Home > Malaysia Airlines > 2003 > Review

Taken January 2003 from Manchester to Auckland

As I have a heart bypass, I booked into Golden Club class. Booking early meant I got a reasonable deal (about half listed price). Change of schedule 5 months before meant that they offered me overnight accomodation in KL both ways, which made the flight much more bearable! They also included a courtesy car to the hotel downtown where I stayed on the way out, on the way back Pan Pacific Hotel is actually on the airport. Both were 4*.

Lounges were excellent, with snacks and drinks always on tap, even at the 5am stopover in Brisbane. The lounge at the new KL airport is almost decadent!

Seats were extremely comfortable - even my 6ft 6in frame could barely touch the seat in front. In-flight entertainment was good, with a video on demand facility in this class. Food was good and a reasonable choice, plus unlimited drinks (but air, alchohol and altitude don't mix, sadly). Above all the attendants were there instantly to take care of your every need.

The icing on the cake was the last leg, KL to Manchester. "Would you like an upgrade to First sir?". Daft question really, and certainly a better class of champagne (joke) but in fact I could not really detect much difference between Club and First. There was more space, but not really usable, though the window passenger could get out without disturbing their companion. I doubt if (assuming I had the money) I would bother paying extra for First, simply because Golden Club is so good.