Malaysia Airlines

[benj1980 408]

They are the cheapest around. Is it time to get over the missing and shot down planes in terms of travel? I guess I'm interested in people's experiences as well!

Edited January 12 by benj1980

[ramot 6,870]

1 hour ago, benj1980 said:

They are the cheapest around. Is it time to get over the missing and shot down planes in terms of travel? I guess I'm interested in people's experiences as well!

Might be a good idea to google reviews. I wouldn’t fly with them, but that’s personal and not based on up to date airline talk but from when my husband was still working for an airline, which was 20 years ago. Perhaps worth paying for Singapore or Emirates

[FirstWorldProblems 1,677]

It’s been 15 years since I flew them. They were absolutely fine, but there have been challenges over the last 5 years. I really like airline reviewer Josh Cahill who recently flew them in economy (2-legs) and was positive “great flight, loved it, great crew”

He isn’t one to pull punches either  see his Malaysia reviews of 3 and 4 years ago which were very negative.  It would seem they have improved  

 

[rammygirl 2,085]

They are good these days.  To be honest it can depend on the actual plane and the crew as much as the airline.  We had a ratty old plane and grumpy crew on Singapore and a brand new plane and a great crew with Qatar recently. I know which I preferred.  Also airlines fit out planes to different specifications so the same plane May give you more legroom and better toilets with some airlines.

We always fly economy, preferring to spend on accommodation on holiday so I can’t comment on business or first class!

[Blue Flu 990]

Perfectly fine airline. They have a deal at the moment where a passenger can fly free internally inside Malaysia (taxes payable) if booking a long distance flight. Why not take a break en route and visit the island of Langkawi or Borneo (Sarawak or Sabah) for example? 

I wouldn't worry too much  with regards to recent history. Any airline can experience being shot out of the sky by renegade militia  or a potential suicidal pilot (German Wings for example) 

[Jon the Hat 1,093]

I haven't flown with them since they had the two very unfortunate incidents.  Who needs an unlucky airline.  

[benj1980 408]

Interesting comments and of course they contradict each other. I guess my thoughts are they should be fine and would have done their utmost to improve their reputation. They are also much cheaper than other options to entice customers back. They are flying regularly at the moment and presumably no issues. There is that lingering doubt of course!

[DrDougster 252]

I think they've gone downhill over the last 5-10 years in contrast to the review above. 

Currently they seem to almost always run late, they move flights very last minute and our luggage from KL arrived three days after us a few weeks ago with no compensation. Planes were crappy both ways. I don't really eat airline food unless it's in a better class but that looked crappy too.

Having said that, aren't all airlines seemingly a bit crappy at the moment? Cutting corners, overbooked, bumping people. I think more than ever that your experience is dictated by the crew you happen to get. Our flight across Bris to Perth with Qantas was great. I had to move it with 24hrs notice - no issue and our hostesses gave us a big paper bag full of the remaining Lindor and a couple of cheeky bottles of wine to have in our AirBnB when they found out we were relocating here. 

[ramot 6,870]

On 13/01/2023 at 08:18, rammygirl said:

They are good these days.  To be honest it can depend on the actual plane and the crew as much as the airline.  We had a ratty old plane and grumpy crew on Singapore and a brand new plane and a great crew with Qatar recently. I know which I preferred.  Also airlines fit out planes to different specifications so the same plane May give you more legroom and better toilets with some airlines.

We always fly economy, preferring to spend on accommodation on holiday so I can’t comment on business or first class!

The safety reputation of an airline is more important to me than the cabin service, (and the safety of some airlines can  be creatively interpreted.  The cabin service on any airline  can vary from good to bad to indifferent, but it only impacts on your enjoyment of that one flight.

The quality and  safety of maintenance of aircraft,  flight planning etc are actually the more  important parts of any airline.

Sorry Rammygirl, meant to post this as separate post not attached to yours

Edited January 13 by ramot

[Nemesis 1,706]

8 hours ago, ramot said:

The safety reputation of an airline is more important to me than the cabin service, (and the safety of some airlines can  be creatively interpreted.  The cabin service on any airline  can vary from good to bad to indifferent, but it only impacts on your enjoyment of that one flight.

The quality and  safety of maintenance of aircraft,  flight planning etc are actually the more  important parts of any airline.

Sorry Rammygirl, meant to post this as separate post not attached to yours

Had a bad experience on Malaysian, back in maybe 2002? I was flying with a friend who is a pilot and he diagnosed the problem quickly as a lack of oxygen in the airflow.Apparently the airline had a history at that time of cutting the percentage of oxygen in the cabin airflow as a) it put passengers to sleep so less service needs and b) cost less in fuel. Apparently the UK CAA were looking into it at the time, as it was illegal and dangerous.

Not flown with them since and I gather that issue was resolved, but it made me very wary in future. 

 

[benj1980 408]

On 13/01/2023 at 23:56, DrDougster said:

I think they've gone downhill over the last 5-10 years in contrast to the review above. 

Currently they seem to almost always run late, they move flights very last minute and our luggage from KL arrived three days after us a few weeks ago with no compensation. Planes were crappy both ways. I don't really eat airline food unless it's in a better class but that looked crappy too.

Having said that, aren't all airlines seemingly a bit crappy at the moment? Cutting corners, overbooked, bumping people. I think more than ever that your experience is dictated by the crew you happen to get. Our flight across Bris to Perth with Qantas was great. I had to move it with 24hrs notice - no issue and our hostesses gave us a big paper bag full of the remaining Lindor and a couple of cheeky bottles of wine to have in our AirBnB when they found out we were relocating here. 

Well that's a result!

[benj1980 408]

19 hours ago, Nemesis said:

Had a bad experience on Malaysian, back in maybe 2002? I was flying with a friend who is a pilot and he diagnosed the problem quickly as a lack of oxygen in the airflow.Apparently the airline had a history at that time of cutting the percentage of oxygen in the cabin airflow as a) it put passengers to sleep so less service needs and b) cost less in fuel. Apparently the UK CAA were looking into it at the time, as it was illegal and dangerous.

Not flown with them since and I gather that issue was resolved, but it made me very wary in future. 

 

Crikey! Since I posted this, I have spoken to two different people who have flown with Malaysia Airlines since the reopening of flights. They were both very positive and suggested the planes were great, no complaints.

A plane shot down by militia and a suicide pilot is/was my biggest concern. I'm unaware of any ongoing maintenance issues. Am I right in saying the only reason they haven't got a 7 star safety rating is the planes mentioned previously?

[Toots 11,706]

I've flown a couple of times with Malaysian and no complaints apart from the bloke next to me taking off his shoes and his feet absolutely reeking and a sh!t of a kid behind me kicking the back of my seat.  Oh the joys.  Nothing to do with the airline though.

[JetBlast 489]

5 hours ago, benj1980 said:

A plane shot down by militia and a suicide pilot is/was my biggest concern.

To be fair I don't see how you can blame the airline for getting shut down. It just so happened ot be in the wrong place or the wrong time. 

The suicide pilot theory hasn't been proven. Again this can happen with other airlines. It happened with German Wings and SilkAir (Subsidiary of Singapore Airlines).

[Marisawright 10,232]

18 hours ago, benj1980 said:

A plane shot down by militia and a suicide pilot is/was my biggest concern.

Neither of those sound like sensible reasons to avoid an airline.    The Russians who shot down the plane weren't waiting specially for a Malaysian plane to fly over, were they?  They could just as easily have shot down a Qantas flight or any other plane flying that route.   

We still don't know if it was a suicide pilot.  As JetBlast says, that has happened on other airlines too.  The difference is that there was no mystery about those so they weren't featured in the press as much.  

In a way, both are one of those "lightning doesn't strike twice" scenarios, IMO.

[Nemesis 1,706]

19 hours ago, benj1980 said:

Crikey! Since I posted this, I have spoken to two different people who have flown with Malaysia Airlines since the reopening of flights. They were both very positive and suggested the planes were great, no complaints.

 

As I said, I think the issue was resolved, possible restrictions on flying in European airspace and stuff like that I believe from memory. I'm just personally wary of them now as I ended the trip feeling extremely weak and queasy, only flight I really didn't enjoy. But I guess memories like that stay with people and do lead to reservations against booking again.

The two more recent events wouldn't stop me flying with a particular airline.

[Jon the Hat 1,093]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Neither of those sound like sensible reasons to avoid an airline.    The Russians who shot down the plane weren't waiting specially for a Malaysian plane to fly over, were they?  They could just as easily have shot down a Qantas flight or any other plane flying that route.   

We still don't know if it was a suicide pilot.  As JetBlast says, that has happened on other airlines too.  The difference is that there was no mystery about those so they weren't featured in the press as much.  

In a way, both are one of those "lightning doesn't strike twice" scenarios, IMO.

Yeah I thought that after the Ukraine loss, but when it did strike twice and they lost a second plane in strange circumstances I was done.

[Blue Flu 990]

7 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Yeah I thought that after the Ukraine loss, but when it did strike twice and they lost a second plane in strange circumstances I was done.

Nothing much to do with the airline though. It's termed a coincidence. Both cases extremely difficult , if not impossible to detect beforehand. 

[JetBlast 489]

9 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Yeah I thought that after the Ukraine loss, but when it did strike twice and they lost a second plane in strange circumstances I was done.

I would avoid Air France then. They have had a lot of incidents for a major airline.

In 2022 the pilots had a punch up in the cockpit!

[ramot 6,870]

49 minutes ago, JetBlast said:

I would avoid Air France then. They have had a lot of incidents for a major airline.

In 2022 the pilots had a punch up in the cockpit!

Known as Air Chance in the airline industry 

[benj1980 408]

3 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Neither of those sound like sensible reasons to avoid an airline.    The Russians who shot down the plane weren't waiting specially for a Malaysian plane to fly over, were they?  They could just as easily have shot down a Qantas flight or any other plane flying that route.   

We still don't know if it was a suicide pilot.  As JetBlast says, that has happened on other airlines too.  The difference is that there was no mystery about those so they weren't featured in the press as much.  

In a way, both are one of those "lightning doesn't strike twice" scenarios, IMO.

Well that's where my head is that. It seems unreasonable to condemn an airline on that basis, however there's still that lingering worry! I have read great reviews recently concerning service and quality of the flights, adding to the people I have spoken to who have flown recently with them.

As we are looking for a few days stopover I'll have a look at KL. We are considering Dubai and Singapore as well...

[ramot 6,870]

51 minutes ago, ramot said:

Known as Air Chance in the airline industry 

There is a lot more to understand about airlines, other than the obvious safety record.

eg The hierarchy on the flight deck can differ between different nationalities with differing attitudes to authority. 

I don’t watch the aeroplane accident programmes, but my husband does out of a professional interest, and the resulting conclusions include so many factors.

i agree that the awful incident of the Malaysian flight being shot down was horrific, but the mystery of the missing flight is ongoing worrying, considering all the technology on board modern aircraft.

Edited January 16 by ramot

[Nemesis 1,706]

31 minutes ago, ramot said:

There is a lot more to understand about airlines, other than the obvious safety record.

eg The hierarchy on the flight deck can differ between different nationalities with differing attitudes to authority. 

I don’t watch the aeroplane accident programmes, but my husband does out of a professional interest, and the resulting conclusions include so many factors.

i agree that the awful incident of the Malaysian flight being shot down was horrific, but the mystery of the missing flight is ongoing worrying, considering all the technology on board modern aircraft.

Crew Resource Management is fascinating, so many differences between different nationalities, as you say. 

[ramot 6,870]

56 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

Crew Resource Management is fascinating, so many differences between different nationalities, as you say. 

Need to remind my husband occasionally this applies to a domestic environment as well  

trying to add pilot emojis next to husband and smiley at end but I failed ! 

Joke

Whats the difference between God and a pilot

God knows he isn’t a pilot.

Edited January 16 by ramot

[JetBlast 489]

1 hour ago, ramot said:

 considering all the technology on board modern aircraft.

It wasn't that modern really. The aircraft that was lost was designed in the early 90's.