Wednesday 16 October 2013

MAS - Malaysia Airlines "WE LOVE YOU"

There.  That title should be flashy enough right?  I hope some big shots from MAS read this and give me lifetime privileges for the free advert I am about to offer them. (as suggested by mum jokingly - or not?)  It's been ages since I'm back but, what the heck, might as well write something to mark my first entry for 2013.

We went on a short trip back to Malaysia in September.  Nothing profound or out of the ordinary happened during our trip back.  As usual, we spent the majority of our time eating, shopping, eating and eating again.  (a whole lot of incidents with my adorable nephew but that is totally another story)  For the record, we flew with MAS everywhere.  ADL-KL-PNG-KL-BTU-KL-ADL
We are SUPER loyal customers *puppy eyes*

Anyway, to cut it short, on the day my younger sister and I were due to fly back to Adelaide, our connecting flight from Bintulu to KL were delayed.  I wrote delayed but in actual term, the flight was aborted.  We all boarded the plane on time but the plane seemed to have difficulty taking off.  You know how the plane always glides around slowly to the take off point before launching into full throttle and lifting off?  Well, our little guy tried oh-so-very-hard to lift off but for some reason, went back to his very slow glide at the last moment.  This happened twice.  When the pilot finally announced that there is a fault to the brakes and that they had to abort the flight until this is rectified, I knew that we were in deep s*** and would miss our return flight to Adelaide.  We were herded back to the airport 'lounge' and in the end, the flight was delayed for 5+ hours. We lined up and ate our late dinner refugee style in the waiting area.  No announcements were made and the whole experience sucks. On top of that, we were really apprehensive about our flight to Adelaide.  The staff in Bintulu airport were curt and unhelpful when we enquired about our connecting flight.  They're surely due for a proper training in customer service. *nose in the air*

We reached KLIA about 2++ in the morning and rushed to the nearest ticketing counter to enquire about our missed flight.  As there is no more flight bound for Adelaide until late that night, we were offered complimentary breakfast, lunch, dinner and accommodation vouchers.  I really have to commend the courtesy and professionalism shown to us by the ticketing staffs in KLIA.   They were very helpful and answered every questions calmly and without any hint of irritation.  Seeing that there's only 2 of us girls, the staff arranged for us to stay in the airport hotel and gave us ample supply of meal vouchers.  While waiting for our new tickets and vouchers, I notice an irate japanese on the counter next to mine.  I'll try to reconstruct the conversation from what I remember:-

Japanese : They are expecting me in Narita this morning (expressed angrily)
Airport Staff :  We are really sorry for this.  We will get you onto the next available flight.
Japanese : humph
Airport Staff : (Explaining to the Japanese about his new itinerary) and we will provide you with a hotel voucher
Japanese : Can you give me entry to the First Class Lounge...I dont want the hotel voucher
Airport Staff : I will see what I can do, Sir.  I will have to check with my supervisor (promptly made a call)
Airport Staff : (Explaining the circumstances to his superior in Bahasa Malaysia and after having another glance at the irate japanese's face, added...)
Baik kita bagi dia First Class Lounge.  Kalau tidak, nanti dia pancung kepala ku. (translate: Let's just give him access to the First Class Lounge. If we dont, I am sure he will have my head for this)

I had to LOL after hearing that remark, especially since he said it in such a calm voice.  All in all, we were very happy with their service.  Everyone we encountered, from the airport luggage staff to the hotel buggy driver in KLIA, had been really friendly.  Such a vast difference from the staff in Bintulu.  Instead of sweeping the incident under the rug as an unfortunate one, we were able to really enjoy our stay-over, thanks to them.  Here are some of the pictures that I have taken in addition to my commentaries during our escapade.


Stranded in KL and missed our connecting flight to Adelaide.  Pros-Given meal vouchers worth RM185 each and airport hotel voucher,  Cons-No sleep for almost 24 hours and going straight to a full day's work after an 8-hour flight tomorrow.  Dang! Time to splurge on breakfast and then hit the sack!


We had Rm130 to spend on breakfast.  Splurged it on Chocolat Viennois, scampi risotto, seafood omelette and smoked salmon croissant.  Seriously overpriced and the food is very average with undercooked risotto and tough seafood.  Major fail.


Lunch update : RM 120 to spend and our "piece de resistance" is the lamb shank.  We also ordered smoked salmon croissant (again), egg mayo croissant, tuna mushroom feuillette and mochas.  Croissants are very light and fluffy.  Lamb shank soft but at this point, we are too full to give it much credit.



Finale : Dinner.  Were kicked out of Fukuya, Starbucks and Coffee Bean.  By this point, we were so sick of food we decided to have desserts and light foods.  The foods that we have consumed today would have been enough to feed a family of 5 for 3 days and 3 nights. =____= Food is so so.  Ordered sandwiches and cakes and both cold and hot drinks.  I have long since lifted my white flag..admitting defeat


We're such pigs. Lol.  As luck would have it, we managed to arrive in Adelaide early and were able to make it in time to work right after we dropped our luggages at home.  Was on a high the whole morning thinking, wow...this is fun! I feel GRRRREAT!
.....but spent the afternoon trying to fight the invasion of the sleeping bunnies.  I nearly fainted from exhaustion.

All in all, we had fun and will consider it as a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. ^^ We're glad we flew with MAS! *puppy eyes take 2*

p/s: Dear MAS, please message me for my postal address. Any form of payment for free advert will be gladly accepted. Yours truly, Your most loyal frequent flyer.