Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Not impressed with Air Mauritius' scheduling for HKG

So going to Mauritius from HKG for a holiday, and I suppose it's almost a once-in-a-lifetime event since one wouldn't go there from Asia too often.

They changed the schedule so that instead of departure at 1400 on Monday and arriving on Monday night at 2045, the flight leaves at 0030 on Tuesday and arrives on 0615. Fine, lose one night, sleep on the plane, saves one day of hotel and still get the full day in Mauritius.

Then today the aircraft has a 12-hour delay and the departure would be at 1200 Tuesday instead, arriving in MRU at 1745. So five full days at Mauritius have been cut down to four.

I know it's a silly question and I think I know the answer already... Is there any compensation that can be asked for from Air Mauritius ? In HKG, they use a general sales agent and they say that they have no authority to do anything. Called them and they said all complaints must be raised directly to HQ in MRU.

Another area of concern is that with the new regular schedule, it appears the crew flies 9.5 hours from MRU to HKG, rests 14 hours, then flies back to MRU. Previously I would imagine the crew rested in HKG for 3-4 days and take the next aircraft (there are two flights a week) to go back to MRU. What is the minimum rest rule per ICAO ?

Just wondering if any of you have any particularly positive or negative experience with Air Mauritius that you would like to share....

I should be jumping with joy since I am going away to a very beautiful destination, but I don't feel it right now..... :(

So going to Mauritius from HKG for a holiday, and I suppose it's almost a once-in-a-lifetime event since one wouldn't go there from Asia too often.

They changed the schedule so that instead of departure at 1400 on Monday and arriving on Monday night at 2045, the flight leaves at 0030 on Tuesday and arrives on 0615. Fine, lose one night, sleep on the plane, saves one day of hotel and still get the full day in Mauritius.

Then today the aircraft has a 12-hour delay and the departure would be at 1200 Tuesday instead, arriving in MRU at 1745. So five full days at Mauritius have been cut down to four.

I know it's a silly question and I think I know the answer already... Is there any compensation that can be asked for from Air Mauritius ? In HKG, they use a general sales agent and they say that they have no authority to do anything. Called them and they said all complaints must be raised directly to HQ in MRU.

Another area of concern is that with the new regular schedule, it appears the crew flies 9.5 hours from MRU to HKG, rests 14 hours, then flies back to MRU. Previously I would imagine the crew rested in HKG for 3-4 days and take the next aircraft (there are two flights a week) to go back to MRU. What is the minimum rest rule per ICAO ?

Just wondering if any of you have any particularly positive or negative experience with Air Mauritius that you would like to share....

I should be jumping with joy since I am going away to a very beautiful destination, but I don't feel it right now..... :(

I think the minimum rules according to ICAO would be 12 hours, but on other routes, MK is making its crew doing back to back flights, thus cutting cost on stayovers, hotel rooms, per diems etc. This cutting cost measure is due to the hedging contract MK entered into without any exit clause. I would suggest you extend your stay in mauritius by a 2 days, just to be able to enjoy your week stay as planned.

Made it back from Mauritius to Hong Kong. Honestly, other than the 12-hour delay on the way to MRU, the journey (both to and from) were fine. Did bug the reservation offce in HKG a few times and they somehow managed to pass a message to airport check-in which gave us emergency exit row on the way to MRU. Considering that it was economy, the food offering was very decent (had a roast lamb leg for second meal to MRU and they served real chunks of meat unlike Cathay, my home airline). Cheese on the meal tray. Bottled water all the way. Entertainment decent, not the most up-to-date, but the small IFE box meant that the 31" leg room felt better than the 32" leg room (didn't get exit row on the way back) on some airlines with the huge IFE box in front of you.

Mauritius the island was extremely beautiful. Have actually enjoyed my stay despite it being relatively short.