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Taken July 2004 from London, Heathrow - LHR to Melbourne - MEL

My first flight with Malaysia Airlines was good without being brilliant. Having made the MEL - LHR - MEL trip several times with Cathay, I thought MAS would have to be pretty good to live up to that standard of service.

The lounge at Heathrow is comfortable with an average range of snacks and drinks. There are two televisions that appear to be 'linked' meaning no variety in the programs able to be viewed.

The flight (MH007) was due to depart at 18:05 and was over an hour late in departing. There was no pre-flight drink served, however the crew were extremely polite, as you'd expect from an Asian airline.

Seated upstairs in 10A (B744), this seat does not have a window unless the seat is fully reclined and you turn your neck past 90 degrees. It makes for a dull flight.

The food served was of a very good standard, satay, lamb, chicken with a good range of wine, champagne and others. Again, service here was excellent.

Arriving in Penang for an hour stop was OK. There is a small lounge which is comfortable and a nice way to get into air conditioning. There was a 45 minute flight to KLIA before a 5 hour stopover. The air-conditioner was leaking from above the seat. Bring an umbrella!

The airport at KLIA is easy to get around, immaculately clean and typically efficient. The lounge is spacious, well appointed and offers a good range of food and drinks. Internet access worked for 2 hours out of 5, and there was no decent attempt to rectify this. Connectivity is not Broadband.

Upon re-boarding, the flight took off 40 minutes late although arrival into Melbourne was delayed by only 5 minutes, and a good effort was made to minimize the amount of time delayed. This flight was on a B772 and was quite comfortable. Food and service was identical, although there was a slightly different menu.

The entertainment system was good with programmes on demand. 15 movies with a wide selection. CD's, TV shows and some sports and news programmes. The selection is the same going to KL as it is traveling away.

My flight was cheaper than average, UK1675 which is outstanding, but does explains the stop in Penang. An additional UK450 was charged to change the outbound date, making it a slightly below-average BC flight to Australia from the UK.

The seats were the same on the B744 and B772, comfortable with plenty of room, but not like the old seats on Cathay, which I find preferable to their flat.. ish bed seats.