Chris Tan

Some people, especially business travelers, don't like to split their journey into two neither-long-nor-short sectors. They would much rather have one long flight that they can get some decent sleep on.

LH doesn't really have a better alternative. That's their smallest aircraft capable of flying FRA-KUL.

It'll be a shame if they leave. They were doing pretty well at one stage.

Until we get hoards of foreign tourists flocking to LGK, it'll be hard to sustain such medium/long haul flights. Langkawi just isn't in the same league as Bali and Phuket.

Wouldn't be surprised if this materializes. The 738s won't be young forever. Hope MH doesn't wait till they become flying dinosaurs before thinking of a replacement, as they did with the 734...

My guess would be yes. They might want to take advantage of the refurb and squeeze in more seats by reducing the pitch, or God forbid, going 10-abreast.

The 772s fly some of the airline's longest routes (AMS, AKL, CDG) so it'll be a real surprise if they don't refurbish those.

Don't forget slashing the baggage allowance for non-UA's Star Silver/Gold flyers, GOH/S

Not as quiet as the A380 but perfectly acceptable. Don't expect much from the IFE, unless you like watching Japanese programs with no subtitles.

I think they'll get it sooner or later. If I remember correctly, LH didn't immediately get 5th freedom rights either.

Following LH's footsteps, it seems. Sad to say goodbye to another KUL-BKK option

No-one said they weren't. But that still doesn't change the fact that Malaysia-US traffic isn't anything to shout about. And that certainly doesn't justify KUL-KIX, which you seem to think is a good idea even though there are hardly any international connections to make it viable. And no, NH doesn't fly KIX-SFO. Only UA does and that's mainly because SFO is a major hub, which means whatever connecting pax they get are likely to be to/from other US cities, not because there are connections beyond KIX.

I thought it's only being introduced in 2016? It won't take that long to refurbish an aircraft.

Not gonna happen. NH isn't fond of flying to international destinations ex-KIX, save for a few Chinese cities. They don't even fly KIX-BKK/SIN, which are their most important SE Asian destinations.

Would changing the IATA code really make that much of a difference? As it stands they're still known as the troubled Malaysia Airlines. MAS or MAB is irrelevant to the average passenger. Even if the MH code is retired, people will still remember MH370 as "Malaysian 370".

But both lounges only open in the afternoon. Even if MH relocates to T1 they'll have to find a different lounge, which is likely to be either the SATS or Skyview.

They don't need to open a lounge everywhere they fly. It won't make sense to maintain their own lounge when they don't have the passengers to justify it. PEK, CDG and ICN only get one daily flight each. I'm not sure it's wise to spend lots of money on a lounge that'll be open for a few hours a day. Sure, EK does that, but they've never had to worry about money. TPE gets two measly 737s a day, and HKG already has enough OW lounges to cater for the soon-to-be-all-737 flights. Similarly, NRT has JL, CX, QF and AA lounges that are perfectly capable of catering to the handful of MH passengers. I'll be more surprised if they don't close the Australian lounges. There are much nicer lounges operated by QF. I don't even bother with the MH lounges when flying ex-Australia, to be honest.

A lot of the senior crew on my MH flights over the past few years have been less-than-stellar. They do have the people skills as you mentioned, but more often than not choose not to make use of it. I'll never forget my recent flight to HKG, where the IFS/purser was sleeping (or resting with his eyes closed) on his jump seat. My brief interaction (if you can call it that) was at the door when I boarded. He glanced at my boarding pass and nodded without making eye contact. Not quite the "people skills" one would expect from a senior crew member serving Business. To be fair, I did have some pleasant encounters with the senior ones, but not quite enough to outweigh the negative encounters. Point is, the younger "hotties" CAN have equally good people skills, so it boils down to luck

There we go again, justifying all these cuts. Intra-Europe business class does come with meals (mostly), and the presentation isn't as sad as what we saw in the picture.

For a 2 hour flight that's downright unacceptable. I've seen Y meals that look much more presentable. Sincerely hope this won't be for real.

SQ has never been a team player in *A. I doubt they're going to have a serious collaboration with any airline in the alliance.

My guess would be a 2-class config with J and PY, like how it was before they went all-Biz in 2008.

Docking at the MTB may shorten the walking distance, but it's bad news for those who need to use a lounge at the satellite. Every major airport needs a proper designation for each terminal. "KLIA2" isn't immediately obvious that it's a different terminal. It sounds like a different airport altogether, when it's NOT.

As Craig pointed out, it's possible. I've also seen an LH A346 parked at the Main Terminal before.

Most importantly, they should have ONE livery and stick to it, apart from the special/oneworld liveries.