TravelExperience

Dear Forum Members,

I have a question to ask and while at first glance, the answer might seem obvious, please do hear me out, but if I am mistaken, correction will be much appreciated as well.

I have noticed that MH seems to be using the same fare class for all categories of bookings in Economy, which would shortchange FFP members in terms of earnings and practically deny OneWorld FPP members any earnings.

Any idea if this is a glitch in their website, i.e.,

· the display of fare class might be wrong but it later automatically corrects when tickets are issued,

· or if after issue pax can call MH customer service to correct the fare class,

· or does the website display all tickets on the same fare class but pax are able to obtain the correct fare class when booking over phone or via TA?

Or is this how MH is operating going forward?

If it’s a glitch or the like, I guess we can work on finding ways around it if we want to fly MH, but if that is going to be how MH is going to treat pax…well…buyer beware…

I tried to post the screenshots but as I am new at posting its not allowed sorry

TGflyergirl

Not quite - the RBD goes up according to availability - so they start at the lowest RBD - and sell all three levels at the lowest code, and then go up one, and again sell all three levels laterally at that code. Just for example - do have a quick look at 18/3 this friday KUL-SIN on MH603 - You can get a lite fare booked in Y - at a ridiculous 1200ish RM - and not have a bag included. It has been like this for a while. So to go back to answering your question - no, there is no way to upsell to a fare earning class online. You just need to wait until the lower RBD's run out, or you do it via a travel agent.

Not sure what you mean by "how MH is treating it's passengers" though - what you see is what you get.

TravelExperience

thank you so much !

I did not realise MH was assigning RBD laterally and wrongly thought it would be based on the Economy Lite / Basic / Flex levels. Yes I did check KUL-SIN on MH603 18/3 this Friday and saw the RM 1,200ish Economy Lite fare. So to confirm, if I am booking early on say 1 month out and want to try for at least a K / M / L / V Booking Class, my best bet is booking via a travel agent?

and just to explain what I meant by "how MH is treating it's passengers", I had a panicked idea (though obviously wrong) that MH might have designated all economy tickets as N or Q class, being stingy with points for other OneWorld FFP members, maybe with the aim to drive those flying MH to sign on to enrich. I remember QF does something similar for QF FFP members flying MH to Australia, i.e., having an abysmal earning rate.

Again thank you

TravelExperience

Hi just wanted to share that I did a booking via a travel agent and it works, they got the RDB I wanted ! Thank you again

Booked a V Class Fare, as follows,

KUL BKK 5th APR V class
BKK KUL 9th APR V class
RM1385, Economy Basic

at the same time the same Economy Basic Fare (same dates) on MH's website is, RM 1,213, with N class outbound and S return

To the admins / mods, this thread can be closed, question answered and suggestion successfully implemented !

OWF_NYC_SIN

It seems that this thread is still opened for comments As for booking the specific RDB, could I ask what travel agent you have used to book your flights? That would surely be annoying to have to call MH, but if you know of any online TAs, that would be greatly appreciated!

SilverChris

I’m not aware of any OTA that lets you pick and choose specific RBDs. If anything they’re meant for people who don’t care about that sort of thing.

You’ll need to talk to a human behind a computer – at MH, Amex, or a brick and mortar TA – to book exactly what you want.

immunedata

I recently booked via the MAS website KL>Perth>Adelaide with the domestic hop on Qantas only to find that my Qantas flights were in a particular RBD (Q) that is not eligible for Enrich Points.

This was a surprise to me (I thought only MAS played that game) but was more surprised to hear you also don't earn Elite Points. The relevant page on their website (https://enrich.malaysiaairlines.com/...es/qantas.html) makes it quite clear that Enrich Points scale with Booking Class but make no such distinction / reference for the Elite Points earning table and quite plainly states that Elite Points are awarded according to distance zone and cabin class (i.e. NOT booking class).

crackjack

Hipmunk used to allow it, I believe. I think BookwithMatrix can help figure out specific FBCs as well?

TravelExperience

Hello

Could I ask where you are based? I have so far used multiple travel agents based in Malaysia for MH bookings and while some had trouble understanding why I would pay more for a certain RBD, all could do it. Admittedly at some TAs the initial staff tasked with the booking were kind of green and did not realise what RBDs where but after checking with seniors, problem solved.

I have not been able to do the same using OTAs. If would want I can pass you the contact for the TAs I have used

OWF_NYC_SIN

Hello there! I am based in the US, New York City.

There is a neighborhood with a lot of Arabic/Middle Eastern decent people not too far where I live. Most of these physical TA businesses have no online presence, but have good reviews on Google Maps. I checked some of these places out as a general inquiry, I have not bought my tickets yet with inter-Malaysia travels, but will finalize as soon as I can. I had asked some as well, if they can book with specific RBD for FFP accumulation. Like your experience, some are aware and some are not too informed.

As for OTAs, these I have not found. Like in previous replies, calling MH or speaking with actual TAs in-person or phone call would be the best approach for FFP accumulation