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THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT
While the "real" business class product on this flight is very good value for money and includes a substantial hot meal service, unfortunately you can tell it's a shell of its previous self, especially on the tech amenities front |
3.5
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In February 2024 I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore in Batik Air Malaysia business class. This airline started operations in 2013 as Malindo Air, and was Indonesian airline Lion Air’s response to AirAsia’s expansion into Indonesia. They gained quite a bit of popularity pre-COVID, though struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. Somewhere around this time, the airline rebranded as Batik Air Malaysia, to establish a common identity within their parent group, Lion Group (Batik Air is an Indonesian airline that also operates under the Lion Group).
So how was business class on this regional airline? Perfectly fine, though not great. It’s always nice to have a “real” business class seat within Asia, and Batik Air Malaysia’s business class product was more full-service than it was low-cost. However, their relatively new planes aren’t hugely well-kept, none of the tech at the seat still works (including the TV screen, power port, and WiFi). It’s worth noting that I initially caught Batik Air Malaysia on a bad operational reliability streak, though it’s improved considerably in the meantime – I’d no longer consider Batik Air Malaysia operationally unreliable, whereas I would’ve done so in the past.
Here’s my review of this one-hour flight, bearing in mind that these same planes do operate up to five-hour flights within Asia.
Booking Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class
During my six-segment itinerary between London and Phuket, I originally wanted to fly KLM premium economy from Stockholm to Singapore, before positioning to Phuket in Singapore Airlines’ 737 MAX business class. I had this all booked, but KLM pulled premium economy flights off their Singapore route for the time being, so I routed to Kuala Lumpur.
I still had already booked accommodation in Singapore for the night, as well as my Singapore Airlines business class flight – this meant I had to get to Singapore. I’d definitely remembered Batik Air Malaysia’s onboard product catching my eye back when they were known as Malindo Air, so I jumped at the opportunity to fly them, especially since they were selling business class for only MYR 499 (£82/HK$815).
Batik Air Malaysia offers two packages for business class:
- Their Business Promo fare offers 30 kg of checked baggage allowance and free same-day changes to an earlier flight subject to availability
- Their Business Flexi fare offers 40 kg of checked baggage allowance, unlimited rebooking, and lounge access
I booked their Business Promo fare, which didn’t come with lounge access. Both fares came with a free 10 kg carry-on, priority check-in and boarding, and free seat selection – neither allowed free refunds.
Here’s the itinerary that I booked:
11/02 OD805 Kuala Lumpur – Singapore dep. 19:40 arr. 20:40 [Business Class]
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Ground Experience at Kuala Lumpur
As mentioned above, not all of their business class fares offer lounge access – mine didn’t. Business Flexi passengers would have access to the Sama-Sama lounge – definitely better than nothing, though it certainly didn’t look like a lounge I’d want to spend much time in.
Instead, I used my Priority Pass membership to access the Plaza Premium Lounge Kuala Lumpur, which I’ve reviewed here.
Kuala Lumpur airport does security at each individual gate, and the gate area was scheduled to open at 6:40 PM, an hour before our scheduled departure time. I left the Plaza Premium lounge early to wander through the G gate area (as it was much quieter), and caught a sunset aways from gate G8, where our flight would be departing from.
Sunset by gate G8
I was quite happy to see that our flight was scheduled to leave on time, though as aforementioned, Batik Air Malaysia’s operational reliability over the Chinese New Year period was a “yikes” – there wasn’t a single flight that hadn’t been delayed by over an hour, apart from ours (at the time). The airline seems to be doing consistently better on that front, though, so I’m happy for that.
Batik Air Malaysia delayed flights
At around 6:40 PM, a staff member came to inform us that our flight was going to be delayed by 50 minutes due to a mechanical issue with our aircraft, and we were told to return to the gate for 7:30 PM.
No gate G8 for us just yet
Many just hung around in line for security (as I did), and surely at 7:30 PM they did kickstart the security screening process and start letting us through. I made it through security very easily, and went down to the gate area to wait for our flight to board.
Kuala Lumpur Airport gate area
I’m not quite sure what to tell you about how I felt about the aesthetics of our non-existent plane…
Batik Air Malaysia 737 (or lack thereof)
It was another 30 minute wait until a Batik Air Malaysia 737 pulled into the gate. This plane had just arrived seven (!) hours late from Singapore, so I was glad not to be on that flight.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 at Kuala Lumpur Airport
It took around 35 minutes for deplaning, as well as for the ground crew to clean and service the aircraft. At around 8:35 PM a huddle started to congregate around the gate agent’s desk, and I realised these were business class passengers and priority boarders – I went to join them, and we were finally boarded at around 8:40 PM.
Batik Air Malaysia Flight OD805
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Origin: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) T: 1 Gate: G8 Dep: 19:40 (21:00)
Destination: Singapore (SIN) T: 3 Gate: B1 Arr: 20:40 (22:20)
Duration: 1 h (1 h 20 min)
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 Reg: 9M-LCR
Seat: 3F (Business Class)
The flight attendants nodded at me as I boarded the aircraft, and I was excited to check out the Batik Air Malaysia 737.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Cabin and Seat
Batik Air’s 737s feature 12 business class recliners. These are last-generation recliners with large headrests, similar to what you might find in a longhaul business class seat around 20 years ago.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Cabin
I chose seat 3F, located in the last row of the cabin. I don’t think this was specific to the last row, but the seat featured barely any recline – it did have a fold-up legrest with a fold-down footrest, though.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Seat 3F
To my left was an armrest, where a TV screen folded up.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Armrest
I was surprised to see a TV that seemed modern and touchscreen-enabled, but sure enough, it didn’t work. Batik Air Malaysia didn’t maintain many of its predecessor Malindo Air’s tech investments, so there are just remnants of a once-impressive shorthaul business class product.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class TV Screen
There was a little cocktail table that slid out of the armrest.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Cocktail Table
The tray table folded out of the other armrest, and was bi-fold. I actually was pretty surprised by how sturdy it was.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Tray Table
There were overhead nozzles above our seat of two seats, as is standard on a 737.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Air Nozzles
There was also one power port at each seat.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Power Port?
However, not only was it not working at the time, though it seemed completely wrecked with no signs of maintenance. This plane really was a bit of an onboard tech graveyard.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Power Port
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Economy Class
Since I was onboard early I got the chance to briefly check out the economy class cabin located behind my seat. There seemed to be ample legroom and this was definitely more than enough for an hour-long flight, though there were no headrests.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Economy Class
Since each seat was outfitted with a seatback entertainment screen, this cabin was arguably even more of an obvious hint that the airline had gone through a couple of restructuring processes in the meantime.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Economy Class
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Amenities
Back at my business class seat, I found a pillow and blanket, both of which were quite thin.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Pillow and Blanket
Shortly after boarding was complete, I was also handed a bottle of water.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Water
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Lavatory
Before takeoff I decided to visit the lavatory, which was clean, albeit unremarkable.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Lavatory
Taking Off from Kuala Lumpur Airport
Boarding was complete, and I was happy to have an empty seat next to me. The business class cabin was just over half full – from the looks of it, everyone either had an empty seat next to them, or was sat next to someone they knew.
One of the cabin crew came over to ask “later we will serve sandwich, would you like to have it?” Not really, to be honest, I just wanted a bed. However, in the interest of the review, I obliged; I was also asked for my drink preference, and I chose water.
The crew then did a manual safety demonstration, and the cabin lights were dimmed in preparation for takeoff. I quite liked the look of the cabin with mood lighting.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Cabin before Takeoff
We finally began our pushback at around 9 PM, though even then we were quite aways from runway 32R, where we’d be taking off.
Taxiing at Kuala Lumpur Airport
Finally, at 9:25 PM (1h 40m after our scheduled departure time), we rocketed out of Kuala Lumpur, heading directly southbound towards Singapore.
Takeoff from Kuala Lumpur
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Meal
I must give credit where credit is due – Batik Air Malaysia serves a full meal service on this hour-long flight, and manages to serve a meal in the span of 10 minutes.
There was no choice of meal. I was served a hot chicken and mushroom sandwich, with a warm pandan cake dessert (I think?) and a packaged green pea snack. The decadent cake was the star of the show (despite being more blondie-like in texture than the typical Singaporean fluffy pandan cake), but I found all of the other elements to be fairly tasty. This is much more than I’d expect on any flight outside of Asia, and certainly more than sufficient for an hour-long flight.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Meal
The gentleman across me was served a vegetarian meal, which as far as I saw was just two of the pandan cake. Not the best-catered meal, if you ask me! However, I’ve heard that Singapore Airlines just serves a cold sandwich in business class on this route, and this meal service was leaps and bounds ahead and that in quality.
I won’t have a separate section reviewing the service on this one-hour flight, but the crew were friendly and efficient, and a joy to fly with.
Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class Entertainment and WiFi
I’ve already mentioned the lack of inflight entertainment despite the presence of a screen. Well, there isn’t WiFi either. Batik Air Malaysia actually no longer advertises WiFi (they used to as Malindo Air), though they do now offer streaming entertainment as of June 2024. I flew this flight in February, so was unable to check this out.
Landing into Singapore Changi Airport
Not long after my tray was collected, it was time to land into Singapore Changi. The cabin was prepared around 20 minutes before landing, and we descended over the water.
Descent into Singapore Changi Airport
We landed on runway 02L at 10:15 PM, and from there it was a very short taxi to our arrival gate at Terminal 3. Unfortunately there wasn’t much in the way of views, as it was raining.
Changi Airport Tarmac Views (or lack thereof)
I hadn’t been at Changi Airport since 2017, so it was very nice to be back! I made my way past the immigration e-gates in no time, and found myself waiting for a Grab at Terminal 3. I was headed to my hotel for the evening – the 21 Carpenter, a Marriott Design Hotel.
Changi Airport Terminal 3
Conclusion: Batik Air Malaysia 737 Business Class
Batik Air Malaysia business class is comfortable to fly on this short route, and it certainly was good value for money, costing £82 for an hour-long flight in business class. I was very pleasantly surprised to get a full hot meal, which surpassed similar offerings on competitors such as Singapore Airlines. The presence of a pillow and blanket were good, and the seat wasn’t bad, despite the worn-ness and the lack of recline. The airline seems to have sorted out their operational reliability issues a fair bit since I flew them as well, which I’m quite pleased about.
However, on a longer flight, I can’t help but feel like this product is a bit sad? There clearly used to be entertainment, but isn’t anymore; they no longer operate their own lounge, or provide lounge access at all for low-fare business class passengers; the WiFi and power ports no longer worked on my plane, and there wasn’t WiFi, albeit it being advertised (especially since these aircraft were installed with WiFi when they were flying for Malindo Air). It seems like they used to have a great product, but currently operate a shell of their past self. Perhaps the 737 MAXs that the airline operates are in better condition.
Still, though, you can’t go wrong with Batik Air Malaysia on a flight like this, and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them again. Perhaps I’ll give their economy class a try, or shoot for one of the 737 MAX 8s.
Nice review. Any idea why some airports have redundant security at each gate? I mean, if you’ve passed security then you’ve passed security. Why make people go through it again? It also seems exceedingly inefficient.