzz in my FB circle as some of my non aviation friends have just discovered this airline. The main discussion is the name of the airline itself - Jin Air - which if being read and comprehend as a word in Bahasa Malaysia would be "Jin Air" (water genie).

BA is impacted by the same problem too. https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/flight-information/long-haul-schedule-adjustments https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/280732/british-airways-extends-leased-air-belgium-a340-service-to-late-oct-2018/ British Airways extended leased Air Belgium A340-300 operation on London Heathrow – Abu Dhabi route. The leased A340 will continue to serve this route for British Airways until 31OCT18, LHR departure, replacing Boeing 787 aircraft.

This is actually good for those who frequent DPS. This OD strategy will make the total number of seats from KUL to DPS high or more than demand, which will put pressure on the price.

THE WORLD’S LONGEST FLIGHT – SINGAPORE AIRLINES SINGAPORE TO NEWARK RICHARD QUEST https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-longest-flight-live-updates/index.html

I would like to chip in on the seat selection issue and completely in agreement with Shazmiey and CH Teo above. Flew MH3 last Friday with only seat 20K was available for selection in the 220 seats Y cabin on the A359. When I completed the online check-in process, my sequence number on the boarding pass was 39. I find it strange that the entire cabin is blocked despite only 17% of the seats were actually occupied at the time of my check-in. On to exhibit the inconsistencies of the product: - Paid RM395 for KUL-BKI on the overwhelmingly undesirable LCC config 9M-FFF. - Paid RM374 for LBU-KUL on a BSI IFE config 9M-MXS. One can't help to think of being ripped-off on the KUL-BKI sector.

Another milestone achieved on 29 August 2018. 1,000 hours of flight time surpassed. I am also close to the following milestones: - 300 flights - 500,000 miles flown I hope to achieve these by year end. Fingers cross.

I have been secretly hoping that BA will start LHR-PER soon. BA has 18 B789 that can be used for the mission. AMS is GA's turf, there is no doubt about it. Amsterdam to Indonesians is like London to most Malaysians. Historical colonial ties. I think GA's slots will be bought by BA.

It's over. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/280178/garuda-indonesia-closes-london-heathrow-bookings-from-late-oct-2018/

Wikipedia is showing D7 terminating KTM on 13 October 2018 and AK is not taking it over.

I think an intervention by AK First Lady Puan Seri Tony Princess Kimchi is required here. Shangri-La Rasa Ria is FABULOUS! Been wanting to return over and over again.

A BA Dreamliner gone tech in KUL right now (I presume flight BA 34 last night). I wonder how the rescue operation is going to be.

Is the report available to public?

MH ground service at LHR T4 is handled by Azzurra. http://www.azzurralhr.co.uk/ I noticed a lot of them are Italian.

Sam Chui's coverage at the event.

Defmin Mat Sabu in da house today! Photo stolen from FB.

Malaysia's participation at the event. Photos stolen from FB.

Oh yes. Happened to me on an AK flight as well. SIN-KUL. A cabin crew stormed from the isle insisting the digital camera to be turned off and stood there next to me to ensure camera is off like teacher watching over kids. This is during passenger boarding phase.

It is not unheard of in the industry. BA cabin crew for example, specifically those under the current Mixed Fleet contract, is known for their low salaries. https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/768535/British-Airways-strikes-cabin-crew-low-pay-unite-workers-poverty The job continues to attract applications probably due to "prestige", "chance to see the world" and migrant influx. Reality will hit after a couple of years that the job-pay ratio is not worth it. So they left for a better paying job. And the cycle continues. MH should adopt the same strategy if the budget for staff pay remains status quo. Go after the unemployed grads, school leavers and migrants. Turnaround will be high but the supply is endless plus this cycle is sustainable. From passenger's perspective, we can at least be guaranteed of a fresh and young crew serving at all times.

Shocking to hear this internal fiasco, moreover knowing the current CEO is/was a flight crew who has been working with the very company for 40 years.