I'm back from Perth. Very nice place. Especially comparatively considering where I came from. It's not especially a resort place or tourist-sy area, but it was otherwise pretty good and has put a lot of effort into conversations and history.
I've deliberately not followed this forum and certain news sites to avoid seeing aviation-related accidents news. Now that I'm back here, I'm seeing SIA "Wing on Fire" news on the day before my flight back.
I went with Malaysia Airlines. I'm not sure why, but the flights both to and back were especially enjoyable. The crew were friendly and the pilots do seem professional. They were far better than AirAsia in crew hospitality and professionalism, and was the opposite of what I've been hearing from them lately.
My flight outbound is on a 737-800 to Kuala Lumpur and then a A330 to Perth.
The 737-800 had the Sky interior or whatever they called it - - wow, that was a nice flight. I can say that it was much better experience than the A320 ( AirAsia, at least.) The flight was smooth, engines relatively quiet, and the cabin doesn't feel cramped at all. And no noise from any portion of the flight apart from engines, wind. The only loud noise was braking moan after touching down. And no bobbing left/right as far as I can tell.. It was far better than I imagined. Now I am wondering how the 737 Max would be like.
The A330 was also relatively good, but during take off I can hear stuff running across the fuselage ducts or some sort. Maybe ice flakes or something. The seating had a weird arrangement towards the back where it tapers off, and the toilets are miserable places to be in (stupid door design) but otherwise it was pretty good.