Robert
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Posts posted by Robert
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32 minutes ago, BC Tam said:Malaysian version of forward planning ... 😁
haha if only...
Slightly off topic but on a FB group and local land transport group were the lack of planning and forward thinking at an LRT station considering that a new adjacent bus terminal is opening soon. Seems that there is only 1 escalator up, stairs down and a single 5 person lift.
Good luck with that
KL Sentral with the entrances for Transit and Express far apart is confusing for many but not really fixable. -
Today I received an email from KLIA Express"
"Dear customer
ERL is studying the feasibility of offering a new check-out service to passengers travelling to Kuala Lumpur, enabling customers the option to collect their bags at KL Sentral instead of at KLIA Terminal 1 (KLIA T1).
We would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to give us your valued opinions on the survey.
Please share your response by 15 April 2024. Thank you for your participation."
There was a link to a basic survey with about 5 or 6 questions. Ive always found it odd that the Sentral station was built to receive luggage but to my knowledge it was never used. -
BTW based on the expertflyer GDS data the 339 starts flying to MEL on 24 Nov and not 25 Nov. At this stage I would things are quite fluid.
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Just spent some time getting nostalgic by reading some old Subang related threads on here.
I moved to Malaysia in 2000 so I never got to experience T1 or T2. I was supposed to fly SZB-KBR on MH in 2001 but missed my flight and ended up having to go from KLIA. In 2005 or 2006 I went to Tioman on Berjaya Air and it was surreal going into T3 which seemed semi abandoned. You could even see markings on the floor where MH check in desks had been previously located.
Sadly many links and pictures on the old posst are no longer available although I did find an old aerial picture of T1 for the 1990’s
I have never seen any pictures of T2 and curious what it was like so please share if you have anyLastly so many members have stopped posting although I see some on the various MH FB groups
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13 hours ago, Kee Hooi Yen said:I always don’t understand why the rush to demolish the old Subang international terminal. It is a waste to demolish such an architectural beautiful building with no proper plan in place yet.
Ps: really missed the spiral ramp !
A certain PM didn't want anything to use SZB which would detract from his KLIA project. I believe there was a plan for a convention center and it fell through after T1 was demolished..... convenient
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53 minutes ago, jahur said:Expect Domestic and some Asean flights around Oct. to mid nov. Though am not sure if they will be loaded into the ticketing system like the trials A350 last time.
was thinking similar because airlines usually start with e few short sectors for training and testing etc
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1 hour ago, JuliusWong said:MH has removed arrival lounge access/ benefit for those arriving into KLIA. Making a big hoo-ha now at social media. Any true?
I checked with the staff last night and thy confirmed it. I also passed them the screenshots of the MH website and response that a friend received from CS informing that you can use the international lounges upon arrival.
The story was also passed to the LoyaltyLobby site by somebody (not me) and has now been published. Ive emailed a few senior MH people about this and awaiting the response.
Whats bad is that the lounge staff said that Enrich had informed that at all members had been emailed but nothing has been received by anyone that I know. They are also annoyed that management are not taking the website details down etc,
The staff also fed back that since late last year the number of people using the lounge for approvals has grown exponentially.
I guess that the December triple points promo, upgrading/renewing those that didn't quite qualify and FY flights earning substantially more tier points has caused this. -
2 hours ago, JuliusWong said:Oh dear, Phase 3 the capacity will be expanded to 8 million. RIP Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang.
Btw, doesn't the MAHB senior general manager for strategy knows that Batik Air has stopped their ATR services last month? And they have made it clear they are not coming back to SZB with jet services? The whole NST article doesn't give any confidence any Malaysia-based airlines are interested in commencing jet service in SZB. MAG CEO Captain Izham last year has stated they need to engage with industry players and policymakers to avoid cannibalisation. Batik Air CEO also said they won't be returning to SZB. Really don't know what is happening behind the scene.
SKS and perhaps Singapore's Scoot will. Wouldn't be surprised if AK wants to return as well.
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14 minutes ago, Craig said:It appears that MOT is expecting jet service to resume at SZB around June 2024. Phase 1 of the redevelopment includes 5 jets (737/320) and 6 ATR bays. I haven't been to SZB recently - is there a lot of construction going on there?
I assume that there'll be a new terminal built soon too?
I was there a few weeks ago and didn't see anything happening apart from the maintenance hangers
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21 minutes ago, flee said:Flying at those hours increases aircraft utilisation - so the marginal cost of operating these flights is lower. Aircraft don't make money while they are on the ground.
Im surprised that Air Asia doesn't do this
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24 minutes ago, JuliusWong said:Given how cheap the B737-800NG lease is nowadays, I don't see why MAG is reluctant to do so. They can quite easily induct two airframes from a same source to reduce the paperwork and pre-EIS activity. However this is MAG we are talking about, they have done stranger things. I have read some bad comments on the service KCH-MYY by FY vv. Certainly looks bad on MAG overall. Now that Maswings will be bought over by Sarawak government, will they be competing with MAG? That would be interesting to see.
and will they still be Enrich partners.
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1 minute ago, Craig said:Coming on the heels of Juneyao's PVG-PEN flights, MU will be introducing daily KMG-KUL flights beginning 31 March 2024 for a month (for now).
Schedule:
MU9629 KMG1725 – 2140KUL 320 D
MU9630 KUL2240 – 0155+1KMG 320 DWhy do Chinese carriers love operating at these odd hours 😅
is it cheaper for airlines?
I've seen similar with flights between the Philippines and Singapore -
1 hour ago, Craig said:FY applied for 3x weekly BKI-PVG and another 7x weekly PEN-BKK (making it double daily PEN-BKK). Will FY have enough 737s for this operation by May? It's going to get quite crowded for PEN-BKK with 2-3x FD, 1x TG, 1x SL, and 2x daily FY.
Was looking at this earlier and was wondering why BKK was on there because they are already flying. After a while I realised that the existing flights are to DMK haha.
Wonder if DMK will get stopped?
Operating both locations is feasible because Scoot operate to both -
1 hour ago, Craig said:Someone at MAHB should probably have a few counters set aside for passengers whose gates are closing. They have this in most airports (although it's mostly for security and not immigration). Don't need to use a ground staff yelling out flights but a TV screen with eligible flights asking them to go to this special lane.
Something doesn't add up if he was indeed flying J to SIN. If he was in J, he should have just used the J immigration instead of being sent back to Y.
sorry Craig its was a typo by me because it was Y to SG hence the long queue
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23 minutes ago, Craig said:Not going to add a click to his videos but I assume he's a seasoned traveler and has status. I've only used this service once a while back so I am not sure if they still offer it. Apparently there's an immigration officer at the MH Business Suite (for OWE) check-in. The officer can perform your exit immigration there and you will be escorted through immigration bypassing the queues and escorted through the customs X-Ray too and the agent will usually drop you off at the regional lounge or train station.
And if I am know I am late but not too late, I will not be taking videos or photos. And in this situation, most will ask "I am really sorry but I have a flight that leaves in xx minutes. Would you be so kind to let me squeeze through". Not the most desirable favor but most of the time, people will just ask you to go ahead because they themselves have been in this situation before.
But the good news is MH is on time 🤣 (I find airlines to be on time when I don't want them to and delayed when I want them to be on time). Maybe MH can introduce this "flat tire policy" as a goodwill gesture like most American carriers do. If a pax arrives at a check-in desk within 2 hours of desk closure, put them on standby for the next available flight (at least on domestic/regional flights where there are multiple flights a day). American carriers do it for free, but I would imagine pax wouldn't mind paying say RM100/pax if they can get onto their next flight without buying a whole new ticket.
There was no immigration officer at the Platinum/Suites checkin whenever I've been there (which is many many times) however those in Suites usually get staff to assist getting you through the business class lane. This guy was flying J to Singapore and the queues for departure clearance were huge. He asked one of the immigration staff for help and was directed to Business lane. After queuing there was told off and sent back to the Economy line at the back to start again.
I've experienced this before and was told off for being sent to the business class queue. Another time I was stuck the queue for an hour+ and with minutes to go I organised the 20 people infant of me is that anyone with a flight closing soon got through and the rest waited. Most of the people in front were heading to India or Indonesia and several had issues. At one point the staff in the 4 or 5 open counters stopped or left top deal with issues so nobody was being cleared.
After becoming a regular customer of the Airport Fast Track service I was able to call them and get instant paid pass to get through if the queues were bad. Thankfully since last year I can use the egates now. -
1 hour ago, JuliusWong said:This was last Thursday March 7, 2024 17 00 hours. The Immigration Department of Malaysia should really take a leaf from those of their Singapore counterpart. There was no staff directing elderly family travelling with kids/ special needs individuals to the priority counters. Really feel bad for our guests.
00
Did they only have every other counter open?
Saw that a popular travel Youtube guy missed his flight owing to the immigration queues.
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3 hours ago, JuliusWong said:Just done a trip to Singapore. The immigration clearance was a breeze. Cleared in few seconds during both arrival and departure (despite split seconds slower than HK's). KLIA should dish out RFP now for those readers, and get them ready for 2026 Visit Malaysia Year. The lines departing KUL was embarrassing, so was the arriving. Time is right for a multi-million dollar contract for bumiputera/ SME/ crony.......
The gates in SG can be slow and the minute you have a minor eye issue then don't work which is a pain. The issue seems to be a particular model and both by Singaporean and expat friends say the same thing. Im a UK citizen and find the gates at KLIA much quicker than those in SG.
As for the KLIA queues it's mostly a lack of staffing where they man every other counter. Pre Covid I was due to depart at around 8am so at 06:40 I looked and no queue so grabbed a quick snack. By 7:10 there were huge queues owing to staff finishing at 6:45 am and not enough there after.
Somer of the issues cant easily be solved owing to many more places needing a visa to enter than required in Singapore. -
1 hour ago, Craig said:Highly doubt it. I think MAHB didn't renew the lease for all individual airline lounges except for MH understandably. When KUL opened in 1998, there was supposed to be a joint QF-BA lounge. Not too sure if it ever opened tho.
A more likelier outcome is a Star Alliance lounge since Star has quite a big presence at KUL. If any oneworld individual airline lounge were to (re)open, it'd be CX. Would love a QR lounge but that means MH will have to pay QR tons of money when everyone flying J is going to their lounge 🤣
QR could restrict it to only their eligible passengers
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On 3/6/2024 at 3:35 PM, jahur said:Partly cause it was them dumping fares though FY's turboprops will also exit later from SZB. It seems jets is the agenda now.
Saw some of the airport extension plan, a few relocation of the hangars, GA companies, meteorological dept and AFRS is already underway.
Is it likely that MH/FY will use the 737's or likely try something different. Presume the same can be asked about OD.
BTW was reading this, guess its a little out of date now https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/atr-talks-firefly-batik-air-turboprop-aircraft-replacement -
39 minutes ago, Craig said:That is true. I can live with having a neighbor but I detest a cubby hole. TK 777s are perfect for sleeping, especially for TK 60/61 schedule. Both flights require pax to sleep to avoid jet lag (maybe a bit less on TK60). I know a lot of people sing praises on SQ seats but the non-bulkhead seats are horrible for anyone >175cm. The cubby hole for your feet is neither here nor there and I have to arch my back when I sleep.
MH 744 oh wow. Haven't been on that in a while. Those were pretty bad. I guess the closest seat I've sat on that resembles MH 744/772 are TG's 772 which they still use occasionally for KUL. Back then it was TG 772/744, MH 772/744 and SQ's Skybed on their 77E/744. All variations of one another.
I don't mind the cubby hole as its desired as long as its not cramped. If you get lucky a have a Q Suite then Im very happy with it. Not a fan of the SQ seats and the bulkheads are hard to get. The kiasu fan club groups seem to think they are best ever. Im sure it's because they can eat carrot cake or other hawker whilst sitting at an angle.
As for the MH 747's these were big recliner chairs and many hours of broken sleep was had with them. Have Laos met many interesting people on teh long journey, especially some flying LHR-KUL-SYD.
As for TK their new cubby hole seats are the same as the SQ regional which are like narrow coffins. The old seats which many dislike have great legroom and pretty comfortable. -
14 hours ago, Craig said:MH offers free wifi but it's 50/50 whether you can use it. BA offers paid wifi but their yin yang seats are bad. I prefer my TK 333/77W seats without cubby holes with slow wifi
Oh and I flew MTE, MHConnect sticker was there, but broken. Very on point for MH 
MH Wifi on the 350 to London worked quite well but it failed (along with IFE) on the way home. Statistically I dont know how many issues they have but there is a lot of chatter about it on various groups.
I really don't have an issue with the TK old 777 seats and seems that people have a melt down if they down and wall and door around their seat.
Perhaps its because I was so used to flying to the MH 744 to/from LHR on the upper deck on the recliner seats that privacy doesn't really bother me. -
2 hours ago, JuliusWong said:Gonna miss FY and OD turboprop operation from SZB. Near to my home, buy ticket, arrive one hour before, hop onboard, less than an hour you are at your holiday/ work destination!
With FY also exiting the turboprop business, SZB will be pretty empty. Time to catch those mozzies ATR 72 now before they are retire for good.
I took FY to XSP a few weeks ago. Had an issue with or two with grab and my transport was very late. Arrrived so late I thought id missed the flight but was still let on.
Are the props really much cheaper to run than small jets ? -
I guess they were not making money? Firefly has no direct competition now which isn't good.
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11 hours ago, JuliusWong said:I think those EzPaz and EzBagz....facial recognition and self bag drop are part of IATA worldwide program to reduce the airline operation cost, airport around the region are rolling out the same. It would only be prudent KLIA and those international airport getaway do the same. I saw the same in DMK and HAN recently. Tried those HKG one recently, the system took less than a sec to recognise my boarding pass and my face.
As for immigration, the Changi departure might not be the best, tried it thrice thus far, not sure if it was my bad luck I had two breakdowns. At one time I was stuck within the gate. Then they quickly deployed the staff to do manual stamp out. The lines were pretty long due to evening departures. But kudos to the officers, they knew which flight is near to departure, they shouted (in good tone) to ask those pax to move to the front. For Malaysia arrival, the first time arrival is for capturing face and thumbprint if I am not mistaken. Thereafter you don't need to anymore. Correct me if I am wrong.
Yes, for transitting in KLIA could be better. I think they are in the next phase of upgrade. They don't much time left. Year 2026 is Visit Malaysia year. We have wasted too much time in the last decade and from 2020 to 2022...Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and The Philippines are going for head to head competition. Malaysia and Thailand seems to have upper hand now, but let's hope they do not rest on laurel.
Re facial recognition and bag drops did you need to use a local app for the airport at DMK and HKG?
Changi has a some egates which seem to struggle to pick up the retina correctly and can be slow. My point is that all departures by default are via gates. Many spend 30-90 mins queuing depart from KLIA T1 when it's understaffed. Yes first time is for capturing face/fingerprints but the system has been known to lose the info from time to time. My point is that at Changi you don't need to register first.
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Gombak - https://www.facebook.com/groups/mlptf/permalink/2767129700111228/