NEW Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 / B737-800
MA are currently in the process of rolling out new cabin interiors for their B737-800 aircrafts. The changes are significant! I have summarised these changes in my KZbin review video at Luxury Vegan Travel.
I flew the old design (thankfully) on this flight. I travelled in May 2023 from Phuket International Airport (HKT) in Thailand to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) in Malaysia and then again from KUL to Bangkok (BKK) in Thailand.
For reference, I sat in 6A on both legs of the journey.
Like most Asian airlines, the crew were nice. However, as I flew economy and sat near the window I didn’t get to speak to them as much as I wanted to. The flight from HKT to KUL was about 60%-70% full and took about 95 minutes. The crew handed out a packet of peanuts on boarding and later a snack which was a sandwich and tea/coffee. The snack also came with a bottle of water and in my case a small apple juice. The sandwich was pretty bad! Thankfully as it was a short flight and I had a large breakfast, the peanuts, apple juice and water were more than enough to get me through until I reached my hotel (The St. Regis Kuala Lumpur). You can also checkout the review of this hotel on my KZbin channel at Luxury Vegan Travel.
The seat was fairly comfortable but the tray table is quite low when opened. As such, I had to sit in a very careful position otherwise the tray table would rest on my legs and be at a slight angle which may cause drinks to spill.
The old design also has a 9” LCD display which is very clear! There was also a decent selection of entertainment options!
I visited the toilet about 35 minutes before landing and it was clean!
My return flight was slightly longer - about 130-135 minutes. Again, a packet of peanuts were handed out at the beginning. During this flight, a full hot meal was served. I had selected a vegan meal for both legs. On this leg, I was served vegetable pasta. Sadly, this was not heated up very well and was luke warm. I know you can ask the crew to reheat this but as the flight was about 90% full I didn’t want to bother them. Luckily, I had saved my peanuts from earlier and so had those with a can of coke! Again I had a large breakfast and so would be okay until I reach my hotel Le Meridian in Bangkok - again - you can watch the review on the KZbin channel.
One thing I should mention is that I am 99% blind and I always seek special assistance at the airport to get from the Check in counter to my seat on the plane. However, disappointingly there was no option to request this online and so you have to get in touch with MA. Also, as I can see very little I normally request a window seat and no other airline has ever requested payment from me to choose a seat to help meet my needs based on my disability. MA was the first airline asking me to pay for this request. That was shocking.
I do want to try their Business Class and First Class at some point but am reluctant to do so based on the upcoming changes and after-sales experience described in the above paragraph. There are so many more alternatives and amazing airlines and service out there.
I last flew Malaysia Airlines in 2013 and that was a terrible experience. Despite having booked the special assistance in advance, no one turned up which meant by the time someone did - I missed my connecting flight and had to wait at KL for some several hours in an empty waiting room with only 1 voucher that entitled me to 1 sandwich, 1 packet of crisps and 1 drink. Anyway, this was better but was also 10 years later.
Overall, I would rate them on the lower end based on my experience regarding the booking of the special assistance, paying to choose my seat despite being disabled, the poor quality of food and now the ‘green washing’ whereby they are using sustainability in rolling out cost-cutting changes.

[@Explore.with.m8]

Great info👍🏽

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Thank you

[@mihirshah8041]

Nice video

[@malpalmer3269]

How vegan friendly was the food in the lounge?

[@loveflyingandhotels]

This wasn’t the standard Malaysian Airlines lounge, although you could probably use it if you had a business class ticket. There wasn’t many options, but there was a salad which contained chickpeas and things like that, and it was very tasty, so I had a whole plateful with a beer 😂

[@ughggnvgyhvgnjbhh8372]

Malaysia airlines is upgrading catering this year

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Oh that’s good! 😊

[@JAMESMARCALLINUS]

Good luck 0:16

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Exactly!

[@jayshambhu6507]

How much kg luggage per bag can be use for 40 kg at malaysia airlines berhad For international flight plz replay me 🙏🙏

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Hi, on this short haul flight, my luggage allowance was only 20kg. This might vary depending on how are you book your ticket and what kind of Seji book even if it is still within economy, there are different affairs which might offer different luggage allowances.. I haven’t flown Malaysia Airlines long haul for 12 years so I can’t give you any more information at this time.

[@maynardgkrebs1984]

Only two far rear always filled bathrooms to service 170 economy passengers. What idiot designed or accepted such a tortuous cabin plan ? All Airbus models I've flown have at least 4 bathrooms to comfortably serve so many passengers.

[@loveflyingandhotels]

And the cheek of saying you need to download the entertainment app, bring your own device and headphones! Crazy stuff - I won't ever book MA where they are using such an aircraft. I question their plans for the long haul product going forward - clearly desperate to save money but using 'green washing' as an excuse!

[@NashC88]

No, not worth travelling on this newly installed blue grey seats. The seat are uncomfortable, flat hard as plank and heat insulating seats. Take note that these design can be found for route more than 2 hours (Seoul, bali, hanoi, Yangon, Bangkok, jakarta, manila etc- not only on domestic flights). What is the half Dashboard dangling between business class and economy class? To balance the plane? Those cheap looking design and bad quality look cheap on a National carrier. Not to mentioned, the removal of in- flight entertainment (IFE)screen and asking customer to connect to the lousy wireless IFE to enjoy the entertainment on your own devices. The wireless IFE always does not Work even the flight attendance resetting them! Also, How many phone/ iPad is required for a family with kids of 3-4 travelling on board to enjoy the im flight entertainment (if its connect and Work). Also, no headset provided with all this changes. Other inconsiderate passanger happily blasting their audio publicly while watching their downloaded entertainment. The whole journey is so noisy and no peace of mind and the flight attendance just allow them to do so. Furthermore, the flight safety demonstration is done manually. Malaysia airlines is going backwards instead of moving forward improving. Malaysia airlines claims that with the slimmer seats, removal of IFE screen, half dashboard between business class and economy, wooden cutlieries etc= lighter plane= less fuel consumption= more sustsinability/ eco friendly. But the ticket Fare does not reflect this. Its so called sustainability or eco friendly is just a scam. Just consider other flight provider if can. I feel embarassed with all this changes and they called themselves a National carrier of Malaysia? Just a joke and a piece of an embarassment as Malaysian

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Hello and thank you for your comment, very detailed and interesting! I am not sure what the dashboard between BC and Economy is - if you are new to this channel then you won’t know that I am 99% blind so sometimes do miss things - even if they are obvious. I totally agree, the WIFI doesn’t always work and the requirement for customers to bring their own devices is all part of ‘green washing’ and cost-cutting! It is obvious, especially as the ticket prices are still so high! After this flight, and knowing what is to come, I won’t choose MA for a short flight again! Not worth it. Thank you for sharing and hope you can watch some of the other videos! Please forgive me on my earlier videos in 2022 as I was learning and they are embarrassing too! 

[@NashC88]

@@loveflyingandhotels there used to be a divider between the business class and economy class (the Extra leg SPACE at the front for economy). Now has become a 1/2 dashboard hanging and the economy passanger can even see the business class seats from that Yap. Its so ugly and cheap looking… yucks.

[@loveflyingandhotels]

@@NashC88 Oh I see. Oh dear! Thank you for explaining to me. That was helpful.

[@st0nk172]

Malaysia airlines becomes lcc

[@loveflyingandhotels]

Yeah but this was short haul. Would like to try long haul and see! 😀

[@MultiMrLOLMan]

@@loveflyingandhotels almost the same, now they charge for baggage lol

[@loveflyingandhotels]

@@MultiMrLOLMan oh wow I didn’t know that. That is disappointing! Thanks for the info. My next few airline videos are Gulf Air business, British, Airways, economy, Shorthaul and long haul, premium economy, a few US domestic flights, another British, Airways, premium economy, Longhole, Qatar Airways, business, class, Long haul, a few short haul flights in Thailand and the best till last, first class in Singapore Airlines for 14 hours and 20 minutes! So hope you like these! 😀