Malindo Air Tips, Tricks & Hacks
A large collection of really usefull tips for you to use when flying with Malindo airline
Malindo Air does not have any Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in operations. Their fleet of more than 40 aircraft consists of Boeing 737 NG and 13 ATR72-600 only.
Online check-in is not required, but it will help you avoid queues in front of checkin kiosks at the airport. Also, during online check-in, you can to choose your seat (fees apply).
Choose Business Class Promo fare tier if you want to enjoy the comfort and perks of Business Class at a lower price, and don’t need so much baggage or the lounge access.
If you want to choose your seats, check-in as early as possible for larger selection of available seats. During the counter check-in Malindo staff will try to provide adjacent seats for families but if the flight is full this may not be possible. Also, those days the seat selection is considered as an optional, extra paid service. If you are a family or group of travelers who want to seat together, the only way to assure it is to opt for seat selection during the booking or online check-in.
If you want to combine your baggage allowance with a partner you are traveling with, make one booking with your name and your partner’s name on it.
Keep your luggage light and don’t check it in. Malindo checked baggage fees can be a considerable addition to the ticket price. The easiest way to avoid it is to pack light (don’t bring those heavy clothes). Bonus – when holidng the mobile boarding pass you can go directly to the gates, avoiding lines at Malindo baggage drop counter.
Make sure you calculate your baggage needs precisely. Should you exceed your allowance, additional charges at the airport are frightfully expensive, with the ras 10 USD per kg for domestic flights and up to 14 USD per kg for international flights.
While traveling with an upgraded allowance make sure that each of your bags weights below 32 kg – the maximum weight set by Malindo Air.
Don’t play with the airline regulations. A little bit larger or heavier bag may still pass, but if you try to ‘smuggle’ a bulky rucksack, you risk being caught by the airline’s staff. Then the oversized baggage will be loaded as cargo and excess baggage charges of 10-15 USD per kg will be imposed. Not worth it.
Overhead baggage bins on the plane tend to fill out quickly. Try to board early so that you can secure cabin storage for your hand luggage, and avoid “stowage wars” (or being forced to keep your luggage under the seat).
Avoid lost luggage nightmare by removing old tags on your suitcases. Tags are printed with a barcode which is used for identification and tracking – so the old tags can rally confuse baggage handlers and the conveyor belt scanners. They are one of the reasons so many bags miss their flight or get misrouted.
In case of specific baggage questions or problems, contact Malindo Air Baggage Services: (+60) 10 288 8741, (+60) 10 401 0938, (+60) 10 401 0936 (lines open daily 8am – 10pm) or send an email to: baggage@malindoair.com. More tips
Bring a sweatshirt, jacket or your blanket to keep you warm on the flight. The airplane interior is usually kept cold to prevent hypoxia (a medical condition that may occur when the body tissue does not receive enough oxygen; high cabin pressure can further trigger this reaction). Malindo doesn’t provide free blankets, although you can buy them as a “Get Comfy Kit” onboard (MYR 25) or pre-book online (MYR 25). The kit contains a 100cmX150cm fleece blanket and average quality earphones. The items are also sold separately on-board – MYR25 for the blanket and MYR10 for the earphones.
Enter your name exactly as it is in your passport (or ID card) to avoid problems. If you have only a single-word name, put it in both Fist Name and Last Name fields.
For international flights, to avoid problems at the destination, make sure you have the applicable visa and a return (or an onward) journey ticket. Visit IATA’s website to learn which travel documents are required at your destination country.
Watch for a good sale. Malindo publish its web promotions frequently. To get a great bargain be sure to watch the sales on their website over the course of several weeks. Follow Malindo accounts on social media – all promotions are posted there, often in advance comparing to the website.
With mobile boarding pass and no bags to check-in, you may proceed at the airport directly to the security check and the gates. With any checked baggage, first proceed to Malindo bag drop counter dedicated for web check-in passengers, and after that to the Departures area.
Prices skyrocket during holidays – watch out for local holidays and adjust your travel dates to avoid expensive tickets. Cheap flights are non-existent during popular “red days” like Chinese New Year or Idul Fitri. Prices can go as high as 5 times the price of the ticket for non-peak dates.
Before leaving your home or hotel, it’s worth to check Google Maps for an estimated time of getting to the airport. Add some extra time in case of reported heavy traffic conditions.
Check the airport terminals if you have a connecting flight with a different airline or separate point-to-point tickets with Malindo. Make sure you have enough time to transfer between these terminals so you don’t miss your next flight.
Fly on a single ticket if your itinerary involves 2 flights or more. Typically, any connecting itinerary booked as a single ticket conforms with whatever connecting times apply. At big hub airports, Malindo tries to make sure that their gates for each flight are close together. Also, a single ticket usually provides for checking baggage through from origin to destination, including transfers.
Pick a set near the front of the plane if you booked connecting flights. Two or more flights on one ticket often have a tight airport connection, so being near the front exit door can shave 5–10 minutes off your deplaning time, especially on larger planes. Yes, Malindo charges extra fees for those “hot” seats, but it may be worth it.
Avoid the last flight connection of the day. Try not to book the last flight out of your connecting airport. In case of a flight cancellation, Malindo Air will obviously put you on its next flight, but it will require an overnight stay and arrival a day late.
Malindo provides only 2 bassinets on a plane, and they are available on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Strengthen privacy settings in your browser or install the Brave browser. Airlines’ websites increasingly using tracking codes (via browser cache and cookies) to measure the number of times you have visited their website, so they can automatically increase the prices a little – to rush you into impulse buying. Malindo Air is no exception here. Before you start hunting for your flight tickets, make sure you cleared your browser cache and cookies with every new search (so the Malindo’s site will detect you as a first-time visitor and offer the cheapest rate). Also, we recommend using an Incognito (Chrome) / Private (Firefox) mode or use the Brave browser that protects user’s privacy by default (you may like its integrated ad-blocking system, too).