After spending ten days in Saudi Arabia, it was time to return to my home of residence in Kuala Lumpur. I was really looking forward to returning home after an exhausting trip. I chose Malaysia Airlines for my return flight because it was a direct flight and the price was reasonable for business class. I always prefer to go for business-class flights when it's a long-haul flight to seek extra comfort. More than a year ago, I took the same flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur and it was a relatively good experience, nothing to shout about, but it was acceptable. This is why I used MH again, but this time around it was different... a lot much more different!
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Flight Details:
Cabin Description:
The cabin design was very depressing in gray and black colors and lacked any degree of luxury expected to be present in a business-class cabin, compared to the similar product on board Saudi Airlines that serves the same route.
As for provided amenities, two blankets and a small pillow. The airline also gives a Toiletries Bag from 'Aspinal of LONDON - England'. The bag contains a pair of socks, mouthwash, a comb, a dental kit, earplugs, PAYOT hand sanitizing lotion, PAYOT body cream, and a sleeping mask. After Googling, it turns out that this Toiletries Bag is worth US$ 10 (empty).
Cabin Rating
In-flight Entertainment
In such a long-haul flight, inflight entertainment is crucial. It's a nine-hour flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur, you would probably watch a movie or two during such a flight. Or, if you're a flying enthusiast like myself, you would want to keep tracking the course of the flight. But on board 9M-MTX, none of the above is available. The movies or series were all in any language other than English! There were Malay TV series (Malaysia's local language), Korean Drama, Hindi, Japanese, and some kids cartoons. For this flight, Hollywood doesn't exist! Even though a year ago, there were many Hollywood movies including 'TOP GUN Maverick' that I enjoyed watching twice. Even my favorite hobby of tracking the course of the flight on the screen was not available. Luckily, it was a night flight and I was bored to death, therefore I had nothing to do but sleep.
Entertainment Rating
Food and Beverages
As soon as we boarded the flight and before take-off, we were offered refreshments. There was a variety of refreshments including juice, soda, and soya milk (it's a very popular drink in Malaysia). Shortly after take-off, we were offered Malaysia Airlines signature dish... Satay. Malaysia Airlines is actually famous for serving the best Satay. This is one dish that I always crave, but honestly, it is not as good as it used to be.
Later, flight attendants started asking what each passenger would like to have for an appetizer and the main meal. The choices were very limited and all were very local. I have no issue with Malaysian local food, but a Western dish would have been appreciated. The taste was okay and the quantities were sufficient for an average person like myself.
Food and Beverage Rating
Cabin and Flight Crew
As usual, the cabin crew was nice, friendly, helpful and professional. I flew with Malaysia Airlines several times and the quality may vary from one flight to another when it comes to aircraft or cabin or food. But one thing that I noticed never changed is the quality of service offered by the MH cabin crew. As for Flight Crew, they performed a very smooth landing at KUL even though there was a crosswind shortly before the touchdown. However, the controlling pilot managed to keep the aircraft steady to touchdown smoothly. In general, with MH pilots, you won't experience a Ryanair touchdown.
Cabin and Flight Crew Rating
Conclusion
For this route, Malaysia Airlines used to operate Airbus A330-300, which was much more convenient and more comfortable. But for some mysterious reasons, they decided to deploy A330-200 with a very poor cabin that needs an ASAP refurbishing to stay in competition with Saudi Airlines. Saudi Airlines operates two flights for this route, SV834 using Boeing 787-9 and SV842 using Boeing 777-300. Several years back, I flew with Saudi Airlines on that route on board of Boeing Dreamliner and the experience was amazing. The best advice I can give if you are flying from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur using Malaysia Airlines is to download a couple of movies from Netflix on your handphone or your tablet.