Posting on behalf of a friend with a complex problem:

Original itinerary: KUL-DEL // BOM-KUL for two pax both on the same reservation, due to fly later this month. "Pax A" booked the ticket; "Pax B" is my friend.

First problem -- BOM-KUL flight no longer operates on day they're supposed to fly. So need to be rebooked, probably on MH.

Bigger problem: Pax A had to cancel his trip, but Pax B still is traveling. Pax A emailed customer service to cancel after not being able to get through on the phone. In each of several emails, Pax A clearly states that Pax B still will travel the itinerary and the airline should not cancel his ticket.

Come to find out, AirAsia canceled Pax B too. When he called in, he was told to email in a copy of the email exchange between Pax A and customer service (the emails that show AirAsia was not supposed to cancel the ticket for Pax B) but that it might take five days to resolve this. They also claim that since the refund has already been initiated, it would be easier for Pax B to simply use the money to book a new ticket.

This poses several problems. First, when originally booked several months ago this was a sale fare. The refund amount for the wrongly cancelled ticket might not cover the fare now. Second and more seriously, since the BOM-KUL flight no longer exists on the day Pax B needs to travel, buying a ticket on MH or an alternative would be significantly more expensive.

My question is, What is the way to resolve this? I've urged Pax B to call back, and ask for a supervisor if the first agent he speaks to can't help. But what other recourse is there? I get that airline schedules change, and in theory AirAsia could just have refunded anyone who was on the cancelled BOM-KUL flight.

But instead the airline announced they'll reaccommodate passengers on alternate flights, and before the cancellation fiasco Pax B had been told seats already were blocked on MH flights. Now I worry the carrier will try to weasel out of that commitment -- and their contract to carry Pax B -- by latching onto their own mistake to claim there's nothing they can do to fix this.

Any advice? Thanks for any and all help from FT!