Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Good Avios and cash deals to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines from Paris

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Malaysia Airlines, a oneworld alliance member, launches a new route from Paris to Kuala Lumpur on 23rd March.

To get it up and running, it has opened the floodgates for Avios bookings.

For the opening weeks, there appear to be four business class seats on every service and at least nine economy seats.

There are also attractive cash deals in both business and economy.

Good Avios and cash deals to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines

Flights operate daily.

The outbound leaves Paris CDG (Terminal 2F) at 11.25am, landing in Kuala Lumpur at 6.10am the following day.

The return leaves KL at 11.40pm and lands back in France at 6.40am the following day.

What is business class like?

The route is using an A350, which is the same aircraft and seat that Rhys reviewed here between Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur.

A seat image is below.

How to book a flight using Avios

Booking via British Airways Executive Club

Unfortunately ba.com can’t price these flights because, well, it’s ba.com. You get ‘Sorry there is a problem with booking this journey online. Try selecting other flights.’

If you can get it to work, the cost should be 185,500 Avios given the distance.

I don’t know what the taxes and charges number will be, but using Avios via Qatar Airways you will pay €518 return.

You CANNOT use American Express companion vouchers or Barclaycard upgrade vouchers on Malaysia Airlines flights.

You CAN book online via Qatar Airways Privilege Club

However, you CAN book these seats online with Avios via Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

The cost over there is 185,500 Avios + €518 per person in business class.

In order to book you need to open a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account and link it to your British Airways Executive Club account. This article explains how to do it.

The only snag is that you need enough Avios in your own British Airways Avios account to book via QAPC. You can’t use Avios in any wider BA household account you have. Remember that you can use Finnair Plus to merge Avios into one account for a fee of just €10.

Good Avios and cash deals to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines

How does Avios pricing compare to the British Airways flights?

It’s a lot cheaper.

A return Avios flight on British Airways in business class to Kuala Lumpur would cost 220,000 Avios + £625 on an off-peak date and 240,000 Avios + £625 on a peak date.

You are saving up to 54,500 Avios plus £200 per person if you book Malaysia Airlines from Paris.

Unless you are using an American Express or Barclaycard voucher, the Malaysia Airlines deal is cheaper even when you factor in the cost of getting to Paris.

There are also good cash deals

Malaysia Airlines is also running some good cash deals from Paris.

Good Avios and cash deals to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines

Here are the fares for return business class flights, via Kuala Lumpur:

  • Chiang Mai €2,055 (example above)
  • Singapore €2,109
  • Da Nang €2,119
  • Hanoi €2,139
  • Jakarta €2,189
  • Kuala Lumpur / Penang / Langkawi €2,309
  • Phnom Penh €2,319
  • Bali €2,579

Good economy deals are also available from €539 return. Stopover options are also available at no extra charge, apart from taxes.

These flights will earn Avios and British Airways Executive Club tier points, as Malaysia Airlines is a British Airways partner in the oneworld airline alliance. Check the fare class at ba.com if booking economy as some cheaper fares are non-qualifying.

You can check out cash fares, and book, on the Malaysia Airlines website here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (32)

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

  • e14 says:

    MH are reinstating the route … it used to be operated with an A380 with an 8 seat F cabin.

  • Paul says:

    Tried last night Rob after you comment in the forum. Good old BA IT doesn’t let you book. Truly dire!
    As a work around for QR folk can transfer Avios at AY for just €10. I moved over 270,000 yesterday from my wife to me to allow us to book QR flights for just £8.72. The AY site also seems more secure to hold Avios in than BA

    • Talay says:

      You mean transfer between your wife and yourself at Finnair and then sent to Qatar as “your” Avios and presumably then able to redeposit them back at BA as yours and not your wife’s ?

      • Talay says:

        Looking around for an answer on Finnair’s website, it isn’t straightforward.

        The link required seems to be this: https://www.finnairshop.com/en/transfer-award-points in their Finnair Shop.

        Both Finnair Plus accounts need to have been opened for 90 days.

        I can’t see after that as “hers” has just been opened and thus is within the 90 days.

  • Pam says:

    As I’ve stated before, MH do not give Avios points flying in Economy on the ‘cheaper’ fares which aren’t cheap so beware. BA website is misleading saying all flights earn Avios when then certain codes aren’t listed.

    • Rob says:

      Fixed

      • riku says:

        >>Check the fare class at ba.com if booking economy as some cheaper fares are non-qualifying
        I have found that even if the fare class shows as qualifying, then you still do not get BA points for some MH flights. Filing a claim afterwards does nothing. You still do not get the points.

  • LittleNick says:

    Remember probably earn peanuts in TPs on the new BAC from April. Probably best to credit elsewhere if buying cash fares

  • vlcnc says:

    Surprised they brought this back, were making massive losses last time they served Paris as planes were mostly empty.

    • BBbetter says:

      They are still government owned. Decisions probably made at the whims and fancies of the officials or ministers.

  • Nick says:

    You can book through BAEC on the phone with no issue, wait times are currently very low during UK opening hours. It’s a problem calculating taxes online, it’s been reported so may get fixed some time this century.

    • LittleNick says:

      What are they pricing the cash fees and charges up as?

      • Nick says:

        They’re not, BA doesn’t sell standalone MH flights from or to Paris.

        The underlying issue is too complicated to go into here but it’s not uncommon for redemptions, particularly on new routes, and needs a specific background coding fix each time. It used to affect staff travel too, before they started paying Lufthansa instead for that.

        • LittleNick says:

          Sorry, you’ve misinterpreted what I was asking, I meant when you ring up BAEC to redeem avios on the MH CDG fares, how much are BA charging for the cash element of the redemption?

      • Phillip says:

        This is what you get on ITA Matrix for a return in business (grand total €524.17)

        France Safety And Security Tax (FR) €22.05
        France Passenger Service Charge International (QX) €33.73
        France Air Passenger Solidarity Tax Surplus (O4) €74.93
        France Air Passenger Solidarity Tax (IZ) €45.07
        Carrier-imposed surcharge (YQ) €292.00
        Carrier-imposed surcharge (YR) €8.00
        Malaysia Departure Levy (G1) €32.40
        Malaysia Regulatory Charge Domestic And International (H8) €0.22
        Malaysia Passenger Service And Security Charge (MY) €15.77

  • Stephen says:

    Do you still get the Amex Gold Double Points Booster if the flight is ex Paris?

    • Rob says:

      Should do. Never seen any rule saying it had to be booked via a UK source.

    • BBbetter says:

      Poor value as you’d be paying 3.5% fx fee while earning just 2 points per £. Use a fee free card such as Virgin rewards or Clarity.

      • JDB says:

        If you use the Amex Gold to buy air tickets in a foreign currency, the FX fee is 2.99% and you earn 3 MR / £1 (one underlying, one airline, one foreign spend) – this used to be four but no longer stacks. You will also earn towards the additional 0.5MR at each £5k threshold.

  • memesweeper says:

    If you are planning to transfer Amex MR to Qatar Avios you may find it marginally cheaper with Cathay Asia Miles.

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

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