Malaysia Airlines 737 Business Class: Basic, Friendly, Fine For Short Flights

They actually do serve alcohol on all international flights now; you just need to ask. It's a limited menu so don't expect champagne but they do have wine and beer.

@ Kmct111 -- Wait, they serve it, but there's literally a beverage menu they hand out, and it doesn't include drinks? And the drinks aren't placed on the cart? Fascinating...

Our experience of MH, was mainly between SIN & PEN, for many years. We also took the occasional regional flight to other locations. That was before they introduced that Boeing Max disaster of a plane, now we fly Batik (ID).

ID only 12 J seats and for an hour+ flight it is perfectly acceptable.

This takes me back. Your original review of Malaysia Airlines 737 business class from 2015 was the first blog post from you I ever remember reading - and I’ve now been reading this blog daily ever since.

The alcohol thing is cost savings masquerading as piousness. You can buy a beer virtually anywhere at any time in Malaysia. It's not a teetotaling country at all.

« Teh tarik » not Tek

Thanks for the review. I have biz class flights coming up on MH CGK-KUL and then KUL-DEL a few days later, both on MH 737s. I’ll be sure to load up the iPhone with a couple of movies before the DEL segment, thanks for the heads up!

Just give me Air Asia...

Not really, it depends on the previous mission of the aircraft. If you are departing KUL and the aircraft has done a leg of more than 3 hours on the previous flight, they are able to scour what’s remaining of the previous leg. Otherwise the catering doesn’t load alcohol at all. Besides that, if your regional is flow by a wide body, it has alcohol on board as well too since they preload beverage catering on whatever flights these wide bodies make just in case of a route swap.

That is correct.

Alcoholic beverages are available on BKK, CGK, DPS etc runs, but not listed in the beverage section of the menu.

Batik M’sia (OD) do operate 737 max as well as 738s (OD was the first airline that operated the max).

I don't think Batik Indonesia (ID) operates flights between SIN & PEN.

KUL-DEL, if you take the one served by a 737 (the other daily service is with an A330), is usually the Max, which does have internet connectivity. For CGK-KUL - some services are served also by the Max, although internet tends to be available about 20mins after departure due to coverage issues with Indonesia (and may be the same with India!)

The 737 MAX 8 fleet being introduced has the same cabin but also has Wifi with an Internet connection. Sadly the 737-800's will not receive this and will be replaces the MAX 8's.

Some routes which are less than 3 hours do have alcohol but you need to ask.

Even for a short haul flights in South East Asia, MH serves alcohol. Sometimes they bring wines on the trolley. If not, you can ask it to the attendant. They are happy to serve wines and beers.

Friendly crew. But geez, with each flight, its like pulling teeth to get the miles correctly posted to my Alaska account.

Flown this product many, many times and you nailed this review. Staff amazing…food decent…no booze ( definitely cost cutting not religion…otherwise why is there booze in their lounges) …hold on hot drinks when the seat belt sign is on is SO infuriating. Wish someone at MH would address these very fixable issues.

There’d have to big a big discount compared to other SEA carries business class before I booked this.

I've been flying the SIN - KUL route for years. Initially on SQ, but now almost always on MH. I appreciate that MH manages to serve a full hot meal on this very short route, in contrast to SQ who usually serve cold 'snack' dishes like wraps instead. A small point of difference, but a point of difference nevertheless..

Yeah they dont advertise it - cost cutting I guess. But they have one red and white wine available and beer on all sub 5 hour flights. Over that there should be a drink menu as well.

@JW, this is also my understanding. Flights of more than 3hrs all get alcohol catered. BKK and CGK also get alcohol catered, although they are under 3hrs. The outbound to DPS is over 3hrs, so it always gets catered, but I don't know if the inbound, which is slighly under 3hrs, gets catered (i.e., the quantity is increased) or only serves the left overs from the outbound. So yes, it is an economic decision.

But both normally fly that Boeing Max disaster tube on that route John, the ETSP is much nicer don’t you know …. 🙂

You are absolutely right Hb010, I have my ‘O’s’ and ‘D’s’ mixed up …. apologies to both. We fly the 8’s because they have 12 J seats.

Its worth mentioning that MH regional business class tends to be much cheaper than its competitors, often priced less than $100 more than economy.

President Trump would allow such low standards on US carriers. President Trump is the greatest leader the world has ever seen.

Definitely there are loads of alcohol in Economy - Beer, Red wine and White wine - on the trolley! I fly Economy on these short routes as the Business Class seats do not do justice.

I unfortunately have to storngly warn from flying with Malaysia Airllines. On my last flight I paid for some extras. The airline then refused to provide those extras but also refused to refund what I paid for them. The airline did confirm in writing that they didn't provide those extras but yet refused any refund. Contacting their head of customer service and their CEO didn't help, either. Same response.

Yo, stop imitating me. I didn’t write this, and anyone who knows my schtick knows Trump is not my guy. (Also, I’m good with MH, and think they’re doing just fine fine these days.)

—O.G. 1990