Malaysia Airlines: I tried Asia’s most underrated Airline (2024)

This is a video about Malaysia Airlines. As the flag carrier of the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines carries its nation's pride all over the world. So whether you are someone who’s considering flying with Malaysia Airlines or just an interested avgeek, in this trip report, I’m going to show you my unexpected experience on board this airline. However, it's not all roses and butterflies at Malaysia Airlines. Despite numerous awards, Malaysia Airlines has been struggling for q

uite a while now and even declared bankruptcy in 2015. Furthermore, there are numerous negative reviews online that question the service, the safety and the quality of MH. But obviously, once again, I sacrifice my time and sanity to find out by myself…. No, obviously, there is no sanity left in my head to be sacrificed.. Well, I just lied to you.. not about my mental state.. for that there is no hope anymore, but I lied about the fact of intentionally choosing Malaysia Airlines. Because actually

, the original plan for this evening was to fly an airline called Citilink. Today is a bad day. We are both sick and we went to the shopping mall to get some work done since today I have quite a few deadlines to meet. But we just found out that our Citilink flight has not been canceled, but the time has been changed, so we cannot make it for this flight. So I’ve spent about 3 hours trying to call the travel agent and Citilink told me that they informed the travel agent and blames the travel agen

t, meanwhile the travel agent blames Citilink. So yeah we had to book another flight last minute on Malaysia Airlines, which was quite expensive because it was last minute and yeah I will not get the money back from the flight. I have to get some work done and I have no idea when I will do that. Yesterday I was editing videos until 3… no 4 a.m.. So I'm very tired. I am sick. I just want to sleep. And she's also sick. But yeah, keep the hustle going and see you at the airport. As you can see here

, I am still somewhat inexperienced when it comes to vlogging, but I do hope that you have enjoyed the view of my hairy chest. Anyway, having your flight rescheduled is quite annoying, and even worse, the travel agent still claims that the old flight dates are correct and that the airline is lying about having rescheduled the flight, which, by the way, is the stupidest excuse for not being notified of a flight change I’ve ever heard, so please never use bravofly.com. To get to our hotel. We have

to walk through this abandoned shopping mall, which is a bit weird, but also cool idk. Also, there was a photo of a man who apparently - I don't know if he lives here or just walks around here - roaming the area and it said “exercise, maximum caution if you see this man”. So yeah. At the hotel, we picked up our luggage and played with some balls until our taxi arrived. There would also have been the more environmentally friendly option of taking the train; however, from this area of Kuala Lumpu

r, this takes almost 1 and a half hours as opposed to 50 minutes by cab. When in Kuala Lumpur, it can sometimes get a bit tricky to get a taxi, or at least we had this experience. Uber and Bolt are currently not available in KL, I believe, so the ride-hailing apps I used in Malaysia are Grab and Maxim. With a distance of 55 kilometers, the airport is quite far from the city center; therefore, the ride should cost about 60 to 80 Malaysian Ringgit, or about 12 to 18 USD. Also, if you use Maxim, it

's possible for you as a passenger to increase the fare manually, so you can essentially bribe the drivers to prioritize your ride request. Apart from taxi issues, KL is such an amazing and underrated city, and it feels a bit like Singapore on a budget. I hope I don’t upset any Malaysians. The long ride to the airport is a bit annoying, and I have no idea why they built the airport so far away, but you will survive the ride. Also, make sure to head to the right airport, since in Kuala Lumpur the

re are two. The smaller one of the two is called... and I hope I get this right, “Kuala Lumpur Subang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport”, so let's just call it KLSSAASA. In the past, KLSSAASA used to be KL’s main airport, and it is actually in proximity to the city center. But today, except for flights to Singapore Seletar Regional Airport and some charters to Thailand, KLSS... whatever airport is mainly used for domestic flights operated by Firefly, a low-cost carrier subsidiary of Malaysia Airlin

es. I really want to fly from this baby airport to Singapore's baby airport one day, but today, like all Malaysia Airlines flights, we are leaving from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, or short KLIA.. well that's a lot easier. After Singapore Changi and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, KLIA is the third-largest airport in the region by passenger volume and serves as a hub for Malaysia Airlines and its low-cost competitors, Air Asia and Batik Air. On the way to the airport, we checked in online, but we c

ouldn’t get our boarding passes since an additional document verification at the check-in counter is required. This is also the reason why we are not let directly into the baggage drop, and so we have to wait quite a while. Ah, yeah okay, thank you so much. Bye-bye. So we just checked in. Check in staff was very friendly, as all people basically are here in Malaysia. But she told us we cannot enter the immigration area before 9:20pm, which is also boarding time, which doesn't really make sense t

o me. So we will try nevertheless to go through immigration and see if that was a misunderstanding. Oh, and a piece of advice: if you fly from Kuala Lumpur, be at the airport early. The lines at the passport control in T1 are quite long, and I'm sorry to say that, but if you are late, that’s on you, bro. So, yeah, we could enter without any problems. Despite having an economy class ticket, we head to the Plaza Premium lounge, which is accessible to priority pass holders. Like most lounges in Asi

a, this lounge really has it all, and I go for a pre-dinner, which is a word I just made up because I am fat. But I know, I know, we are not here to review lounge food or lounges but to fly Malaysia Airlines. I feel out of place at those fancy pants lounges anyway because those premises are actually for successful people who made something out of their lives, so definitely not a place for me. When heading to our gate, I discover a love letter from Malaysia Airlines in my email inbox, stating tha

t today's flight will be delayed. But to be honest, that’s fine with me because, contrary to my Citilink flight, at least this plane won’t leave without me. Arriving at the gate, it turns out that the delay is only 25 minutes, and in my opinion, anything under 30 minutes can’t really be considered as a delay… well at least in aviation. Normally, this would allow me some extra time to record some planes on the tarmac. But somehow, as soon as it gets dark, the potato I am recording this mess of a

video on, really just says, “f**k video quality, f**k the money you paid for me, and f**k you”. So the blurry thing you may recognize here is a plane that has Malaysia Airlines written on it. According to Flightradar24, what we are dealing with here is a Boeing 737-800, which really is the most mainstream aircraft out there. Born in 2012, this thing will soon be 12 years old, which, if you are a plane or a dog by any chance, is considered rather old. In my opinion, boarding the plane is usually

the most interesting part of a trip report. However, in a Malaysian Airlines review of Josh Cahill, he stated that he was humiliated and even threatened for recording on board. So, to be honest, I was a bit scared, and at least for boarding, I decided to only record the audio. But as it turns out, the crew was very kind and fun to be around with. When entering the cabin, I am quite surprised that it looks way better than I expected. I guess it was just recently refurbished because there is no wa

y a 12-year-old plane looks that new and even has a device holder. So unlike many other airlines, Malaysia Airlines actually seems to invest in the quality of their interior, even if the aircraft itself is a bit older. The first thing I do, after the seatbelt sign is off, is heading to the loo. Other than the rest of the cabin, the lavatory has not been refurbished and is probably still in the original state it was, when the plane was originally delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2012. But nevert

heless, it is clean and looks decent. I could easily spend some time here, and I even brought a souvenir back to the cabin… no, kidding, it is apple juice because the catering service just started. As Malaysia Airlines is a full-service carrier, food and beverages are included in the fare. And although today's flight is only two hours long, we get a proper hot meal with everything that goes with it. Yet another thing to add to my list of things you’d never see back home in Europe. But now let’s

take a closer look at what we’re being served today. For everyone currently fasting, sorry for teasing you; feel free to skip this part. I am not Muslim, but I do respect your dedication a lot, so stay strong and Ramadan Kareem! I go for a chicken dish that seems to be called Nasi Ayam Pedas, but honestly, it just looks like Pad Kra Pow to me. Meanwhile, Pajaree chooses the Fish Curry… which looks like Fish Curry. Both dishes are delicious, in my opinion, but to be fair, I’m not a picky eater at

all. That’s because for me when I was a kid, there was no.. oh no he doesn't like that, he can’t eat that blah blah blah. I was raised to just finish eating everything that was on my plate. And if I didn’t like it or was full, that was my problem. But in retrospect, I think that was a smart thing to do because now basically I can eat everything and I like everything, which, however, might not make me the best food critic, I guess. In addition to the main course, bread, fruits and a cake, we als

o get served deez nuts which I almost dropped because I was trying to look cool, and also we get a cold beverage and a choice of hot tea or coffee. That’s not really my piece of cake.. I mean that literally. And in the literal sense of the word literaly. Because I stole the cake from Pajaree because I’m a fat f**k.. because another side effect of my upbringing when it comes to food is that, over the years, I really killed my natural instinct that’s supposed to tell me when I’m full, so I don’t k

now my limits and just keep eating until nothing is left anymore. But no I won’t blame my parents for that; it’s just because I am a fat f**k, actually. After eating, I remember that I should show you the seat, so.. here we have this thing called a tray table. It’s clean and functional, but I don’t really have anything else to tell you about this piece of plastic. The legroom is 76 centimeters, which I obviously did not measure myself, but I found this information online, so it must be true. And

for my American viewers, sorry for using reasonable units of measurements that actually make sense, but I guess converted to your system, that's probably like 25 miles or something; I don’t know. Furthermore, we have Wi-Fi on board, which lets you connect to the free in-flight entertainment of Malaysia Airlines called MH Studio. In addition to a flight map, we get a decent number of movies, TV shows, and some other stuff I can’t really get bothered to look into. I decide to watch this family mo

vie called The Nun II which I really recommend you to enjoy with your kids. There are no screens installed on this flight. So if you are my grandmother or a time traveler from the year 2000, this might be a problem for you. But chances are quite high you are neither of those two, so I guess you have a smartphone or a tablet that you can easily attach to the seat in front of you. Also, don’t worry about your battery running low because there are regular USB ports as well as USB-C ports available

to charge your devices. It strikes me how there are almost no passengers at the back of the plane. And as I have said earlier, Malaysia Airlines has been struggling for some time. One reason for that is the ever-increasing competition from budget airlines in the region. But maybe an even bigger Problem is the reputation of Malaysia Airlines. What do I mean by that? Well, if you’re not living under a rock, you probably heard of the tragic case of MH370, which took place almost exactly 10 years ag

o… man 10 years already? I’m getting old.. But for those who don’t know, basically, MH370 was a flight scheduled from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. However, the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people on board never reached its destination and hasn’t been found until this day. This obviously pushed the airline into the spotlight around the globe and damaged its reputation immensely. Just 4 months later, another 777 of Malaysia Airlines was shot down after being one of the few airlines still flying over the re

bel-controlled area of eastern Ukraine. But from what I heard and from what I am experiencing on this flight, I guess Malaysia Airlines has improved a lot. I don’t know how it was before, but apart from the small delay, I really don’t have much to criticize about this flight. The crew is great, the food tastes good, the cabin is new, and we even have wifi.. So maybe I just got lucky on this flight, but at least from what I can see as a passenger, there isn’t anything wrong with this airline. Fro

m Malaysia, we fly over the Strait of Malacca and cross into Indonesian Airspace. By the way, in Greek language the word Malaka means beautiful sunshine, so if your Greek girlfriend is angry at you, just tell her “calm down malaka” to deescalate the situation. As we are getting closer to Jakarta, the descent is initiated, and the cabin crew prepares the cabin for arrival. Before landing, passengers are required to stop charging their devices, but somehow my big thing gets stuck in this tiny hole

, but eventually, I managed to pull it out in time. Here is a small reminder to not fly if your sinuses are blocked because pressure equalization can be tricky. Usually chewing gum or swallowing can help, but I tried everything to no avail. And I swear, my ears were hurting for three days after that. But as Pajaree would say, the pain is far away from the heart, so there is no need to be weak. Welcome to Indonesia. I was very positively surprised by Malaysia Airlines since I heard quite a few ba

d things about them. So my expectations weren't too high. But as far as I can judge from this single flight, that I took with them; For me, they are one of the top. I mean, on a short haul flight or medium haul flight, I don't know what you would consider a two hour flight, a service like that, like a hot meal and included baggage and power outlet and free in-flight on your phone. You don't get that on most other airlines around the world. So yeah. And also what really stood out for me was the c

rew who was, I would say like in business class, really, they were very great. But I am very tired now. Also, as I’ve said before, I’m not really healthy, same goes for Pajaree, so I just want to go to our hotel. We’ll have to pass immigration. I'm just filling out the online customs declaration and then we will sleep. But thank you so much for watching. See you next time!