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Home / Travel

Flying from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia Airlines

Stephanie Holmes
By Stephanie Holmes
Editor - Lifestyle Brands·NZ Herald·
16 Nov, 2017 08:30 PM2 mins to read

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Malaysia Airlines cabin crew.

Malaysia Airlines cabin crew.

Stephanie Holmes flies MH647 Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur.

The plane: Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800.

Class: Economy.

Seat: 8C, an aisle seat. It's worth noting that 8A is a window seat with no window. As is 9D. Don't choose these seats if you're hoping to get a classic wing-tip photo.

Check in experience: My friend and I had checked in online the previous day, which was easy using the Malaysia Airlines app. At KK, there was a lengthy queue to get to bag drop - apparently they were implementing a new immigration system that day, which hadn't been soft-launched before going live, and they were experiencing problems. There was also a cancelled flight and a large tour group ahead of us causing delays. Once at the counter, everything went smoothly.

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On time: Yes.

Flight time: 2 hrs 25 minutes.

How full: There were two spare seats in row 8, both middle seats. This would no doubt have enraged my two friends meant to be travelling on the earlier cancelled flight. They were told our flight was full so they had to wait for a later one.

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Fellow passengers: Mostly Malaysian travellers, with hardly any Western tourists.

Entertainment: No personal TV screens on this flight, which we did have on the way over.

The safety video was only in Malay, with no English subtitles. Pre-take off on-screen prayer was in both Malay and English.

Service: Three male, one female. Fine, but nothing to write home - or a review - about.

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Food and drink: Dinner was served not long after take off. My chicken noodles meal was average - to look at it you couldn't tell if it was chicken or beef, and the noodles were rubbery and bland. My friend enjoyed her vegetarian meal, even though she was unable to tell what it was meant to be.

Toilets: Two at the rear of the plane. The flush didn't work properly in the toilet I used.

Airport experience: Apart from the queue at bag drop, the airport was fine - clean, calm and a decent handful of shops to browse.

Would I fly it again? It's a good way to get to and from Borneo but don't expect too much for your money.

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