Best route to Kuala Lumpur
 

What's the best route to KUL on BA / one world? BA website is suggesting BA to HKG, then CX to KUL, but that seems like a very long way round.

I'm guessing BA return to SIN, then just accept there is no oneworld SIN-KUL.

Depends when. MH is joining soon...

I would do LHR SIN and then AirAsia to KUL.

You can do LHR-SIN and SIN-KUL on a QF codeshare on Jetstar. Or as you noted BA or CX LHR-HKG and HKG-KUL on CX. Also RJ LHR-AMM and AMM-(BKK)-KUL.

SIN-KUL is 185 miles ... slightly further than LHR-MAN. I doubt you'll miss the Avios, TPs or status benefits.

Personally I'd take the jungle train (again), but that does require a little more time than a direct flight on SQ or MH :)

Seriously though, would BA thru-check bags to a non-OW partner ? Obviously not an issue with CX via HKG.

If you're after tier points, LHR - HEL - SIN gives you 360 and can be very cheap in Business - £2 - £2.5k then lots of options from SIN to KUL, from AIr Asia, Firefly, MH, Singapore.

Best route to Kuala Lumpur
 

Would be nice if MH could give an actual date when they are joining OW- instead of the 'towards the end of 2012' their website has been saying for months now.

They have said Q4 2012 publicly, cf. http://www.ausbt.com.au/malaysia-air...oneworld-in-q4

If one has a *A FF account, Thai and Singapore Airlines are better bets, with some good fares available if one can be somewhat flexible on dates.

You can get a TA to book you LHR-SIN-KUL with the SIN-KUL leg on SQ (ideally as they fly a nice widebody) or MH (less nice 737). BA will then through check which avoids faffing around in SIN.

An alternatic is the 009 to BKK and then a TG flight onwards. There is one that departs around 90mins after the 9 arrives. This is my preferred route into KUL. BKK seems to have better availability in the discounted fare classes now the SYD tag has gone. If booked together by TA BA will happily through check again.

Ah, but as noted above RJ would give you even more TPs - 560 round trip I believe, and it gets you into KUL on the same ticket, although the connections suck - total travel times are 19hrs outbound, 24hrs coming back.

Infact AY is little better - ITA shows an AY/MH/SQ fare of £2577, approx 20hrs each way.

Saw a very good fare on Qatar of under £1800 to KUL, approx 17hrs each way - can you still collect miles via BMI then tip into BA?

Or RJ have some bargains out of Paris at the moment - about £1400!!!

MH to join Oneworld in November I believe.

CDG-AMM-KUL is circa £1,200 (dependent on euro exchange rate) and get you 560 TPs in business class. There is stopover in BKK as well.

Edited to add - This is RJ

Which carrier did you find this fare from?

BA to BOM then CX TO KUL has sometimes come up on BA.com with a 3 to 4 hour stop.

RJ

Thanks for the suggestions. Probably September, but still to be confirmed. I think the BKK or SIN routings sound best. Not sure I can be bothered with the AMM or HEL routes. Pricing not too critical as client is paying, and BA J is a known quantity to me.

It's possible I might be needed in SIN as well, if I have enough time, I might try the train. Still trying to engineer the trip to coincide with the Singapore Grand Prix.

Air Berlin from STN (or other LON airports?) might be worth exploring. I think you will end up on Etihad metal but under an Air Berlin flight number. Anyone ever tried this?