We booked our economy class flight via Expedia, because we liked the price, timing, route and had good experiences with Malaysia Airlines on short haul flights in the past. It also gave us the opportunity to fly the Airbus A380, which would be our first time.
We had an early flight from Dublin to Paris Charles de Gaulles, arriving at 09.00 hours at CDG. It was pleasant and eventless. Our luggage was checked through to Kuala Lumpur, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Paris and KLIA at Charles de Gaulles. We had tried the online check in the previous day, but it didn't function the way we wanted it. We were checked in, but didn't receive any boarding passes.
At Charles de Gaulles was a short confusion - we were sure we simply had to go to the departure gate of our next flight and receive our boarding passes there, but an airport employee tried to convince us it might be better to go through security and go to the check in desk. After some discussions with her the time was running out to go to the check in desk and we headed to our gate. It let us believe, if we had followed the employee's advise we would have had problems later on with the counter being closed while we were stuck in security or something along the line.
No Malaysia Airline staff was there yet, so we waited and when somebody arrived, asked for the print out of our documents. Unfortunately there were problems with the printing, so it had to be done for us and other connecting passengers off site. We had to wait until the very last moment. All other passengers had already boarded. Finally we were on our way to Kuala Lumpur.
We were located on the main deck.
The seat configuration was 3-4-3. Both of us were happy with the seats. The leg room was okay.
The in-flight entertainment system was a bit own minded and always froze, when we wanted to check what kind of meals were going to be served. As soon as a public announcement was finished, the system was working again. Having learned our lesson, we didn't use this feature again and waited until the flight attendant gave us the choice for lunch. Our neighbor had the same issue and was a bit impatient. She rang the bell to summon a flight attendant quite often, which in turn didn't make the stewardess happy having to explain again and again they would restart the program for the passenger as soon as we had taken off and reached cruising altitude.
Another problem was the remote control. It didn't work either, so I couldn't play games. The touch screen on the other side was working fine.
The interior was designed in a way we didn't feel like we were going to spend around 13 hours on board of the world’s largest plane. The red and dark colors were great and the mood lightning a nice feature.
The staff was friendly and efficient.
Two hours into our flight lunch or dinner (It was around 2 PM in Paris or 9 PM in Kuala Lumpur, so you can decide what it was we had.) was served, either spicy chicken curry with rice and vegetables or fish in a creamy sauce and potatoes. The starters, side dishes and dessert were the same for either main course. There was vegetable salad, camembert, crackers, Kitkat and vanilla chocolate cake. Beverages to choose from were wine, different juices and water. After lunch tea and coffee were also offered.
Soon afterwards the lights were dimmed to prepare for our overnight flight. The crew regularly offered more alcohol free beverages. If any one was thirsty or hungry in the mean time, the galley had always something stocked, including snacks.
While my better half managed to sleep for about four to five hours or so, I couldn't and napped for about two. At least I could use the in-flight entertainment to its full potential.
Between lunch and breakfast we also received a snack box, containing a healthy bar, roasted peanuts, cookies and a fish snack.
We definitely weren't left hungry or thirsty.
Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before landing. Choice was Nasi Lemak (Malaysia's national dish) or eggs with sausage, potatoes and mushrooms.
I also used the toilet. The floor was a bit scruffy, but over all it was clean, there were enough hand towels, toilet paper, soap, moisturizer, perfume for him and her and aftershave lotion no matter if it was at the beginning of our flight or near the end. Thumbs up for this.
Time was passing fast and soon it was time to land at 07.00 hours the next day in Kuala Lumpur.
Having spent 23 days in Malaysia, learned a lot and tried a few things it was unfortunately time to return home.
Our route was slightly different. Our connecting hub was London Heathrow. Having experiences there, we knew how it functioned.
As always our luggage was checked through to Dublin, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Heathrow and Dublin at the connection center.
We had again an Airbus A380 and were seated on the upper deck. We liked the experience better, because it felt slightly more intimate and had a configuration of 2-4-2.
As always the staff was attentive and friendly.
There was never a shortage of eating and drinking. The in-flight entertainment system was fully functioning and the flight took slightly over 13 hours.
There were slight turbulences over India, but otherwise it was an event less flight.
We were served two meals. The first was a choice of chicken or fish and served around two hours after reaching cruising altitude; the second beef or chicken arrived two and a half hours before landing. In between we also received ice cream and a snack box, containing the same as on the flight from CDG to KUL. Everything was tasty. We were stuffed at the end of the journey.
Having had a good experience on our connecting flight from Dublin to Dubai via LHR the previous year we thought this one would be also a breeze. Wrong.
After landing we at 16.15 hours the same day followed the signs for the connections and arrived at the transport center, where we waited for a few minutes before the bus arrived.
We had a long walk to security.
The queue wasn't too long, but somebody famous I won't name was in front of us and kept everyone up. The person didn't want to remove his electronic devices from his bags, when finally doing so, the lap top ended up on the floor. They also had an unbelievable amount of hand luggage with them, so it took ages. There were also constant reminders from security to have all liquids in sealable plastic bags and to remove all electronic devises. It started going on my nerves. Finally it was our turn. We were well prepared and weren't reminded or asked if we had anything in our pockets.
Then there was the passport control. The queue was very long and the whole process let me more feel like entering a fortress and was a marked contrast to our experience in Malaysia or Brunei, but I assume it is even there depending what nationality you are...
Finally having all security checks behind us we went to the connecting desk of Aer Lingus. We were wondering what was keeping the short queue from moving. After what felt like eternity it was our turn to have the boarding passes printed. The whole process from deboarding to finally hold our boarding passes in hand took over two hours. It was a bit frustrating.
The rest of the experience went flawless. Our flight back to Dublin was on time and eventless.
Would we fly again with Malaysia Airlines? Yes, we would.
©2013
We had an early flight from Dublin to Paris Charles de Gaulles, arriving at 09.00 hours at CDG. It was pleasant and eventless. Our luggage was checked through to Kuala Lumpur, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Paris and KLIA at Charles de Gaulles. We had tried the online check in the previous day, but it didn't function the way we wanted it. We were checked in, but didn't receive any boarding passes.
At Charles de Gaulles was a short confusion - we were sure we simply had to go to the departure gate of our next flight and receive our boarding passes there, but an airport employee tried to convince us it might be better to go through security and go to the check in desk. After some discussions with her the time was running out to go to the check in desk and we headed to our gate. It let us believe, if we had followed the employee's advise we would have had problems later on with the counter being closed while we were stuck in security or something along the line.
No Malaysia Airline staff was there yet, so we waited and when somebody arrived, asked for the print out of our documents. Unfortunately there were problems with the printing, so it had to be done for us and other connecting passengers off site. We had to wait until the very last moment. All other passengers had already boarded. Finally we were on our way to Kuala Lumpur.
We were located on the main deck.
The seat configuration was 3-4-3. Both of us were happy with the seats. The leg room was okay.
The in-flight entertainment system was a bit own minded and always froze, when we wanted to check what kind of meals were going to be served. As soon as a public announcement was finished, the system was working again. Having learned our lesson, we didn't use this feature again and waited until the flight attendant gave us the choice for lunch. Our neighbor had the same issue and was a bit impatient. She rang the bell to summon a flight attendant quite often, which in turn didn't make the stewardess happy having to explain again and again they would restart the program for the passenger as soon as we had taken off and reached cruising altitude.
Another problem was the remote control. It didn't work either, so I couldn't play games. The touch screen on the other side was working fine.
The interior was designed in a way we didn't feel like we were going to spend around 13 hours on board of the world’s largest plane. The red and dark colors were great and the mood lightning a nice feature.
The staff was friendly and efficient.
Two hours into our flight lunch or dinner (It was around 2 PM in Paris or 9 PM in Kuala Lumpur, so you can decide what it was we had.) was served, either spicy chicken curry with rice and vegetables or fish in a creamy sauce and potatoes. The starters, side dishes and dessert were the same for either main course. There was vegetable salad, camembert, crackers, Kitkat and vanilla chocolate cake. Beverages to choose from were wine, different juices and water. After lunch tea and coffee were also offered.
Soon afterwards the lights were dimmed to prepare for our overnight flight. The crew regularly offered more alcohol free beverages. If any one was thirsty or hungry in the mean time, the galley had always something stocked, including snacks.
While my better half managed to sleep for about four to five hours or so, I couldn't and napped for about two. At least I could use the in-flight entertainment to its full potential.
Between lunch and breakfast we also received a snack box, containing a healthy bar, roasted peanuts, cookies and a fish snack.
We definitely weren't left hungry or thirsty.
Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before landing. Choice was Nasi Lemak (Malaysia's national dish) or eggs with sausage, potatoes and mushrooms.
I also used the toilet. The floor was a bit scruffy, but over all it was clean, there were enough hand towels, toilet paper, soap, moisturizer, perfume for him and her and aftershave lotion no matter if it was at the beginning of our flight or near the end. Thumbs up for this.
Time was passing fast and soon it was time to land at 07.00 hours the next day in Kuala Lumpur.
Having spent 23 days in Malaysia, learned a lot and tried a few things it was unfortunately time to return home.
Our route was slightly different. Our connecting hub was London Heathrow. Having experiences there, we knew how it functioned.
As always our luggage was checked through to Dublin, but we had to get our boarding passes for the leg between Heathrow and Dublin at the connection center.
We had again an Airbus A380 and were seated on the upper deck. We liked the experience better, because it felt slightly more intimate and had a configuration of 2-4-2.
As always the staff was attentive and friendly.
There was never a shortage of eating and drinking. The in-flight entertainment system was fully functioning and the flight took slightly over 13 hours.
There were slight turbulences over India, but otherwise it was an event less flight.
We were served two meals. The first was a choice of chicken or fish and served around two hours after reaching cruising altitude; the second beef or chicken arrived two and a half hours before landing. In between we also received ice cream and a snack box, containing the same as on the flight from CDG to KUL. Everything was tasty. We were stuffed at the end of the journey.
Having had a good experience on our connecting flight from Dublin to Dubai via LHR the previous year we thought this one would be also a breeze. Wrong.
After landing we at 16.15 hours the same day followed the signs for the connections and arrived at the transport center, where we waited for a few minutes before the bus arrived.
We had a long walk to security.
The queue wasn't too long, but somebody famous I won't name was in front of us and kept everyone up. The person didn't want to remove his electronic devices from his bags, when finally doing so, the lap top ended up on the floor. They also had an unbelievable amount of hand luggage with them, so it took ages. There were also constant reminders from security to have all liquids in sealable plastic bags and to remove all electronic devises. It started going on my nerves. Finally it was our turn. We were well prepared and weren't reminded or asked if we had anything in our pockets.
Then there was the passport control. The queue was very long and the whole process let me more feel like entering a fortress and was a marked contrast to our experience in Malaysia or Brunei, but I assume it is even there depending what nationality you are...
Finally having all security checks behind us we went to the connecting desk of Aer Lingus. We were wondering what was keeping the short queue from moving. After what felt like eternity it was our turn to have the boarding passes printed. The whole process from deboarding to finally hold our boarding passes in hand took over two hours. It was a bit frustrating.
The rest of the experience went flawless. Our flight back to Dublin was on time and eventless.
Would we fly again with Malaysia Airlines? Yes, we would.
©2013
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