To Kuala Lumpur With Hafiz Hashim

From : Kota Kinabalu

To : Kuala Lumpur
Date : 23/9/2010
Airline : Malaysia Airlines

Flight No : MH81

Aircraft Type : Boeing B777-200ER

Gate : A5

Scheduled Time of Departure : 1930

Actual Time of Departure : 2037
Flight Time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Actual Flight Time : 2 hours 02 minutes

The beauty of living in Kota Kinabalu is the proximity of its international airport to downtown Kota Kinabalu. In order to cut down on waiting time at the airport, i decided to check-in several hours in advance and then only return to the airport just one hour before my plane is scheduled to leave.

Malaysia Airlines is not exactly a punctual airline. Since my plane today will be operating the Tokyo/Kota Kinabalu sector before reaching its final destination for the day which is Kuala Lumpur, i decided to check if the plane has left Tokyo online.

As you can see, so far so good. The flight is still right on scheduled.

Our boarding passes and the seating plan for the plane that will bring us to Kuala Lumpur later today. Seats 26J and 26K for me and my mom.

That is my ride today to Kuala Lumpur which will take 2 hours 30 minutes

This is another picture of the same type of aircraft that will take me to Kuala Lumpur later on. This picture was taken by someone else at Los Angeles International Airport.

Another Boeing 777-200ER picture. This was taken at Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport.

The guy above in the red long sleeve t-shirt is Hafiz Hashim. I was way too coward to take his picture with him looking at my camera. Some people do not like people taking their pictures and i did not want to offend anyone. So this is the best solution i can come up with ... to snap his picture from behind. He just lost in the Japan Open the day before, if i am not mistaken and is now being shipped back to Malaysia along with his two other team mates. Lee Chong Wei and a few other national badminton players are still in Tokyo.

Anyway, we arrived at the airport at 6.30pm and boarding commenced at 7.10pm. Looks like we will be departing on-time today which i will soon be proved very wrong.

View of the cabin from my seat. Boarding is still in process.

The 6.5" screen. It is the exact same personal individual screen Malaysia Airlines has been using since year 1997. Whilst the screen has not changed, they did update the software of the system in 2005. The current software in use is Matsushita 3000 which works more or less like a DVD player where you are able to pause, play and fast-forward any programs on offered. This system is known as Audio Video On Demand (AVOD) in the airline industry.

This is the handset. You can pull it out so that it'd be easier for you to use it or when you want to play games. Yes, they do offer games but the games offered are kind of boring. The system used to have Nintendo Super Mario but not anymore. Not since the system update back in 2005.

The Malaysia Airlines in-flight entertainment system is available in a few different versions. This is the page where you check which system you're on if you are not sure about it.

This is the page where it teaches you how to use the telephone. You may make seat-to-seat call as well.

Temptations inflight shopping magazine, Going Places and Safety Information Pamphlet. They used to be a separate in-flight entertainment magazine as well last time.

Maklumat Keselamatan

Another cabin view

It is already 8pm now but we have not begun our pushback and the aircraft doors remain open and connected to the aerobridge.

Already 45 minutes behind schedule when they started playing the safety video but this is a good sign. It means we will finally be departing soon.

Cabin lights dimmed for take-off

That is the flight map displayed on the main screens as well as on your personal screen. After being held hostage inside the aircraft for more than an hour, we are finally out on the runway waiting for take-off.

Ahhh ... we have finally left Kota Kinabalu International Airport. We're at 5369ft above sea level now and have traveled only 14 miles thus far.

The outside air temperature is only 62 degrees fahrenheit and is still falling.

Heading west towards the town of Pekan in Pahang now

Took this picture from my personal screen. As you can see, it is already night time in most part of Asia.

There you go. From my in-seat personal screen too. This gives you a much clearer view of which part of the globe is already at night.

Just 1 hour 44 minutes to go

We're at 31997ft now and it will continue to climb until its cruising level which is 39000ft above sea level

It is freezing cold outside. You'll be dead in no time if you were outside.

It was raining heavily when we took off and the seat belt sign was only switched off approximately 25 minutes after airborne. Flight announcement on this flight is made in three different languages namely Bahasa Malaysia, English and Japanese. The Japanese announce is not pre-recorded one but made live by real Japanase flight attendants who work for Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines employed more than 80 Japanese flight attendants at the end of 2007. I am not too sure how many Japanese work Malaysia Airlines as flight attendant today.

The in-flight entertainment system is finally activated. Menu is available in either English or Bahasa Malaysia.

A lot of entertainment varieties. Moview on-demand showing some of the newest blockbusters from Hollywood, Bollywood, North Asia, Germany and France. There is also TV on-demand showing some short video clips, TV series such as Grey's Anatomy and White Collar etc.

All the movies shown on this screen is still quite new

Headphone is not distributed for this leg of flight. So i settled for Just For Laughs Gags because you do not actually need to listen to them to understand what is being portrayed.

This is what will be served on today's flight. A far cry from last time which a proper paper menu will be distributed to everyone. They only give a proper paper menu to passengers flying First and Business Class now.

Here you go. The proper paper menu i talked about. As mentioned, i am a regular on all those international flights transiting through Kota Kinabalu such as MH81 (from Tokyo), MH80 (to Tokyo), MH65 (from Seoul), MH65 (to Seoul), MH51 (from Osaka) and MH50 (to Osaka). The flights to/from Taipei (MH69/68) used to be operated using the twin-aisle 294-seat Airbus A330-300 and they did give out proper paper menu then. The flights to/from Taipei was downgauge to the current freakingly small Boeing 737-400 in 2003 due to SARS. They never went back to the Airbus A330-300 on the Taipei sector.

This is the Chicken Masak Merah served with Fried Rice. It tastes quite good despite what the picture might suggest. But still, the current meal served on Malaysia Airlines domestic flights nowadays is a far cry compared to what it was before May 2008. [see below]

This is exactly what Malaysia used to serve on all those international flights transiting through Kota Kinabalu. No joke ! On a real proper tray with metal knife/spoon/fork. On the pure domestic flights (flight coded MH2xxx), smaller tray was used. So now you can see how the standard at Malaysia Airlines has gone down the drain since the last two years.

This is the rear galley located just below the tail of the aircraft

Another Economy Class cabin view

This is the Business Class cabin which Malaysia Airlines calls "Golden Club Class". This type of seat was introduced back in 2005 and it goes fully flat when fully reclined (angled fully flat).

Another view of the Golden Club Class cabin on the Boeing 777-200ER

Yet another one ...

This is the cabin crew rest area which is located in the cargo hold area below doors 3L and 3R. There are a total 7 crew bunks in here and the stairs leading to this crew rest area is located behind seats 27F/27G/27H. This crew rest area is used only on long-haul flight.

This is the pilot crew rest area and it is different from the one shown before. This one is located behind the cockpit area near door 1L. There are only two beds in here.

So freaking messy ...

Diaper changing board

This picture is mainly to show you just how big this lavatory is. This is the one and only disabled friendly lavatory available on this aircraft and it is located in the Economy Class cabin behind seats 26J and 26K. Plenty of space inside.

Back to my seat. This is yet another perk for flying on an international flight operated by a twin-aisle aircraft such as the Airbus A330-300 or Boeing 777-200ER on the domestic sector. Everyone gets their own complimentary pillow and blanket. You do not have to request for one from the flight attendant. You'll find these on your seat during boarding.

We're almost there ...

6 minutes to go ...

Temperature has somehow gone back to normal again as the plane is descending

Picture taken after landing ...

The Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu-Tokyo-Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur has come a long way since its introduction in the early 90s. It used to be routed via Kuching too in its early days. A number of different aircraft types have been deployed on this route. The service started with ...

Boeing 747-200 (phased out in the 90s in favor of the newer, more fuel-efficient with a stretched upperdeck Boeing 747-400)

The McDonald Douglas DC-10-30. It was a hot selling tri-jet in its era. This type of plane has also involved in many major fatal accidents due to a serious design flaw.

And then the McDonald Douglas MD-11. Basically this is an update version of the McDonald Douglas DC-10 featuring a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan, incorporation of winglets, new engines and increased use of composite materials. It also features an all-digital glass cockpit eliminating the necessity of a flight engineer.

The European made Airbus A330-300 was deployed on this route in the late 90s until 2001. The American made Boeing 777-200ER has been used since then.

Anyway, MH81 and MH80 will cease operating into Kota Kinabalu after almost 20 years of service starting this November. Have been flying once a month on these two flights since mid-2002 until mid-2008. No kidding. Can't help myself but feeling a bit nostalgic hehe. The Japanese flight attendants will be missed for sure !