azuan1880 flew Firefly Economy, on a B737-800 (24/11/2011 12:55)

Back in 2009, Firefly was doing well with this route but has to stop the service due to aircraft re-deployment to other more profitable routes. Now that Firefly has received additional ATR72-500 aircrafts, the Subang-Kuantan route is back. The airline is so positive about the route that they are starting with twice daily services effective 30th October 2011.

I was booked on FY2120 on Friday 11.11.11. Flying has always been the best excuse to push myself to wake up very early in the morning and with lots of excitement, I was at the airport as early as 6:20am.

Check in was smooth and I managed to get my boarding pass and my luggage tagged in less than 4 minutes. It was a nice touch by the check-in staff to say “Have a nice flight, En Azuan” when she passed me my boarding pass. Small things that make a difference.

It’s also interesting to note that Firefly has introduced Web Check-in where passengers can check-in from home/office and just drop their bags at the dedicated counter. They have also introduced a more efficient queuing system with common check-ins instead of dedicated counters by destinations.

Despite the heavy morning rain, flights were departing as per scheduled and At 7:28am, the boarding process for our 7:40am flight begins. Umbrellas were provided to all passengers for our short walk to the plane. Our ride for the day 9M-FYH.

I was greeted by the leading stewardess, Miss Amira at the aircraft door and was later ushered by a more junior crew to my seat in 7F. As I was one of the last passengers to board the flight, I noticed that the load was quite light with about 50% passenger-on-board.

It’s funny that despite a few empty rows at the front part of the plane, I was assigned a seat next to another passenger. One way to improve is for Firefly to assign the seats to maximise comfort based on flight load allowing as much space as possible between passengers.

Take off was 2 minutes ahead of schedule.

In-flight service started a bit late due to weather and with the seat belt sign switched on during most of the flight duration, I decided to cancel my earlier plan to chat and take photos of the cabin crew in action as part of this review. Muffins / Peanuts and mango / guava juice were served to all passengers immediately after the seat belt sign was off.

The stewardess was smiling and interacting with some of the passengers and you can actually tell a difference that she’s doing it sincerely rather than following an SOP written on the manual. Thumbs up for that!

There was no in-flight briefing given by the Captain or Co-pilot perhaps due to the weather keeping them busy but I personally believe that during bad weather, words from the flight deck are always good to hear.

While most of the passengers took a short nap, I flipped through the reading materials provided in the seat pocket. We can now say good-bye to Kunang-Kunang Magazine. At least Going Places has been used as a replacement which makes sense if you look at the angle of cost savings for the company and MAS Group.

We landed in Kuantan 2 minutes earlier than our scheduled time.

My bag arrived 2 minutes after I entered the arrival hall.

The high quality service of Firefly Airlines has been quite consistent that despite after flying so many times with different planes and crew members I can enjoy the same ‘smooth and relaxing’ experience. Its value for money positioning together with this experience reaffirms my choice of Firefly as my favourite airline.
Pros:
a)Consistent in-flight service
b)Great ‘human-touch’ at Check-In Counter and in-flight
Cons:
a)Seat allocation was random; flights were half empty but strangers being assigned to sit with each other
b)No in-flight briefing by the pilots

wackybecky flew Firefly Economy, on a B737-800 (24/11/2011 08:49)

I have always opted to fly Firefly especially for domestic flights within Malaysia. I started flying Firefly to East Malaysia - Sabah & Sarawak in Jan & Feb this year. Overall, for 4-5 flights, they have been smooth and pleasant journeys.

My most recent flight was just last week to Kuantan, Pahang. A short 45min journey, it was comfortable and time passes quickly enough.
I believe you get what you pay for, and with Firefly, prices you pay are in tandem with the service provided. It has all been good experiences for me so far.

kempinski flew Firefly Economy, on a B737-800 (24/07/2011 11:54)

Firefly FY522
Sector: Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Kota Kinabalu (BKI)
ETD: 15:55
ETA: 18:30
Aircraft: Boeing B737-800

Background
Firefly is a low cost carrier of Malaysia Airlines. It operates bunch of regional flights using ATR72-500 fleet from its base in Penang (PEN) and Subang (SZB) Airport. In January 2011, it began service to Malaysian state of Sabah and Sarawak using B737-800 aircraft and I can't wait to try this Malaysia Airlines' Community Airline.

Booking
Firefly offers a number of booking channels: online, call center, mobile, and ticket office. When buying the ticket; passenger can choose to add-on few items at additional cost such as flight package (consisting of meal, 20kg checked baggage, advanced seat selection) and insurance. I choose to buy the 'standard' package and therefore I could secure a seat in advance; pre-purchase a meal; and get 20kh checked bag allowance.

Check-in
I arrived in Main Terminal Building (MTB) of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at noon. Firefly only offers 1 type of check-in: conventional counter check-in which is located at Row B, sharing the same row with Malaysia Airlines domestic check-in but each is having its own lane.
Check-in counter only opens 2 hours before scheduled departure time; therefore I had 2 good hours roaming in around the groundside. I decided to grab a quick bite (despite I ordered meal during the flight) and when I returned to check-in counters some 2 hours later: voila! 4 counters were open; line was moving quickly. They were checking-in for 2 flights simultaneously; to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching which depart in within 30mins of each other. After dropping my checked bags; I walked leisurely passing security and I arrived at the airside terminal of KLIA.

Boarding
The flight was assigned to depart from gate B11, that's the farthest gate located at the end of the main terminal building. Boarding is scheduled to commence at 15:25 and I learned that the same check-in staff was also performing duty as gate agent. What an efficient move to be adopted by Firefly. Such trick still can be done as they only have limited destinations and flights out of KLIA.
I was a bit worried at first if the flight tends to be delayed like other low cost carrier which have very short turnaround. My worry was abolished when I learned that my plane; 9M-FFB was already sitting pretty on the tarmac in a full hour before scheduled departure time. It might looked like an underutilized situation; but Firefly is adding few new destinations and frequencies in the coming months; so their fleet utilization is still on challenge.
As I entered the plane; I was greeted with smiles with not just the cabin crew waiting in the front door; but by all. The flight was manned by 5 cabin crew; one of whom is male.

Fleet
The fleet that I took was 9M-FFB, a 5-year old B737-800 which formerly flown by Excel Airways and joined Firefly on January 12, 2011.

Cabin
There are 189 all-economy seats onboard B737-800 in 32 rows (row 1 has 3 seats only: ABC and there is no row 13). Emergency exits are in row 16 and 17. Seat pitch is approximately set as 31-inch. There is no PTV nor overhead monitors. Each seat is only equipped with a tray table. A rather interesting fact is that either Malaysia Airlines who acquired the fleet 2 years before nor Firefly did not bother to make any changes on the interior. The seat covering are dark blue leather; the same one since the fleet was still flying for Excel. There is also an audio channel and even an ashtray on the armrest. The leather seat cover had definitely showing its age and it's just look out of place from Firefly's orange-and-white image. On the seat pocket; one can find the inflight menu; safety card; Going Places inflight magazine (same one as with Malaysia Airlines), and airsickness bag in Malaysia Airlines old design.

Inflight
The flight pushed back from Gate B11 on time and was directed to the runway and we took off not more than 15mins later. Since I was seated at the very back of the plane (seat 30A), I could feel the B737-800 powerful engine roar. During the flight; it was relatively calm and only few minor turbulence along the way; most notable when we crossed South China Sea.
Inflight meal service commenced shortly after take off. Crew was rolling out only one trolley and began the service from the first row upfront. Passengers can make food purchase or for those who had pre-purchase their meal will be served right away.
After clearing out for the meal; the crew then made announcement for inflight merchandise sales and soon the cart was rolled out. Too bad the inflight menu card onboard the flight was still of last month's edition; but the crew who brought the trolley was very informative and keen enough to let me know the latest merchandise that they have. I gladly purchased few items and they were good.

Crew
The best asset yet owned by Firefly is its crew. They might flown secondhand airplane; having uninviting cabin interior; and lack in check-in technology so far, but its the crew who made the whole Firefly experience on par with award winning carrier. Crew are dressed in catchy uniform; female cabin crew wear white blouse with orange trimming and a khaki skirt. Male cabin crew looked smart in white shirt; khaki vest and trousers and orange tie.
I might say that overall the Firefly crew has hospitality like those of the parent company; but they are more light in general, but put extra effort in ensuring the passengers are looked after. You can't get similar feeling these days even from conventional carrier.

Arrival
The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu took 2 hours and 35 minutes. The plane touched down at exactly 6.30 in the afternoon when the sky was getting dark. We disembarked through a jetway at Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1. There was some construction work going on at the airport and all passengers are directed to the international arrival immigration check as any flight from outside the state of Sabah is treated as international flight.

Verdict
Overall pleasant experience flying with Firefly, the plane despite using older interior was kept clean; service was good and attentive; flight was on time; but the best thing of the whole experience is to have a great cabin crew who can ensure passengers that they're in the right hand.
On regards of improvement; Firefly can definitely develop more check-in technology that other airlines are already adopting such as online check-in, improving the cabin interior, and chaging the inflight menu according to the validity.