Craig

Stronger than usual for summer, but a check with flightaware shows that AA's JFK-LHR flights are 6'10" hours plus minus 15 minutes. Anything over 6 hours is considered "good" - come winter and it's about 30 minutes less (and if you are having dinner on that flight, you'll be halfway across the Atlantic before you sleep). Your options are not closed - you can always buy AA miles for the upgrade, but the cost of buying miles plus the co-pay makes it effectively cost prohibitive.

TG hasn't suspended its services to Rome yet. TG will come October. Rome is a highly seasonal city whilst Milan/Lombardia generates more consistent and premium traffic.

I am pretty sure you can't upgrade KUL-LHR on MH using AA miles. You can upgrade LHR-JFK-LHR on AA metal tho. You could either have someone donate you a systemwide upgrade or upgrade using miles + co-pay. And I am pretty sure you can't upgrade KUL-LHR-JFK using Enrich miles too (you mentioned in your earlier post) - it's AA code and MH can't change your booking class. JFK-LHR is an extremely short flight tho. My flight last month was only 5.45 hours!

Why would they? It will dilute KUL's yields and will increase crew cost tremendously (and KUL is operated by WW crew nonetheless). CGK didn't work for LH due to crew cost.

Thank you for your observation Mohd. Azizul. BA 33/34 is operated by WW crew (hence they are rather senior). The only SE Asia flight operated by the MF crew is BA 15/16 (LHR-SIN-SYD) and I usually feel really old compared to the MF crew . Like Suzanne said, it's Eid and peak summer ex-Europe - so it will be full regardless. And BA better be full - it's a hub to hub route! Even LH which at times struggle with LH 782/783 is full this week. By the way, seem like BA is starting B789 services to KUL earlier. From 05 DEC 2015 (06 DEC 2015 for BA 34): BA033 18:50 LHR - KUL 15:20+1 D 789 BA034 23:45 KUL - LHR 05:25+1 D 789

I don't know if they are planning to refurbish the 777s or retire them. I saw a MH 777 at KUL with engines removed (seems like it might be retired and salvaged for parts).

Yikes. I was just checking GDS for BNE and was going to post this but you beat me to it. BNE is zeroed out. So is the 5 weekly KUL-PER (MH 127/128; 18:45 ex-KUL and 01:25 ex-PER).

Oy vey. This against CX 3-4 times daily on A333/B777 with 1-2 times on the 3-cabin A333/B77W (this is supposedly a hub to hub flight for MH and CX!). This has already been loaded into the GDS - 4 daily B738.

Complimentary foot massage! Might have to route via HKG for my next trip.

I don't think LH's tag-on to CGK is making it more profitable for LH (and that's if KUL/CGK is profitable). It increases the cost - crew spends 2 extra nights in KUL because of the tag-on. I am not privy to KUL/CGK's route performance but LH's decision to reverse 744 back to 343 for NW15/16 says something. I don't believe BA markets that much North America - South East Asia flights (I rarely see any marketing for North East US-South East Asia flights on BA or LH, AF, and KL for that matter).

No. BA has not announced any 789 routes yet although it could be one. It was rumored to have similar Y capacity but a slightly smaller premium cabin compared to the 772. No. BA has not announced any 789 routes yet although it could be one. It was rumored to have similar Y capacity but a slightly smaller premium cabin compared to the 772.

I wish LAX is still a MF. WW took over beginning NS2015 schedules. No more twinks inconsistent service for me. I've had some great MF crew on my LAX flights before but some of my European MF flights were just OK. MF took over SEA, DFW, SAN, and IAD whilst WW took over LAX and MIA for NS2015.

This is quite startling for me: Business class opting out of miles or lounge access? Is this only applicable to MHUpgrade fares booked in I or does Z fares not come with miles and lounge too? Sky is falling for Suzanne without mileage accrual for MH Z As far as long-haul routes are concerned, I would consider SYD, MEL, NRT etc. "long-haul". (or medium-haul). They are definitely not regional. The only true long-haul routes left in MH are LHR, CDG, AMS, IST, and AKL. And since no expansion is planned until 2017, I would assume he meant the inclusion of Australia, north-east Asia, ME routes as well.

I can't access QF lounges if I am flying 3K or JQ either. Or if I am flying MI as a non-SQ *G. It seems like he didn't know the rules (or was aware of it but pushing his luck anyway).

Seems like LH is reversing its planned B744 services on LH 782/783 for NW15/16. LH782/783 for NW15/16 will be 5 weekly A343.

For anyone who was wondering where MH will be sending its 737 from the regional/domestic consolidation, you win if you guessed PVG! MH will now fly 737s on certain MH 386/387 rotations! I thought it was bad enough that MH sends 737 to HKG/TPE/DEL etc., but 5 hour red-eye to PVG tho...

Seems like QR is adding even more capacity to KUL this July. The additional QR 856/857 will be operated by 77L on most Tuesdays and 77W on Thursdays and Saturdays instead of the 332.

And probably why LH revert its LH 772/773 operations back to double red-eyes.

What's going on with the 737s that week? Seems like the are consolidating flights (e.g. BKK went from 7 to 4 a day during that week with 2 737s consolidating into 1 777). Also some HKG 737s flights are canceled (from 4 daily to twice daily). Normal schedule the week before and after May 30 to June 6.

Didn't know TG 922/923 is still around.

Same as TG 401/402 on SIN turn - crew stays at the CP SIN. I believe MH has 2 set of crews overnighting in BKK - MH 776 crew does not turnaround for MH 797. Is TG pretty much relying on transfer traffic for its KUL-BKK flights? It's one of the most expensive carriers to fly between the two cities and it only has 2 flights a day now (compared to 7 for MH).

How long do you think AA/CX/SQ rates will last for? AA is just waiting for US/AA integration to go through before devaluing their miles. They have been giving away so many miles this year! UA/DL/MH devalued ahead of AA and the rest, but I would assume AA devaluation is coming soon. So is CX - there have been talks of limiting premium cabin to partners and increasing redemption as well. If it's anything, CX is taking cues from QF for Asiamiles. And if CX follows QF, goodbye F/J awards from partner members. How is it unrewarding when it is one of the, if not the only, airline that books its own saver award into a separate booking class compared to partners? I am not saying it's extremely competitive, but when you look at it whole, it's competitive. I wouldn't call UA Mileage Plus a well run and attractive program. It used to be, but since the merger, it's downright awful. It is a money spinner, but when UA sold too many miles to Chase, they had to devalue their chart because there were too many unclaimed miles. Mileage is a liability to an airline. As I've mentioned above, MH will have to pay partners when MH members redeem an award. When MH issue miles, it is a future cost to MH (and when they devalue their chart, it indirectly reduces their liabilities).

I don't think MH's Enrich pricing is nuts. Saver level award points required for KUL-Europe one-way in J (without discounts of any sort): MH: 75k CX: 70k (or 120k for RT) SQ: 60-80k depending on destination, but mostly 80k TG: 89k (or 130k for RT) BA: 75k off-peak or 90k peak AA: 52.5k UA: 85k DL: whatever computer spits out If you ask me, they are competitive. And Enrich award on MH metal doesn't depend whether there is U or I available. Sure, MH seats might lose out to CX or SQ, but if I want to redeem a seat for travel in July/August on MH, I know I will be able to get one. Good luck getting U on CX or I on SQ in the summer.

1) Like others have mentioned, Enrich redemption is pretty competitive. It's only 63,750 miles oneway in J to Europe. It's a slightly higher than SQ/AA but none of them allows you to book into a revenue bucket, so you are at the mercy of the IM. I would say MH is extremely generous. 2) Miles are a liability to an airline. MH will have to pay partners for their seats when they redeem an award seat, hence it's a liability. When they devalue their miles, it reduces the liability of the airline because more miles is required to redeem a seat. You might be alone that most people are not willing to pay for MH J short haul. When you start giving it away for free ala US carriers, then no one would want to pay for it. For now, people still want to pay for it because there are values added to it. 3) Well let's see if Christoph Mueller will introduce HBO (hand-baggage only) fares, pay for seat assignments even in Business Class like BA, monetize entertainment, power outlets, removing lounge access for OWS/OWE, buy-on-board, peddling their credit cards on board, advertisement on the tray table etc. I am confused. If you are redeeming Enrich miles on MH, it doesn't come out from the P, U, X bucket, but rather as Suzanne said, a revenue bucket. So there is *a lot* of award redemptions available for Enrich members on MH metal. Whilst MH doesn't make it super easy to earn whilst flying in discounted Economy, it is competitive in premium cabins. It's pretty much the industry standard now. And if you are using partner miles for redemption, you have a choice of other airlines, since as you say "MH is a POS".

Well yeah, I think most travelers opt for Gogo's monthly pass of ~$50 a month, but AA's wifi has been a little slow recently.