Cheng Long

The international lounge in KUL shows some signs of wear and tear damage already.. Not sure if they have plans for renovation anytime soon.

With liberalization, you gain some and you lose some. In this case, people get cheaper fare but FSC seems to get squeezed out. So those business class passengers somewhat lose out. Guess more people like cheap fare. Not a lot of businessmen I suppose. Once the gov allows high speed train to Singapore, things will change again.

Hope they will ply PER with the new A330 very soon also..

Changing uniform is not really an issue.. If people like it, why not? The way for MH to move forward is for it to recognize talent and develop its human capital. So in way, they should move away from how gov do things, no more kulit-fication but qualification.

It depends on the type of person you are.. Others will say Qantas = Quite A Nasty Trip, All Scared!

Probably they mistaken it for them dumping fuel.. But anyway, some Australian heroes touted by the media.. And if you read Australians online news channel and comments by readers.. Most of the blame goes to some cheap offshore maintenance. Somehow they have this mentality that they are the only competent ones.

Doesnt look like comfortable seats for long flights. Like no neck support also.

The salary for MH crew is perhaps comparable or even better than the average income for fresh graduates (and bearing in mind there are increasing numbers of unemployed grads now). Maybe AK crews earn bit better but their airline is making big profits and sources tell me that they have to clean toilets and etc. Guess having the opportunity to travel around the world open your eyes to the pittance salary in Malaysia. Hey, it's like RM 30 for a plate for char koay teow in Australia and it's considered economical.

The same can be said for most other professions in Malaysia.. Our doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and etc are poorly paid also, except probably politicians. Where is this business of making Malaysia a high income country?

Guess this time next year, we will still be talking about the same thing. MH will still not be part of any alliances.

They wish they could.. But MH is not just backed by strong economy, so they thought they need to find a pack to belong to, to survive in the harsh world of aviation. Anyway, I thought MH is playing a risky game. On one hand, they want to be in a "position of strength" and decide to wait until the situation favours them. It's understandable as it will give them the extra leverage on the negotiation table. But on the other hand, how long can they afford to wait? Is their situation going to get any better sustainably? They are still making loses despite extensive cost cutting measures. Frontline services and products have been compromised. The thing is that they may never reach that "position of strength" and longer they wait the worse their situation becomes.

It's a leisure market. In fact, Malaysia itself is mostly leisure market. But they will the only airline that plies this route. I think it can be a sustainable route if done well. I'm looking forward to it. But whether they will be raking in the ringgits, we shall see.

Hope MH will also improve their website. I feel that should be priority as it's one of the main access for people. Their website is still not so "smart". Very frustrating when booking connecting flights. Many more can be improved.

The type of planes shouldn't matter as long as got good leg room, comfortable seats and good IFE. These are what I'll be considering if I were to be trapped in a plane..

For me, there are equally as important.. Physically appearance is "fixed" that you can't really do much about.. For instance, if someone has facial features resembling a dugong, no matter how much of a make up won't probably help much. In fact, too much make up or not done properly will have the opposite effect. You can somewhat teach someone to be friendly or have some basic courtesy. But I believe, people who are naturally friendly have the spontaneity and the charm associated with them. So there is also a limit to what you can do. Being capable, I refer to like knowing how to handle basic medical emergencies, safety procedures, how to operate the oven in the aircraft and etc. These are all teachable. . So you see, the first two are variables that you have little control. Better get them right in the first place. If you manage to get pretty ones with good attitudes, you have practically won the battle. If I were in charge of recruitment, I would design it in a way that will select the pretty and friendly ones, those with good attitudes. Then I would teach them to be capable.

In their line of profession, looks are quite important also. Preferably pretty, friendly and capable..

Their website leaves much to be desired.. It's slow.. Trying to create connecting flights is a headache, the website just can't do a lot of connecting flights.. and yes the DOB thing is very annoying.. I don't understand why they haven't fixed these problems after all this while.. Not competitive at all.

Part of their healthy ancillary income...

Their 777s are starting to show its age. Hope they will order replacement soon, otherwise the same problem will repeat itself where they frantically need to replace their current A330..

For short haul flights, like less than an hour, I don't really mind not having PTV...Though it will be good to have one, or maybe dropdown TV. It will set themselves apart from their budget airline rivals. But considering MH is struggling to make a profit, might be better to use the money to improve their medium-long haul product where it really matters. In their current financial state, it will be suicidal to simply follow what regional competitor is doing. MH needs to think hard and FAST about their strengths and weakness and work out a strategy. If afterall, MH "loses" to GA (for once, it seems likely), then they just have to gracefully admit defeat.

Domestic flights? Flew with them a couple of times, they are pretty much the same.

Malaysia is mainly a leisure market, not much top end travel.. So I think MH's new First class will be a decent product but don't expect anything extraordinary.

You should be able to.. It does not need to be within 24hours of a flight. I used to rent cars from Hertz and got 500 points each time.

This issue shares some similarities to what's happening in the pharmaceutical industry, a field somewhat related to my line of work. Let me give you this analogy. There is this branded pharmaceutical company selling branded medications at exorbitant price. People hate them and call them various names, like greedy la, evil pharma la, bad guy and etc. Then there is this generic pharmaceutical company selling generic medications at a tiny fraction of the price. Naturally they are heralded as the good guy. They are God sent! Things look pretty simple at the surface. But then again, it's the branded pharma that does research for new medications. And research can easily cost millions if not billions. They sell at high price because they need to recover the cost and make some money la.. On the other hand, the generic ones does not do any research. They are in for the easy ride. And they often only sell the top 10% of the most lucrative medications of the branded pharma. So what happen when the generic pharma starts selling the top 10% most lucrative medications of the branded pharma at a tiny fraction of the price? The branded pharma will be forced to reduce its price. They will also be forced to increase their price for other medications to recover the cost. Furthermore, there will also be less incentive for them to spend hefty amount of money to research new medications. So who is the bad guy and who is the good guy? It's not so clear cut now. But both have their places and roles. You need a clear policy that will protect the rights and interests of both. Some similarities can be applied to this MAS and Air Asia X thing. If Air Asia X flies only to the top few most lucrative routes, then I believe it will be bad for the industry as a whole. MAS will be forced to reduce their price on those routes to compete. But they need to get money from somewhere. Fares in other destinations may be increased. Further cost cutting measures might be imposed. And importantly, there will be less incentive to fly to new destinations that may take several years to recover the cost as they can no longer compensate for the losses. Not getting Sydney, Air Asia X plans to increase frequency to Melbourne and Sydney. I consider these are lucrative routes as well. It seems like they are not willing to invest in other new destinations, giving reasons like they are low cost carrier so no money. They are just not willing to spend. They already have approval for 34 destinations. It will be detrimental to Malaysia aviation industry if they only fly to top few lucrative routes as it will inhibit the growth in other areas. So there need to be a clear policy that caters for both airlines.

Air Asia X seems only interested to fly big fat routes. Good for them of course, but may not be good for the Malaysia aviation industry overall. Cause they will hurt the market in other areas.