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EXCLUSIVE: British Airways cancels return to Kuala Lumpur with four weeks notice

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British Airways was due to restart two routes to Asia this winter – Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Bangkok is going ahead, with flights starting on 28th October.

Kuala Lumpur, which was due to launch on 10th November, seems to have hit the buffers.

EDIT: Whilst a few days old, we are keeping this article pinned to the top of the home page because of the amount of discussion in the comments about BA’s ‘issues’ over rerouting passengers.

British Airways drops Kuala Lumpur flights

Earlier this afternoon the flights were showing as bookable:

British Airways drops Kuala Lumpur flights

…. but five minutes ago it changed to this:

British Airways drops Kuala Lumpur flights

No flights are available until 1st April 2025.

Cancelling a route with less than a months notice is clearly not great news for anyone. However, with oneworld partner Malaysia Airlines offering double-daily flights from Heathrow, it should be possible to get most people on a same-day alternative.

Our 2022 review of the Malaysia Airlines service in business class is here.

Qatar Airways is also likely to be an option due to BA’s joint venture agreement. In fact, it is possible that BA tries to push Qatar Airways as its preferred alternative.

Note that it will take BA a few days to hammer out a formal rebooking arrangement with Malaysian. If you call today you will be offered an indirect alternative.

Why have the flights been pulled?

British Airways told us:

We’re disappointed that we’ve had such to make further changes to our schedule as we continue to experience delays to the delivery of engines and parts from Rolls-Royce – particularly in relation to the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines fitted to our 787 aircraft.

We’ve taken this action because we do not believe the issue will be solved quickly, and we want to offer our customers the certainty they deserve for their travel plans. We’ve apologised to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines. 

We continue to work closely with Rolls-Royce to ensure the company is aware of the impact its issues are having on our schedule and customers, and seek reassurance of a prompt and reliable solution.

In terms of ‘why KL?’, competition is probably part of it. Malaysia Airlines offers a decent product on the route which also allows flyers to earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points.

BA’s shortage of A380 aircraft is also likely to be a factor. As we have covered, the fleet is proving very unreliable.

Kuala Lumpur was scheduled as a daily service on a Boeing 787-9, which was a heavy commitment in terms of aircraft. Pulling what was always going to be a low yield route is a relatively low cost way of building some resilience in the schedule.

Let’s hope the 1st April 2025 date is firm.

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British Airways and Avios

Comments (644)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Just Nick says:
    12 Oct12 October 13:04

    So BA have sent us only as far as Singapore and would not book onward flights to KL at all. They said I have to pay for onward travel which is £435 return in economy. Can they legally do this, or can I claim the costs incurred actually getting to the destination I booked for. I also incur the cost of a hotel as I have had to stay another night to guarantee connecting to the flight back to London from Singapore.

    • Paul says:
      12 Oct12 October 14:22

      No, they must get you to KL but they haven’t got fucks in a row yet.

      Wait a week. Call back but if you accepted SIN you probably will need to argue!

  • Imran says:
    12 Oct12 October 13:05

    Just spoke to BA exec club, was told rebooking policy is being finalised with Qatar and Malaysia and should call back on Monday where they would move booking to either carrier. I’d booked using 2-4-1 voucher in Club for January

  • Patrick says:
    12 Oct12 October 13:22

    I’m booked on the Dec 27 LHR-KUL flight (2-4-1 in Club, returning from BKK), contacted call centre and after 1 hour wait finally spoke to an agent. Told me my only option was Singapore. I indicated my rights under UK/ EC 261, and they were acting illegally as I didn’t have to accept Singapore as my destination (which simply does not work for me) – they refused to book me a connecting flight to KUL, and would not book me on Qatar or Malaysian for LHR – KUL. Agent would not allow me to speak with her superior. I refused. She told me to try calling back and they may be able to do something in the next few days.
    I have no sympathy for their agents who are going to take the brunt of this, they should have had a strategy in place before they canned these flights.
    Newspaper articles have this quote from BA “We’ve apologised to those affected and are able to offer the vast majority a flight the same day with British Airways or one of our partner airlines” – which is completely fabricated.

    • Patrick says:
      12 Oct12 October 14:39

      Replying to my own post, I called again a few hours later. Different agent, different result. Now booked via Doha on QR. Gets us into KUL earlier than the direct BA flight would have, which is better for us anyway.
      This agent actually volunteered for me that he had to re-route us on a different airline and get us to KUL – he seemed to know his stuff.

  • Dave Hughes says:
    12 Oct12 October 13:36

    The amount of people not listening or understanding in the messages is unreal!

    If you were booked to KUL then BA MUST get you to KUL or agree to pay costs if you were rerouted to Singapore (but you shouldn’t have to do that!)

    • Aston100 says:
      12 Oct12 October 15:20

      Dave, if you bothered to read the comments properly you’d realise that BA agents don’t seem to know that.
      Don’t be a victim blamer.

      • Dave Hughes says:
        12 Oct12 October 20:03

        People have clearly stated they havnt finalised reroute options yet! I’m not claiming the victims I’m saying don’t be one…..

      • Mike Fish says:
        12 Oct12 October 21:21

        The agents SHOULD know that customers have the right to be booked through to their original destination. This isn’t an optional nice to do for good customer service but a legal right. Management messed up by not issuing a script for agents including the options but the agents not knowing the basics of their job are to blame.

  • LondonFoodie says:
    12 Oct12 October 13:36

    Interestingly, I actually preferred direct flight to SIN over a stop over in Doha, but call centre said they can’t do that…
    Took the Doha flights for now as peak xmas season. Will try them again in a few days in case they can get us on MH or to SIN or HKT

    • Bervios says:
      12 Oct12 October 13:44

      You are allowed only one change per booking. Don’t accept anything you aren’t happy with otherwise you are stuck with it.

  • Lady London says:
    12 Oct12 October 14:04

    For inspirstion look at the progression in the last 2 Virgin Asin flight cancellations threads.

    After howls of that’s illegal commentary on here no doubr read by Virgin their stance did develop to a more legal one.

    I am sure flyertalk will have similar.

    It’s the unwary who don’t read HfP that I feel.sorry for as airlines peddle this rubbish agsin and again and where is the CAA?

    • Paul says:
      12 Oct12 October 14:26

      I agree with you but even on here there are apologists for BA and others who deliberately mis interpret U.K. 261.
      The simple fact is BA must reroute, must do it to your satisfaction and in the same cabin. They cannot simply dump you on QR via DOH as that is not a comparable travel condition when you were due to fly non stop. If QR suits you fine but if MH available and you are happy with that, then that’s what they should be booking for you.

      • Hampshirehog says:
        12 Oct12 October 15:15

        Not true, you can’t insist on a non stop flight

        • LittleNick says:
          12 Oct12 October 15:54

          Why not? If you’ve booked non-stop, comparable is not a stop half way in the journey, as good as QR is, sometimes time is more important and getting there asap is better than stopping for 3 hours in the middle. One stop 6 hours in, is not imho comparable, but I’m NOT a legal expert and don’t know if this has ever been tested etc. 1 stop in Europe/Asia is comparable imho

          • HampshireHog says:
            12 Oct12 October 21:05

            “Comparable” is not defined anywhere, I’m merely advising folk not to reject a connection at suitable times as they may not get nor be entitled to a non stop flight

    • JDB says:
      12 Oct12 October 16:45

      @LadyLondon – I can assure you that Virgin’s change of attitude didn’t come from what they read here!

      • Lady London says:
        12 Oct12 October 17:40

        Whether they had the good sense to read articles about themsekves on HfP, or whether someone from the CAA had a word with Virgin and told them to move closer to rerouting practices conformant with their obligations under the law when they cancelled their latest Asian route, I am aure commentary on HfP waa contributory.

  • Robert says:
    12 Oct12 October 14:09

    In what circumstance will a reward booking to KUL that’s moved to Qatar or Malaysian then earn Tier Points and Avios? Only if there is no reward availability on the replacement flight you want?

    • LittleNick says:
      12 Oct12 October 15:56

      Yes I suspect so, and they’ve booked you onto a revenue class and not coded the ticket correctly (correctly in the sense of not earning frequent flyer miles)

      • LittleNick says:
        12 Oct12 October 15:57

        I say this because I have been ticketed into I class on an avios award booking but got no TP/avios

        • JDB says:
          12 Oct12 October 16:48

          Yes, if the agent correctly reissues the ticket, even if booked in a revenue fare bucket, it shouldn’t earn Avios/TP. During Covid huge numbers of people did, but they are more careful these days. One might still get them but quite rarely.

          • meta says:
            12 Oct12 October 18:07

            But you can earn QR avios and QR points… You should actually think about where to credit. I look at it as a way to compensate me for the hassle of having to deal with something that is entirely someone else’s fault.

          • MarkH says:
            12 Oct12 October 20:52

            @meta – my 2-4-1 LHR-KUL has been re-routed on QR.
            Are you implying I would now need to put my Qatar FF details on the booking in order to get the avios and tier points?

          • meta says:
            12 Oct12 October 23:06

            Not tier points, but QPoints. You might not earn any with BA number if it’s classed as reward ticket or in a non-earning fare by BA. With QR you problably will earn some Avios and Qpoints.

  • Christopher says:
    12 Oct12 October 14:23

    After reading all the comments on here I was not very hopeful about getting my return from Kuala Lumpur sorted. I called BA this afternoon, was through to an agent in under 10 minutes, and had my flight changed in business onto Qatar, as I requested (they did try and ask me take BA from Singapore), and it was all done pretty quickly, with no fuss or difficulty at all. A positive experience of BA and I am only a blue card holder using Amex 241 voucher.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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