A380 long haul

fits

Looking at long haul flights right now to Kuala Lumpur. Emirates and Etihad offer cheapest options right now connecting in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. (700 euro). However I am quite tempted to get the Malaysian Airlines A380 from London Heathrow. Is it worth the 200 euro extra? Himself is quite tall so leg room is definitely appreciated.

ozzy jr

The Emirates flight will more than likely also be an A380.

arubex

Folk that I know who have been on the A380 ( Emirates and QANTAS, not Malaysian though ) have raved about the cabin environment and lower fatigue on long journeys; humidity, pressure and noise levels all being superior. The A380 pioneered the same environment packs as used in the 787.

Looks like MAS only do 32-inch seat pitch though, which is the same as an Emirates 777.

fits

ozzy jr wrote: »

The Emirates flight will more than likely also be an A380.

From Dublin.. no its a 777 on both legs.

ozzy jr

fits wrote: »

From Dublin.. no its a 777 on both legs.

I meant from Dubai to KL. They do fly the A380 to KL. You should price that. I wouldn't pay an extra €200 on a flight. After a few hours they all look the same anyway, and I've flown on the A380 a few times.

fits

ozzy jr wrote: »

I meant from Dubai to KL. They do fly the A380 to KL. You should price that. I wouldn't pay an extra €200 on a flight. After a few hours they all look the same anyway, and I've flown on the A380 a few times.

Its definitely a 777 for the flights we were quoted for.

Its actually 150 extra per person for Malaysian airlines.

Connecting in LHR is preferable to me also. And I have fairly high points with one world. But is it worth the extra is the question. Never been on an A380.

McWotever

Service and food on Malaysian is great. IFE choice is good. Only 380 I've been on, so can't compare seats etc.

Transfer in LHR is a pain, but that was before EI flew in to terminal 2, so don't know if that has changed anything.

Foggy43

McWotever wrote: »

EI flew in to terminal 5,

A slight typing error. If you just do a little editing and change the '5' to a '2'

Tenger

McWotever wrote: »

.....Transfer in LHR is a pain, but that was before EI flew in to terminal 2, so don't know if that has changed anything.

Have no direct experience of T2 at LHR....but all reports I have heard/read are that it is a breeze compared to the older trek out of T1.

Foggy43

When you exit D1L you are in the baggage hall in about a minute!

Edit! Terminal One closes June 30, 2015

Zonda999

Also been in the Malaysian A380 and it is a superb economy class experience, the best I've come across by some margin. I'm not sure if I'd pay €200 more over the lowest fare though

Comhrá

Zonda999 wrote: »

Also been in the Malaysian A380 and it is a superb economy class experience, the best I've come across by some margin. I'm not sure if I'd pay €200 more over the lowest fare though

I flew LHR-SIN-MEL a few years back with QF (econ) and I would have paid the extra €200 for the comfort and quietness of the A380 cabin.

While in NZ I was taken ill, hospitalised and eventually my VHI Insurance paid for a business class flight home with Emirates, again an A380 SYD to LHR.

Talk about a cloud having a silver lining.

I was really pampered and if I were travelling down under again, I would be sorely tempted to lash out on a business class ticket if I could afford it.

smurfjed

I'm not sure if I'd pay €200 more over the lowest fare though

From looking at skyscanner, there is very little difference in total times, so its up to you, do you prefer a short flight followed by a long flight, or two equal length flights? For me, i would prefer the long flight so that i can sleep all the way I dont consider Dubai Duty Free to be a good bargain anymore, so i wouldn't consider that in the equation.

eatmyshorts

smurfjed wrote: »

I dont consider Dubai Duty Free to be a good bargain anymore, so i wouldn't consider that in the equation.

Depends what you're buying! I saved nearly 2000 Euro on the Irish price of my "got my command" present to myself!

jank

I have flown with all the carriers mentioned on an a380 and the Malaysian airlines experience was the most disappointing. It wasn't bad or anything like that just wasn't as good as Qantas, Emirates or Singapore airlines. I am due to fly etihad soon on hire new a380 and am looking forward to it as I find their customer service one of the best. By all means go for it. Why not fly to Singapore via London and go to KL then? Are you flying for leisure or business?

fits

jank wrote: »

I have flown with all the carriers mentioned on an a380 and the Malaysian airlines experience was the most disappointing. It wasn't bad or anything like that just wasn't as good as Qantas, Emirates or Singapore airlines. I am due to fly etihad soon on hire new a380 and am looking forward to it as I find their customer service one of the best. By all means go for it. Why not fly to Singapore via London and go to KL then? Are you flying for leisure or business?

Leisure. Singapore seems more expensive for flights at that time.

Crumbs868

ozzy jr wrote: »

I meant from Dubai to KL. They do fly the A380 to KL. You should price that. I wouldn't pay an extra €200 on a flight. After a few hours they all look the same anyway, and I've flown on the A380 a few times.

EK 777 from dublin is a horrible journey when plane is full

LiamaDelta

I flew MH LHR-KUL on the 380 last summer and was not very impressed. Yeah the A380 is nice but after a few hours it's not that much different to the others. As with any enthusiast, take off and landing are the interesting parts! I thought seat pitch was just ok. Seats seemed somewhat narrow and cushions thin....Luckily i had an empty seat beside me.
The aircraft itself was pretty dirty internally...it looked like it hadn't seen a good deep clean for months. There were layers of dust on bulkhead ledges, sticky tray tables etc. Staff are good, and as I'm Oneworld gold (or whatever the top level is) they did personally greet me and held a meal for me which was nice. Free upgrade to business on the way home was most welcome...but again nothing spectacular when compared to business class on the other main carriers.
I find Heathrow very easy in general...but again, I'm pretty used to it.

jank

fits wrote: »

Leisure. Singapore seems more expensive for flights at that time.

Well if its leisure, I assume you are not going to be spending all your time in KL. KL is pretty boring compared to what is around it tbh. Yea, Singapore Airlines are generally a little more expensive but the service is excellent.
The options are there anyway, at the end of the day there are more important things to worry about on a holiday then the plane. If you really really want to fly an A380 then MAS is fine.

fits

LiamaDelta wrote: »

I find Heathrow very easy in general...but again, I'm pretty used to it.

Me too.

Going to look at options to Singapore again, as I think really, we want to spend a few days there rather than Kuala Lumpur and internal flights seem easy to organise to our other destinations.

Id prefer one long flight to two short ones, and Id prefer to connect in London or Europe so I think Ill eliminate the Dubai and Abu Dhabi options.

CJhaughey

Personally having flown the ORK-LHR-KUL-AKL route many times plus the ORK-AMS-KUL on 747, 777, and 380 I preferred the old 747 over the 380, it didn't strike me as particularly quiet and last time I flew the 380 ice chips and water were falliong out of the overhead vents during takeoff.
Seats are quite hard as well compared to the Boeing versions but they have a sliding base on the 380 to give additional seat angle.
KLM are pretty reasonable flying out of AMS with the 777, I have had some very reasonable fares with them, food not as good as MAS but the Heineken is very nice.

homerjay2005

fits wrote: »

Looking at long haul flights right now to Kuala Lumpur. Emirates and Etihad offer cheapest options right now connecting in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. (700 euro). However I am quite tempted to get the Malaysian Airlines A380 from London Heathrow. Is it worth the 200 euro extra? Himself is quite tall so leg room is definitely appreciated.

ive flown both the a380 (BA) and 777 emirates long haul in recent weeks and i have to say, i had more space in the emirates 777.

better service too, though ive never flown with Malaysia

fits

Booked the Malaysian Airlines flight from London Heathrow. It was just the right mix of timing, flexibility (changeable ticket) etc. Booked seats on the upper deck so hopefully its all good now.

Dardania

fits wrote: »

Booked the Malaysian Airlines flight from London Heathrow. It was just the right mix of timing, flexibility (changeable ticket) etc. Booked seats on the upper deck so hopefully its all good now.

Upper deck is sweet - quiet, and doesn't feel so massive

I do agree with jank however - Malaysia Airlines have the highest utilisation of the A380 operators, so I too saw it was a little grubby - I was on a 6 month old plane at the time, and it struck me that the filter in the WC was filthy - weird what things one notices.

But the experience was great!

mighty magpie

Can anyone tell me if Sydney-Hong Kong with Quantas flys a380?

And same for Hong Kong-LHR?

According to flya380 .net those routes are a380 but I seen conflicting reports on another website.

Planning a trip home from Australia.

fits

Might depend on time of year? Flightradar 24 usually tells you which plane is on use on the route if you have the flight number.

imitation

Took a lufthansa a380 to Japan a few years back, its a bit quieter and has good amenities. There were loads of spare seats which was great for a rest. I did find it less "dry" To be honest though I dont know if id pay 200 euro, its a bit like have 3 days of the flu instead of 4 !

arubex

CJhaughey wrote: »

Seats are quite hard as well compared to the Boeing versions but they have a sliding base on the 380 to give additional seat angle.

Just a note, the seats have nothing to do with it being Airbus or Boeing! Blame the airline.

The airlines are also the ones that jam ten-abreast in a 777 versus... ten-abreast in an A380. I know which one is wider.

mighty magpie

fits wrote: »

Might depend on time of year? Flightradar 24 usually tells you which plane is on use on the route if you have the flight number.

thanks, looks like at the moment HK-LHR is a380
but SYD-HK has 2 flights per day, 1 a380 and 1 non-a380.
the a380 flight is about 90EUR more expensive.

Kankan14

fits wrote: »

Booked the Malaysian Airlines flight from London Heathrow. It was just the right mix of timing, flexibility (changeable ticket) etc. Booked seats on the upper deck so hopefully its all good now.

Definatly the better option flight time wise as was said above. If your partner is quite tall as I am it can take a while to settle into a spot to sleep. So he has far more chance of a half decent 4-6 hour sleep on a long one rather than two medium length flights.

Fwiw internal flights are cheap and easy to organize as you said but look into taking the train from KL to Woodlands(Singapore) not a long journey, extremely cheap and the countryside you see en route is beautiful.

Danbo!

fits wrote: »

Booked the Malaysian Airlines flight from London Heathrow. It was just the right mix of timing, flexibility (changeable ticket) etc. Booked seats on the upper deck so hopefully its all good now.

Did you get a window seat? The upper deck in SQ A380 has cabinets between the window and window seat due to the shape of the fuselage that are great for putting stuff in and getting more comfortable, I've seen them in 747 upper decks as well. Not sure if MH is the same, but they're handy.

fits

Danbo! wrote: »

Did you get a window seat? The upper deck in SQ A380 has cabinets between the window and window seat due to the shape of the fuselage that are great for putting stuff in and getting more comfortable, I've seen them in 747 upper decks as well. Not sure if MH is the same, but they're handy.

Yep. On the way out. Middle row upper deck on way back which is fine too. He'll have aisle seats with both options. And I wont have to climb out over strangers.

vonbarracuda

Being reported on Twitter MAS putting all their 6 A380s up for sale

fits

Ah jaypurs!

CJhaughey

vonbarracuda wrote: »

Being reported on Twitter MAS putting all their 6 A380s up for sale

No surprise, new man in charge after a couple of terrible years.

Foggy43

BA return to KUL from May 27, 2015 using a B777. I think this was planned before any announcements from Malaysia even though Malaysia are part of Oneworld Alliance.

LXFlyer

Foggy43 wrote: »

BA return to KUL from May 27, 2015 using a B777. I think this was planned before any announcements from Malaysia even though Malaysia are part of Oneworld Alliance.

That was announced last Autumn.