Timothy

Just making a blind guess here, but base on this http://www.bom.gov.au/aviation/volcanic-ash/darwin-va-advisory.shtml This will all blow over by tomorrow for those suspended routes to be flying again ?

actually an idea that could catch on, multi-city hops to get to your destination ala 1930's seaplane routes shame this is being promoted, but AirAsia dosen't even offer multi-city bookings or direct transfers via their "hubs".

here's to hoping for a BA lounge in KUL.

Any idea how oversized baggage is handled at KL Sentral ? Would it be accepted for check-in or only accepted at KLIA

Just curious, but what's the point of code-sharing for these routes ? Understandable if it's routes that don't have direct KUL connection, but most of these airports do have MAG flights to KUL apart from Mukah , Mulu, Lahad Datu and Limbang

I think Chris meant American Airlines. But AirAsia (AK) does have tiers: https://support.airasia.com/s/article/Rewards-Thailand-AirAsia-Freedom-Flyer-Programme?language=en_GB I've been Black since it came out, but the only perk I see is always ZONE 1 boarding (they used to allocate actual seats in Zone 1, but not anymore so I could be last row but still printed Zone 1 to have priority boarding) and free check in at counter.

I wonder why the "old" seats needed replacing ? IMHO don't think I've seen any being very worn and even so, it can't be more expensive to replace a few old seats than a complete cabin ? MH just needed to add inflight INTERNET and I'll gladly fly them just to stay connected.

Just to add, there is no USB or socket next to the phone / device holder for J seats. So if you want to watch a movie and charge your device at the same time, the cable will dangle to your seat. In Y, the seatbacks have USB sockets.

I'm hoping for BTU - KCH. Used to have 1 daily by MH, gone for almost 5 years. Yet AK can have 4 to 5 daily on the same route since MH pulled out. Hmmmm ....

have had 3 flights, 2 in J and 1 in Y with these new seats. About 2hours + for each flight. For J: J seat now feels cramped and if sitting legs crossed shoe/feet will definitely be pressing against the front chair. The seat table and meal tray are almost the same size, meaning you can't see the table after it's placed on it so quite difficult to know if the tray is close to tipping/sliding off. This is apparent during a turbulent flight where everybody had 1 hand on the tray to keep it in place. There is also a small retractable table for drinks, which the cabin crew does not use. They prefer to put the drinks/glass on the centre arm rest, can't blame them as both tables are not grippy to hold the tray or glass in place. I also assumed that with J seats having a "case" behind them, my "screen" wouldn't be affected by the passenger in front reclining. Wrong. The "case" reclines together so not sure what the point of having it on is. There are also deep pockets beside the seats, which on both flights (different ac) were already accumulating debris. For headrest, the "wings" to hold your head don't come close to 90 angle (more like 10?) so useless to try to lean your head on them. For the last row (row 3) the cabin partition leaves a large gap at the centre handrest. So you'll actually get more privacy standing in the aisle (since this has a curtain) than sitting at row 3. For Y: Comparing with AK's new seats, not much of a difference. The phone holder is a nice touch, if it was AK. But to use to have a screen and now a phone holder ... I'd call it a downgrade for MH. Crews also have to do the manual safety briefing, so the snazzy musical themed one will be a rarity soon for 737 passengers. "IFE" worked when I was sitting in Y, but not the J sectors. Didn't bother to ask the crew, it only loads the ads but does not play the content. For a tip, depending on your device privacy setting you may need to enable location to be able to see the In-Flight-Status. With such hassale, unless MH introduces InFlight Internet, they may as well just get rid of the "IFE" and save on content fees. Glanced while on a walk of the cabin and less than 50% of the people were on screens. Overall, I don't mind the Y seats and if MH has a good time / reasonable fare against AK it's fair game. For J, I'll definitely be avoiding for international flights so a real shame that what is refurbished is not an improvement at all. Drinks Tray Half Length Curtains Row 3 , partition with hole

not the best source, but according to WiKi Narita was more like a "horizontal lift" ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita_Airport_Terminal_2_Shuttle_System Definitely not the same system as KLIA since I remember the KLIA aerotrain has rubber wheels. also in Narita it was eventually removed, but the space was built up into retails space instead. Perhaps KLIA was thinking going the way of KLIA2/T2 , long corridors with the occasional travelator ? just a wild guess but having 1st hand experience of how suppliers squeeze (old high rise, lift company has a basic monopoly on parts.) and they are charging close to a new lift system every 10 years. Why not just change to a new system? Because the users can't accept the downtime / hassle of having some of the lifts out of action. but in KLIA case, the downtime is already here ... so what's left to see how much they're going to spend to get it going again.

I think we should also create a list of defunct "airlines" in Malaysia. Rayani, Silverfly, Seaga ... from the news articles it seems like a big deal to have a new airline, yet history shows this is nothing new.

Thank you for sharing the pictures ! A breath of fresh air for us that have not stepped on a plane in almost 2 years !

Just an armchair assessment from me, but it would be interesting to see which airline would be first to become a fully integrated tourism player. This means cutting out all other players and middle man ie: Travel Agents (Online included), Taxi/Buses, even Hotels. . JAL had something similar with Hotel Nikko and Airport Shuttles running between the airport. With COVID19, they could take it even further with tour packages going only to their "Properties" ie Hotel, Restaurant, Beaches etc. All minor investments compared to buying a B787 AND it's currently a buyers market if anyone is looking for hotels or tourism related plays. The local businesses (run by the airline) would contribute tax back to the local Govt. Definitely less competition since your passengers will only stay at your hotel, but standards are able to be kept consistently throughout the trip. If some thing goes wrong, only 1 entity to complain to. It would be something new, say if the hotel room AC broke, and compensation was an upgrade for the flight out the next day 😁 Business travel has likely seen it's peak in 2019, after COVID19 and thanks to Zoom / Online Meetings there is nearly no reason for that "last minute" Business Class + 5* (3 nights stay) + Travel Allowance to LHR for an urgent meeting anymore. Trade off for having more flexible working hours in the new normal. In terms of the tourism eco-system, Airlines are the most well funded compared to all other player. Even Hotel Chains don't own or even lease most of their properties leaving it to the franchise holder to shoulder all the business risk. Airlines are different, whereby even if a plane is leased, the money is already out of pocket and will continue to be drawn on regardless if that plane is used. So I expect Airlines have the most incentive to come up with a way to get out of this hole.

The big questions is, how do they know things will get better ? AirAsia X has never "sold" itself as a medium haul carrier, with most of the ASEAN routes served by various AK joint ventures. Just like announcements from major hospitality chains, I'm learning to take these sort of "forward looking" news with plenty of salt. COVID19 has thrown a major spanner into what was already an uncertain world.