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Mohd Azizul Ramli

MAS A380 - Fleet to be Retained

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Not so simple. There are no cabin crew currently rated on the B744.

Hahas! I was joking. Yes, I know is not that easy since they retired them a while ago. This is the consequence of running a tight aircraft rotation. On the other hand, aircraft can't be sitting around doing nothing.

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Been travelling on MH A380 on 4 sectors since February and I would like to share some experiences:

  • MH 1 on 14 February 2014. Flight was operated by MNF. Load was very good (I was on sequence no. 462). Delayed on the ground for 5 hours. Boarding was done 1 hour late. Then delay in waiting ATC clearance in the ever busy Heathrow. Then as MNF was about to enter the runway, the cockpit crew said they encountered a technical problem where one of the aircraft's 16 doors was not properly armed and secured and that a decompression will happen. This led to the aircraft had to return to the gate for inspection and checking. Aircraft fixed and we were pushed back and entered the painful Heathrow takeoff cycle once again. Finally lifted off the ground close to 0300 on 15 February from a scheduled 2200 departure on 14 February. Passengers were calm and not really complaining about the long hours endured on the ground inside the aircraft. Cabin crew served the Skysnax, which was meant for the post supper service, and drinks during the 5 hours delay on the ground. No substitution for the Skysnax were offered after the supper meal service. Tail camera was switched off the entire time during the first and the second take off attempts and also during landing. Another issue is that there was a baby in the upper deck Y cabin which I thought was not allowed since MH publicly marketed its upper deck Y cabin as baby-free/quiet zone. But I later found out that this policy has been abolished.
  • MH 4 on 23 February 2014. Flight was operated again by MNF. Had difficulties in securing a seat due to overbooking on MH 2 the night before and also on MH 4 that I took. Load was again very good with no empty seat on sight. Pretty standard MH A380 flight. The tail camera was switched off during take off and landing.
  • MH 1 on 11 April 2014. My first flight with MH since the MH370 tragedy. Major changes - MH check in area at LHR T4 is now at row D instead of Row B behind those pillars. Row D is more prominent and nearer to the Departure area. MH's old row B is now taken over by Sri Lankan Airlines. Flight was operated by MNE and departed 30 minutes late. Again very good load (I was on sequence no. 447) with only the seat next to me vouched as empty. Tail camera was switched on for a change, during take off and landing. What most interesting on this flight is that a co-pilot speech which emphasize a lot on safety and his pride about flying MH A380 while doing his drill of informing about the standard info of the flight, weather etc. It sounded a bit over the top and rather bombastic at times (sentences such as 'you'll be served by our multi award winning the best in the world cabin crew, enjoy your flight aboard our newest state of the art A380 the largest airliner in the world' and a few others along the same line, but I commend the co-pilot for doing so, especially to instil confidence about MH's safety standard at this difficult times. Definitely a first for me to hearing such a lengthy and rather personalised co pilot speech during my 22 years of flying MH, I wished I would have recorded that speech. I did stumbled upon the co-pilot while on the aerotrain at KUL, he seems definitely so young for an A380 commander (probably around my age).
  • MH 2 on 19 April 2014. Flight was operated by MNF and load was evidently consistently very high. I was on sequence no. 495. Ok, I thought MH A380 full capacity F + J + Y is 494 seats. Why was I passenger no. 495 and there were even 2 empty seats behind me? That aside, check-in agent was very jovial (his name is Faridz) and apparently was a fan of Liverpool. He asked me about my fav EPL team to which I replied Arsenal (since the company I work with supports the team and that we have an executive box at the Emirates Stadium) to which he joked he would have op-up me to J if I answered Liverpool to his question. Flight departed on time and tail camera was switched on during take off and landing. Standard good MH A380 flight. Landing was slightly early, in fact we were the first one to land in Heathrow this morning, not even have to circle around like the usual Heathrow landing drill, and while arriving at the Immigration clearance area, the Border Agency staff have yet to man the counters, it was an empty hall.

Question: Why there is consistency issue with regards to the tail camera screening during take off and landing to the passengers?

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Landing was slightly early, in fact we were the first one to land in Heathrow this morning, not even have to circle around like the usual Heathrow landing drill, and while arriving at the Immigration clearance area, the Border Agency staff have yet to man the counters, it was an empty hall.

That alone is worthy of a fascinating trip report :lol: Edited by BC Tam

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I was on MH4, 5.4.2014, operated by MNB, non-rev on J

 

20140405_0927300_zpsee083c6f.jpg

 

Flight was delayed by 30 minutes due to some operational issues, and we arrived Heathrow 15 minutes behind schedule.
Cabin was almost full, 100% in F, 1 empty seat in J, and less than 20 empty in Y (upon visiting the lower deck cabin)

and MH21, 18.4.2014, operated by MNC, non-rev on J

the inbound flight from KUL was delayed by 2 hours as one of the upper deck door failed to be armed and secured.
The flight was overbooked, 100% in Y, 100% in J and as a result......

 

DSCF5112_zps5c5eb714.jpg

 

Walla.....stepped on a jackpot machine!

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and MH21, 18.4.2014, operated by MNC, non-rev on J

the inbound flight from KUL was delayed by 2 hours as one of the upper deck door failed to be armed and secured.

 

This seems to be quite a regular occurrence.

 

And congrats on the op-up to F. I just want to say 2 words. How enviable!

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It would seem to me that A380s have a lot of problems with its doors and pressurisation - and it is not just on MH aircraft.


The flight was overbooked, 100% in Y, 100% in J and as a result......

 

Walla.....stepped on a jackpot machine!

Congrats on a no cost upgrade - did you enjoy the ride? :)

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Wonder what's taken into consideration when upgrading pax on overbooked flights. Status? Title? Seq number?

 

I'd be surprised if there weren't any enrich plat/gold members or Datuks in J, and your seq number is rather low. Maybe it's a good deed making it's way around in the form of karma :p

 

(Not saying you don't deserve the upgrade at all. Just curious of the "criteria", if any)

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And congrats on the op-up to F. I just want to say 2 words. How enviable!

 

my 2 cents, be nice to those working in the galley. Nanti good karma datang!

 

 

 

Congrats on a no cost upgrade - did you enjoy the ride? :)

 

Yeap...I did enjoy the ride. But being me, I spent at least 3 hours talking to them in the galley even the F class galley was considered as poorly located.

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Did my KUL/CGD on 16 April on MH20. Flight was re timed and delayed for 2 hrs. Missed my TGV and had to pay extra to re-book on the next train.

 

What annoyed me most was not a single explanation or apology was offered by the captain to passengers!

 

I had few delays before and the pilot will always explain for the delay and apologize for all the inconvenience caused. But the crew on this particular flight did their thing as if nothing happened.

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Did the delay happened after you boarded the plane? Or it was retimed much earlier? If much earlier, ground staff are suppose to explain.

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What most interesting on this flight is that a co-pilot speech which emphasize a lot on safety and his pride about flying MH A380 while doing his drill of informing about the standard info of the flight, weather etc. It sounded a bit over the top and rather bombastic at times (sentences such as 'you'll be served by our multi award winning the best in the world cabin crew, enjoy your flight aboard our newest state of the art A380 the largest airliner in the world' and a few others along the same line, but I commend the co-pilot for doing so, especially to instil confidence about MH's safety standard at this difficult times. Definitely a first for me to hearing such a lengthy and rather personalised co pilot speech during my 22 years of flying MH, I wished I would have recorded that speech. I did stumbled upon the co-pilot while on the aerotrain at KUL, he seems definitely so young for an A380 commander (probably around my age).

 

I think I found the co-pilot mentioned. http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/index.php?showuser=95

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No he is not the co pilot mentioned above. He's not even flying the A380

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