MH charging for economy class seat selection at time of booking.
 

If you book a MAS ticket and get into website to Manage Booking,you will find MAS charging a fee for any seats reservation!Yes,any seats! Not only the premium seats which cost more to reserve.The airline is acting pariah now and so petty.They implement this seat charging in June 2017 and cancelled or refused to honour the seats the customers had booked before the implementation,even the eticket showed "Seats Confirmed".May be the staff doesn't know the legal implications of issuing eticket with confirmed seat and cancelled them to put up for sales.Anyone has this experience?I emailed their global reservation service staff but they asked me to report to their superior.Looks like the airline is going in the drain again since the CEO leaves,or leaving.All the best Peter.Pity you time and effort wasted.

Do you?

you could reserve almost any seat for free - yup, no charge whatsoever, 48hrs before departure ...

I also lost my confirmed seats after the policy change. MH telephone sales couldn’t make them stick, the system kept cancelling them every time they were re-instated. The only option offered was to pay. I refused having bought my ticket when seating was still free (MH offered free seating through Malaysia telephone sales prior to the policy change and systems migration to Amadeus).
I then cancelled my semi-flexible ticket and claimed a refund. Despite my protest, a cancellation fee (£150 in my case) was deducted by MH.
I subsequently did a successful chargeback with AMEX for the cancellation fee. I argued that the cancellation fee for my H class fare should not apply given MH’s fraudulent trading practices - charging for something which was free at the time of purchase.

On a related note, Oneworld Emeralds now get free standard seating (only standard seats) but you must call and you must get a supervisor to mark them as exempt from payment to ensure they don’t get cancelled.

Yes, I have asked MH to refund the fee that I had to pay to re-book my previously booked seats. I am still waiting for a response to the request....

Numerous agents within MH have stated to me that anyone that purchased tickets before this change (I purchased in January) should have had their reservations honoured and that they were exempt from the fees.

The issue MH has relates to their change of booking systems together with not expending any effort into restoring these.

In my case the standard get-out of "we reserve the right to move you for operational reasons" doesn't apply as I was able to book the exact same seats.

OMG - what a mess - they should not blame Amadeus migration - other oneWorld carriers (that use Amadeus0 can handle it for OW elites. I would definitely charge back.

If you chargeback will the card work on their site next time ?

So far so good. I have used my card since through telephone sales.

So I booked a cheap business class flight for two pax from SIN to PVG vv and added my BAEC number (emerald) in my booking and did not get charged for any of the seats I wanted to select.

I guess there is more to it than a blanket charge for all seat reservations.

Globalist

I'm quite sure business class passengers are exempt from this fee. I myself have a booking for CGK-KUL-PEN and I wasn't charged for any selection. I hold oneworld ruby.

Yes, business don't pay. In my case, the reservations that I made on a single phone call for two bookings (one business, one economy) somehow managed to retain the business seat reservations but "lost" the economy. To the point that Malaysia claimed the reservations never existed in the first place, even with the app showing these even after the flights had been taken!!!

Moderator note.
 

I edited the thread's title to reflect the more narrow seat selection charges based on member posts. Ocn Vw 1K, Senior Moderator.

I guess the fear is that if the flight is really full, there might not be enough available seats to group your travelling party together.
Example, next month I'm going to Seoul in a party of 7; ended up caving in to MAS and paying up front for the seat reservations so that we can all sit together :(
Sucks to have to pay for regular seat reservations on a so called "full service" carrier but eh.

The economics are simple. If the fare including the additional charge is still better than another full service airline, you have your answer. If you are not happy you have a choice. MH knows this.

MH has its shortcomings but looking at their fares I am more than happy to fly them. (Admittedly mostly in their business promos).

Globalist