Malaysia Airlines A380s- Can they be made to pay their way

Travellers want low fares, exceptional service and bucket loads of frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately the reality is that airlines have to pay their way at some stage. The alternative of course, is loss making state owned carriers burning through huge amounts of cash that could be spent more wisely. (Perhaps on some more nurses or teachers, rather than on Dom Perignon 2004 for first class passengers.

However, lets forget reality, and see if we can come up with a plan to keep Malaysia Airlines A380s in the air, and flying between KL and London (and maybe even Paris)

Unfortunately, in general, the number of journeys made between cities decreases with the distance between them, and the loading and unloading time of A380s mean they are not planes for short hops. Malaysia need to look to compete on well used city pairs with over 5 hours of flying time.

First opportunity: Look to exploit 5th freedom rights to compete on the key world aviation routes. Could the two landing slots at Heathrow be used for a flight from KL that then goes on to a key US city rather than two flights from KL? How about Paris. There is potential the other way, to Los Angeles or San Francisco perhaps via Japan

Second Opportunity: Explore a tie up and code share with a Gulf carrier. The connections available from Emirates, Qatar or Etihad could mke it  possible generate enough traffic to the middle east.

Third Opportunity: Stop flying with empty premium cabins.

Three easy steps to ensure this happens:
1. Increase reward flight availability. Substantially. Why not offer 4 seats in First and 10 in Business Some revenue is better than none.
2. Offer full miles and tier points (or qualifying miles) for upgrades purchased at the airport or via the auction option. This will increase the offers from the auction and increase the uptake of instant upgrades.
3. Actively sell instant upgrades in Business Class Lounges prior to the flight. For example if you have a Sapphire one world member flying economy in the business lounge, identify who it is and try to sell them an upgrade- don't be pushy, just make sure they know the option is available if they would like to upgrade.

Would any of these be enough to save the A380s in Malaysia's fleet. Perhaps not. But it would be great if they could keep them!

One World Alliance - key benefitsof British Airways Executive Club

The one world alliance contains a large number of key airlines for travellers based in the ASEAN region. The founding members included British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, which gave the alliance useful coverage between Europe and Asia and within Asia. Recently Malaysia Airlines, Qatar and Sri Lankan Airlines have joined making the alliance particularly attractive.

Of all of the loyalty programmes within one world, despite the recent changes the British Airways Executive club is my preferred choice. This is despite the fact that the majority of my flights are actually flown with Malaysia Airlines. The key benefits of the British Airways Executive Club are:

1. Clear progression through the tiers- Tier points are straight forward and earned on almost every flight (be careful on Malyasia Airlines though- more to follow on this)

2. Even following the devlauation, generous points earning opportunities from flying- especially on British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia.

3. The household account- this makes earning avios as a family a breeze and means reward flights are earned much quicker than with competing schemes.

4. Tier status benefits are well respected throughout the alliance- sometimes additional luggage allowances can be a little bit of a struggle at check in though.

By having status in the BA programme rather than the MH programme I do miss out on some benefits when flying on Malaysia Airlines. For example, I do not pick up tier bonus enrich points. The additional luggage allowance for enrich passengers with status is generous and quite straight forward (50%/100% extra for Gold/Platinum members). Finally I never get upgraded when travelling on Malaysia Airlines. However, given how empty Business/first cabins seem to be I assume that Malaysia Airlines only upgrade for operational reasons, so I doubt I miss much.

The British Airways Executive club is a good option for ASEAN travellers. However, you do need to have 4 flights on British Airways flights each year to maintain status. This may be a problem for a reader who does not travel once a year or so to Europe (or Australia).

More on the benefits of the Executive Club, and how to earn and maintain status in future posts.

Paris to Johor Bharu: Malaysia Airlines First Class

I have flown the Malaysia Airlines A380 service between Paris and Kuala Lumpur many times as described here. I have used all three cabins. Most recently I flew in First Class from Paris to Johor Bharu. This was a reward flight- it cost 99,000 Avios. 90,000 for Paris to Kuala Lumpur and then 9,000 for the hop down to Johor Bharu in Business.

I currently only have sapphire one-world status. This means that I am not able to use first class check-in desks unless I am flying first class. Unfortunately when I tried to check in the first class desk was busy and I was ushered to a Business Class desk. I was checked in without delay, but I was a little disappointed not to have been at a first class desk (ridiculous I know). I had two suitcases and two carry on items. I tried to check the carry on items, but wasn't allowed because of the two piece rule. A little frustrating- and if I had paid £4,000+ for my ticket I may have been bit more irritated.

The lounge used by Malaysia Airlines in Charles de Gaulle is very disappointing- but this was not unexpected as the the other lounges in terminal 1 are also not great. In the past I have struggled to board this plane on time- there are only two security channels to get through to the gates. If there is another plane going at the same time it can be chaos. I asked the lounge staff if there was a fast track system for first class passengers. Their response- "this is Paris sir". Suitably chastised as a capitalist bourgeois  pig, I headed to the gate, to find no queue at all. I breezed through security and on to the plane.

The First Class cabin on the A380 is very spacious, the seat is huge The crew were excellent as was the food. Dom Perignon 2003 was served. The caviar and salmon starter was fantastic. There were only two other passengers in first class. Business class was also significantly less than half full. I do worry for the future of this service especially as  Malaysia Airlines has now put its A380s up for sale.

I regard Malaysia Airlines A380 Business class very highly. First class offers more space, but not many other significant benefits. If travelling with a companion I will continue to fly Business class. If alone, the extra 30,000 avios for First class could be worthwhile, because of the individual seating. That having been said, loads on this route seem low- perhaps you would be unlucky not to have an empty seat beside you in Business Class.

Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur to Paris

I have used the Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur and Return quite regularly. It is a useful route even when travelling to the UK for a number of reasons:

1. It is cheaper than the flight to and from London (I imagine because of lower airport taxes and less demand) and they use an A380.
2. There is often Avios availability, either in Business or First Class.
3. The night flights (BA and Malaysia Airlines) arrive very early in the morning at Heathrow. I am not one for going straight to meetings, and so usually have a day in London first. As a result I find myself waiting to check in at my hotel. Arriving in Paris gives me the opportunity to refresh in the excellent American Airlines lounge at Charles De Gaulle before hoping across the channel and arriving in London at a more reasonable hour.

I have also found that this flight is often quite empty- which makes the journey a little more pleasant in all classes.

It is certainly one to consider if you are flying between Europe and Asia. If you add an Asian Leg in the Business Fare can be very competitive. For example Phuket to Paris and return via KL with Malaysia Airlines can often be booked for around £1,100. This will earn you over 17,000 avios and 360 tier points.

Its not all perfect though. The lounge for both business and first class passengers in Paris is rather feeble. The 50KG first class weight limit is fine, but the two pieces rule was enforced (on me anyway) the last time I flew the route- which was a pain as I ended up flying with two pieces of hand luggage.

There may well be a question mark over this route going forward. I'll continue to do my bit by flying it when I can! (edit: Courtesy of headforpoints.com I discover that Malaysia Airlines has put its A380s up for sale. It seems the threat to this route is very real indeed)

In forthcoming posts I'll review my experience of each of the cabins on this service.