This Batik Air Malaysia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane uses one of the airlines B737 aircraft, requiring a stopover in Denpasar, Bali. We’ve flown this route a few times, with different versions of their B737, but on all of them, we noticed that most of the passengers only flew one leg of the journey. As the stop over is a quick one hour, we were not allowed off the aircraft, which was fine as we had time to check out the facilities in the aircraft while it was quiet. However, if your destination isn’t Brisbane, we’ve also flown with them to Melbourne and Adelaide, where, if you have a longer layover, you are required to leave the aircraft. You can check this out here, or here but do note that in the past few years, with changing Immigration requirements during and post-Covid, the situation has varied from time to time.
Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane on the Boeing 737-Max 8
Booking
Booking is straightforward, you can select the option to fly on the same aircraft straight through, or catch an earlier flight to Denpasar. This may vary the pricing. If you select ‘Economy’, you’ll have a choice of three levels of inclusions, from hand luggage only, to all inclusions Flexi, which varies the pricing. You can later choose your seat and add/select meals, which are an optional extra with the Super Saver and Value options, or select the seat through Manage booking when you check-in. Online check-in opens 24hrs before departure, up to half an hour before. Please note that they do change these from time to time.
Check-in
Batik Air has self bag-drop counters, if you want to avoid the queues, use one of the kiosks to print your boarding pass and bag tag, or if you haven’t already checked in, do it here. Once you’ve tagged your bag, it’s off to the self bag-drop machines to send it on its way. Unfortunately, probably because I had a change in my ticket, I was able to print the boarding pass and bag tag, but the machine could not read the barcode on the printout, so I had to go to the service desk. However, the issue was quickly sorted and I was off to Immigration, ready for boarding. If you really want to whiz through the airport, you can give yourself a smoother journey with self-service check-in and baggage drop at KL Sentral for both Batik Air and Malaysia Airlines, before boarding the KLIA Ekspres, which gets you from the city to KLIA in 28 minutes.
Workspace and Entertainment
The pull out table is a standard, single piece unit, and there are no USB charging sockets that we could find. So make sure your devices are fully charged before you fly, as you can no longer use power banks for charging, since mid March 2025.
There’s no seat-back screen, so seats are ‘clean’ underneath, as there’s no need for an IFE (in-flight entertainment) box. Your in-flight entertainment is available on your own device via in-aircraft wifi. Instructions for connecting are on the underside of the tray table. I didn’t try out the in-aircraft wifi, not being a fan of watching movies in-flight unless it’s something special. My personal favourite is the now unavailable moving map, but with no external wifi connection, paid or free, alternatives weren’t available.
The Best Seat
The seating in Batik Air’s Max8 version of the B737 is tighter than that in their older aircraft and Version 1 of this aircraft with 180 seats. The seat width and recline are the same at 17″ and 3″ respectively, while the pitch is only 29-30″ depending on your row, a full inch less than in the 180 seat version of the aircraft. I found the legroom and seat width adequate, but someone taller may find it a bit tight. There are no footrests.
A/B/C seats are on the left in this single aisle, all economy aircraft, with D/E/F seats on the right when you are facing forward. All seats have an adjustable headrest.
The seats are offset until they line up at Row 12. Seats in the first Row on the left are Row 1. There is no Row 1 on the left, the first row is Row 2. Both these bulkhead rows have great extra legroom, although you have no space for your small items that would normally go under the seat. Your tray table is folded into the armrest, so your space is fixed, even if there’s a space beside you, as the armrest can’t be raised.
Exit Rows are 17 and 18, which both have extra legroom. However, Row 17 may not recline and the row in front, Row 16 as well, so in case of an emergency the route in not blocked. Window-wise, the best seats are 2A, 3F 4A, 5F 7A, 8F 10A/F 25A/F, 27A/F and 34A/F.
You may prefer to avoid Seats 11A, 12A and 12F as window access is limited. All three have only a shared window between Rows 11 and 12. 11F has a full window in addition to one shared. Rows 12 to 21 are over the wing, which ends at Row 22. You may also like to avoid the last row, Row 34, as the seats are slightly narrower and may not have full recline, though 34A/F do have full windows.
Food
As this flight has an early arrival into Brisbane and I never eat late in the evening, I opted for to pre-book a meal only on the KUL/DPS leg. Nasi lemak is a dish popular with all Malaysians and is offered as a staple on at least two Malaysian airlines. We always order at least one so it was an easy choice. Meal service began about half an hour after take-off, from the front of the aircraft. I was pleased that I has a seat close to the galley, as I got my meal quite quickly. Pre-ordered meals were served together with new orders, so if you are seated towards the back, you have to wait, even if you pre-booked your meal. This seems to be the company policy, as we have noted the same on other Batik Air flights.
If you have not pre-ordered a meal, the in-flight magazine will tell you what may be in the trolley, although your choice may available, or there may be none left. Pre-book your meal if you want to ensure you get what you want. You’ll also pay more on-board. Although the staff were efficient, the delivery system is not, and can do with improvement.
The nasi lemak was tasty, though the rice could have been more ‘lemak’ and I enjoyed the roast chicken which was cooked with an interesting blend of spices. It was well cooked, soft and fell apart easily. The reddish sambal was medium hot though the flavour balance was more to the chili side. I found the quantity adequate, although a hearty eater may remain unsatisfied. My pre-ordered meal was accompanied by a small bottle of water. They also have a range of different types of snacks, check your inflight magazine for choices, but be aware that some may be unavailable due to space constraints.
Something to remember before you board: There are no water fountains after the final security boarding check at the entrance to the boarding lounge in KLIA T1, so you must empty your bottle before boarding. You can purchase larger 500ml bottles of water for RM5 on board.
Toilets
The lighting appeared to be adjusted throughout the flight, as it was blue in the rear toilets when I visited them and natural in the front unit. There are three toilets in total, two at the rear, one in front. The toilets are clean, with baby change tables in the rear units, and as in most aircraft of this type, these toilets are pretty compact. You’d find it hard to wash your face or brush your teeth in the narrow basin in the rear toilets, which is tucked slightly under the main mirror. There are lots of mirrors.
The single toilet at the front of the cabin is really tiny and there’s no baby change table. But the sink was a bit more accessible. All the toilets were kept clean on both legs of the flight and the air freshener in the front unit was a nice touch.
Conclusions
Delivery of meals could be more efficiently handled as pre-ordered meals were not served first, but only arrived as the trolley moved along, while accepting on-the-spot orders. This seems to be the policy on all Batik Air flights and should be streamlined. Overall, it’s a flight I would repeat as the timing is convenient, the crew are pleasant and the aircraft is quiet.
Economy Traveller’s review is based on our Batik Air flight from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane via Denpasar, Bali which was self-funded. Any sponsored trips are acknowledged.
Images©ET.
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