Malaysia Airlines 737-800 Business Class Review DEL-KUL (2019)

My 2019 Malaysia Airlines 737-800 business class review is part of a longer trip that mixed work and airline reviews. After a long week of client presentations, I decided to take the long way back to the US, and connected in Delhi from Guangzhou. An uneventful, but good flight, I enjoyed my flight on Malaysia Airlines.

Note:

Dear Reader,

Before you begin this review journey with me, I want you to know that this review is a bit dated. It is from before the COVID pandemic. I had planned on publishing this one and others slowly during and after the pandemic. However, my job at the time requested I not write them. As some of the airlines were their clients, they explicitly requested I refrain from writing anything that could imply any conflict of interest. Recently, after starting a new job, I have decided to publish this one and others. I will note wherever I can what has changed, and include a year for when the flight happened, in the interest of clarity. Please enjoy this review!

Check In & Terminal

I had spent a night in Delhi after arriving from a flight the day before. I took a taxi to the the main international terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The new terminal was grand and ample. Check in for my flight was quick, there was no one in the business class check in line, so I had my boarding pass in my hand within 5 minutes. After going through passport control, I found myself at the Plaza Premium lounge. The lounge was pretty busy, and I ended up finding a seat close to a power outlet.

I grabbed some food and some coffee and worked for a few minutes before I decided to walk through the terminal. I was going to have a long day of traveling, so a nice long walk would be good for me. The terminal where my flight would be departing was one, long building. It was extremely crowded and stuffy, however, walking through it gave me a chance to see a few new airlines. GoFirst, Air India Express, Nepal Airlines, among others, were some of the airlines I had never seen that dotted the terminal.

Boarding

About 10 minutes before boarding (scheduled 45-minutes before departure), I made my way to my gate. The gate was very crowded, as a flight to Guangzhou was departing next to my gate at the exact same time. Usually not a big deal, however, there were so many wheelchair passengers that they created a pen around the boarding lanes.

Boarding was called on time, however there was a rush for the boarding lines as soon as they were called. The gate agents made multiple announcements that they would be boarding by group number, and started with premium cabin/elite passengers. The line was packed with people in every which row and group. Each passenger was turned away by the gate agent. And each passenger would huff and puff on the way back. After waiting about 5 minutes to make it to the gate agent, I was somehow the first person to actually board!

Cabin & Seat

The Malaysia Airlines 737 had the old cabin configuration. Business class was arranged in 4 rows of 2×2 seats (16 total seats). Economy consisted of rows of 3×3 seats. Business class seats were wide and in hues of blue.

Each seat had an IFE screen in front of it and an IFE control was on the console side of the seat.

There was a power outlet and a USB-A port on the outside armrest of each seat. There, you could also find the headphone jack. On that same armrest there were the two seat control. One for seat recline and one to raise the armrest.

Although not a lie flat seat, it reclined enough for me to take a long nap. The footrest was a nice touch, although it did not rise enough to actually be comfortable. I would pick these seats over their newer seats in a heartbeat.

Amenities

On each seat there was a wide pillow and blanket. The blanket was flimsy and scratchy; thankfully the cabin was kept warm. The pillow was pretty firm, and I used it as extra padding for the seat.

There was also a pair of noise cancelling headphones. They were clunky and not very comfortable, and not particularly effective at noise cancellation.

Along with the headphones, a menu card was waiting at each seat.

Departure & Take Off

As people continued to board the aircraft, the flight attendants introduced themselves and offered a choice of pre-departure beverages. The choices were orange juice, water or champagne. I selected orange juice and water.

Boarding was finished about 35 minutes after scheduled departure. The pilot came on the PA system and introduced himself and his copilot, and informed us of our flight time and our expected arrival time at Kuala Lumpur. Soon after, we pushed back and the safety video played on each screen. Business class ended up 4/16 full, so there was a crew to passenger ratio of 2:1.

After a slow taxi to the runway, we took off into a hazy afternoon.

Dining

After take off, the flight attendant came by to let me know that I could order lunch right after take off, or decide to eat closer to landing. She also mentioned that I could order the Malaysian Satay at any point during the flight. I decided to have lunch right after take off, and order the satay later on in the flight.

The lunch menu read as follows:

The meal started with drinks and a packaged snack of dried goji berries and nuts. I opted for water, and the goji berries were a good balance of tart and sweet.

After, the flight attendants set the table with linens, dessert, a small chocolate bonbon, salt and pepper shakers, and a small tub of yoghurt.

They served the appetizer salad. The salad had interesting ingredients (including garbanzos and a lime). It tasted fresh and hit the spot.

Along with the salad, I was offered a choice of bread: paratha, sourdough or garlic bread. I chose the garlic bread and it was warm and garlic-y. So so good.

For my main course, I selected the mutton rara. It was served with jeera rice and dal tadka. As soon as it was placed on my table, I knew it would taste good. I was not expecting it to be as spicy as it was, however. It was one of the best short-haul meals I have ever had. So much flavor, along with a strong kick, made it incredible.

For dessert, the Gulab jamun was very sweet. It was served in a type of sweetened milk.

Overall, a delicious meal. Although service was rather robotic and reactive, the flight attendants were very well intentioned and very kind in every interaction.

About an hour before landing, I ordered the Malaysian Satay. The chicken and lamb were very well seasoned and charred. The peanut sauce was delicious. It was accompanied with skewer of cucumber and onions.

Wi-fi & IFE

Although the flight was supposedly equipped with Wi-Fi, I found I could not use it at all on my phone or computer. After trying a few times, I gave up and decided to watch a movie on the IFE screen. Although the resolution was low and the screen was small, it was nice to get a long break. I had been working pretty much non-stop on my prior flights, so a movie and reading a book helped me recover.

I did try to sleep a bit after I had the satay, but the cabin was loud because a small child was playing very loudly with his iPad.

Service

Similar to during the meal, the flight attendants were very kind, but robotic. It seemed they were going through the motions and checking boxes throughout the flight. They were very prompt to bring any refills, but they were not proactive. Throughout the flight, they only came by once to offer extra drinks.

Landing & Arrival

After about 4 hours of flight, we began our decent into KUL. The weather was stormy, so we hit some bumps on the way down. We landed on time and were at the gate about 10 minutes after landing. I had planned to fly out that night to Tokyo, however my flight got cancelled. Stay tuned for the review of my following flight, and how I got upgraded to Malaysia Airlines Business Suite.

Conrado’s Thoughts

Malaysia Airlines offers a solid business class product for regional flights. Although they are not as polished as Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, their 737-800 business class checks all the boxes. Their updated interiors, in my opinion, are a downgrade. Without IFE screens and slimmer seats, the cabin resembles their lower cost competition Batik Air. That being said, I would not hesitate to fly them if the timing or price is right!

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