Not worth the RM12,000 paid for Kota Kinabalu-London
Published on: Sunday, September 04, 2022
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To some it might be a drop in the ocean, but not to me.
We chose MAS because it is now the only airline that flies direct to KL from Heathrow.
We paid extra for Extra Legroom on every trip. Three trips before my recent one I had sat in comfortable wider seats with ample space – the sort of seats that made the extra money well worth it on a 13-hour flight. I was delighted and told everyone about it.
Since then, however, there were three seats together, narrow and uncomfortable. My reading light was broken (may I remind you of the 13 hours I had to sit there). The food, as always, was nothing to write home about. The white wine was unexciting, and warm. Never mind. Airline food in my opinion is always awful.
NB the lady next to me had asked for vegetarian meals and was given a wrap – she found half of it to contain chicken. When she pointed this out she was told that that was OK, she could just eat the half that was cheese!
That, to my mind, is like telling a Muslim not to eat the pork half of the roll!
I pressed the bell a few times for a glass of water, but nothing happened so I had to make my way down the aisle to ask for it. When I tried the bell again it was audible, so I am not sure what happened.
My friend who came out last week was horrified at the bad food and indifferent service, and she had paid full whack too. It gets worse. I wrote a factual account of my flight on a Facebook group – clear, unemotional and certainly not rude – I believe in politeness and praising good service and pleasant manners.
I wonder, however, whether Malaysians are not encouraged to say anything about what they buy unless it is complimentary; this is not going to encourage improvement, is it?
I am always complimentary if service deserves it. I accept that working on a 13-hour dark flight across the world is not always jolly fun, but that is what staff are trained and paid for – and have chosen to do. Isn’t it?
To my surprise, many responses were unfriendly – that I was wrong, MAS is wonderful, MAS needs our support, and possibly the best one: stewards and stewardesses have a lot to do and are not waiters or waitresses. Really?
Then what are they? Lots of stuff about how lucky I was to be able to afford the flight, and how bad BA and others are. They may be, but that was not what I was saying.
The planes apparently have been changed, so I had a horrid flight, and so did my visitor.
London is a profitable and very busy route; do we deserve the comfort to be whisked away and replaced with unforgiving armrests and all that goes with them?.
A few people agreed with me, but many continued to rap my knuckles.
I have a return ticket so I shall have to fly back on MAS, but that is absolutely the last time. I am already dreading the discomfort.
I wish I had chosen another airline, even if I would have had to change planes. Anything is better that this downmarket experience for an upmarket price.
Tourist
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