ViaJoburg1

Hi everyone, I am hoping to get some thoughts about the best way to book a Malaysia Airline trip and how it could affect baggage being checked through.

So I want to go from Perth to Bangalore and I'm looking at Malaysia Airlines... however, the Perth to KL leg has much better flight times (ie. it's not a red eye) on AirAsia. So I want to go Perth to KL on the AirAsia flight, but everything else on Malaysia Airlines.

So I'm thinking 3 groupings of flights:

- Perth to Bangalore on AirAsia (stopover for a few days)
- KL to Bangalore on Malaysia Airlines (stay in Bangalore)
- Bangalore to KL on Malaysia Airlines directly followed by KL to Perth on Malaysia Airlines

Generally speaking - what is the most cost effective way to book that?

Would it be to book KL -> Bangalore / Bangalore -> KL as a return flight and then have the KL -> Perth flight as a one way ticket?

Or book 3 one way tickets on Malaysia Airlines?

Or perhaps another permutation I haven't thought of?

Also, when dealing with a series of one way tickets could I run into drama with baggage not being checked through? (if I have read this correctly it seems this shouldn't be an issue). Because returning from Bangalore I'd want it checked through to Perth, I don't want to have to deal with re-checking it in KL... so if one way tickets could cause an issue there I would like to avoid that.

I greatly appreciate any thoughts!

nov11

I assume you mean PER to KUL on D7 (Air Asia X). Possible permutations for your KUL-BLR-KUL-PER:
a) KUL-BLR-KUL + KUL-PER
b) KUL-BLR + BLR-KUL-PER
c) KUL-BKR + BLR-KUL + KUL-PER (probably the most expensive)

ViaJoburg1

Thanks for your reply. If I did your option a) of KUL-BLR-KUL + KUL-PER - what would the likely situation be at the airport in Bangalore for the "return" journey to Kuala Lumpur?

Because I would have the second leg to Perth as a separate one way booking... would I still be able, when I check in my bags, to have them tagged straight through to Perth from Bangalore?

asheby

Yes, you will be able to check your bags straight through to Perth given that they're both MH bookings.

tingtongbells

Supposing OP book a) KUL-BLR-KUL + KUL-PER and there's a major delay on the BLR-PER sector, will MH automatically put OP on the next available flight to PER?

Guy Betsy

Don't you mean BLR-KUL?

Yes. Should be able to .. However, as this is with 2 tickets.. MH can officially refuse as their contract of carriage on the BLR-KUL ticket is to just to get you to KUL , and the KUL-PER ticket.. well, you 'no showed'.

carrotjuice

Wouldn't you be protected all the way to PER upon checkin at BLR and have your luggage tagged all the way to PER - despite them on separate tickets but same MH carrier?

Guy Betsy

The word here is 'can' ... as OP booked on two separate tickets. But generally with same carrier airlines in Asia, they are more generous in assisting you if one of their flights is delayed and causing you to misconnect.

BA for example would let you freeze in the cold instead of helping you if you bought two tickets... in fact, they won't even check your bags through.

carrotjuice

I've travelled on separate tickets on the same airline before many times - incidentally MH and BA per your given examples - and always the airline has checked my luggage to the final destination.

The only one instance was if I was on a HBO only fare on BA in late 2016 and they asked me to buy luggage space. Fair enough, and once I did, BA checked my bag all the way through. All they needed was to sight the second reservation.

ClimbingCook

AA no longer checks luggage through on back-to-back tickets. MH does. What happens if your first flight is delayed depends on how friendly the agent is when you arrive at the airport having missed your next flight.

ViaJoburg1

Just for the record, I ended up going with:

AirAsia X - Perth to KL (one way)
Malaysia Airlines - KL to BLR / BLR to KL (return)
Malaysia Airlines - KL to Perth (one way)

And it worked perfectly. Bags were checked through from Bangalore to Perth even though I had separate bookings.

Just by luck (I didn't book any seats in advance), I was fortunate enough to have a row to myself on the AirAsia X flight, a spare seat next to me on the BLR to KL flight, and a virtually empty flight between KL and Perth where anyone who wanted to lie down on a few seats was able to.