By: Salina Md Salleh (Media Relations, Communications Division)

Hi everyone!

The “Fill up your MAS virtual plane” contest is now live on Facebook. You can check it out at http://www.facebook.com/MAStravel?v=app_7146470109&ref=ts

The participant who fills up his or her plane the fastest will win 2x return tickets from KUL–BKI–HANEDA + RM1,000.

Please share this with your family and friends.

Hi everyone,

By: The Living MH Blog Team

We would like to share with you guys the latest contest on Malaysia Airlines Travel FB.

Go to http://www.facebook.com/MAStravel?v=app_6009294086 and check out ‘Got an eye for value?’ Basically, you guys have to answer questions based on EVF, MAStraveller and value. The person with the highest points (in the length of 90 seconds) will win 2 economy return tickets to any ASEAN destination of your choice!

Good luck and do share it with your friendsJ

By: The Living MH Blog Team

Malaysia Airlines is more accessible to you at any time and any location around the world with MHmobile. All you need is a mobile phone with a web access and you’re ready to book, share and fly on the go. Try it now at flymas.mobi

In this video, Stephen Soosay, Manager (Passenger Service System) shares insight on how our customers can use MHMobile to connect to their friends via the social digital networks such as Facebook, Tripit and Dopplr.

To find out more, check out this clip.

By: The Living MH Blog Team

F1 fever is happening this weekend!

We have two F1 contests:

1) Pimp your MAS Ride (Design MAS F1 car)

2) My BFFs & Car Photo Contest

Here are some of the cool designs of the F1 car submitted by Malaysia Airlines Travel Facebook fans.

The winners chosen will have a chance to win a pair of F1 Grand Stand tickets worth RM500 each.

Izzatemir 1

Norliana Zahiah Supardi

Saravanan Munusamy 1

Saravanan Munusamy 2

Yazid Yusof

By: Marcus Chhan (Guest Blogger)

MALAYSIA AIRLINES   FACEBOOK   TWITTER   BLOGS   DIGITAL

• The MAS digital journey from early 2008
• Successful integration of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter with brand
• Providing value propositions to customers

Malaysia - The rise of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in the digital realm over the last one and half years is impressive but also demonstrates to marketers the mindset of today's consumer who is ever-craving for real brand engagement.

In early 2008, MAS launched its employee blog Living Malaysian Hospitality (LMH) with 30 employee bloggers and today it has a pool of over 150 employee bloggers - not including the customers and guest bloggers who write about Malaysia Hospitality (MH) experiences.

"Entries which garner high interest include those by our cabin crew, destination stories and behind-the-scene pieces," Malaysia Airlines senior general manager of communications, Indira Nair, said.

Blog entries are now posted on a daily basis and the content is used to engage with MAS Facebook and Twitter followers.

In March 2009, the airlines launched the Malaysia Airlines Travel (MAT) fan page on Facebook and MASTravel on Twitter, in a bid to engage with customers aged between 20 and 35. Today, MAT has over 13,500 fans while Twitter is used as a support mechanism for Facebook and LMH initiatives.

Nair said the MAT activities go beyond product updates and are driven by actively engaging with its audience.

"Every activity is tracked, evaluated and learning’s are captured and built into future activities.  Whilst the size of the group is important - we need to have a sizeable base to start with - having an active community is even more important," she said.

According to MAS research, MAT has driven more than 37,000 unique visitors to Malaysiaairlines.com which represents 16% of the website's total visitor count for the last five months (1 March to 17 August 2009).

"These two platforms [Facebook and Twitter] are not means for hard sell. It's meant to build awareness and connectivity with Malaysia Airlines," Nair said.

MAS do around four to five entries a day on Facebook and Twitter and both initiatives are supported by a blogger engagement programme. In mid-August, the company organized a plane spotting session for its bloggers and Facebook fans.

"To date, we have done tours of our inflight kitchen, the flight simulator, a walkabout of the cabin crew training and also a walkabout of our Engineering & Maintenance facilities," Nair said.

"Their stories provide a glimpse into the array of services and value we provide from their perspective," she said.

Fleishman-Hillard Malaysia, which won the Malaysia Airlines digital influence brief in December 2008, told A+M that the carrier is looking at value propositions rather than being fixated on lowest pricing.

Malaysian Airlines also extended its digital presence to brands MASGrads (for students aged 12 years and above) and MASExpat (for expatriates) to keep different target audiences updated on specific deals.

By: Jonathan Tan (Guest Blogger)

Info - 1

Info - 2

The Malaysia Airlines Travel (MAT) Facebook page recently held a contest whereby participants stood to win a rare opportunity to go plane-spotting with Malaysia Airlines. Some 20 participants comprising bloggers, photographers, and forum members joined us for the outing, which was to be held near our very own KLIA.

We met up at a car park in Sepang before being escorted by airport security personnel to a nearby hill, which overlooked the landing runway. Despite being one of the best locations for plane-spotting, the planes were landing too far away – making it difficult for the photographers to capture sharp photos even with their huge lenses! (Hon Kit, an aviation buff then enlightened that runways switch between landing and take-off depending on the wind direction).

Picture by Jessica Tan

Even if the planes were too distant, the photographers still took some great shots of the airport along with planes that had landed. Some of them even jokingly teased us that they were going photographer other airlines and not just MAS planes!

After 45 minutes, we then opted to migrate to a second location located near the LCCT. What we did not expect was to be standing next to a road which was only 15-20 feet away from the take-off runway!

Picture by Koh Poh Leong

Within seconds of arriving, we saw a B737-400 taking off – and the eager shutterbugs were scampering for a shot of the plane as it rose.

Picture by Ho KC

Picture by Koh Poh Leong

Picture by Jessica Tan

Picture by Koh Poh Leong

Numerous other planes passed us that morning, and it was a good hour or so observing (and hearing!) the massive birds roaring upon its ascent. Even the overlooking cloudy sky failed to dampen our excitement at this rare opportunity.

Picture by Wingz

Picture by Jessica Tan

Picture by Adrian Yap

Picture by Jessica Tan

More crazy shots:

Picture by Koh Poh Leong

Picture by Jessica Tan

Picture by Adrian Yap

With such wonderful response, I think it would not take too long before our second plane-spotting session takes place.

Picture by Koh Poh Leong

Whatever you do, please do not attempt plane-spotting on your own or you will be arrested by the police! Just join us for the next plane-spotting session - ours is legal!

Until then, stay tuned! More pictures on www.facebook.com/mastravel

By: Salina Md Salleh (Media Relations, Communications Division)

ASEAN Pass Logo

Hanoi

Bangkok

Langkawi

Penang

Kota Kinabalu

Fancy a relaxing getaway to Cebu, Phuket, or Hanoi? Join Malaysia Airlines’ contest (http://apps.facebook.com/mastravel) and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS to become fans of the Malaysia Airlines Travel Facebook page.

How to win? Participants earn points for each friend who becomes a fan of MAStravel. The participant with the highest number of points at the end of the contest wins one of our grand prizes*:

1st prize: 1x Business Class ASEAN Pass + 1x Economy Class ASEAN Pass
2nd prize: 2x Economy Class ASEAN Passes
3rd prize: 1x Economy Class ASEAN Pass

For winners from ASEAN countries, the prizes will be valid from the participant’s country of origin. The contest is open to all MAStravel Fans and runs from 19-31 August 2009.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your friends onboard MAStravel and win ASEAN Passes.

*Each ASEAN Pass consists two return tickets valid for travel to ASEAN destinations http://124.217.246.219/~cde34rfv/fb/aseanpass/images/aseanpass.jpg). Terms and conditions apply (http://124.217.246.219/~cde34rfv/fb/aseanpass/tnc.html). For more information regarding the ASEAN passes, please read here (http://124.217.246.219/~cde34rfv/fb/aseanpass/images/TnC_Asean_Pass.jpg)

By: Salina Md Salleh (Media Relations, Communications Division)

Contest period: 15th June – 19th June 2009

Contest mechanics: Participants need to send in their best slogan to this line:

"MAS, fly me from Singapore to Paris because..."

The most compelling entry will win TWO free Economy class tickets from Singapore to Paris.

Entries must incorporate the following requirements:
a) Slogan must be written in English language only
b) No more than 20 words
c) Post a wall message on Malaysia Airlines Travel page with the message “MAS, fly me from Singapore to Paris” to confirm participation AND email slogan complete with the words “MAS, fly me from Singapore to Paris because….”

d) They need to email the slogan, as well as their details to malaysiaairlines@gmail.com

The ‘MAS, fly me from Singapore to Paris’ so far has received around 80 entries. Don't wait! Send us your slogan today! Tomorrow is the last day!

By: Hooi Joo (Guest Blogger)

I'm a wedding consultant by profession, and have been in the events industry for 10 years now. I am glad to share my experience attending Idris Jala's Q&A session (& not forgetting his guitar performance) on 2nd June 09. I must admit that I wasn’t an ardent fan of Malaysia Airlines. All I knew about Malaysia Airlines was it's our national airline, that's all.

I didn’t take notice of MAS until I hear the ads on BFM. I love listening to BFM as I’ve learnt a lot from the various talk shows. When the MAS acronym contest was on BFM, I was intrigued and took part in it. Though I didn’t win, however it led me to start taking notice of MAS through Facebook as we get updated regularly on the latest happenings.

When we were invited on Facebook to join Idris Jala in a Q&A session, I decided to attend because I wanted to be exposed. As a wedding consultant (or whichever field I may be in), I see the need to be continuously inspired, exposed, to grow and to learn. Perhaps, my profession requires me to be creative and think out of the box. There's so much to absorb around us, and I do not want to be limited by the wedding industry.

Firstly, I thought it’s quite interesting that MAS would organize a session for Idris Jala to meet the FB fans (especially the guitar playing session), I rarely hear of such events before. Why not - I thought, there is nothing to lose but am sure there’s much to gain.

Overall I’m glad that I came. The staff whom I met (Jung Yee & Rayhel) were friendly and helpful; I felt at home when I entered the Reception area with a huge banner that says MH – Malaysian Hospitality. I feel proud that our national carrier carries this principle, reminds me of how hospitable I need to be with friends and families around me.

Throughout Idris’ presentation, I had a glimpse of MAS. How the company was struggling in 2006, and how it turned around? His 6 leadership points were:

1.  Game of the impossible.

Believing in the impossible. You need to “die” before you can gain. If MAS didn’t go thru the down times, it wouldn’t give them the opportunity to make drastic changes, and turnaround. What an amazing way to look at challenges!

2.  Anchoring on the P&L.

It’s all about Profit & Loss – need to cut losses and gain profit. A sneak peak into some staggering figures behind MAS.

3.  The Discipline of Action.

Handwork counts!

4.  Situational Leadership.

Directive Style vs. Empowering Style.

5.  Winning Coalition.

Work with competitors to have a win-win situation.

6.  Divine Intervention.

40% controlled by humans, 60% is uncontrollable.

~ Human beings have wanted control and influence over what happens, but 40% of situations are controllable, 60% is uncontrollable. He gave an exercise to list down all the major events in our lives; you’ll find that most of the events are out of our control.

~ Life is a continuous reduction of options.

How do you get Divine Intervention?

a)  On values & actions – Be a good human being.

b)  Ethics – operate from the “white”, not from the “black” or “grey”. e.g. giving bribes, lies, etc.

c)  Self-Renewal – solitude and reflection (Theory of Enough) Live for today, define what’s enough, more than that will be blessings, so we can count our blessings.

As a Christian, I am most intrigued when he shared about Divine Intervention. He is a Christian, and practices many principles found in the Bible. During Q&A, he shared about the most important qualities in a leader are Integrity and Humility.

I think I am most impressed when he shared about living for today, not tomorrow. Defining what’s enough. He shared that for him what’s enough is to make enough money to pay for the house, car (even Proton will do), etc. He’s quite a simple man, his presentation and sharing is filled with humor and so relatable. Of course the highlight was him jamming his guitar – that was incredible, makes me feel like visiting the villages in Sarawak, going back to nature and escaping from the fast lane.

During refreshment, I had the opportunity to ask Idris’ opinion related to the wedding industry. It was great to chat with him in person, I didn’t feel like I was talking to the CEO of a company because there was really no airs about him. The first sentence that came from him when we met at the canteen was his praises for the Communications Manager, Rayhel (as I was having a conversation with Rayhel when he came). Throughout his presentation, I also noticed that he kept mentioning names of his team mates, really shows that Idris is a great leader and a great team player – an important element that turnaround the company from struggles to success.

Overall, the session gave me a glimpse into the stories behind Malaysia Airlines, and I’m proud that we have a homegrown airline that has won many awards e.g. – The Best Cabin Crew. Now I know more about Malaysia Airlines, it is MORE than our national carrier. The name MH – Malaysian Hospitality, truly speaks for itself as I experienced that hospitality on that day.

Of course, I still look forward to the future Acronym Contests, and hopefully my luck with contests can turnaround too.

By: Zaileen Hashim (Communications Division)

Check out this video to watch our MD, Idris Jala's performance at the Facebook Friends of MH event held on 2 June 2009.

By: Tan Jung Yee (Communications Division)

Last week, you all heard that Malaysia Airlines Travel is hosting a ‘Facebook Friends of MH’ session whereby Facebook users get the chance to meet with our CEO, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala.

Around 100 guests attended on 02 June (Tuesday) and during this session, they asked Idris questions about his personal journey, his passion for playing the guitar & singing the blues and of course, Malaysia Airlines - what they expect/hope their national carrier should be.

We met a few of them and they gave wonderful feedback about this session.

Check out all these photos!

By: Tan Jung Yee (Communications Division)

Malaysia Airlines Travel on Facebook will be holding a ‘Facebook Friends of MH’ session whereby we invite Facebook users to meet with our CEO, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala.

At this session, they can ask Idris questions about his personal journey, his passion for playing the guitar & singing the blues and of course, Malaysia Airlines - what they expect/hope their national carrier should be. This is a great opportunity for you to get your friends and peers to meet Idris and gain insights into the aviation industry and corporate life.

Do invite your friends and peers who have burning questions to ask our MD, Idris Jala. We are sure it will be an inspirational session for them. The date of "Meet Idris Jala" session is on 2nd June, 3pm. All you have to do to meet Idris up close and personal is:

1. Be a fan on Malaysia Airlines Travel at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malaysia-Airlines-Travel/52798899711

2. Post a question that you would like to ask Idris on the Malaysia Airlines Travel wall. Alternatively, write an email to malaysiaairlinestravel@gmail.com with:

• Email subject: Idris Jala
• Full name
• I/C number
• Mobile Number
• Your question to Idris

Space is limited to 150 guests, so please respond on the Malaysia Airlines Travel wall or via email with your question as quickly as possible. Emails or FB wall postings must reach MAS by this Sunday 31st May. We will revert with the details of the venue.

Here is a glimpse on what you are going to expect when you meet our MD. Got the hint?

For your information, this video was produced last year. Taking on a slightly different approach from the MH = Malaysian Hospitality video, the oneMH video is produced in a home-made stylized video. Motivating and light-hearted, this short clip oneMH – Passion. Heart, Mind and Soul features our unsung heroes of the airline and the passion our team has for the arts and cultural activities they engage in.

We look forward to meeting you!

This article by Elena Lee Yu Shen (Friends of MH) extracted from http://lenaee.blogspot.com/2009/05/7.html

I always tell myself not to plan for my holidays, I am considering Cherating... Anyone? But that's not the story, On a random day, a friend told me to join this contest, and I thought why not? I'm a blogger, I'm having my holidays, I don't think it's a definite win since chances are always slim (but i was wrong) , it's worth a try, so I tried.

It was just a simple slogan, no word limit... and this was my winning comment. =)

I WANT to attend the MAS cabin crew training because, chances of me even getting to BE part of the cabin crew would be slim due to my small framed body, in other words, I'm short... *not THAT short. 155cm?* Anyway... I used to admire my dad when he was ... Read Morepart of the cabin crew as an inflight supervisor... I grew up dreaming that one fine day I would love to become an air-stewardess, but when I got to a certain age, and realized I wasn't growing anymore, that dream faded, though deep inside, I would still love to try.

I always wondered when I was on the plane, what did the cabin crew go through in order to BE a cabin crew, I used to hear stories from my dad.. (now he's working as an instructor, he stopped working as a cabin crew) He used to tell me incidents on slides, emergency scenarios, it all made me go wow, but it was only based on my imagination... I would love a real life experience

Yea, reason why I ended like that was because, facebook didn't allow too many words in the comment... NOW you know how many words you can type in one comment. haha.

Why 7?
- CLTCL by the Footstool Players got an award for Best Group Performance, beating instant Cafe! For the 7th BOH Cameronian Awards.
- I was number 7 when they announced the winners for the blogger-comment thing.
-I have 7 animals in my household.. *it so wasn't planned*

Talk about uber-cool, being able to join the cabin crew without even meeting the height requirements. At least I get to KNOW what they do. I was pretty excited actually, but the moment I knew bout it, I was like... "oh okay, I won...." I had no idea what to say, I didn't sound too excited, maybe because I don't have someone to tell it too, but a couple of close friends. What would I do without em?

Okay, the previous paragraphs were written yesterday. SO, today was the day I actually drove to MAA (Malaysia Airlines Academy) brought back old memories when I used to fly with MAS with my dad. The day started off with... some kuih stuff for breakfast, then there was a briefing, after the briefing and a presentation by Mr. Gunalan (who was my dad's colleague... he even called my phone ONCE to look for my dad... how awesome is that weiiiiii) and then after that was a grooming session.

It was quite a surprised that I was picked to er... volunteer? *that's so not right* for the grooming session, considering the fact that I DON"T wear make-up.. only an eye-liner during presentations in college. It's AMAZING what powder and substances can do to your face... check it out wei... I was really thankful actually, and yea, it was something VERY different. I felt different too. Just regretted not asking what brand's the makeup. HAHA. and I had to spend my WHOLE time walking around, going for first aid lessons, walking around, went for a mini-aircraft visit, and pretending to be disabled during the slide drill with make up on.... It was a VERY good experience, and I would love to extend my thanks to the team behind this.

Won' t bore you with more words... *for once... * I'll let the pictures do the talking, and will include captions if necessary. Kinda lazy to type also actually.

Upon Arrival.

Presentation/ talk/ briefing/whatever by Mr. Gunalan.. who was my dad's colleague.

Career Path.... My dad worked there till he was an Inflight supervisor, which means he worked as a crew for 25years or so maybe? and now he's workin as an instructor... not in MAS though.

Random

I actually remember walking through this office ONCE when I was younger... it was during dad's office weeks, when he didn't fly... *yea, they're suppose to go to the office for at least a week..something like that.*

Grooming class.

The "before" picture. Yea, I was picked... to volunteer? hahaha.

The "After" photo....I was shocked to see myself in the mirror.

Yeap... that's the Si-fu.... gave her my blog link though, so I thought maybe she'd want this photo too... hehe.. *hey!!! =)* Oh, and my dad said that he might know her too. *prof. make up artist k* oh, I forgot to ask questions like, what brand is it, what color was the brown, and the lip gloss too.. I found the lipgloss cool though. oh, and the hairspray smelled good.

After that, we were told bout the kebaya, how to do the cat-walk, how to sit properly and what guys should do when girls want to take a seat. hahaha.

Moving on, First aid!

Then we went for our mini-aircraft visit....

b737?

Syok Sendiri moment in the First class.

Trainees

Random

The emergency slide! awesome... first we were told to wear the overalls.. which looked like an oversized pyjamas for me, then they asked 5 bloggers to volunteer to be a handicapped person, I didn't want to volunteer cuz, I wanted to sit the slide alone... without anyone holding me. BUT, they changed their mind and asked for smaller sized people.... so yea, I got the experience of being totally handicapped, having two flight attendants carrying me, and one to follow me down the slide.... it was still cool. Oh oh, it's actually a simulator thingy-muh-jingy... so first the whole section of that plane will start moving abit, and suddenly, just like... the real life emergency scenario......

I felt VERY safe.

it looks okay here, but if the person who was holding the camera took a FULL length picture including my feet, lets just say, it's not a nice sight.

Crew gettin ready to swim in their uniforms... it's amazing how one can swim in a kebaya.

See... *k lah.. you can't see a thing.. *

The ganas instructor

Formation! well, this is how they keep warm in the water...

JonTan and I before leaving the academy.. I didn't bother taking pictures of lunch, since other bloggers will do that.... oh yea, it was a bloggers birthday too... Happy Birthday Lex.... *if you read this.*

Aeroplanes!! different models of different years.

More planes... *I fly like paper, get high like planes.* hehehe.

Group pic!!

Another group pic!!

And another one....

okay, for the rest of the pictures, you can either go to this photo album and this photo album to view it, or just go to facebook and look for it... Go become a fan of Malasyian airlines travel page, and you get to see the other photo's the other bloggers took..

Lastly, I would like to thank EVERYONE for making this possible, I'm sure everyone enjoyed themselves. I did. hahaha. I should go for these things more often lah... than to just sit at home, blog, watch youtube videos, go yamcha with friends, play rock legends on facebook, write crap, and day dream.

p/s: My brother screamed when he saw me, when I came home, and my mom was shocked....

pp/s: I took bout 20minutes thinking how'd I undo my hair....cuz there's a SEQUENCE to do so. and there were bout 6 pins in my hair. and I TOTALLY love that perempuan gila kinda look when I took out everything... Camera charging lah... malas nak upload.

ppp/s: It was a joy meeting up with different people! I even made a few new friends. hehe.

ppppp/s: I think the whole world knows my Dad. HAHAHA.

pppppp/s: It's time to change! *but not so drastic lah...*

ppppppp/s: I wonder how people can tahan fake eye-lashes for SO LONG...it bothered me so much till I couldn't see properly when I was driving back! But i took it off when I went home anyway.. hahahahaa.

ppppppp/s: I will NEVER photoshop my pictures...

Till then....

*oh, and it's SO a dream come true man (tho I still can't join the cabin crew.. but at least I got to go for the training session).... who gets to do all these stuff in half a day? Benifits of a blogger, so to those who DON"T blog, competitions, events, once in a lifetime experiences is a good reason to start one... I seriously never knew I'd get to do something like this..... I'm VERY thankful... *

*some photo's with the tiny link are from facebook.... i just took them cuz I thought I'd include them here. =)*
Who else but Elena Lee at 12:36 AM  Labels: contest, Just for laughs, Just so you'd know, People, Pictures, Places, Stories

This article by Kenny Sia (Friends of MH) extracted from http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2009/05/adv-airlines-al.php

Actual title of the article of Kenny Sia's story ADV: Airlines Also Got Stimulus Package

I just signed up for the 21km category of this year’s KL International Marathon.

This time round, I plan to give myself a treat and splurge a little bit.

My body is gonna be very sore after doing the half-marathon, so I thought about upgrading myself to business class on the return journey. My tired legs would certainly appreciate the extra leg space.

So I went online to check their business class fare prices, thinking if the difference is not too much then it might be worth the experience.

And then I noticed something a little different on the MAS website.

What is this "Economy +" thing on their website?!

How come I never see or hear it before one? When did that come about?

Apparently, it’s the same as Business Class, but at a lower price.

On Economy+, the trip from KL back to Kuching costs RM635 and includes priority boarding, access to the Golden Lounge, Business Class seats and royal treatment by slightly better-looking MAS air stewardesses.

Hmmm... tempting.

Of course, logic took over and the prude in me screamed, “Oi! You haven’t even made it in life yet. Who are you to fly Business?”

I promptly settled myself for normal cattle class instead.

As it turns out on economy class the fare is even cheaper. I booked their Balik Kampung weekend fare, and the one-way flight is just RM130 all-inclusive.

I have been flying Malaysia Airlines a lot more often since they’ve slashed their prices low during the start of the financial crisis. Even in times of crisis, people still need to fly. That’s why they called it the MAS Stimulus Package.

Economy+ and Balik Kampung mentioned earlier are two of the nine different deals introduced by MAS to stimulate the economy.

Giving the economy a bit of tickle on the belly, if you will.

There are other specials, of course.

MHFlex 1+1 is buy one full price economy tix, get one free. Kids Fly Free is buy two adult economy tix, get one child tix free. Both are available for bookings made in person.

There’s something for those belonging to the upper echelon of society.

Business Companion is buying one full price business tix, get another one at 50% off. Premium Match is getting the same price flying MAS first or business class, if another similar class tickets were booked on another airline before.

There’s something for bargain hunters as well.

80% Off Domestic & ASEAN and Weekend Getaway are special low fare deals for all bookings made over the Internet that could make flying by MAS worth the extra premium.

Surely that’s gonna stimulate anyone’s package.

All in all, there is something in their bag of tricks for everyone.

Everyone’s packages are stimulated. No one is left out.

Of course, some paranoid people might say, “But Kenny, what about swine flu!?”

What is so scary about swine flu? Not that many countries are affected. Besides, it’s not like pigs could fly.

If you got a blog, start feeling lucky. You can join their Facebook competition. 9 prizes are up for grabs and the top prize is a Business Class seat to Sydney or Tokyo.

I recognized a problem though.

The MAS Stimulus Package is so freaking gigantic that it is actually confusing me a lot. That’s what happens when you got a promotion that’s targeted towards everybody.

But before I could err... stimulate my own package in frustration, I was introduced to the Grab-A-Deal website where all these are made sense of.

This website is awesome. It scouts ahead and publishes the lowest MAS fare for all domestic and international flights. From time to time, there are “hidden gems” waiting to be discovered.

Like £96 (RM 509) from London to KL.

Ridiculous. At such a price, even Harry Potter would not be using his broom to fly.

Yeah, Harry Potter. That’s what he said when I met him. He told me that himself when I bumped into him in the UK.

True story.

See? I ain’t lying!

This article by Dale Tan (Friends of MH) extracted from http://frostier.net

Actual title of Dale Tan's story is First immigration clearance.

At the age of 27, being the first time travelling overseas is really something I am not sure whether I should be proud of or not. In fact, I would not have the opportunity until the other day when Ah Beng decided that we should go to Bangkok. I thought they were just joking when suddenly I was being informed that the flight and hotel arrangement was done.

Web Check-in

I was taken aback and due to the earlier commitment, I eventually had to go to get my passport up in order to travel to Thailand. Thomas told me that all of us will be travelling via Malaysia Airlines. Being excited with the travel, I was over packed for the trip. Thus, it actually was clogging the luggage bag from getting more stuff back from Bangkok. On top of that, I also regret bringing small luggage which I should be able to fit 20kg check-in luggage. Otherwise I could bring the entire Bangkok back.

On departure

On the final round before we meet up for the departure, we were instant messaging each other while I was trying to confirm the stuff need to bring. What to do, it was my first time traveling this far. Anyway, been an eager beaver I checked in earlier than Wingz and Thomas. I tried out the web-based check-in. It was easy piece of cake to get myself check-in. Apparently I need to check in between 24 to 1 hours before the check-in time. If there is less than 1 hour before check-in time, one is required to use the counter check-in. The rojaks ended up queuing up.

Entrance Gate G6

Our flight to Bangkok was on the 737 at G6. It was an enjoyable ride as we mess around with the stewardesses for items such as blankets and pillows. As we take off, the cabin crew runs a demo on how to put on safety belt and stuff like that. I did not paying attention as I was busy taking photos.

MAS Free Meal

Not to forget the constant smile from the sweet Agnes Soh, she became the subject of my camera till touchdown. Along the path, the next thing that caught my attention was the food. I had a full meal from the serving and kept the Ferrero Rocher for later savoring.

Agnes Soh

Once we landed, I was like totally disbelief this is happening to me. I have finally touched my feet on the other ground. The other land. Felt like it was a huge step for me. Especially to be in Bangkok. We walked toward the immigration area to get the clearance and my devil mind started its actions. What if I could not get through? What if I were being suspected to be part of Thaksin group that on my way to Bangkok and causing riots? And the list goes on…

Immigration

Eventually I manage to get through the clearance and finally, I could see the smile. The land of smile. Spa, massage, shopping and tom yam here I come. *ps: I got my first stamp on the passport

Bangkok

Next stop, the wonderful courtyard…

*note: this traveling took place on 10th April to 12th April 2009

By: John Low (Customer Response)

If you have been following us, we have been pretty busy recently with lots of activities :)

We've launched our Facebook presence with ongoing discussions and competitions

We've launched our The Star Online competition

We've launched our Stimulus Package

And in case you have missed our MD's BFM radio interview aired this morning, catch it again here, in 2 parts:

Part 1 | Duration: 23m 36s | Filesize: 10.81 Mb

Part 2 I Duration: 15m 41s I Filesize: 7.18 Mb