Malaysia Airlines Business Suite Review KUL-HND (2019)

My Malaysia Airlines Business Suite review (21019) shows that, although Malaysia Airlines labels their suites as a business plus, there is nothing short of First class from the experience. From the amenities, to the food to the excellent service, the experience is more First Class than other airlines’ actually branded first class. 

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!

Arrival at KLIA

I had flown in from a flight from Delhi the night before. For some reason, the airline cancelled my flight to Tokyo. Why? That was never properly communicated. I was initially booked in business class on Malaysia Airlines A330 (which I have reviewed previously). After the cancellation, I was booked on the Malaysia Airlines A350. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I had been booked into Business Suites! I was very excited, and since I had 36-hours buffer in Tokyo, I did not mind. After booking a hotel for the night (using my travel interruption insurance from my AMEX Platinum), I left the airport to return the next morning. 

Arriving the next morning (I had simply planned to spend the day at the airport catching up on any work), I proceeded to the Business Suite check in. The agents were extremely friendly, but were confused as to why I was so early for my flight. I explained about the delay the night before and, after some confused looks, they printed my boarding pass. 

I proceeded to the Golden Falcon First Class lounge, where I spent most of the day. I did take a quick peek at the business class lounge. It seemed perfectly acceptable and was not very crowded. I have also visited the Cathay Pacific lounge at KUL in the past. It is a very bland lounge considering passengers could also access the Malaysia Airlines lounge. (It closed during COVID.) 

I spent the whole day at the airport and did get some work done. However, for the most part, I just spent time looking at airplanes. It was a good day, in my opinion.  

Gate and Boarding

When the gate was finally displayed on the departure monitors, I proceeded to the relatively far away gate. Kuala Lumpur, like other airports in the region, has their security and boarding pass check at the gate. The line at my gate was quite long by the time I got there. I had to wait upwards of about 20 minutes to go through security given that there was no special line for premium passengers. I didn’t mind, as I was in no rush.

After going through security, I sat at the gate and waited for boarding, which was delayed by about 15 minutes due to an issue with catering. About 10 minutes before our scheduled departure time, boarding began with Business Suite class invited to board. 

Cabin and Seat

The Malaysia Airlines A350 Business Suite is located in the first row of the aircraft, as its own separate cabin. The seats are in a 1x2x1 configuration, and they are fully enclosed suites. 

There are no overhead bins in the middle of the aircraft to give the cabin an even more spacious and exclusive feel. I had chosen seat 1A. 

The seat is similar to what you can find at other enclosed suite First class products. There are a number of storage areas, namely next to your seat where the IFE and seat controls are found. 

Inside that compartment was a water bottle and a pair of noise cancelling headphones. 

On the side opposite the aisle, you can find the tray table. 

The IFE screen is quite large, considering how narrow the seat itself is. 

There is also a nifty light fixture you can control. 

Each seat has power outlets and USB ports and (my favorite) individual air vents. 

I think Malaysia Airlines is the only airline in Southeast Asia that chose to install individual air vents in their aircraft. Kudos to them for the small but important detail. 

Amenities

Another place where Business Suite feels more like First class is with the amenities provided. On such a short flight in business, the airline does not provide amenity kits. However, in Business Suites class you receive the whole gamut of amenities provided to First Class passengers. 

From a superbly stocked amenity kit provided by Cerruti 1881, to products from luxury brand Payot, the Business Suite Amenity Kit is in a class of its own.

 As far as First class amenity kits go, this is one of my favorites, with the Malaysia Airlines keychain one of my favorite unique items. 

As a Business Suites passenger, you are also provided with a pair of noise cancelling headphones, which were just okay. 

Finally, you receive a set of Malaysia Airlines pajamas and slippers, both of which were of very high quality. 

Waiting at your seat when you arrive is a pillow, a thick blanket and a thinner blanket to use if you are not sleeping. The bedding (more on that later) was kept in the overhead bins until you were ready to have your bed made. 

Departure and Take Off

By the time the 1L door was closed, we were 10 minutes past our scheduled departure. With passengers still boarding though door 2L, Business Suites passengers were undisturbed. 

At this point, there were two other passengers on the other side of the aircraft. The seat next to me remained unoccupied. When I boarded, there was a note waiting for me at my seat from the cabin service director. Although I will talk more about service below, this was the first sign of an excellent crew. 

Once I was settled in, the flight attendant working my aisle asked me what I wanted to drink before departure and if I wanted a canape before departure. I ordered a sparkling limeade, and the canape consisted of a small shrimp in a pastry. It was very flavorful.

About 30 minutes after our departure time, the captain came on the PA system and apologized for the delay. He estimated that we would be arriving about 20 minutes late into Tokyo, given favorable winds and no queue for take off. At that point the safety video began playing, and soon enough we were airborne.

Dining

For this flight, I decided to invert the order of meal service. I would start off eating a light (but not really light) breakfast, sleeping and then having lunch before arrival. The menu was extensive for such a short flight with a late departure. There is also the option to pre-order a special meal online. The menu read as follows:

First Meal

For the first meal right after departure, I was going to have what was labeled as breakfast on the menu. First, a glass of champagne was served with a ramekin of cold nuts. 

I barely picked at the ramekin, since I was more excited for the next course. 

Afterwards, the FAs brought a warm towel and set the table linens for the meal. The linens were not monogrammed nor anything special, but still, the FA took very good care of setting up the table.

The first course was a Malaysia Airlines specialty: satay. I had asked for extra sauce and spicy sauce on the side, which were gladly brought to me. I was very happy with my meal. The flight attendants also set a cold towel for when I was finished. 

The main course for the first meal was Nasi Goreng. It was warm, delicious, flavorful and hit the spot. Probably the best breakfast I have ever had at midnight. 

During the whole meal service, my champagne glass was never half empty, with the crew coming by every five to ten minutes to refill it. 

Second Meal

For my second meal, which was served about 80 minutes before landing, I had ordered a Malaysian curry dish. 

The meal was spicy and everything I needed to wake up after sleeping for two and a half hours.  I had orange juice with this meal. Again the food felt truly first class, just based on flavor, even if it lacked the flair and pomp associated with First class meals. 

Sleep Comfort

After my first meal, and about ⅔ of a bottle of champagne, I was ready to sleep. I changed into the provided pajamas, and I requested my bed to be made. 

The bed itself is narrow, I had a hard time falling asleep because of this. The flight attendants kept the cabin cool and the blankets were the perfect thickness. The air vents provided a constant flow of air which helps me sleep. I slept for about 2h30m.

Wifi & IFE

Although I had every intention of watching some shows on the IFE screen while I had dinner, I ended up just watching the moving map. 

From experience, Malaysia Airlines has an average selection of shows and movies. 

Their A350s are equipped with Wifi. Since I wanted a break from the world on this flight, I decided not to use it. I was relatively expensive and had data caps. 

Note on Service

What made this flight one of the best I have ever been on was the service. Since the other passengers in Business Suites class slept or were low maintenance for most of the flight, I had three cabin crew to take care of me. 

The purser, who worked business class on this flight, occasionally helped, the FA working the right aisle would often sit and chat with me and the FA working my aisle. I had a chance to talk with them about many things, from comparing the education system in Malaysia and the United States, to geopolitics, to what was the best Christmas in Southeast Asia, to where to grab food in Kuala Lumpur. 

The crew were genuine in their interactions. They took time to get to know me on such a short flight, and I had a chance to get to know them a bit, too. They jokingly insisted I finish the bottle of champagne, as they did not want it to go to waste. By the end of the flight, the bottle was polished. Needless to say, the flight was fantastic. 

Landing and Arrival

On what felt like an even shorter flight than it was, about 30 minutes prior to arrival, the captain came on the PA system to advise us of weather conditions in Tokyo. 

It was going to be a beautiful day there, and I was excited to land. Although I would have a shorter layover, I was still planning on making it into the city. The crew bid farewell to the First Class, I mean Business Suite, passengers and thanked us for flying Malaysia Airlines. I could not tell the cabin service director enough nice things about her crew. Truly a world-class cabin crew. 

Conrado’s Thoughts

Although this flight lasted less than 7 hours, it ranks as one of the best I have ever had. Between the amenities, the crew, the food and the seat (even if narrow), the Malaysia Airlines crew truly impressed me. Although labeled as Business Suite, there is nothing Business about it and it is all First class. Malaysia Airlines is a hidden gem in Southeast Asia, and I cannot recommend them enough. I cannot wait to fly them again in Business Suites Class. 

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