108912

I'm just off the phone from MH and a bit peeved. And it's not about the 25 minute wait to speak to someone.

So, I booked myself a Business Promo fare for a domestic sector. Some time after booking this fare MH emailed me to advise of a schedule change and they have changed my booking to a later flight. This later flight does not suit me and does not fit in with my work commitments.

I'm totally aware that the promo fares are non refundable in normal circumstances and that was fine for me - my meeting was fixed and I did not need any flexibility for my ticket. However i'd imagined that if MH decided to change their schedules and it no longer suited me that they would be very forthcoming in a refund. Well, apparently not. The lady in the contact centre said that the ticket is non refundable even if they change times etc, end of.

Is this worth escalating/pursuing?

GrayAnderson

I can't speak to MH's policies and IANAL but you might consider pursuing this with your card company. That would come down to how much they changed the time by (an hour shift would probably not get the card to override but a shift to the next day probably would).

Zawnet

Maybe try escalating through MAVCOM?

crackjack

How far ahead/behind is the shift flight timing from the original? I understand that many airlines take that into consideration as well.

davistev

Typical pig headed MH response to keep your money. Dispute with CC or take them to small claims court. This airline sees no problem with screwing over their customers.

MKE-MR

Do not pass go, do not raise your blood pressure, go straight to your credit card issuer. I've now had this several times with MH and have tried the "nice" way a number of times. It will just shorten your lifespan needlessly to try and coax a refund out of them, even if you are within your rights.
There is nowhere to escalate to based on my experience. The "refund department" is a circular file in the corner of the office somewhere.

carrotjuice

Did you succeed in disputing this with your credit card issuer?

This is quite shocking. Normally an airline who forces the change and is inconvenient to the passenger will change to a different flight or give a full refund... no questions asked.

MKE-MR

Yes, of course. I suspect that this is not malice on the part of MH but rather just total process failures--so my best guess is that they failed to provide any response within the dispute deadline, in which case the consumer automatically wins the dispute.

wolf72

I had a friend who had a similar problem recently; he was supposed to connect from Kinabalu on to the London flight via KLIA but was informed a month before the 5.00am flight was cancelled and they put him on a 8.00am flight that had no hope of reaching KLIA to connect with the London flight leaving at 9.50am.

He was very very angry with this as he had made prior arrangements.

They offered to move him to the night flight to London which he refused. They offered to get him into KLIA the night before and threw in accomodations which he also refused.

He pressed for a refund and I think got it. He liased with his credit card company as well and kept them in the loop.

He subsequently re-booked with BA and never wants to fly MH again. A small matter but the problem is he is flying with his wife who has medical issues and they wanted a seemless transfer to London without delays and hotel stay's because of her situation.

MH were being very silly about the arrangements and trying to justify why their 5.00am to KLIA was cancelled (still no answer why)>

carrotjuice

Interesting that MH would fly him a day earlier and throw in accommodations even.

Not just MH but Air Asia is notorious for cancelling flights too!

wolf72

I suspect they had no choice because he refused to change flights so the only option was to fly him into KL the night before and to throw in accomodations given the 5.00am flight was cancelled.

I can only imagine the 5.00am flight was cancelled due to a low load but that aircraft had to have been in Kinabalu already anyways so I assume that flight that was supposed to operate into Kinabalu was/is cancelled, which again is very strange.

The 5.00am flight is important for government employee's and businessmen getting into KL early for meetings/work so to cancel it was very very abnormal.

He has gone back to BA and uses Air Asia now instead of MH.

Air Asia very very rarely cancel their flights to Kinabalu; it's one of their best revenue generators as the route is very popular.

scubaccr

I changed the return date of my JAN2017 MH Business promo Z-class fare MEL-KUL , did that at the KUL KLIA STB desk , easy peasy, no difference in fare, just a nominal change fee, something stupidly small (< $50) compared to a European airline change fee.

Have MH tightened up on Promo Z-class change fees ... or is it because you had a domestic fare?

nov11

So your friend was offered either flying into KUL the night before and a complimentary night near/at KUL if he wants to take his same dayflight (MH4) OR moving to the night flight (MH2)?

But he canceled and requested for a refund and booked with BA that departs 5 minutes before MH2? Interesting.

SilverChris

Since @wolf72's friend is okay with BA34, I have to conclude that leaving BKI in the evening is a viable option. Hence, it's extremely interesting that the friend chose to put himself and his wife through a T2-T1 connection, which according to wolf72 is anything but seamless, rather than go with MH2 as offered by the call centre.

If a seamless transfer is what one is after, booking an itinerary which involves a T2-T1 transfer (not ideal for someone with medical issues) is indeed a very interesting way of doing things.

Often1

Whether OP will have any luck with his credit card issuer is a matter of the location of the account and the specific issuer (bank).

Some countries as a matter of law and some banks as a matter of customer service above what is required by the law, will intervene in a situation such as this. Others will do nothing and yet others will abide by the carrier's demonstration of its own COC.