Rumour: MH to Cut Inflight Meals Beginning 1 October 2007

[Rozhan 0]

Since I have collected every bit of memorabilia on a typical tray of MAS EYCL meal service, they can end their inflight meals

 

Seriously for those who have had the pleasure of flying in the 1970s and 1980s, decent inflight meals for even short sectors like KUL-PEN etc on economy was provided. I recall sandwiches and pastry items like puffs and cakes. Hot coffee or tea, all served on olive-coloured Noritake melamine cups and trays which I keep to this day.

 

Since then it has been downgraded to just a cup of juice, but lately a little packet of peanuts is added (going by Firefly's inflight menu of same peanut, it cost a whopping RM1.00!)

 

If decent inflight meal for below 4 hours is replaced with snack boxes, wonder what's in store for even shorter flights like those 50 minute sectors.

 

Thank goodness there is AK with hot nasi lemak and loads of other F&B items for a little RM.

[Louis L. 2]

well...if it is true...then i can say tat mh is more to LCC than a so called "5 star airline".....provided that the airfare is cheap...if not...is should sound like " 5 star carrier's cost with LCC service"........ sound familliar???

 

[Radzi 2]

"Palpatine" is doing wonders within MAS.

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

perhaps fares are going to be a bit lower then?

[KK Lee 5]

perhaps fares are going to be a bit lower then?

 

Believe MH is paying RM25 to RM35 for their domestic and regional meals, believe they prefer to keep this saving for the bottom line.

 

Believe EY customers satisfaction is not part of their KPI. If they don’t find way to cut cost, they may miss their 4Q/07 KPI. The rest can be handled by the next team of management.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2007 by KK Lee

[Keith T 2]

And before getting into hysterics (like declaring that you'd stop flying MH), consider that tis only a rumour at this stage.

 

Another point to note is that, Skytrax is like the 'People Choice Award', not 'Academy Awards'. That is why SQ didn't even bother to point out that they were Skytrax's Airline of the Year 2007. SQ regards Skytrax as a weightless award, as compared to Conde Nast for instance.

 

Completely agree!

 

Then again with so many awards being dished out these days, they do dilute the value of one another's as a lot of them have very dubious methodology. Most airlines can lay claim to having one of these awards at one stage or another.

[Radzi 2]

Believe MH is paying RM25 to RM35 for their domestic and regional meals, believe they prefer to keep this saving for the bottom line.

 

Believe EY customers satisfaction is not part of their KPI. If they don’t find way to cut cost, they may miss their 4Q/07 KPI. The rest can be handled by the next team of management.

 

 

MAS should strive to be a "5 Star Airline with REAL Cost".

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

To spice up this thread, here are some proves of what HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED in MH recently.

 

These photos are from a trip report from a friend of mine in airliners.net, Chrisrad. He was so SHOCKED of being served with the meals.

 

Chrisrad's Outbound Trip:

 

Malaysia Airlines

Economy Class

MEL-KUL

2 September 2007

 

1st meal - Seems ok.

 

2nd meal - the CUTBACK - A SNACK!

 

More proves?

 

Chrisrad's Inbound Trip:

 

Malaysia Airlines

Economy Class

KUL-MEL

7 September 2007

 

1st meal - Seems ok too.

 

But the 2nd meal - the CUTBACK - A SNACK again!

 

Chrisrad mentioned that being a hardcore MH fan, he don't know whether to 'laugh' or 'cry' with this recent changes in MH's inflight catering for the Australian routes. He even purchased some foods from KUL's duty free on his inbound trip so that he won't starve during his flight back to MEL.

 

After reading (Capt) Radzi mentioned 'Palpatine is doing wonders within MH', I am sure this is not just an ordinary nonbasis rumour. CUTBACKS IN INFLIGHT CATERING HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED ON MH FLIGHTS.

 

If cutback in inflight catering is evidenced on flights to Melbourne Australia some 4,000 miles away from Kuala Lumpur, where each one way journey takes about 8 hours... imagine the fate of flights under 4 hours.

 

Any thoughts?

[KK Lee 5]

 

 

 

 

 

This is nothing new, typical meals between KUL/SYD, KUL/MEL vv for the last 3 years.

 

 

[Louis L. 2]

mh catering when comparing with other carrier??

 

conclusion guys????

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

Oppss... my mistake. But according to Chrisrad in Reply 55 in his trip report,

 

Well the dinner roll, is almost the size of the main dish...... there was no slice of cake with the first meal, the entire dessert was a KitKat. Maybe I have grown to used to Business Class meals, but I also exculsively flew MH in Y class 2004 and prior and I remember somewhat better meals than this.

 

Maybe this is the side effect of flying too much in MH's Golden Club.

[Keith T 2]

Hmmm...I've flown MH Y MEL-KUL about 5 years ago, and the meals actually looks similar.

For the midnight departure from MEL we had a sandwich as a snack, then a hot breakfast.

For the late evening departure from KUL, it was dinner then continental breakfast (similar to SQ I must add).

 

So I fail to see what;s changed. Maybe the snacks in the above pics are a little smaller than usual?

 

edited to add - oops just saw the latter post. Hmmm, a bit like when AA chose to cut back from 3 olives to 2 olives in salads to save $50k a year.

Edited September 22, 2007 by Keith T

[Louis L. 2]

Maybe this is the side effect of flying too much in MH's Golden Club.

 

 

<_ .................>

 

lucky u ....

 

[Wilber Tan 0]

so do not have any conclusion yet huh?

 

mas meal not bad u know.. its worth it to purchase a higher cost ticket if the safety, on time performance and great meal are provided and concerned!

 

like ive ever fly with china eastern from Changi to Pudong(shanghai) and ive been served with "yuck" food! "char kueh with really tiny prawn" is wat they call SEAFOOD!!. and if u have to kill someone but find no weapon, use their BUN, it is as hard as ROCK!!!

 

like AK oso, two flight are cancelled today to and from KIA-KLIA. How if u r catching for a connecting flight?

[Walter Sim 1]

hmmm

 

I thought before that the mid night snack comes with Juice, fruits and stuff... Theres this anzac biscuit too!

 

Now just a bun. More suitable for movie snack..

[Seth K 3]

rumors gone wild!

[KK Lee 5]

rumors gone wild!

 

This is not a rumour.

 

From 1st October, MH regional flights below 3 hours will be given snack box comprises sandwich, muffin, biscuit, juice and water.

 

As usual, 90% of rumour in this country ended up as truth.

 

[Mohd Azizul Ramli 2]

So it is true? But for flights under 3 hours (not 4 as I suggested)? Where do you get the confirmation?

[KK Lee 5]

So it is true? But for flights under 3 hours (not 4 as I suggested)? Where do you get the confirmation?

 

Yes it is true unless they change their mind later.

 

 

[Georg Burdicek 1]

another step away from 5* airline. IMHO a good meal on board makes a lot up for the perceived flight quality. And, after all, inflight services are the only difference (except for fares) perceived by the customer between a LCC and a FFC.

[Izanee 0]

MH is really going downhill - rather than up its game and increase services to get more paying pax - they have downsized in terms of staff, aircraft, assets, inflight services in order to save a few bucks. while that may be the case during Mr. Jala's tenure - I think this profit they are making will not last long as its just a temporary fix to the problem. selling six jumbos will give you lots of money for sure. getting rid of many routes which they didn't even give a chance to work is another.

Manchester has a HUGE catchment area - at least 1 million in greater MAN and 1.2 million in Leeds/Bradford, 1 million in East Yorkshire. Also the Northwest and Northeast england!!!! HUGE. Emirates can make it with multiple flights to London, birmingham, manchester, glasgow AND EVEN newcastle. come on Idris. get your act together. THEY CAN'T EVEN MAKE LONDON WORK! THEIR VERY OWN FLAGSHIP ROUTE - MH 001 for god's sake.

All other airlines are struggling to get more services to LHR. We have been gifted 100 000 pax/year from BA - still MH is struggling with their cheap shitty plastic trays.

 

The meal service has definitely gone downhill over the last few years - i used to be extremely proud of MH's meals as compared to BA, SQ, QF, and EK during my trips to and fro UK the past ten years. I was shocked with the cheap trays and the lack of tasty deserts on the flights I took in June. THAT is LONG HAUL. Imagine snack boxes for regional routes.

 

Forget 5 star with LCC cost. that is the most irritating statement ever made. That made me go off Idris Jala. Look at SIA's inflight services. Look at their plans for the A380. in fact - look at their CURRENT 77W services!!!! my god. we can either up our game or start comparing our services to GARUDA, PHillipine airlines (which is buying more 773s) and Biman bangladesh. (no offence to fans of those airlines but you have to agree their services are s#1t).

 

JJ Ong - who managed to turn around MASKargo is also gone now. Since he has gone - they have less aircraft and they have cut back on lots of freighter routes - for e.g. Manchester, Basle, Milan Malpensa. Dubai is getting cut off as well.

How are they going to increase freight through KUL - we have been stuck at 650 - 670 000 tonnes/annum. singapore is handling 1.9 million tonnes now.

if they can't make dubai (another freighter hub) work - how will they make Tashkent work????

so they sacrifice the connections from major African/middle eastern and European markets for a few goats and chickens from Baku, Dushanbe or Bishkek???

what the hell are they thinking???

 

I have been following malaysia's aviation scene for many many years now - just when i think it will get better- somed10t shows up with ludicrous ideas.

 

AK will surely profit now - MAN, ZRH, maybe FRA, IST, DME, CAI, NGO, FUK.......god knows where else. This systematic purge of MH's routes stinks of something. I hope Radzi is NOT right - but deep down, i know what he's saying is true.

 

Happy fasting!

 

just my tuppence worth...

Edited September 22, 2007 by Izanee

[Edwin P K 0]

These are all purely based on rumours and there is no hard evidence to support this!

 

I would definitely won't believe the rumours, esp with that tag line of 5 star airline with LCCs cost, who in their right business mind would think of such taglines to drive their staff?

 

 

[Georg Burdicek 1]

I have always learnt that cutting back is not the best way to get out of crisis. And making a product cheaper, and more uninteresting, neither. You have to generate something unique, then you have an argument against your comeptitor.

I don't understand why MH is doing that bad.... probably they should do more marketing activities in foreign countrys, so they generate more inbound pax. MAS is still (was?) an insider tip for travelling to asia... No adverts, no big representation here in austria, even when they operated to vienna.

So where should the pax come from?

 

And remember, by cutting routes you tendentially make the airline more unattractive, because a network depends on it's routes.

 

For me it's sad to see MH going downhill. As i said in early posts, MH was a lifeline for me, and I really enjoyed being guest onboard, and I also have a certain personal relationship to MH; but if i compare service between my first flight on MH in 1992 and 2002, it wennt down a lot. And when I compare 2002 to 2007, its almost a disaster. 2007 - not even printed manue cards in Golden Club Class.... even Biman Bangladesh has those...The catering on EWR - ARN is just a joke (in Golden Club Class)....

 

I don't understand why they always start cutting corners on F&B Service - this is the least significant part of cost in an airline ticket, and when prices increase for F&B, I guess no customer would complain to pay $5 more for a ticket, but keep the quality.

Management overhead and administrative chaos - these two things are the money eaters. But of course, a manager would never dream of cutting costs in his fields. Because even if he fails and he ruins the airline to death, he will surely receive a good bonus and gratification.

 

Sorry for this moody post, but I have seen going our flag carrier that way, and I really hate what they are doing to *my* MH product.

 

 

[Alan B. 5]

The slow slide down the drain continues at MH

Edited September 23, 2007 by Alan B.

[Nizam 0]

I dont mind if MAS cut their inflight meal

 

The important thing is I can book my favorite seat

 

But MAS should reduce their ticket price ...