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British Airways will now rebook Kuala Lumpur passengers on Malaysia Airlines

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As we covered in an exclusive story last week, British Airways has suspended the launch of flights to Kuala Lumpur until 1st April 2025.

This is due to mechanical issues with multiple Boeing 787 aircraft which have caused revisions to the winter flying schedule.

To date, BA has only been willing to rebook passengers on Qatar Airways or to Singapore on British Airways. This has now changed.

BA will now rebook Kuala Lumpur passengers on Malaysia Airlines and Cathay

A rebooking arrangement has now been made with Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

The Malaysia Airlines guidance notes are here.

You can either:

  • fly direct to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines
  • fly to Singapore with British Airways and take a Malaysia Airlines connection to Kuala Lumpur
  • fly to Bangkok with British Airways and take a Malaysia Airlines connection to Kuala Lumpur

The Cathay Pacific guidance notes are here.

This is less attractive. As well as having multiple blackout dates, you are only allowed an Economy flight between Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Flights from London to Hong Kong must be on British Airways.

Whilst British Airways does not usually allow multiple changes to bookings, feedback in our comments is that people who had been moved to Qatar Airways have been successful in asking to be moved to a direct Malaysia Airlines flight. I don’t know where you stand if you accepted a BA re-route to Singapore after being told that you had to make your own way to KL.


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Comments (153)

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

  • David S says:

    I’ve kept my BAEC number on my new bookings with MH as Silver.it was a 241 booking so I don’t expect any Avios although it would be great if BA offered some small additional compensation for all the stress suffered. Should I consider putting our QR membership numbers on the booking instead. Any thoughts?

    • Waistman says:

      I was on 241 booking and cabin upgrade voucher over 3 bookings (1 flight). Agent told me was being transferred to revenue seats, class B for economy and J for business!

  • David S says:

    Having got our flights to KUL transferred to MH, I have left our BAEC numbers on the booking. It’s a 241 booking and we are both Silver . I shouldn’t expect any Avios from the booking but should I put our QR membership numbers on it. BA have caused me so much stress with this cancellation and it would be nice if there was an upside

  • JDB says:

    So, after a lot of heat and fury, c. 700 posts with allegations of illegality, rabid posts with general stirring and misinformation from the usual suspects (without even having a dog in the race), and a fair few calmer, sensible voices as well, this has all worked out quite well for most people. Many were rebooked on QR on the announcement and now MH direct is an option so both will travel in greater comfort. BA has offered additional gateways, so far more options than the minimum reasonable. Some have availed themselves of the opportunity to move dates. Perhaps those in PE benefit the least as they either have to go indirectly, but if they go direct they will get 75% Avios compensation plus at least £110pp APD difference. Those who accepted to go only as far as Singapore will get sorted out as well.

    • Lady London says:

      All of which, at least, British Airways should have been ready to provife to fulfill their lehal obligations as soon as anyone’s flight was cancelled.

      Instead a lot of stress and effort, with 700 approx posts on what should be a minor topic. But so many reports of absolutely illegal denials and restrictions of passengers rights by British Airways reported in that 700. Including a fair few who were told by British Airways to purchase their own transport onward from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur after BA cancelled the flight they hsd bought to Kuaa Lumpur. In direct snd flagrant refusal to provide the full reroute to Kuala Lumpur those passrngers had a right to and were requesting.

      Someone should put BA’s head down the toilet and flush it.

      • JDB says:

        @Lady London – as you should know as someone who professes knowledge in this area, it would have been unlawful for BA to have sought commercial arrangements with other airlines prior to the announcement of the cancellations. You will no doubt also have noticed that a great many of the 700 posts are from the same people, many of whom were unaffected. The SIN is incredibly minor and where people have copied what was actually written on chat, the reality was very different to what you state. It’s very clear that in a panic some agreed to this solution rather than waiting.

        I just don’t know why you don’t focus on solutions rather than endlessly criticising BA although I’m sure you would have negotiated better rerouting agreements far more quickly. Shouting “fire, fire” endlessly is a bit pointless and rather Daily Star.

        Anyway, BA has been incompetent, regrettably something of a norm in service industries these days but it hasn’t acted illegally and personally I’m delighted that those who kept a cool head have ultimately had a very decent resolution.

        • Lady London says:

          @JDB again in your pursuit of capitalist conformism you are indulging in whataboutery. Who gives a fig what ‘commercial agreements’ BA would like to shape for its own profit? The same alternative flights were running before BA cancelled Kuala Lumpur. Tickets on those flights were available at any time to BA. The delay, bullying of passengers and denial of legal entitlements to a full proper reroute under comparable conditions that were posted here by so many, were only because although all those alternative reroutings were already available to BA, they wanted to maximise their profit.

          As I posted yesterday into a discussion on a Daily Chst thread my advice was if you’re booked at a peak time and need to keep the same dates push for a reroute now. Simply due to the small finite number of seats on aircraft at peak times. Particularly in Business Class where HfP readers are more likely than non-readers to book. I mentionef others could afford to wait fot “the policy” for more alternatives potentially to finally be provided by BA.

          The point is that anytime BA has cancelled a flight their agents should immediately agree to reasonable reroutings to the destination the passenger had booked. They should not try to forcè passengers into refunds or say they will only reroute to short of the destination (SIN) and passenger must pay the rest to get where he booked (KUL). Utterly shameful. Premium Economy passengers should not be told refund or downgrade when other airlines are indeed flying as usual, to the same destinations in PE. They didn’t start flying as soon as BA reached a “commercial agreement”.

          Every agent should have this competence.
          Or, any cancelled passenger should be immediately directed to a specialist team that is ready to deal correctly with rerouting for cancelled flights. Such a team could deal with rerouting / reticketing for irropped passengers as well. As it’s the same skillset. Oh, wait….

          • Anna L says:

            So many people here have advised to wait, after all it took BA only less than 1 week to sort out the agreement with MH, there was previous examples of similar situation and it was clear that this would have got sorted out eventually. I’m travelled peak time (24th Dec) and business class and waited for the official guidelines, got rebooked to MH with no issue even get moved to a better date (weekend just before Christmas) if which if was sold out previously on BA and even now still many many available seats over peak Xmas. People who acted out of panic or due to bad advices, that was unfortunate, I hope you manage to get this sorted somehow.

      • Mikeact says:

        @LadyLondon I would expect better of you than your last paragraph….a bit surprising and totally unnecessary.

        • Lady London says:

          @Mikeacr you mean the toilet ? I felt a bit guilty too as of course after I’d posted it, uncgangeably as it’s a comment on an article, I realised I’d allowed myself to get wound up by @JDB’s smugness and denial of any wrongdoing by BA.

          So zibthought the same as you, but too late to remove it but I would if I could.

    • Muskysman says:

      Sorry those who accepted SIN will not get sorted and have clearly been told that’s your lot go away. As another poster mentions this has been a debacle from day one and BA management should hold their heads in shame providing no strategy allow frontline staff to make it up as they go along, and any remediation a lottery depending who you spoke to. Everyone here and other forums have been saying wait for a policy. Unfortunately this is not what BA said . Simply your flights are cancelled “ let’s get you back on track”. Wouldn’t it have been far better for BA to have said we are working on options please await a further announcement instead of here’s your options take or leave it. Many people don’t read the forums and put their trust in the company providing the service. This is not sour grapes as I have been able to sort out an alternative that gets me to where I want to be than BA with a connecting flight, more an observation that there will be many people that don’t use the internet as their font of knowledge who have been shafted by BA’s dishonourable behaviour.

      • JDB says:

        @Muskysman – anyone who didn’t act precipitously and agreed to SIN (and didn’t wish to end there as some did) will definitely get sorted out quite easily. Many people got excellent resolution to their satisfaction on cancellation. Some were told to wait by BA but chose not to.

        • Muskysman says:

          And many myself included were told by BA it’s your only option take it or leave it . Nothing was ever mentioned about waiting… whether or not there are now options and BA are acting reasonably, in the initial phase BA just did not have their act together and allowed CS staff to make it up as they went along hence why there has been an inconsistency in outcomes before yesterday. Yes maybe in hindsight it was rash and not rational to accept flights ending in SIN but with potentially over £1000 on the line and being told nothing but this is all thar can be done you do tend to make the decision on the spot.

    • Mark says:

      @JDB – Ironic, coming from someone who described SIN reroute, downgrade or refund presented by some agents for Club World redemptions as the only available options as “an acceptable, if not good position”. Ask yourself why 700 posts on this, and not the Beijing suspension.

      You’re just pointlessly stirring now 🙂

      • JDB says:

        The Beijing route was suspended because so few people were using it. Not many affected pax. Many more were affected by Virgin Shanghai route cancellation. Singapore was an acceptable position for some. The matter has been well resolved now, including for some originally accepting SIN now getting rebooked so I don’t know what you are still complaining about. No more misinformation to provide?

      • JDB says:

        By the way @Mark, one of the reasons there were so many posts was that you wrote about 7% of them yourself!

    • Confun says:

      Bit strange when you need to take advice from people who are not the company you are dealing with, yet the company you are dealing with a) doesn’t give a straight (and consistent) answer, b) repeatedly says, that’s the only option you can have a refund, c) doesn’t have something on day 1 that communicates a few basics eg if you flying in the next x weeks call this number, if you are not please hold fire whilst we sort our self-induced crap out.
      Flights get cancelled and everything is ‘fine’ now but it was a whole lot of mess through disorganised operations and communication along the way. It would have been simple to do in reality but someone at BA seemed to think impacting 200000 people without communication would be an ok thing to do.

  • Andrew says:

    They rebooked me with Qatar then BA back from Singapore after Malaysian KL to Singapore, I’m in First Class

  • DelboyHW says:

    Am glad I didn’t wait for the news and got our BAH flights changed last Saturday to BA/MH via SIN.. as we are booked in WTP which is not a cabin MH offer (and didn’t fancy a 4hr trip from HKG in Y)

  • JDB says:

    @LadyLondon – unfortunately I have no idea what your latest repeated barb of “capitalist conformism” means. I’m not sure what you mean about BA doing all this to maximise its own profit when RR is paying the bill. It just further shows what endless guff is being churned out as some rabble raising effort like Nigel Farage.

    • Lady London says:

      Unfortunately @JDB I had to clarify to others on here who were accusing you of being a contrarian. I instead coined a phrase indicating that you are a follower of the established status quo in support of large capitalist enterorise such as BA and Heathrow snd your first reflex is to support them even when they appear to operate in an anti-consumer way.

      I did try to smooth it by mentioning that many successful people in the banking and legal professions are the same, [also with an eye to this also applying to a good chunk ofvHfP’s readers], and i’m a bit hurt that my efforts to flatter were missed by you 🙂

  • Christopher Doe says:

    For CPAP users, please note that Malaysian Airlines doesn’t allow them to be plugged in to the power socket.

  • Johnny Tabasco says:

    Hi I’d like to sign up to capitalist conformism please, and can I also use my 241 voucher ?

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