Shannon to Kuala Lumpur

tony1980

Hi guys,

I have to fly to KL next Sunday, 12th of October for a business trip. I usually only travel to the UK or Europe and occasionally the US. I am trying to figure out which airport would be better to travel from, Shannon or Dublin.

There seems to be a few options. Shannon to Heathrow, arriving at Heathrow at 10:15. There is a Singapore Airlines flight at 11:30 from Heathrow to Singapore on an A380 and then a short 1 hour flight from Singapore to KL. My worry for this option is am I leaving myself enough time to get to the Singapore flight in Heathrow.

There is an Emirates flight operated by Qantas at 13:30 to Dubai on an A380 and from Dubai to KL on an 777-300ER which I heard are very cramped on Emirates, there is also a 4 hour wait in Dubai for the flight.

If I fly from Dublin, I can't fly with Etihad as the flight is at 09:20 on Sunday morning but Emirates is at 13:50 but it is an 777-300ER to Dubai with a 3.5 hour wait for the next flight again. I would have to get a bus to Dublin on Sunday morning and a bus home from Dublin, I would arrive home from Dublin on the Sat, 18th of October at about 4pm. I would make it home to Shannon from London by about 1pm on the Sat and no long bus journey down from Dublin.

I like the idea of flying from Shannon to Heathrow for the Singapore flight as it is one long flight instead of two long flights to Dubai and to KL, granted, there is two short flights but my worry is the time I have to make the Singapore flight at 11:30. I would love to fly on the A380 as I have heard you have far more space, I will be flying Economy unless I'm lucky enough to get bumped to Business :-)


Any suggestions appreciated guys? Do ye think that Dublin would just be the easiest of them all and the 770-300ER are fine with Emirates? I have never been onboard an Emirates or Singapore Airlines flight so I have no experience with these.

arbour

Why not fly from Shannon to Heathrow on Aer Lingus and then direct to KL with Malaysian Airlines. Save you alot of hassle and Malaysia are decent to fly with. Just over 600 euro return which isn't a bad price.
Don't be put off by two recent loss of aircraft. The two "accidents" possibly didn't have anything to do with safety on board. Would save you hassle and cash

highlydebased

Singapore operate from T2 at LHR now along with Aer Lingus so you should make it fine if your luggage is checked through. Certainly the buses to Dublin would turn me off that option very quickly particularly when a long haul flight is involved

galwayjohn89

I'd just do EI to LHR then MH to KUL. I did that in the summer and found Malaysia Airlines very good to travel with. Connection was seamless to/from Aer Lingus too.

fr336

arbour wrote: »

Why not fly from Shannon to Heathrow on Aer Lingus and then direct to KL with Malaysian Airlines. Save you alot of hassle and Malaysia are decent to fly with. Just over 600 euro return which isn't a bad price.
Don't be put off by two recent loss of aircraft. The two "accidents" possibly didn't have anything to do with safety on board. Would save you hassle and cash

Reassuring.

olive20

Was only there on a business trip myself and 2 work colleagues last month and we travelled from Dublin with AL then with Malaysia to KL. You can't beat Mal absolutely fabulous service. Best out there we thought.
Was a business class return ticket but got upgraded to First on way out. Great airline and it was the Jumbo 388.

Stinicker

I flew Malaysian Airlines myself in July and was actually meant to be onboard MH17 that fateful day. Despite the first disappearance I would not hesititate to fly onboard Malaysian again, their service is excellent and there is alot more space in Malaysian Economy compared to the Emirates/Etihad Boeing 777-300ER which are just absolute sardines.

MH17 was an act of state sponsored terrorism by the Russian Federation and should not be taken into account when evaluating the safety of Malaysia Airlines.

Zonda999

I also flew Cork to KL last year with AL/Malaysian through Heathrow. I did it in economy on the A380 and it was the best economy class I've ever come across by a decent stretch.

tony1980

Cheers for the suggestions guys!

Can I book AL/MA through to KL from Shannon all with MA, do they have a partnership?

Zonda999

Probably not seeing as they don't have a codeshare partnership, just an interline partnership, which means they will check your baggage through to your final destination from your origin airport.

You should be able to book that through any of the usual agents like Expedia, e-travel or ebookers or the likes.

tony1980

Ok, if I book the tickets through Expedia, when I check in with Aer Lingus at Shannon, they should be able to check the bag through for the MA flight to KL and pick the bag up at KL?

I assume I would have to check in at Heathrow again but the bags should be ok and have to go through security again?

Any tips for long haul flights lads, longest I have been on is Shannon to Newark which is far shorter in comparison and any tips on getting bumped to Business for free would be appreciated :pac:

highlydebased

If your bags get checked through at Shannon you should get your boarding pass there for the onward flight so no need to checkin again. You simply proceed to airside transfers.

galwayjohn89

For me I booked ebookers. Bags checked through. Boarding pass for MH flight picked up in Heathrow. Took all of 2 minutes to collect pass.. Was very simple. Even when I missed connection changing the ei flight was no hassle at all.

tony1980

Cheers for the suggestions guys. I had a lovely flight from Heathrow to KL with Malaysian Airlines on the A380. Bags checked through sfrom Shannon to KL with Aer Lingus and from KL to Shannon with MA. Seat going to KL was great, upstairs in economy, middle row aisle seat and seat next to me was free so I was able to lie down and have a nice sleep, coming back was a bit cramped downstairs, I was in a middle seat by the window, a lot less leg room.
There is a lot more space in economy upstairs, I think it was originally supposed to be Premium Economy. If you can, book seats upstairs as it is a lot more spacious and much quieter! Food was nice enough and staff were excellent, would definitely recommend! IFE wasn't bad, certainly enough to keep you entertained for such a long flight :-)