Flight options to KUL -- any advice?
 

Probably should be posting this in the airline forum, but trust you guys the most, so here goes a hypothetical question:

Which airline would you take (business class) from LAX - Malaysia, if the following were your only two options?:

1) Traveling west on Korean Air via Seoul
total flight time roughly 20 hours + 2 hour layover

2) Traveling east on Emirates via Dubai
total flight time roughly 23 hours + 7 hour layover

Going to be redeeming miles soon and these are two likely options.

Never would I consider flying East, EXCEPT for the fact that it's Emirates and their business class product is supposedly phenomenal. There's that and just the allure of even flying through the Middle East in general (seems like an eye-opening adventure, if even just for a layover.)

I just wonder if it's one of those things that we'd be excited about going there but coming back would wonder why on Earth we have to traverse 3/4 of the globe to get home.

Know nothing of either carrier, so any comments/advice is appreciated.

Will,

The Emirates business class product varies depending on the flight sector. The USA - Dubai should have the new type of flat business class seats but the DBX - KUL sector "could" only have the older business class seats which are ok but not the Emirates one thinks of. For further research - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emira...f-j-seats.html

I've flown Emirates to Dubai in the past and was hugely disappointed because they did not offer any full meals or drinks in first class since the departure time from BKK was around 2.00 + am. I did not find Dubai airport that exciting either as it's like a big mall or supermarket inside with semi-disorganize boarding. If you've never been to the ME then perhaps a stopover and a quick lunch(or dinner) at the Burj Al Arab will do nicely!

Can you do a LAX - DBX - KUL and then return to Lax with Korean Air?

>>>the allure of even flying through the Middle East<<<

... (well, magic carpet rides and all, I'll still take those Singapore Girls - Forever.)

Too bad SQ isn't a current option; should circumstances change, fly SIA J, LAX to Singapore, spend a few joyous days and nights in sweet SIN at the Four Seasons with lovely women (or something like that), then, KUL. (Or, perhaps SQ J, all the way, to The Centre of the Known Universe: Bangkok, Thailand.) ... (And those memorable late-night masseuses.)

Good luck (and have fun),

macintosh (robert)


... gentle hostess, in your sarong ...

i would have to say that you have two fantastic choices....dubai would of course be my choice, but it would have to include a couple of days in dubai....

but as we discussed last week korean is a good alternative....

why not save miles and fly coach and you will be 1/2 way to the next trip with the mileage savings....??? you know you will sleep all the time anyways---remember the last time...

flash---thai has a new route to bkk via dubai.....oh yes there are stops in mexico city, capetown, delhi on that same trip....considering your great experience with them the last time, pick up the phone and give them a call...

Too bad United isn't an option. As of next week, they'll have fully converted to lie-flat seats on all the planes coming to Bangkok. But they don't fly to KL. Actually, I asked the manager why they didn't service Bali. He said he'd look into it.

Michael, that is good news indeed, for me. We have Biz tickets to Bangkok for November.

I swore I'd never fly United again until they did something to update their product--and, of course ironically, we have not nearly enough United miles now.


Oh well...at least the options are still good for us.

Definitely going to take Pook's great advice and try and go one way on Emirates and the other way on Korean.

Hey! Did I miss something? Will you be spending time in Malaysia? Or are you looking for a route to Bali?

Going to be either flying into or out of Kuala Lumpur (so, most likely into Denpasar and out of KUL.)

Bali and Lombok are the majority of the trip, but we always planned to go to KL for the entrance or exit point.

Emirates hands down!

Like Hanuman says, DXB-KUL are old-style business class seats on the 773ER. And even LAX-DXB on the 772LR is only lie-flat. You're not getting the flat-beds like those on EK's A340-500 or A380.

KE should be pretty nice, and even if EK's service is great, you still really want to just get to your destination.

hope you got the announcement from me about air asia coming to LA and NYC in 2010

I personally would take the shortest flight and the shortest layover. To save 16 hours on a round trip is really worth something, IMO. In addition, Dubai is in no way the “Middle East”, and 14 hours at the Dubai airport broken up into 7-hour segments is not going to do anything but make you bored, IMO, esp as your layover is probably going to be during the evening or very late night and you will not be able to do sightseeing (which is limited in any event). The Emirates lounge in the airport is OK, but tends to get very crowded, so you may not have a pleasant experience there. (I believe that they may have just opened a new lounge area there, so perhaps things have improved a bit.) In Seoul, you won’t have time to do much, which is the objective, the Korean Airlines lounge is fine, but you won’t have to spend much time in it in any event. Airport is very modern and efficient.

Korean Air business class is fine and on the LAX long haul you may get flat bed seats, don’t know for sure, it is probably easy to check this.

Let's all let Bob be the first to sit in Air Asia's cattle car for 24 hours from New York to KL, and let us know how it is. Here's a review of the much shorter Melbourne flight:
http://www.itravelnet.com/blog/2009/...bourne-to.html

Thanks for posting that link, Michael. Nine across seating... yuk.

Update: just read on Business Traveler that the London - KUL Air Asia X does have a business class, which runs from GBP 399 one-way. The planes are former Air Canada A340-300's and the 30 biz. class seats have a 60" pitch. That's reasonable for a 12 hour flight.

Air Asia have been advertising their "business LIKE" product for months now and the price in Thai Baht is 21,000 per way. Seats suppose to have a private LCD monitor but on on demand video.

Oops that suppose to read "but no on demand video".

Michael, you try out the Biz class LHR-KUL and let us know how it is.