Izanee

Here is Idris Jala's reply to my email!!!! Idris Jala to me show details 2:39 pm (6 minutes ago) Dear Izanee, Thanks for writing. I am forwarding a circular which I've sent to staff in Malaysia Airlines. I have just briefed all the media representatives (TV and press) this afternoon to show them the customer findings on the light meal in the box. Thanks. Idris ++++++++++++++++++ To : All Staff System-wide Date : 31 October 2007 We are pleased to share with you this update which will be issued as a media release. Malaysia Airlines to ensure sustained growth through 5-Star Airline @ LCC cost ========================================================================= Malaysia Airlines aims to ensure sustained growth by transforming itself into a 5-Star Airline @ LCC cost (FSLCC), providing superior and attractive services and lowering its operating cost. Announcing this today at a media briefing, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Sri Idris Jala said, "We have already started the ball rolling to transform Malaysia Airlines into a FSLCC as we have been gearing up for the open skies and growing competition in 2009. Our focus is to put Malaysia Airlines strongly on the path of profitable growth for 2008 and beyond. "Being a 5-Star Airline @ LCC cost means we will offer the best products and services that are of 5-star standards, with no compromise on quality or safety. At the same time, we will drive down our cost so that we will then be able to offer highly-competitive fares to customers." He also said, "Lowering cost is about fundamentally changing the way we do things so that we can achieve better results. It is about being smarter in providing what customers feel is of value to them and improving the way the services are delivered. "For example, the hot meals served inflight. Surveys conducted showed that the lamb briyani which is the highest in terms of cost rates the lowest in terms of customer preference. On the other hand, fried rice with chicken satay which is cheaper provides the highest customer satisfaction. So, we will provide the fried rice with chicken satay, giving customers what they value and at the same time, reducing cost." The idea of the light meal box (LMB) came about because majority of airlines in the world already offer this on their short/medium haul flights, for example in Europe and North America. Consequently, Malaysia Airlines decided to test it out. "The light meal box is currently being trialed between 1 October and 31 December 2007. Since the launch of the meal box on 1 October, we have obtained feedback from 35,000 customers on 383 flights. 91 percent of the customers were satisfied with it, 5 percent gave compliments and 1 percent gave suggestions for improvement. It is clear from this that the customers find the light meal box overwhelmingly acceptable. "We will continue to conduct more passenger surveys. We take customer feedback very seriously. If customers say they prefer other types of meals, then we will make the necessary changes. This trial run on the meal box will provide us with the feedback necessary to offer customers what they truly value," Jala explained. Over the last 18 months, Malaysia Airlines has progressively lowered cost across board. "These changes have made us much more competitive and efficient but more needs to be done," he said. These initiatives range from reducing sales and distribution cost by improving its internet capability and online sales penetration; implementing fuel efficiency management as per International Air Transport Association's best practices; and implementing electronic ticketing (eTicketing) through the introduction of the Passenger Services System. "As each paper ticket costs about RM19 per piece, we will save close to RM40 million per year with the introduction of eTicketing. Not only will eTicketing simplify passenger travel, we will pass on the savings, as per the rest of the initiatives, back to customers, by offering them competitive fares. "This will lead to more customers wanting to fly with Malaysia Airlines, and the revenue generated will go to growing our network with focus on key growth markets in Asia, and the purchase of new aircraft. Each of these milestones then adds up to lead to our final goal - continuous, ongoing, profitable growth," he also said. He explained that the Virtuous Cycle of Profitable Growth best captures the key milestones of Malaysia Airlines' pursuit of profitable growth (Please refer to the attached PDF document). "I'd like you to visualize a circle that goes round and round: We start at the centre with being focused on providing 5 Star products and service, and always delivering `Malaysian Hospitality, hassle free, all the way'. This is supported by lowered operating costs, enabling us to transfer the savings to customers, and offering more competitive fares. "The line keeps going which then means that we get more customers wanting to fly with us. The cycle continues and we get more revenue resulting in us being able to invest in growing our network and increasing our capacity. All of these will result in sustained growth." Other major initiatives to put Malaysia Airlines' strongly on the path of profitable growth include growing new businesses. "There is strong potential in our Engineering & Maintenance (E&M) division, and Firefly. Prospects for E&M are bright as the robust demand in regional air travel, and the limited expertise available, will spur the demand for our maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services. Firefly's role as a community airline is now further enlarged with approvals to operate from Subang, Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu," Jala added. The E&M division is currently doing more than 30% third party MRO work. By 2010, 50% of the business is expected to be third party work. Meanwhile, Firefly will be expanding to serve 6 domestic and 9 regional routes out of Penang International Airport, 12 domestic and 13 regional routes out of Subang as well as 7 domestic and 14 regional destinations out of Senai International Airport, Johor Bahru. Ends. 91% satisfied!!! pigs can really fly now, can't they? They must be joking. Read the damn circular - nasi goreng with chicken vs. three sandwiches (zuchini/capsicum) ...hmmm. lamb briyani costs the most? of course it does. other airlines can serve it - why can't we?

alamak - why u so like dat? economy class toilets/crew rest area it is then..

RM21 000 for a snack box and two microwaveable meals.... EMIRATES is the way forward. They gave me ROTI JALA with CHICKEN CURRY from KUL-DXB, and lovely stir fried beef with rice from DXB-MAN. Huge portions, lots of bread/rolls, nice desert. Single was RM2,100 compared to MH's RM3500 KUL-LHR. sorry lah. no way MH.

my god - this is really bad. I thought it can't get any worse. I'm sorry that you had to experience this 'redefined' service by MH, Georg. well done on the letter - i didn't get any reply to my complaint 3 weeks ago. i only have the normal enrich membership though. Anyways - i want to email the DG of DCA and the MOT sec-gen. Send him a copy of my letter to NST.

the surveys are just a gimmick. as mentioned previously in this thread - the interim surveys are a load of crock. the figures were manipulated i'm sure. there's no transparency - after all, this is boleh land. They may be able to save 200 million/year on inflight costs - but lets see how much they can make from falling passenger numbers. increasing surcharges might not help when your load factors start dipping. Good luck to them. I'm not wasting my hard earned money on them anymore. And I WAS one of MH's most loyal supporters. By the way - still no reply to my email to them sent 3 weeks ago. I guess just NORMAL enrich passengers who travel with cheap fares are not counted. I would love to see their faces when their ENRICH Gold/Platinum or biji timah members start deserting these CONmen.

the floodgates of annoyances have opened! IJ bashing time! Have they published a response yet?

very interesting report! never knew they are still carefully studying the market. there's always hope. what if the costs are brought down on the KUL-SIN route? what will happen then? will QF or Jetstar increase flights to australia via sin?

load to KUL was fine - it was the yield. Most of the passengers were students and we pretty much filled the economy seats. i remember that you can get open tickets for RM2400. MH was RM3500 at that time. KUL was linked to PER and CGK in the past - not really high yielding destinations at all. KUL was important at that time and BA tried various things including a six weekly 777 terminator flight to KUL - that was the longest 777 flight in the world at that time. Didn't work out for them - the financial crisis was also a big factor in their decision to pull out. QF - who had a huge hub in SIN also decided to pull out from KL and forced their partner and shareholder BA to pull out. They never gave KUL a chance and only flew 3 weekly KUL-SIN-SYD 763 flights and once weekly KUL-PER 763 flights. Another stupid reason was the government's decision to do split ops - SUbang and KLIA - which reduced KUL's pax figures to 13 million/year (down from 18 million/yr in Subang). Together - these two reasons made it easier for BA, LH, NH and others to pull out. That's why jet ops were then transfered back to KLIA - and the expedited the ERL link (which was delayed initially as it was too expensive). the government has been pretty indecisive and its not helping KUL get anywhere fast. lots of stupid schoolboy mistakes.

oh yes - i have learnt the hard way too. even after an interview in London - one of the bosses took me aside and spent 15 minutes giving me feedback. He said that while he appreciated my honesty - I won't get a job unless i take the 'standard line' and tell them what they wanted to hear despite knowing everyone will be saying the same. Enthusiasm is extremely important! i don't know what the current situation is with spectacles. is it still allowed for training if the vision is correctable?

you're right ivan ... Dubai has overtook KUL in terms of pax/annum 2 years ago. Emirates is growing and growing. Initially i was sceptical when they wanted 43 A380s - looking at their hub now in Dubai - I am not surprised anymore. Because of this growth - more and more airlines are flying in to benefit from the increased connectivity. jebel world central - the new airport - is supposed to handle 120million/year. hmmm... i wonder? KUL will be the LOW COST CAPITAL (or AIR ASIA CAPITAL) of South East Asia. Unless the capitalise on this VMY2007, MAHB and KLIA will just be another wannabe

Do you think i could get a job with MH?? hahahah... they will kill me if i apply. always wanted to be a pilot. maybe i should place my bets with AK - however i don't like this money grabbing bugger tony f.

you're right mate - i didn't realise that!!! in a way we were right when we said that SQ,AK,tiger will be laughing and running to the bank! they're all linked together. unfortunately, MH WAS linked to air maldives (managed to bankrupt them) and cambodian airlines (also bankrupt). hmmm... maybe they should have bought a few shares in SQ or AK!

you cannot keep on protecting MH to the detriment of KUL as a traffic hub. latest example is DEL-KUL flights - MH kicked up a big fuss when Air india xpress and air sahara wanted to fly to KUL. SIN has open skies agreement with many many countries - enabling unlimited flights to and fro SIN and beyond. we have jack all. the reasons are two - 1. No one wants to fly here when they have multiple flights to BKK/SIN. therefore, we can't get more connectivity - and because we don't have connectivity, no one wants to fly here. its a vicious cycle. look at all the african airlines - KUL has cheaper landing fees and a relatively big market - but ethiopian, air seychelles, air madagascar, air austral, kenya airways all chose BKK. MAHB has been targetting airlines we have lost (such as BA, NW, AF) to win them back. However, also chose shitty airlines like kyrgyztan, kazakhstan and riau airlines which have all folded since operating to KUL. The goverment has done a good job in getting more middle eastern tourists here - but they should also target Britain, Germany, Netherlands, France, Russia, Scandinavia - Thailand has been getting the lion's share of tourists from these countries. And they're only next door!!! Why is Malaysia so invisible to these European countries?? The garmen keeps saying that we are getting loads of tourists from India/China - most of them arrive VIA SIN. why?? if they want to visit malaysia - they can fly straight in. and visit SIN as a side trip. CA, CZ, MU have multiple daily flights with widebodies to SIN - but to KUL, they are struggling with 757s, 320s,319s. EK keeps harping on that KUL is a 'hub' - not when you fly 9 times a week. SIN gets almost 3x daily. BKK twice daily, even CGK gets 10/weekly. 2. the government is protecting MH. its time to get rid of the big baby and let them live their own lives. Idris Jala thought he could fool us all by increasing prices and cutting services UNDER the government's protection. Let's see how he runs when all ties are cut and MH is exposed with its pants arounds its ankles. the competition out there is better and will kill them off unless they buck up and stop playing games.

hahaha...naim - good one. ministry of air asia affairs is what they are! anyways - SIA, Air Asia, Tiger airways AND jetstar are rubbing their hands in glee. MH is cowering now in its protected little corner. BTP works but only in a certain way - its goals are to CUT costs by selling slots (i.e. London Heathrow to Air India for millions per slot); cutting routes (even if they are potentially high yielding if they gave it a fair chance e.g. Zurich, Manchester); selling 747s; selling office buildings. to IMPROVE yield - hmmm... i don't know what they've done apart from increase 'fuel' surcharges regularly to expand flights to China/India (where EVERYONE is flying to) ...hmm..i don't think so (xi'an, chengdu, ahmedabad, kolkata suspended) - pathetic three weekly services to BLR is one thing that comes to mind. hmmm... Idris Jala's plan is beginning to show its flaws. He is getting scared now that the government is on the side of Air Asia (bolehland). at the end of the day - i want prices to come down too and i look forward to the competition. just hope people won't get fooled by Tony's promise that he is doing it for the customers cos he is certainly NOT doing it for us.

hahha..they edited out the section where i asked whther MH thought we were stupid. also cut was my suggestion to stop the 'bleeding' by chopping off the people at the top! too controversial i guess!

KUL-SIN used to have 26 flights/day by MH/SQ combination of 737, A300, 757, A310 (once daily 747 by SQ) after the financial crisis - the shuttle service was drastically cut. finally it has settled on 7 MH flights (734/332/333), 6 SQ flights (772/occasional 744). now, apart from the SQ/MH shuttle - MK, UL, JL, EK, BG serve the route. (i know JL/UL have rights to serve this route). RA and PK used to serve this route until they both stopped SIN services.

Thanks guys - i was afraid that the NST may not publish this letter. Thank you for your help, ideas and suggestions - it helped me a great deal in typing up this letter. as mentioned previously - Rashid Khan's letter really pissed me off big time. we are not stupid. I am curious as to what MH will say to this - here's to another patronising and condescending response from the 'vampires' and 'lintahs' high up in the MAS hierarchy. Also - congrats to Dennis for his SECOND letter to be published. we need to continue exerting pressure under our malaysianwings.com group - only then will MH start to notice us. this one is for all of us who are fed up and are tired with the constant cock-and-bull stories given to us from all sides.

that's a good idea! i will do that FK wong!

thank you guys for your support and pointers! thanks for the feedback as well - i also think it was too long winded for the papers - hopefully they might edit it! if not, i'll try a shorter version tomorrow. imran - i hope he's not related to you man! if he is - i didn't mean to offend you. and bollocks - i meant MH001 leaving heathrow on the 16th of october! (not 22nd)

Here goes nothing - i have emailed NST and will email The star. it may be a bit emotional at times but i was really irritated by the letter from Rashid Khan. it was really patronising. are we really that stupid?thanks for your support guys... appreciate it! Dear Editor,I refer to your report "Observers find MAS meal box hard to swallow" (NST, Oct 17) and the letters "Think again on meal boxes" by William Dennis (NST, Oct 19) and "Feedback very encouraging" by Datuk Rashid Khan (NST, Oct 22). While I laud the Business Turnaround Plan and its focus to return the airline to profitability, I think that our national airline has lost the bigger picture in the process of cutting costs - 'Five star airline with low costs' is a contradiction to say the least. Being an Enrich member and using Malaysia Airlines (MH) on most of my flights from the UK to Malaysia over the past ten years, I have noticed a gradual slump in its inflight services over this period. I also have always been a strong supporter of our national airline and encourage my colleagues to use MH on flights to Australasia. However, I might have to stop doing that as the feedback gets worse and worse. I have even e-mailed MH to complain but I have not heard anything back. In its drive to profitability, I have noticed that the two meal service in economy has deteriorated. The classy printed menu service is gone - other airlines such as British Airways (BA), Singapore Airlines (SQ) and Emirates (EK) are still providing menus for their flights. Personally, I have never found that to be a problem for me as I know that I will still be getting excellent Western and local choices on my 12-13 hour flights. Compared to BA, SQ, EK, KLM and Qantas - MH's food service is second to none. This has all changed in my recent flights to Malaysia and I would like to share my experiences with you. The meal choices have been reduced to just 'chicken or vegetarian'; the portions are much smaller and now are served in tiny microwaveable trays. The second meal did not fare any better and for an Asian airline - their 'Asian' meals were awful - the same microwaveable tray was placed in front of us. MH used to be provide its passengers with ice-cream and cold sandwiches in between meals but these have now disappeared. The dreaded snack box (albeit a mini version) has now appeared with a few snacks. My 'neighbours' were two British tourists who regularly travelled to and from the UK on MH - they paid GBP1300 for their tickets. I was shocked as I only paid half of that but they did not mind as they wanted to fly MH. Imagine their horror when the meal service came out. They could have flown with Qatar Airways in business class and got more value for money. Datuk Rashid Khan mentioned that the customers voted on the top five food choices and preferred light meals for short haul flights. I would like to see some concrete proof before I believe them. A few questions need to be answered - are light meals the top choice or was it a 'top five' choice? Which 'fifteen airlines' did they compare with? European airlines have been using these snack boxes for a long time now as competition with low cost carriers there is intense. In Asia, the market is completely different with full service airlines still offering hot meals rather than snack boxes. What do MH mean by short haul flights - is it Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan (40 mins) or Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok (2 hours)? If I were given the choice between a bag of peanuts/orange juice and a snack box on my full fare all frills 40 minute flight - I know what I'd choose.However, when paying for a full fare 'all frills' ticket between Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok flights - I would prefer a hot meal, considering I have paid good money for my tickets. All of MH's competitors such as Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines are providing full hot meals on their regional flights. I personally do not think that MH has 'benchmarked' their services against Thai or SIA's services with regards to the snack box. I know that most Malaysians will find sandwiches unpalatable, especially when you look at the gradual price increases by MH – all in the name of fuel surcharge. I would expect inflight services to get better when I pay more. Why fly a Boeing 737 and get a snack box when you can fly Thai or SIA using their new Boeing 777-200 or Airbus A330-300 AND get a hot meal? Do they think that their passengers are stupid? All you need is go to www.airlinemeals.net or www.airliners.net to see the difference in services provided by hundreds of airlines. Introducing the snack box during Ramadhan is also another gimmick in my opinion - as passengers would be fasting and therefore happy to take these snack boxes home for later consumption. It would be worthwhile to see what their passengers say now, after the fasting month. It would be nice to get a formal transparent report from MH to see what their passengers actually say rather than a glossed over and edited view from Datuk Khan. Many people including travel agents have complained to MH about the higher ticket prices and deterioration of services but I guess MH is not listening contrary to what Datuk Khan’s letter says. What he is not telling us is that the rationale behind this snack box service is that it lighter and therefore less fuel is burned on MH's flights with the resultant cost savings. In addition, this would allow LESS flight crews to be on board in order to 'dish out' these snack boxes. Inside sources have said that they plan to reduce their flight crews by one per flight (for flights where the snack box is being served). All these measures are designed to drive costs to a minimum. I also think that MH's plan of shutting their ticketing offices in major cities and towns across Malaysia is a big mistake. For example, in KK and Kuantan, passengers now have to travel to the airport to buy tickets. Meanwhile, in KL, the KL Sentral office is dingy, small and in need of a good clean-up. There were very few staff working and because I was not a business or first class passenger, I had to wait for a long time while other passengers who came in later got seen to first. MH seems to think that passengers will always keep coming to them for business despite what they do. It is true up to a few years ago. Now we have more choices in our flights from KLIA. The UK-Malaysia segment is now served by KLM, BA, Thai Airways, Emirates, Qatar, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airlines, Yemenia, Egyptair, Singapore Airlines, China Eastern, Air China - albeit with a short transit. The list goes on and on. I find it ironic that the on the MH plane parked next to mine in KLIA had the slogan 'an experience redefined' - in which direction? I think that MH should seriously sit down and rethink their business strategies. Passengers have more choice and less patience now. Cutting costs on in-flight services and passenger facilities is not the way forward. Neither is selling assets such as offices and aircrafts to prop up their accounts - that is only a short term measure for a long term problem. It may be controversial but I think that it is NOT the frontline staff (who have been exemplary) that need to go but rather the many different highly paid 'consultants' at the top that 'bleed' the airline. Five star services at low cost will never happen. Just look at Singapore Airline's latest offerings on their A380 aircraft published in the papers and online. MH is at least ten years behind them. On a happier note, I would personally like to thank every single crew member (including those on the flight deck and the ground staff in Heathrow) on board MH 001 which left London Heathrow on 22nd of October 2007 at 10pm. They were a credit to MH and they truly deserve the 'Best Cabin Crew' awards that they won. Sadly, due to increasing ticket prices and less than adequate meals – I will have to take my business elsewhere. MH should take note and start listening to its most loyal and faithful customers or lose out in the long run. damn - i didn't realise it was that long! hahahaha...i had to let it out of my chest or i'll explode! thatd10t really did my head in.

i'm sick of this crap - i am going to write a letter to the editor NOW.

while i welcome subang as an LCC airport - I think that taking away 6 million pax/year from KUL will relegate it to a has been. at present, with 24.5 million/year pax we are literally just trying to break into the big league. we will never become a hub like SIN or BKK as much as i want it to - DXB (28 million) has already overtaken us, even CGK came from behind and took over (26-27 million). i don't think it will be a good idea as KUL will lose its critical mass of passengers - one with air asia leaving and two, with MH reducing flights. other airlines which have returned such as LH and QF(JQ) will leave once again (as it happened in 1998 with the split site service by MH - compounded by the asian financial crisis); and airlines that plan to come back such as BA will not return. KUL will therefore be relegated to a Far East/Middle East airport. not a good idea. tony is again asking for too much, too soon. he will not quit. the gov'ment is too indecisive in this issue.

hahah...that's hilarious. i kinda suspected he was you! well done mate. need more of us to write in. look at the first class on SQ's 380 - that's the next level of service. MH's one will be ten years behind - and that's for sure. sq has been making huge profits all these years and are in a strong financial position to continually innovate and raise the bar for other LEGACY carriers. MH is just one step behind Tony's AK. Look at the bigger picture and don't get too focused on chasing his tail. could IJ be darth sidious? hmmm...

i bought a single for GBP380 azman. i'm going back with EK for sure. no more MH until they get their at together. according to the MSL travel manager - he has complained to MH about their deteriorating services - on-ground and in the air. many passengers are upset by MH's cost cutting measures. He agreed that the way forward is not to cut customer facilities but to chop off the expensive CON-sultans and the managers. SV - the snack box does not include sandwiches and i'm sure it is similar to the AKL ones. it is served immediately after dinner.

maybe he came from space? could he be palestine's first man in space? KUL is too secure for stowaways according to MAHB. But it is the only airport in the region where you can walk in and steal millions of dollars worth of cargo - then wave to the jaga on the way out. advanced cargo centre my ass.