Timothy
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Posts posted by Timothy
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Quoteactually 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".
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here's to hoping for a BA lounge in KUL.
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On 8/25/2023 at 4:45 PM, Robert said:KL Sentral Check-in returns effective 1 Sept 2023 for MH customers.
Any idea how oversized baggage is handled at KL Sentral ? Would it be accepted for check-in or only accepted at KLIA
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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
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On 5/3/2023 at 10:19 AM, Craig said:Didn't know Air Asia has elite tiers
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.
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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 ....
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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
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On 3/6/2023 at 7:25 PM, JuliusWong said:Hahaha, no surprise here. But then again current cart is from late 90s technology, already obsolete by now. We are in 2023, how long can Bombardier support the 90s products even if they are still manufacturing parts. Definitely not for another 10 years. Now they need to rip the whole track out and redo everything from scratch. Read that Narita used to have the same system, but after few breakdown, the management shut it down for good, ripped it apart and now using bus shuttling between the three terminals.
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. -
On 1/20/2022 at 3:29 PM, michgyver said:Datuk Goh, founder of i-serve scam, raided by BNM 2 months ago for illegal deposit taking. Becareful.
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.
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Thank you for sharing the pictures ! A breath of fresh air for us that have not stepped on a plane in almost 2 years !
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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.
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On 12/19/2020 at 10:27 AM, flee said:AirAsia will be back stronger in 2021, with international operations starting to open up within the next six months. AirAsia X is needed within Asia as a medium haul airline.
The airline is talking to the Malaysian government about receiving a USD250 million soft loan over five years, with capital raising taking place over next two to three months.
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.
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On 10/24/2020 at 2:44 PM, JuliusWong said:Yes, did he actually bothered to read what the loan entails to? All of the 300million are invested back in Sabah. As per Bursa Malaysia filing:
"The purpose of the loan is to fund specific development projects as agreed by both parties as listed below:
- RM170 million to establish and operate OURFARM digital food supply chain and cold chain facilities in Sabah;
- RM110 million to part-finance the project to turn Kota Kinabalu International Airport into an international hub for AirAsia Berhad's operations;
- RM10 million to enhance e-commerce platforms and marketability of Sabah products; and
- RM10 million to further promote Sabah tourism destinations on airasia.com, the digital super app of AirAsia.
This loan is in line with AirAsia’s pivot into the digital business. The main purpose of the loan is to enhance logistics in Sabah by increasing its supply chain and connectivity, creating over 100,000 new jobs in the process."
AirAsia Group is unable to redistribute the money for other purposes. Well, by wordings, no; who knows what will happen in real.
Now the question, did they get back their KKIA T2? It seems they will require to build up KKIA into international hub, maybe we will soon see A330 and more A320 being stationed there once the borders reopens.
thanks for the breakdown !
The announcement could have been released with more tact, ie: Sabah Governemnt Partners AirAsia on Digital Growth etc
Worst still are "leaders" who release statements just for emotional mileage.
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On 10/31/2020 at 4:44 PM, jahur said:Info from my indonesian friend is that Lion air is seeking bankruptcy soon. Currently the board and upper management is seeking to apply another newer AOC to transfer some of the assets over. Due to this no funding will be given to Thai Lionair and Malindo.This might've hasten in Malindo in terminating 2k staffs yesterday. Original downsizing fleet to just 13 atrs and 12 737ng might be scrapped as well to an even smaller fleet. Not sure how much Batik Indonesia is affected.
Rumors out also that co founder Pak Rusdi Kirana of Lion Air might be facing cbt charges just so after another Indonesian Tycoon Benny Tjokrosaputro was jailed for life from stock manipulation charges.any idea if this affects the ATR service operated by Malindo for Royal Brunei Airlines ?
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On 10/9/2020 at 4:11 PM, Chris Tan said:Yes, I hear SQ's profits are through the roof now that they're delivering Dom Perignon to one's doorstep. MH would be foolish not to jump in with a satay delivery service....
hahaha, but the main point is that SQ are trying to work with what they have. MAG has a few Central Kitchens around Malaysia, it wouldn't be far fetched to team up with a delivery service (Grab/Food Panda) to partner in their respective Cloud Kitchen programs.
On 10/8/2020 at 4:53 PM, JuliusWong said:Agree with you on the point but who wants to eat MH horrible and downsized meal these days? Except for their satay and occasionally roti jala, others left too much to be desired for.......plus MH will face a lot of competition out there.....foodpanda and grabfood choices are enough to kill them off. Unless Singapore Airlines which can command premium price for their meal and flying experience...https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/02/singapore-airlines-drops-flight-to-nowhere-but-will-sell-onboard-meals.html just don't see MH can pull this off easily. May result in greater loss. Lol.....
this is partly in jest, but if KFC can bring in billions by selling Fried Chicken, satay could just be MH's moon shot 😄
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3 hours ago, flee said:Now that we have the Covid-19 pandemic, MAS is more or less doomed and it is better to start another airline free of legacy issues.
I thought that MAG was supposed to be that "fresh start" ?
58 minutes ago, flee said:Malaysia Airlines’ parent offers to retrain pilots, cabin crew for work in sales, IT
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Malaysia Aviation Group has offered its pilots, cabin crew and frontline employees affected by the Covid-19 pandemic a reskilling and upskilling scheme called MH EDGILE.
According to the parent company of Malaysia Airlines Bhd, the programme is open to the group’s 2,000 employees and will train them to work in other areas such as facilities management and audit, or general and trainable areas such as sales and IT helpdesk.
In a statement, MAG said the initiative was voluntary and applicants are subject to the selection criteria of the receiving department.
What's the rationale for this ? Shouldn't MH be looking into creating new profit centers, ie Singapore Airlines going into F&B, AirAsia doing something with an App ...
This offer shows how out of touch they are to "retrain" staff into roles which likely will be replaced by automation very soon anyway. -
an unqualified thought, but with the new MAG Chairman could GoM actually be considering a buyout (vs bailout) of AirAsia ?
following Petronas model of national monopoly, creating a world class player to compete internationally. -
On 3/1/2020 at 6:35 PM, Waiping said:TF-FIW parked at T2 for 2 nights after dropping off the ultra rich in Sandakan as part of luxurious round the world trip. Earlier she came in from Cebu. After Sandakan the tour headed to Jaipur.
curious on what's there to do in Sandakan for this type of guests ? Any pointers on who handles the ground tour portion ... I'm assuming it's a local outfit.
with international travel out of the question due to COVID19, would be great to see what we've been missing out domestically -
Thank you Jahur & Silverfly07 for the inputs ! I stand corrected on the Single vs Multi Engine pov for Borneo operations.
I guess my main gripe with RAS is how inconvenient it is for the user, as a area with a ATR72 capable airport cannot be that "rural" (Except Mulu maybe?). Didn't know there was a study previously by DCA and State Govt for floaters, would have been interesting to know what was concluded there.
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On 5/29/2020 at 3:40 PM, jahur said:Take a look at susi air how many of their pilatus porter went down. Mas fokker, atr and otters had few cases of engine failure and they all circled back with one engine without needing to write off any frame or grand insurance payout to dead folks. If you had one engine n it fails you have to ditch.
Ask around the crew working in GA over here nobody is keen on single engine turborprop and helicopters. So many bell 206 crew had vacated for augsta westland aw139 and aw109 even if the payrate is lower.
Even Maswings had issues recruiting crew for the viking fleet last year and had to make salaries competitive to near widebody fleet levels to keep them cause people just leave. People are scared to fly in the topography and weather in Borneo. Heck i rode on a twin engine airbus helicopter for medicine resupply and census recording in rundum and experience 2 rtbs on 2 consequtive days just because of weather. Doctors and nurses are not keen on riding it again as well. Try getting a fleet cesna grand caravan single crew rated(CAAM DOES NOT ALLOW THIS)and keep low salary.
You want a better plan build road highways that dun screw up the flora and fauna.
I took your cue, and from Wiki seems Susi lost 1 PC6 during an aerial survey ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susi_Air#Incidents_and_accidents . Susi is also operating in very remote areas with no easy access to maintenance for their equipment unlike existing RAS in Sarawak or Sabah.
I'll just circle back to my post some way up, that RAS in it's current form is too bloated and not fit for purpose. Example If I want to go from Bintulu to Kapit, it's 20 minutes RAS Bintulu - Sibu on a ATR (!!) then half hour taxi to town hoping to catch a 6 hour boat ride (without accounting for waiting time at the airport or boat, it's already 8 hours journey) ... when it should really be 40 minutes all-in from Bintulu Town (Kemena River) to Kapit Town (Rajang River) on an amphibian.
From your example, the Airbus Heli was Military yes ? I'm bringing this up because DESPITE us having subsidy for RAS we STILL use other resources to get the job done. This is an obvious case of money gone to waste. In the meantime, while Susi Air is being used as a "bad" example now, in 10 years I'm confident Indonesia will be way more connected than us because of government encouragement of the private sector.
The only way roads can be "green" is if there are built underground 😁
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On 5/27/2020 at 1:15 PM, jahur said:Single engine does not work. Really buzz my mind why would anyone think of using single engine turboprop for ras with commercial pax onboard, insurance comes in mind cuz the rates of this type of planes going down is higher. Its okay if it was just flying doctors or mail goods delivery service. Even GA operators like Hornbil, Sabah Air and Layang-layang in Sabah Sarawak operates small twin engines turboprops.
Nowadays You have turbo commander, viking otters, dornier serving well in ras pax sectors and some can be converted to floaters.
First and foremost, cost. Twins are more expensive up front, and more expensive to operate compared to single engine. Simply put, double the engine, double the complexity, double the fuel etc of a single engine. Anything that is subsidized will never last, so may as well get it over with and use cost effective options to get the job done. Don't "plan for the next 30 years" and build faraway airports just to cater less than 10 flights a day with planes that are too big for their purpose !
In terms of safety, have you experienced an engine failure in flight ? If not, then the chances of it happening on a single engine is the same. There's no guarantee either that the crew will know how to manage a engine failure situation in multi-engine aircraft ie: TransAsia Airways Flight 235
RAS should be plain and simple, like a bus ride. Pay RM100 and fly for an hour ... not the current way of compulsory pre-booking, loyalty program, moving prices ... wrong model for it's purpose.
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On 5/7/2020 at 4:06 PM, Kenny Sing said:important thing is the RAS has to be maintain as it is essential.
they need to approach RAS with a different mind-set. Equipment type is all wrong, (ATR72 and DHC) .. it should be floatplanes and single engine types to really serve it's purpose. Example people in Kapit need to travel 5 hours by BOAT to reach their nearest airport in Sibu.
If taking Bintulu - Sibu flight, the journey to the airport (half hour) is longer than the actual flight time !
MAS Privatisation
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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 ?