Review: Malaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

By
Ziggy
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a building with a sign on the wall
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I’ve visited the Malaysia Airlines First Class lounge in Kuala Lumpur twice this year (both at different times of day) so, rather than post two separate reviews, I’m combining my experiences of a morning and an evening visit into one post.

The Malaysia Airlines First & Business Class lounges are located one level above the C-gates in the international departures area of Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Both lounges share an entrance…….

a man standing at a reception deskMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

…….but, once you’re checked in you’re sent to the left for Business Class and right for First Class.

a person standing in a hallwayMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Inside The First Class Lounge

The lounge’s dining room is just to your right as you walk towards the First Class lounge’s seating areas and, on both my visits, a lounge an attendant (see picture above) asked if I would like to dine – more on that later.

a hallway with a glass railing and a staircaseMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

On both my visits the First Class lounge has been beautifully quiet (except for one brief 10 minute period where someone brought in a screaming baby) so the seating choices were plentiful.

As you approach the main lounge seating area there are a number of high-backed chairs arranged in sets of four around small coffee tables….

a room with chairs and a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a group of chairs around a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

…but, while these are undoubtably comfortable, you would feel a little “on display” if you chose to sit here – every single lounge visitor would be walking right by you on their way in and on their way out and there are better places to sit inside the lounge proper.

Just past these high-backed chairs the lounge opens up into a large rectangular area split over two levels:

a room with a tree and a windowMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

The top level is where the refreshments are laid out and where a few pairs of armchairs have been positioned.

a long room with a long counter and chairsMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Just as with the high back chairs on the way into the lounge, the arm chairs on this upper level are not a great place to sit as you’d feel like you were sitting in a thoroughfare….which you would be as this area leads to the restrooms, shower rooms, sleep rooms and cigar room that the lounge also offers.

The lower of the two levels is where the best seating is to be found and it’s also the brightest area of the lounge thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the airport apron.

a room with chairs and tablesMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a room with chairs and a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a room with chairs and tablesMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a group of chairs in a roomMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Should at any point space become limited in this area (base on my observations that probably doesn’t happen too often) there are more seats where the two levels of the lounge meet.

a room with white chairs and a glass railingMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

I tested out a couple of the seat types here and they were pretty comfortable…although if you want to work comfortably you’ll have to have your laptop on your lap.

There weren’t all that many power outlets available but those I did find were on the universal variety so most guest shouldn’t need an adapter.

a black cord plugged into a white outletMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Just past this large seating area and still overlooking the airport apron, is the “Cigar Room”

a sign on a wallMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

people sitting in chairs in a room with a windowMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Here, if you can put up with the smell of smoke, you’ll find the lounge’s best chairs (presumably to keep you comfortable while you slowly give yourself any number of ailments!)

a group of black chairs and a table in a roomMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Opposite the cigar room is the entrance to the sleep rooms but these were fully occupied during my visits so I didn’t get pictures.

The entrances to the restrooms and shower rooms are here too and, judging from the decor, I’d guess that they have recently been renovated.

a bathroom with sinks and mirrorsMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a bathroom with a mirror and toiletMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Shower Room

a sink on a marble counterMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Shower Room

a toilet in a bathroomMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Shower Room

a shower head in a bathroomMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Shower Room

The updated (presumably) facilities looked nice and the shower had good pressure.

The toiletries offered come in individual packs and are branded especially for the lounge.

a group of bottles of shampoo and lotionMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Shower Room

First Class Dining

As I mentioned at the outset, the First Class dining room is just to the right as you first enter the lounge and, while I declined dinner during my evening visit (I wanted to try the food on my upcoming flight) I did manage to get pictures of the evening meal menu.

Evening Dining

Click to enlarge and please forgive the poor quality.

a menu on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Dinner Menu

a piece of paper with lines on itMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Wine Menu

Breakfast Dining

During my morning visit I decided that I should really try what was on offer despite not really being all that hungry.

The dining room isn’t particularly large (at a guess I’d say it holds no more than 15 tables)…..

a room with tables and chairsMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Dining

…but despite that, it was pretty quiet during this visit and I was ushered to a table for four.

a table with white plates and silverware Malaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Dining

From the moment I took my seat the service was painfully slow. it was obvious that there was both a small buffet and an a la carte menu to choose from but it took a server the best part of 10 minutes before I was offered a menu.

a menu on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast Menu

Having seen just how slow the service was going to be I hurriedly ordered the Nasi Lemak before the server departed just to make sure I’d get it before my flight departed…and it was a good thing I did!

The meal took 26 minutes to arrive!

That’s unacceptable in any airport lounge let alone a First Class lounge – passengers clearly have flights to catch and can’t be expected to budget the best part of half an hour just to get a meal that has clearly been mostly prepared in advance.

It’s also unacceptable in a lounge that has so few passengers in it – what are the kitchen staff doing that’s taking so long?

Anyway…..

While I was waiting for the Nasi Lemak to arrive I took the opportunity to check out the small buffet that had been set out.

On offer were:

“Seasonal fruit” and yoghurts:

a glass container with milk and yogurt on itMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

The yoghurt flavors were:

  • Strawberry
  • Peach
  • Blueberry
  • Natural

Cereals:

a table with bowls of foodMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

And a choice of breads, pastries and preserves:

a plate of pastries on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

a group of jars on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

The pastries and breads included:

  • Croissants
  • Chocolate vanilla palmiers
  • Cinnamon whirls
  • Spiced rolls
  • Wholemeal rolls
  • Rye bread
  • White bread (sliced)
  • Wholemeal bread (sliced)

When the Nasi Lemak finally arrived it was no more than average….so I have no idea what took them so long.

a plate of food on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

a plate of food on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur – Breakfast

As far as “First Class Dining” goes this was poor. very poor.

The service was just plain bad and the food quality would have been disappointing for a meal at 34,000 feet.

I’ll take one for the team and try the dinner menu next time I’m passing through….but I don’t have particularly high hopes for it.

Other Refreshments In The Lounge

Because breakfast took longer than it took Tolstoy to write War & Peace I didn’t get much of a chance to see what had been laid out in the lounge for guests who chose not to dine…but on my evening visit I had no such issue.

On the upper level in the main seating area the lounge offered a variety of snacks and drinks.

a buffet with drinks and food on itMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

There was a small “salad bar” which offered the following….in quantities suitable only for Lilliputians:

  • Smoked salmon
  • Tomato, cucumber & parsley salad
  • Potato salad with capers and mustard seed
  • Mesclun mix
  • Oriental chicken salad with crispy wonton noodles
  • A variety of dressings

There was also some fruit on offer.

a buffet table with food and saucesMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a group of bowls of fruitMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

a plate of fruit on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

The fruit tasted fresh and was just the thing I needed after a long flight (I’d just flown in from London on this occasion).

There was also a paltry selection of cheeses on offer (Emmental, Brie & Danablu) with some crackers as well as a few mini-sandwiches:

a tray of food on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Lastly, from a food point of view, the lounge offered cookies and chips.

a kitchen counter with jars of food and spicesMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

The thing that stuck me almost as soon as I started looking at this selection was that there weren’t any alcoholic beverages on offer…and at no point during my visits did anyone offer me one.

The dinner menu (posted above) offered wines (this clearly isn’t a dry lounge) so I’m guessing that this has something to do with the fact that Malaysia is a predominantly Islamic country (the fantastic Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Class lounge doesn’t have alcohol available on a pour-your-own basis either).

While these may not be any alcohol on offer the lounge does have some nice juices on offer…..

a group of juice dispensers on a tableMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

…orange, apple and mango.

And the world’s saddest coffee machine is here too:

a coffee machine and a blue refrigerator on a counterMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

There’s clearly a trick to getting decent coffee out of this machine as, no sooner had I approached it, than one of the lounge staff ran up to me (almost literally) and suggested that she would take things from here.

In fairness the resulting coffee that was brought to my seat wasn’t bad at all.

a cup of coffee on a saucerMalaysia Airlines First Class Lounge Kuala Lumpur

Thoughts

The big positive out of my two visits was how uncrowded and quite the lounge was. It was a nice sanctuary for peace and quiet and it was a good place to get a bit of work done…although I did have to have my laptop on my knees as there weren’t really any appropriate places to work.

Having said that there were a lot of negatives:

  • The staff, although friendly, seemed very idle – serving guests didn’t appear to be high on their list of priorities and the speed of service was snail-like during breakfast.
  • The breakfast was bad and the selection was paltry for a national airline’s home First Class lounge
  • The lack of alcohol on view isn’t an issue but, unless it’s a dry lounge (which it isn’t), there should be some obvious way you can order a drink – I didn’t see one and not one staff member ever approached me to see if I’d like a drink.
  • The amount of food on offer for guests choosing to pass on the dining room option was laughable – had I been hungry I could have demolished what had been put out by myself!

Don’t get me wrong, this was a far, far better place to pass some time than the Plaza Premium Lounge I reviewed earlier in this trip…but this simply doesn’t have many hallmarks of a true First Class lounge.

Yes the lounge had a dining room – that’s a check mark in the column listing things a First Class lounge must have – but I’m struggling to think of anything else “First Class” that the lounge offers.

For a Business Class lounge this may be considered “average” (with poor staff) but for a First Class lounge it misses the mark by quite a way.

More lounge reviews available, by city, on the Traveling For Miles Lounge review page 

Up Next: A Review of the Qatar Airways 777-300ER Business Class product on a daytime flight

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7 COMMENTS

  1. I visited the first lounge a month ago and it was my second visit for dinner. Champagne is served as is good wine and the food was reasonable in choice, on time and very tasty. I flew back with BA and I commend the dining lounge if you have access as an Emerald or First traveller. It does take a bit of finding. Also worth noting the fast track for business/first at passport control on departure is not immediately obvious but it saves a potential long queue. Shame it is not available on arrival (or is it?).

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