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

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• HILDA Wappett says:

  12 Oct12 October 05:02

  Booked on flight from Brunei -Kuala Lumpur on nov 26 , cancelled this am , not to happy as outward flight to Singapore was also cancelled, waiting now to contact BA at 8 am , fingers crossed

• Alan says:

  12 Oct12 October 05:13

  Hope they do start from April. I have a BAHs booking MAN-LHR-KUL-PEN. Last flight is with Malaysian. But the LHR-KUL sector is BA F class and think any OW partner offers 1st class to KUL or PEN?

• NigelthePensioner says:

  12 Oct12 October 06:09

  Im not sure why anyone would fly direct to KUL with BA when you can get double tier points flying with Qatar!! Likewise for anywhere out East.

  • BJ says:

    12 Oct12 October 06:51

    Not rverybody cares about TP. If you purchase and/or redeem only business class seats TP are of little consequence. Some may argue that the status provides additional protection or opportunities in respect of downgrades and upgrades but in my own experience this is not true. Despite only ever being Blue except two years as Bronze I’ve never ever bern downgraded even whrn using vouchers while two of my last four longhaul flights on BA have been upgraded to F. I am in little doubt there were Gold members on board, perhaps even GGL, so issues lije this are not as simply related to dtatus as many might think.

    • polly says:

      12 Oct12 October 07:54

      Well done BJ at getting those 2 upgrades to F. Seems like they appreciate your business. Only ever got from PE to J, which was a treat a long time ago, before we started using 241s.
      We are hoping we can change now from Nov to Feb on their tab.. as we were going to cancel anyway.

      • BJ says:

        12 Oct12 October 08:00

        I had forgotten you mentioned that so a good result for you 🙂 LAX to LHR was a genuine upgrade while HKG-LHR was F sear J service after a plane swap.

• Sharon says:

  12 Oct12 October 06:58

  Anyone experiencing cancellations to Tokyo? Have flights booked on BA5 on 11 Nov with 21 nights (very expensive ground arrangements) booked and the flight was recently changed to a 787. I think the earlier flight was also changed to a 787. Starting to get anxious. I have onward flight same day to regional part of Japan but have a few hours to spare in Haneda. What’s the chance that my flight may be cancelled?

  • BJ says:

    12 Oct12 October 07:15

    Anybodies guess but much more likely to be changed to a different aircraft given it’s such a high-yield destination. Best case you’d get shifted to JAL, possibly even on the new A350 which would be a huge win. Worse case you would likely find yourselg on a longer journey with Qatar which in reality would only be worse in terms of time. Do your research on alternate routings (JL, AY, QR) now so that if it happens you are well prepared and can hit the phones straight away.

    • Sharon says:

      12 Oct12 October 07:31

      Thanks. Ironically someone in the thread said their KUL on the same date as me was cancelled. I wonder if their 787 was put on the BA5 on 11 Nov as it only changed the other day when I was checking the seat plan. Would love a JAL swap BTW. To confirm, as it is a 241 booking, they have to find another flight even if no avios available?

      • BJ says:

        12 Oct12 October 08:09

        No avios availability required, they will switch you to revenue seats if there is no award availability. That is a result as it means avios and TP. However, I’d neither sweat it or build your hopes as Tokyo is unlikely to suffer except for all the usual random reasons that can affect aircraft operations every day of the year. You’ll almost certainly be flying BA on tve day you booked on one plane or another. If for any reason you’re not you’ll likely be reaccommodate on JL, CX, AY or QR as there are plenty of options.

        • Dom says:

          12 Oct12 October 11:37

          Being switched to revenue seats from an avios booking doesn’t guarantee that TP and Avios will be earned.
          We had a 241 booking to Tokyo back in October 2022, BA then pushed back their post COVID restart of the route by a couple of weeks meaning out outbound was cancelled. We were rebooked on JAL revenue seats, my wife got TP and Avios but mine credited as ineligible like an Avios booking normally would. So I would say there is a chance of TP and Avios when this happens but I wouldn’t go expecting it as you may be disappointed.

• Just Nick says:

  12 Oct12 October 07:14

  We were due to fly on 11th November to KL. Had a long call yesterday on the Gold line and told I had no rights to be rerouted on a 2-4-1 booking. He would not do QR or Malaysian. In the end I was given seats to Singapore on BA and told I had to pay all other costs to get to KL and back as well as a hotel for the extra night I would have to stay. I kept asking for QR flights which had plenty of availability but he would not budge even after speaking with a supervisor. It has added around £500 to our holiday.

  • executiveclubber says:

    12 Oct12 October 07:20

    You were given incorrect and in fact probably illegal advice — you should follow this up with an email to Sean Doyle so the executive team can fix this

  • Jon says:

    12 Oct12 October 07:31

    You have exactly the same rights as if it were a cash booking. They’ve given you wrong information. Others here can probably advise better on how you should proceed, but I think if it were me I’d start by calling them back and asking that they amend your ticket to add on the SIN-KUL-SIN legs (which would most likely be on Malaysia Airlines). You’ll probably need to quote the UK/EU261 regulation and CAA/EU interpretative guidelines at them – plenty on that elsewhere in the forums here. But in short: manner of payment is irrelevant; they must reroute you to your final destination. Failing that, make your own arrangements and claim the costs back from BA. Possibly prudent to request (via Data Subject Access Request if necessary) the recording, or at least transcript, of your call with them. At very least, make full detailed notes right now of exactly what was said, while it’s fresh in your mind, in case you need/want to take it to CEDR etc later. So long as you have a record/proof that they denied you your statutory rights, you should be made whole – although that may take significant time and effort…

  • meta says:

    12 Oct12 October 07:32

    Just send them the bill for £500 and they will pay. You can take them to CEDR or MCOL. They have to get you to your original destination and cover any extra costs for transportation and accommodation under UK261.

    Agents know nothing about the legal rights, so you shouldn’t be listening to them.

    • meta says:

      12 Oct12 October 07:34

      Also it’s good to HUACA if you’re getting nowhere. There are a few competent agents.

  • BJ says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:22

    Call again today within 24h, explain you have been misinformed of your rights and coerced into accepting unsuitable alternative and you would like to be reaccommodate froLHR-KUL in accordance with your rights. A good agent will sort this for you, jf not asked to speak with their manager. If tgey refuse then hang up and call again. Rinse and repeat until you get satisfaction. No way would I ve accepting only a flight to SIN with associates hassle of then claiming additional vosts. If there is genuine difficulty reaccommidating you direct or one-stop for your dates on MH, QR or CX I would then explore two stops with QR+MH via BKK or HKT before taking this SIN only flight.

  • Phatbear says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:55

    I have no status and used avios and a 2 for 1 voucher and a quick call to BA when the news hit got me moved on to Qatar metal no issues and no extra cost

• C says:

  12 Oct12 October 07:21

  Should I wait and see what re-routing options come up or should I just rebook on QR with a transit?

  • The real Swiss Tony says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:03

    Yes! The commercial policy will be published on the trade site in a matter of days. Once that’s done agents will be able to see what is in place and it’ll stop the debate about what’s permitted dead in its tracks.

    Whilst I can understand the anxiety to get this sorted, BA will fix it. Had it been MH cancelling the flight, I’d have a lot less faith.

    • BJ says:

      12 Oct12 October 08:26

      In a few days there will be less seats to vhoose from but it can work both ways.. i think if it were me I’d wait if I was flexible but jump now if I had little flexibility on dates.

      • meta says:

        12 Oct12 October 08:38

        Depends when your flight is. If it was within next two months, and especially over Christmas, I wouldn’t wait. QR flights DOH-LHR are already being filled up.

      • Rob says:

        12 Oct12 October 08:59

        Not really – MH has two flights per day so that’s a huge amount of extra direct capacity which will be dropped in.

        • BJ says:

          12 Oct12 October 09:18

          A lot of those seats may already be gone, especially over the festive season, Chinese New Year etc.

        • meta says:

          12 Oct12 October 09:19

          Not really, as these two daily flights already have passengers booked on.

      • The real Swiss Tony says:

        12 Oct12 October 09:17

        Rubbish.

        BA have presumably cancelled this because the loads are low. So maybe 100 misplaced passengers a day, many of whom will have an agent sorting or not be following it by the second – and only a tiny fraction will be getting their knickers in a knot over this.

        QR fly an insane number of rotations from London now (plus the regions – this has been an option in the past) and I think 4 a day from Doha to KL as they codeshare with MH.

        What we have seen in the past (i.e Beijing) is BA will offer a lot of options. It was QR, OS and a Chinese carrier on that route.

        So the policy is likely to be MH, via SIN or QR. More than enough to go round. It makes me wince when a “grown up” site like this ends up awash with the brigade who you see quoted in the tabloid media. “4hr holiday flight delay ruined my life”.

        If you can’t roll with the punches perhaps self booked travel isn’t for you.

        • BJ says:

          12 Oct12 October 09:20

          If it’s just a few then I guess they must all be HFP readers going by tve comments 🙂

        • meta says:

          12 Oct12 October 09:25

          They haven’t cancelled because of low numbers. It’s to do with engines and planes are out of action. They sent an email to all passengers (see page 1 of comments).

          QR has a lot of flights, but they are quickly filling up, especially in the next two months. If you want to fly economy then yes, you can probably get seats on both QR and MH.

          If you’re booked in PE, you will likely face downgrade as neither offers it.

• Paulthetaxman says:

  12 Oct12 October 07:25

  I rang up at around 7:20 pm. Flights for Feb. Rebooked onto QR in about 10mins and no fuss.

• Kam says:

  12 Oct12 October 07:53

  Rebooking line is not taking any calls. You can’t make this up

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