Batik Air Malaysia flies a morning service from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau daily, with an additional afternoon flight on certain days. They generally use a Boeing 737-800 on this route, although it’s often the newer Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, one of which was used for our flight. This is one of Malaysia’s longest domestic routes, approximately three hours and if you’re travelling in a B737 MAX 8, you might like to bring a book or hope it’s a clear day if you have a window seat as there is no In-flight entertainment. You can skip to the bottom of the page and see our video of the trip.
Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, our experience
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Cabin lighting is a restful blue throughout the aircraft. They’ve upgraded the airflow delivery and reading lights in this aircraft, so we had a little play as we waited to take-off. The much brighter reading lights can be adjusted to your preferred position manually and the new style airflow wheels allow more even airflow than the old vents. The air is gentler and more comfortable. Definitely an improvement.
Booking
Booking is straightforward, enter your dates and select the flight you want if they have more than one available. If you select ‘Economy’, you’ll then have a choice of three levels of inclusions, which varies the pricing. You can later choose your seat and add meals, or do this through Manage booking when you check-in. Online check-in opens 24hrs before departure, up to half an hour before.
Check-in
As we were travelling with others in a group, we went to drop our bags together. We had all checked in online and had our boarding passes already. To do this, you must go to ‘Manage Booking’ and select Batik Air Malaysia (the left icon). Since our flight, the airport has completed installation of bag drop facilities, which we will review in an upcoming article. This option is now available to a number of airlines, Batik Air being one.
Workspace
There are no USB charging sockets on this aircraft, 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 are no device holders, but the single piece tray table is large enough for a laptop and you can pull the table towards you.
Entertainment
This aircraft had no seat back screen, so no in-flight entertainment. But the bonus is that there is no supporting IFE box under the seat, ensuring that the space under each seat is clear and available for you to stretch out. Some of the newer Boeing 737 MAX 8 do have on-board wifi, which allows you to long into their entertainment offerings on your own device. However this was not available on this aircraft.
The Best Seat
The seat backs are slim, firm but comfortable and we like that they’ve retained the winged headrests. We had a window seat 6A and 6B, close to the front of this single class aircraft. The tray table opens as one piece and has small depression to place a cup. You don’t have a lot of legroom, but as there’s no IFE box taking space under the seat and there’s no footrest, you can stretch out or fit a bag. If you are a fan of Exit Row seats, you’ll be happy that the seats in Row 17 have extra legroom, can recline and you have a window. Those in Row 16 do have a misaligned window and extra legroom, but don’t recline. But be aware that Row 15 doesn’t recline and the passage to the exit must be kept clear.
Food
We had plenty of time to browse the Batik Air magazine and see what food and snacks they have on board. We had pre-booked our meal of chicken biryani, which is a much cheaper option than taking your luck during the flight. The cabin crew began serving meals about half an hour into the flight. It’s possible some of the crew were new, as service was slow, with each tray filled individually. We were somewhat surprised that pre-ordered meals did not seem to be given priority as new orders were taken from the rows in front of us. However, the crew were friendly and checked boarding passes to confirm the meals before they were assembled. We really enjoyed our pre-ordered chicken biriyani. The wooden cutlery was a nice touch. We’ve since heard from others that food service is slow and that there is no priority given to pre-ordered meals. This small adjustment could speed the process and increase passenger satisfaction.
Toilets
Like the rest of the plane, the lighting in the toilets is blue. There are two toilets at the rear of the aircraft, one with a baby change table. We did like the mirror in the door, but the cubicle is very small, meaning the sink size is much reduced, making it difficult to do much more than wash your hands. Face washing or teeth cleaning would be difficult. However the toilets were clean and they had sufficient supplies of paper towels and tissues.
Conclusions
Our Kuala Lumpur to Tawau flight was comfortable, staff were friendly and on the ball. The food has improved in quality from earlier experiences but if delivery can also be improved there’s nothing to complain about. You can book your Batik Air Malaysia flight online at their official website.
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.
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