Rumour: MH to Cut Inflight Meals Beginning 1 October 2007

[V Wong 0]

.......inspired by North Korea

 

 

Or... from a certain RED country - taken from a website selling party propaganda poster:

"Serve people with all my heart"

"Serve customers in a cultured, civilized and enthusiastic manner" slogans accompanying poster.

 

Scary...

 

PM me if you would like to know the website.

Edited October 18, 2007 by V Wong

[Izanee 0]

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.

[Imran K. 0]

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.

 

OK set bro...

 

gimme the dates of your return flight...and there's briyani on me.

 

Btw....do u think i can get my MILO this time round?

[Seth K 3]

Wong, post the link here

[Rozhan 0]

Going back to those stupid 'red' inspired ads, I wonder who they are directed to?

 

'TREAT EVERYONE AS A GUEST IN YOUR HOME'

 

What s#it is this? What home? Whose your guest? Guests don't deserve crappy snack boxes. Cakes, biscuits etc are served on proper plates if one goes to someone's house. Even prisoners in jails get to eat hot food on a proper trays, and not out of boxes.

 

'REMEMBER, OUR SUCCESS RELISE ON OUR ABILITY TO LISTEN AND TALK TO EACH OTHER'

 

Who is listening and who is talking? Fuel surcharge goes up by RM4 and RM7 in quick succesion (within Peninsular and Sabah & Sarawak) within 3 months without any decency to inform customers beforehand. Previous management at least did warn of impending hikes and explicitly mentioned that 'tickets bought on or after a certain date' will attract the increases. At least customers are prepared and can buy tickets in advance. Under this fellow IJ and his team of high-powered strategists and spinners, MAS does it quietely, and have the nerve to put up this stupid advertisment about listen and talk to each other. Go talk to the mirror lah.

 

'LETS WORK TOGETHER TO CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN US'

 

At a glance it looks like they are directed to staff and management, who DO have a 'gap between' them. If so, why put up at public places anyway..... just print it boldly in Berita MAS staff newsletter. If it is directed to customers, why on earth should we work with them? We should, and will, fly other better airlines.

 

To me, the brand has been ruined beyond repair.

Edited October 18, 2007 by Rozhan

[dsim 0]

To me, the brand has been ruined beyond repair.

 

so much for going beyond expectations ...

[V Wong 0]

This was in today's NST - main letter to the editor

 

 

"Inflight service: Think again on meal boxes

By : WILLIAM DENNIS, Subang Jaya

 

 

 

AS a frequent traveller, I think Malaysia Airlines’ decision to serve meal boxes in economy class on flights to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon, Phnom Pehn, Miri, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu effective Oct 1 has definitely affected its image as a full-service carrier (FSC).

 

I think that the quantity and quality of food on MAS’ regional flights had dropped significantly over the past year. With the introduction of the meal boxes, the airline is taking another step backwards in its inflight product offering.

 

Meal boxes were served on MH 686/687 on the Fokker 27 (F27) night flights on the Kuching-Singapore-KL sector in the mid-1970s. Serving the same in this present day of air travel on regional flights, especially on the international sectors, is like taking the airline’s product offering backwards 30 years.

 

A good number of FSCs in Europe have resorted to serving meal boxes on short-haul routes. But the same can’t be adopted in Asia, which is a different market altogether. It is here in Asia where the best airlines in the world are and looking constantly to enhance their product offering for a firm grip on market position.

 

It is clear that MAS’ move to replace the hot meals with meal boxes is to reduce the weight of the aircraft hence the fuel burn-off on these flights. This reduces its operating cost. But it should not be at the expense of its inflight service.

 

MAS should be making an effort to enhance its inflight product offering and compete with low-cost carriers and Thai Airways International, its main competitor on the Indo- China routes.

 

With air travel getting more competitive among FSCs and with low-cost airlines eating into the former’s market share on regional flights, MAS should reconsider its inflight move.

 

MAS had closed its first-class lounge at Changi Airport but early this year, it reopened it probably after realising that it had lost market share to Singapore Airlines.

 

With MAS operating regional routes with an aging fleet of B737-400s with cramped seats in economy class and business class, it puts itself at a further disadvantage. Thai Airways operates the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route either with the B777-200, the Airbus A330-300 or the A300-600R while AirAsia operates with the brand-new Airbus A320-200 aircraft.

 

It would not come as a surprise if MAS loses market share on regional routes.

 

A few months ago, MAS said that it aimed to be a five-star airline with low cost. You can never be a five-star carrier with low cost. It is a fact and that is the reality of the airline industry".

 

 

 

Well written Mr Dennis! Say no to "5 star with low cost'

Edited October 19, 2007 by V Wong

[Ewan Shamsudin 0]

Yay, very well written. Perhaps we should invite Mr Dennis in to MW. Hheheheh

[dsim 0]

Yay, very well written. Perhaps we should invite Mr Dennis in to MW. Hheheheh

 

 

err... me?

 

[Ewan Shamsudin 0]

Yikes!!!!

 

You ARE already here!! Hahahah

 

I should go for another eye test soon.

[Izanee 0]

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...

 

 

 

 

[FK Wong 0]

how about serving these mealboxes on flight less than 1 hour and serving full meal like last time on flights more than 1hour?

 

[Rozhan 0]

Or Yang Berbahgia Datuk 'Botero'

[Rozhan 0]

how about serving these mealboxes on flight less than 1 hour

 

That would be ideal.... as it was years ago, when fares on Y to KBR was a mere M$71 and F at M$91.... YN Economy Night Tourist was M$38 with just a drink if I recall correctly. First Class on B737-200 actually had hot nasi lemak or satay served on elegant chinaware, not like today where one would get a mere 3 pieces of wierd pastry items or crab claws. Yuck! I remember this satay thing as I used to compare MH's with Genting Highlands Hotel's Kampung Restaurant which had one of the best satay around in the 1980s.

 

Looking back MH flight attendants then could manage to serve everyone on board despite the short flight duration, just like AK today with just 4 cabin crew on A320 manage to sell food and merchandise to all 180 pax (assuming full) even on the shortest of sectors. Today, it is just a simple peanut and drink routine.

 

We'll have to wait and see if MH will listen to customers' suggestions to abandon the snack box, if at all they care to listen. Meanwhile the competition are always there with open arms and superior inflight service which MH can't afford.

 

 

 

[EddieDaniel 0]

Lol, food so little! Yeah, I'm going for Burger King...

Seth...Too much fast food is not good for the heart....too much cholesterol (right spelling?).....Try the snack box, it is not bad actually...more consistent in taste than the hot meals which depends on where the meals are uplifted or the crew who heat them up!

[BC Tam 2]

..... it is not bad actually...more consistent in taste .....

Be that as it may, it's a complete disaster for a (purported) 5-star airline to be consistently "not bad" !!

[FK Wong 0]

speaking about food served on MH.

 

i was told that actually those food that tasted bad is likely because it is overcooked.And chances are they are really overcooked.Resulting that the green vegetable that we have turns yellow and it taste horrible.

I did take a look at their food once in a while before they reheat it seeing that the veg is actually green and edible.

Perhaps MH should consider on training their stewardess and steward on how to reheat their food.

eg. choices of temperature to reheat and amount of time required.

 

[Imran K. 0]

Be that as it may, it's a complete disaster for a (purported) 5-star airline to be consistently "not bad" !!

 

EXACTLY my sentiments..

 

BC...when I meet you someday...a beer on me.

[dsim 0]

speaking about food served on MH.

 

i was told that actually those food that tasted bad is likely because it is overcooked.And chances are they are really overcooked.Resulting that the green vegetable that we have turns yellow and it taste horrible.

I did take a look at their food once in a while before they reheat it seeing that the veg is actually green and edible.

Perhaps MH should consider on training their stewardess and steward on how to reheat their food.

eg. choices of temperature to reheat and amount of time required.

 

that's why introduce snack box... no need to train them how to heat food, just take out and serve... save "re-traininng" cost too

 

[FK Wong 0]

that's why introduce snack box... no need to train them how to heat food, just take out and serve... save "re-traininng" cost too

as everyone would say again

short term measures.

think about the long term???

would you wanna have cold soak meal box on your long haul flight next time?

[BC Tam 2]

BC ..... a beer on me.

Look forward to that, your Milo on me !!

[V Wong 0]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read this response from MH spin doctor. For me, this ranks as one of the most amusing/irritating read of the year, depending on my mood. In good mood, it was an amusing piece of joke. In foul mood, I would tell them to go fly the golden kite - total effrontery of passenger intelligence....

 

 

MAS meal boxes: Feedback very encouragingBy : DATUK RASHID KHAN, Commercial Director, Malaysia Airlines

 

 

 

WE refer to your report "Observers find MAS meal box hard to swallow" (NST, Oct 17) and the letter "Think again on meal boxes" by William Dennis of Subang Jaya (NST, Oct 19).

 

When we launched our Business Turnaround Plan in February last year, our focus was on returning the airline to profitability through "The MAS Way" which is made up of five key thrusts, including "Flying to Win Customers".

 

Based on this thrust, a "Winpath" customer experience lab was activated to review our total customer value proposition (CVP). The revised CVP, with the tagline "Malaysian Hospitality, Hassle Free, All the Way" comprises a four-pronged approach to fix top breakages, on-site recovery, improve customer perception and implement key initiatives, including review of our overall inflight service delivery to our customers.

 

Based on our inflight surveys, we established that a large proportion of our economy-class passengers preferred light meals for short-haul flights.

 

Using the feedback from such surveys, we focused on the top five food items preferred by the respondents and conceptualised the new meal service. The mealbox design and content of 15 airlines were also studied and taken into consideration to finalise our mealbox concept.

 

Our customers on short-haul flights now enjoy a variety of offerings with the mealbox concept, comprising savoury sandwiches, fruit yoghurt, fresh fruits, crunchy snacks or sweet muffin, depending on the time of the day.

 

Children's meals and special meals, including vegetarian, are also offered when booked in advance and we are continuing to serve our customers unlimited inflight beverages such as coffee, tea and fruit juices.

 

The result is a more wholesome offering, promoting healthy eating and a well-balanced diet, while providing our passengers with the option of taking away the boxes.

 

Through the introduction of this concept, our service delivery is faster and it also allows more rest time for customers after meals.

 

This is one of the many initiatives that we will progressively roll out to provide our customers with a new dining experience on board and we wish to assure our customers that such initiatives are benchmarked against the best carriers in the region and are aimed at delighting passengers.

 

Since we introduced this concept on Oct 1, feedback from our passengers has been very encouraging.

 

Incidentally, it was the Ramadan month, and our passengers who were fasting actually found the mealboxes convenient to take along with them for consumption later, after breaking fast.

 

Nevertheless, as this is a new concept on our flights, we are continuously monitoring our customers' feedback to further enhance this concept so that they will enjoy the best of our Malaysian hospitality when flying with us.

 

As for the observation by William Dennis on our B737 seats, we wish to clarify that our seat pitches in the business and economy classes are 35 inches and 32 inches respectively, better than that of other full service providers and low-cost carriers (LCC).

 

It is true that we closed our own lounge at Changi in June last year and temporarily facilitated this front-end hospitality in the airport operator's lounge. By the end of last year, we resumed our Changi Golden Lounge operations in the same premises with a new look and feel, standardised with that of our lounges in Malaysia.

 

As for our drive to maintain our five-star status at LCC cost, we are confident of achieving this through innovative approaches focused on cost reductions and controls through our CVP initiatives, without compromising the quality of our products and services.

 

 

[Mushrif A 3]

MH's Rep is being very economical with the truth:

 

- An insider confirmed to me that a pax survey was indeed done, but sandwiches only came in as the second choice. Hot meals was selected as the no.1. choice. Notice how Rashid did not mention the result of the food choice survey.

 

- Also, there is no definition of what a short flight is. If a short flight is, say, KUL-LGK, KUL-SIN, then Y pax will of course prefer the snack box to the peanut service.

 

- Now that Ramadhan is over, do pax still prefer the snack box or hot meals?

 

- The new look Changi lounge is significantly less than what the lounge was before it's temporary closure. Before that, one can order freshly made hot drinks (latte, mocca, teh tarik etc) but this bar counter service is gone, everything is self-service.

 

 

 

 

[Izanee 0]

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

[Mushrif A 3]

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

 

Feel free to use any of my pointers.

 

U may want to ask MH how they are going to compete with SQ and TG on regional routes.