Wow, long post title that, but there’s a little bit to cover. First up, Malaysian Airlines announced yesterday their intention to join the oneworld alliance sometime in late 2012 – good news for oneworld FFP members, as Malaysian’s product is well regarded – they even have a proper First cabin, adding an additional First Class redemption option for Qantas members. No details of course on how Malaysian’s Enrich program will be migrated into oneworld, but you’d have to assume that any balances will be carried forward along with their membership.
Next, Enrich is offering a 1000 point signup bonus to any new members – it’s not clear, but head here and 1000 points get credited after you’ve filled out and checked the necessary boxes. Points don’t mean anything though until you have enough of them for a redemption… leading me to my next point, that Virgin Australia are still partners with Malaysian for the near future. Flying Virgin will credit to Enrich and vice versa, and doing the former might let you build up enough miles for a oneworld redemption in future. Worth considering if you’re forced to fly with Virgin a lot but are keen to save for a oneworld award. Edge-case, sure, but it’s an option for the time being.
With this and the announcement of Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines tie up it’s interesting times in the Australian aviation marketplace – competition is a great thing for the consumer.
I have to disagree with the comment that MAS has a product that is well regarded. I’m an Enrich Platinum member, and MAS service is terrible. My approximately 20 colleagues who also had the misfortune to be forced to fly MAS also agree (MAS, Emirates and AirAisa are the only airlines that have a direct flight from East Coast Aust to KUL). Staff show no initiative, are not service oriented, and just generally do not serve. Half the staff in the business cabin do not actually do any work, and after meal service, they all disappear. That was international business class. Domestic and intra-Asian flights are even more woeful. The lounge is disappointing, even the flagship one in KLIA. Its really not hard to see how they managed to lose 2.5Bn RM in single year.
I just flew them in Business Class last week on a 777 from KUL-SYD. Everything about the trip was pretty average when compared to the competition – lounge, food, service and seating was all acceptable, but nothing amazing. I can imagine as soon as one thing went wrong, the whole journey would feel sub-par.
Having said that, more points redemption options are always a good thing, especially for Qantas Frequent Flyers whose options seem to be limited these days with the glut of points in the market.
Thanks for reading Fred!
Specifically re: this post (I know it’s old), I was hoping you could help answer the following:
I am wanting to fly SYD-RGN return on Malaysian Airlines, on a fare that earns 50% points – after they join OneWorld, will I be able to convert my Enrich miles to QFF points?
I’d suggest looking up MAS current earn partners and see if there is another program they partner with that’s of interest, rather than Enrich.
https://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/frequent-flyers/join.do
https://www.points.com/
Cheers!
Mary Alice