Booking The Trip: A (slightly crazier) Southeast Asian Path to India
Review: P.F Changs LAX (Priority Pass Restaurant)
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Los Angeles to Taipei
Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Taipei Terminal 2 Zone A
Review: UNI Air A321-200 Economy Class Taipei to Seoul Incheon
Review: The Millenium Seoul Hilton
Trip Photos: A Day and a Half in Seoul
Review: Korean Air First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Review: Korean Air 777-300ER Kosmos Suites First Class Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
Review: Le Meridien Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa
Review: Cathay Pacific Lounge Bangkok
Review: Miracle Business Class Lounge Concourse G Bangkok
Review: Malaysia Airlines 737-800 Business Class Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
Review: Malaysia Airlines Satellite Golden Business Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur
Review: Kuala Lumpur A330-300 Business Class Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
Review: SpiceJet 737-900ER SpiceMax Pune to Goa
Review: Air India A321-200 Economy Class Goa to Mumbai
Review: Air India A320Neo Economy Class Mumbai to Bengaluru
Review: Air India A319-100 Economy Class Bengaluru to Mumbai
Review: GVK International Business Class Lounge West Wing Mumbai
Review: Singapore Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Mumbai to Singapore
Review: Crowne Plaza Hotel Singapore
Trip Photos: 8 hours in Singapore
Review: Singapore Airlines A380-800 NEW Business Class Singapore to Hong Kong
Review: Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class Lounge Hong Kong
Review: United Club Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Review: Hong Kong Airlines Club Bauhinia Lounge Hong Kong
Review: EVA Air A330-300 Premium Laurel Class Hong Kong to Taipei
Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Premium Economy Class Taipei to Los Angeles
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Los Angeles to Taipei
YOUTUBE: UNI Air: Taipei to Seoul Incheon
YOUTUBE: Korean Air: Seoul Incheon to Bangkok
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
YOUTUBE: Malaysian Airlines: Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: SpiceJet: Pune to Goa
YOUTUBE: Air India: Goa to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Air India: Mumbai to Bengaluru
YOUTUBE: Air India: Bengaluru to Mumbai
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Mumbai to Singapore
YOUTUBE: Singapore Airlines: Singapore to Hong Kong
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Hong Kong to Taipei
YOUTUBE: EVA Air: Taipei to Los Angeles
After spending some time in the Golden Lounge, it was time for the last flight of the day to Mumbai. At Kuala Lumpur, security is at each gate, so we had to clear that. However, unlike at Singapore Airport, there’s not separate security for premium cabin travelers/elite status holders.
But once security was done, here’s a look at my gorgeous A330-300 taking me to Mumbai.
As is always the case with India inbound/outbound flights, people are very impatient and started lining up before anyone could even say anything. And since I’m Indian and fly to and within India a lot, I was already used to this.
Boarding finally started with business class passengers at which time a bunch of people stormed the front.
KUL-BOM
Airbus A330-300
June 4th, 2019
Upon boarding, I made my way to our seats 5H and 5K. Now before I talk about the seat features, let me show you the different kinds of seats there are.
These seats are on the right side of the plane and are best if you are traveling with someone. In my case, I was, so this was the most sensible choice for me.
If you are traveling alone, these are the best seats in the house. They called the “throne seats” and they are the seats with the most space for each person. They can be found on the even-numbered rows on the right side of the plane.
In the middle section, you have staggered pair seats and on the left side of the plane, you have single seats which have direct aisle access.
Now let’s talk about the seat itself. The seatback was pretty hard for my liking, but the cushion was perfectly alright for a 5 hour flight. The seat belt is not your typical “around the waist” seatbelt. It’s just like one you have in a car where it swings over your shoulder. I personally don’t like it because it kept scratching my neck every time I moved.
The storm that I first saw when arriving in to KL a few hours back had come much closer and I knew we’d be departing straight into something nasty.
At each seat came a blanket and pillow which is really all that was needed on an evening 5 hour flight.
A few minutes after sitting, one of the crew members came around with pre-departure beverage choices of water, apple juice, orange juice, and guava juice and I went with guava juice which was sweet, but refreshing.
A hot towel also was given to each of us a few minutes later.
Here are the seat features.
To the left of the seat there was an adjustable reading light.
To the right of that was a cell phone holder which I guess was a nice design but with the size of phones these days (including my iPhone X S Max), there aren’t too many that fit in there.
A little to the right was a touch screen seat adjuster where you could control the hardness of the seat, the incline, what position you wanted it in, etc.
And again there was another set of smaller controls by your side which I’m not sure why it was there when the other seat controls were there. The only thing I can imagine here is that this one is easier to reach when in flat bed position so you can straighten out the seat from this panel rather than having to reach further to the other panel. I’m not exactly sure what they were intending but this was my best guess.
Below the TV there’s a nice storage space where I kept my passport and go pro charger though you can get a sense of how much more you could potentially store there.
The TV itself was decently sizable.
On the side of you, the tray table can be pulled out with a lever
And overhead there were air nozzles which I really need in a flight.
Now, I forgot to take a picture but there were a pair of power ports in between the central console below that you could use to charge up.
Originally we had a 20-minute hold at the gate due to leavy lightning in the immediate area, though we ended up taxiing 10 minutes later instead of 20.
Also, during our taxi, we were given menus, though I’ll show you guys that in a few moments.
Finally we were cleared for take off and had a decently smooth climb out but within minutes all the monsoon storm stuff kicked in.
We got some nice views of Kuala Lumpur on the way out.
Now during taxi, takeoff, and climb, I had one problem. They were playing their arrival and departure music the whole time on high volume. If they play this during boarding, or after landing (which they did), I have no problems at all. But playing this during taxi and takeoff as well as the climb out was bothersome to me since I was trying to film all of that, and bothersome to many people who actually were trying to sleep a bit during taxi and takeoff since it took so long. A few actually complained, but the crew said they couldn’t do much as the cabin manager manages when the music was on and off.
And yes, this was a picture from my iPhone. Not from any pro camera, so I couldn’t have asked for better timing.
Alright, so here is the menu we were given during taxi.
After we were clear of lightning immediately around us, the crew got to work.
The cabin manager was a really awesome guy and I was sad he was working the other aisle. But the lady working my aisle was good too and she even addressed me by Mr. Deshpande the whole time which was a nice touch.
She took order for drink and food for which I went with sparkling water and for the main course I went with the chicken curry.
And of course, I’m on a flight to India, so there has to be that one passenger, and surely there was. Service was paused because one passenger was starting to get very unruly and angry with the cabin manager since he had a problem with the way the vegetarian meal was prepared in the same area as non-veg food (bear in mind this isn’t true, and the meal hadn’t even been served yet). The cabin manager kept cool the whole time and kept trying to tell him politely that the vegetarian food is prepared in a separate environment than the usual non-veg food.
Anyways after that whole finished, the lady working our aisle brought my sparkling water and a bag of goji berry nut mix. It’s got a decent amount of nuts but it also had dried fruits which I enjoyed more.
The cabin manager came to our row with the satay cart which I was happy about as his interactions with each passenger (except one of course) was just so outgoing it was a joy. He asked me if I wanted lamb or chicken satay and I told him I’d take one of each. He said absolutely and was glad I did.
The satay was tasty and I enjoyed the peanut sauce that came with it. The chicken satay was definitely more on the overcooked side, but with chicken of that size to manage a hundred or so in an airplane oven, I had no problems.
Another problem I had was that service was excruciatingly slow. Drinks started late due to the passenger which was fine. But after the satay, it took another full 45 minutes until the meal was served.
Everything was served on one tray. I think they could’ve gone the extra 2 inches by removing the plastic covers from the salad and dessert as that would’ve looked better in presentation. It’s not like any of those were hot and needed to be kept covered, let alone by plastic. Might as well have served the main dish with the aluminum foil over the top.
The salad consisted of lettuce, radish, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. The salad was dry and rubbery but the dressing that came with it added some nice flavor and moistness.
For the main course, I went with the chicken curry. The curry was very flavorful and spicy which is just the way I like it. I mixed it with the rice as well for maximum enjoyment on that front. The vegetables that were on the side were alright as well.
A few minutes later a crew member brought around a bread basket from which I just wanted pappad but she insisted I take a bread roll as well so I did. The bread basket choices consisted of the bread roll, chapati, which is the hindi and marathi word for what is basically a flour tortilla made in an Indian way. And probably chapati is used in more languages than those two, but those are the only two languages I speak which uses that word. The third item is pappad.
For dessert, there was a cheesecake which was nice, soft, and overall a nice way to end the meal.
From start to finish, the meal service was over two hours which I think could be improved especially with the logistics of how they do meal service.
Overall, the meal was pretty good. The salad was alright, but the main course, side bread, and dessert were all tasty and enjoyable. Of course, different palates have different tastes and my palate enjoyed spicy and flavorful foods, so this was definitely food that I enjoyed.
After meal service was done, the trays were cleared and crew members brought around large water bottles which I always enjoy since keeping hydrated on a plane is the most important thing for me.
For the rest of the flight, I was so tired, within minutes of the picture above I fell asleep and my dad reclined my seat down into flatbed mode while I was asleep <3. I woke up just as we began descent into Mumbai.
We passed by the typical approach path onto runway 27 which takes us over the “suburbs” of Ghatkopar and Vikroli.
For the first time in many many years, I’m landing into Mumbai without too many clouds in the sky. But I’m also making the annual trip much earlier than usual so monsoon hasn’t arrived in India yet, but it was still humid.
We had a 5 minute taxi over to the international T2.
Oh hey! Look it’s my star alliance buddies.
We parked next to a Swiss A330.
Overall, this was another good flight with Malaysia Airlines. The seats were good, the food was good, the service was slow but well-intentioned with great crew members, and I enjoyed the flight. If there’s anyone out there who’s still hesitant to fly MH, its time to fly MH. If they were Star Alliance, boy would I be flying them a lot more.