Malindo Airways 806 – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur

Malindo Airways – OD 806 – SIN – KUL

Boeing 737-800
Seat 16A (Economy)
Flight time: 21:30– 22:35 (21:52-22:39)
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
27th August 2019

O V E R V I E W :

This trip report covers my second flight on Malindo Airways but the very first time on their jet airplane as my virgin flight on OD was with their turboprop flying out of Subang Airport (SZB) a couple of years ago. As you may have read here, this flight is part of my journey home from the UK after stumbling upon a good deal on MH which saw my trip being extended to Singapore where I decided to spend a day there. At the time of booking, OD came out the cheapest on the SIN-KUL sector for my intended travel date. Fast forward to the day of departure, having bought some baggage allowance for my check in luggage, I headed to the check in counter for OD at Terminal 3 after arriving into Singapore earlier in the day but was denied early check in  and was only allowed to check in at night as per usual before my flight is scheduled to depart. Thankfully, baggage storage facility was available for a fee convenient within T3 itself!Collected my luggage and headed to the shared check in counters for the Lion Group, which includes my flight to KL on Malindo after spending a day in the city!Headed to my boarding gate after stopping by the famous Irwin’s Salted Egg shop to get some goodies. As my flight departs from gate A17 which is quite some distance away, I hopped on the Skytrain to save time rather than walking. Arrived at the shared holding lounge for my flight which is quite massive with multiple boarding gates. Whilst waiting for my equipment which has yet to arrive from KL.  My boarding gate which is one of the few in this holding lounge.Here is an idea of how big the shared holding lounge is, thumbs up to the numerous charging areas and also water fountains available for use. My B737 pulling into the gate after its arrival from Kuala Lumpur. Boarding commenced in an orderly manner by zones and soon after I was in my seat of the day, just behind the emergency exit rows in the middle of the aircraft. Decent leg room for this short hop. Yay to window seats. 🙂Mandatory seat pocket content shot. Safety demo was done manually by the crew shortly after push back.The seat back IFE is very much appreciated on a flight of this length. Once airborne, the crew came round the cabin with drinks but to my disappointment, only plain water was offered (unlike my virgin flight with OD on the turboprop where more choice of drinks were offered) and anything else needs to be purchased.    As usual with the KUL to SIN vv. flights, time flies and before you know it the plane is on descend and it was time to prepare for arrival. An interesting spot on this flight was the feedback feature noted on the IFE system which I have not seen on other airlines before, I personally think that it is a good idea to have though I did not give it a try this time round. Back home again after approximately 10 hours or so in Singapore.

C O N C L U S I O N: 

Given that this was a short flight, there was limited time for the cabin crew to showcase more of their warmth and friendliness but that said, the flight was a pleasant one indeed with smiles consistently shown by all the crew during my flight. The hard product was decent for this short hop and for a low cost (?) or some say hybrid airline, the seat back entertainment is a big thumbs up indeed. Even though I did not get to try that much on this flight, the user interface seemed pretty responsive with a good amount of offerings. I was slightly disappointed when drinks service only included plain water but this was because of my prior experience on OD’s turboprop that offered better options, perhaps this is now a thing in the past? In a nutshell, I will not hesitate to get on another Malindo jet plane again provided that their pricing remains competitive given their edge in terms of products when compared to the traditional LCCs.