FIRST IMPRESSIONS: K M Malta Airlines in Business class

After a few days in London after my three-day stopover in Bangkok to experience the reborn Dusit Thani, I was heading to Valletta, Malta, ON KM117 to meet my friend who has the enviable life, spending half her time in Australia and the other half in France. We were going to discover Malta together. After that, I was to have another 5 days attending an international Academic conference.

I treated myself to Business Class, mainly because KM Malta Air runs as a kind of hybrid low-cost/partial service airline. I mean ‘partial service’, like I would describe British Airways Club Europe Business Class.

It was also the only way to get a refundable airfare. I have moved to always booking refundable airfares after my experience having COVID that prevented me from travelling to Canada and on to the USA. Although Qantas were amazingly cooperative in these circumstances, giving me a full refund, which under their terms they didn’t have to, I have since decided its not worth the risk on other airlines.

It was also more than 3 hours, which is another qualification metric I sometimes invoke to justify travelling in Business.

Expectations not high

My expectations were pretty low for everything about this flight, and because of that, I was pleasantly surprised.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the airport.

Gatwick – still not a pleasant experience

I am not a fan of Gatwick. I have been known to refer to it as a shithole of an airport. OK, that’s overstating the case, because it assumes the airport has a personality. It doesn’t.

It’s not that the airport has treated me badly, it’s just that I really don’t like most things about it. You can start with the cheap-looking white, cracked floor tiles for a start. I’d end with the horrid boarding lounges and their vending machines, and the lack of toilets.

Boarding

I got to the gate at around 11:30. I thought that was OK given that the gate didn’t open until 11:25. Apparently not. The woman who checked me in acted like I was barely making the flight. Additionally, the waiting lounge was empty. I asked her if I was late, and she said no. I think she was just an anxious individual.

It didn’t help my feeling of having done something wrong that my boarding pass kept making her system ‘ping’ for some reason.

Anyway, I got on board, and there was considerable kerfuffle over an apparent missing passenger. Staff didn’t quietly confer, but raced up and down the aisle with a constant commentary about what they were doing. Not my idea of professionalism. A boarding pass was requested of one Business Class passenger, and there was a lot of loud counting of passengers. Eventually, whatever the issue was, it was resolved, and the front boarding door was closed.

Business Class

This consisted of three rows on this flight, with the middle seat of the 3-3 configuration being left free. That means a Business cabin of 12 seats. Only 4 were occupied.

As you can see below, the rows were very well spaced, so lots of room for my average frame.

No screens and no WiFi, so bring a book, or preload your devices with entertainment.

The Meal

This is where the surprise came. The meal was pretty good albeit served all on one tray.

Prior to the meal, my drinks request was made. I opted for the champagne — Duval – Leroy Champagne.

The meal was served all on one tray, which given the three plus hours of this trip, was not necessary from a time point of view. But given the very small food service area on the plane, was probably necessary from an efficiency point of view. Either way, I wasn’t bothered, especially since table linen was involved!

OK, so what did I get? First up a ‘trio of Maltese’ bread backed as one, with a choice of butter or oil. that came with olives sun dried tomato and two types of feta cheese.

Next a starter of slow cooked beef sirloin with orzo and sun dried cherry tomaros and parmesan, with a French dressing.

This cold dish was excellent. Tasty and not too much. This was followed by the main course which was a ‘fruity chicken curry’. This was a delicious Thai insiored curry, with rice and vegetables. I was getting full now, so I didn’t quite finish my plate.

The one disappointment of this meal was the desert. The black forest cake was sort of gluggy and chalky at the same time. A difficult if unpleasant feat. I only took a mouthful, and then though the better of it. I was full after the curry anyway.

The meal was served less than an hour into the flight, so that left nearly 2 hours to go. I accepted anothe couple offers of more champagne, and settled into a combination of my novel and some podcasts.

The only other thing to remark upon is that yellow hapkin. It was tiny, and made of some tech fabric that could be cut without needing to be hemmed. The fabric was fine, its just the tiny size I objected to.

2PAXfly Takeout

This was a pleasant trip of three plus hours. Pitch/leg room was great. I don’t want to get used to this spare middle seat thing of European Business Class. With only 4 passengers in a cabin that could take 12, service was attentive.

There are absolutely no entertainment screens on these aircraft with K M Malta. So, stock up with watchables and listenables on your devices, since there is also no WiFi.

Thanks to an attentive crew for making my flight a very pleasant experience