<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by planetmn:
Malaysia Airlines, while taking longer, also requires stops in places which aren't great for people of my religion, and as such, would like to stay away from Dubai.</font>
While I share your sentiment, I would not share your concern relative to a transit stop in Dubai. There's also a hotel in the transit area, so should a delay arise, you still don't need to leave the transit area.
That said, I've always found it annoying that one cannot fly KLM to AMS, then MH to KUL and onward to SYD.
Steve