My Latest MAS Booking Engine Experience

[Lock SH 0]

Just booked a return ticket on MAS for KUL-HKG-KUL, travel dates are in Jul 2012. MAS website quoted >RM1400 but zuji.com.hk quoted HKD2285 (~RM1035) all inclusives (same date and on MAS as well). Settled with zuji .......

 

 

[Prashant K 0]

I had the exact same problem as Naim mentioned above. However, one shot at booking a ticket on the iPad and it worked with no problems.

 

The funniest thing was a week later I receive a call from the MH Call Center. They said they noticed an error with my attempted booking and asked me if I would like to carry out the booking right then over the phone. I told them, I had already booked the ticket, made the trip and returned so your a little bit too late!

[affendi osman 0]

You call the Call Centre for latest promos?

 

to get extra details on what they are promoting

 

e.g

 

1. MH buddies promotions, while social media team is busy promoting 1000 enrich points for each sectors flown, nobody from call centre seems to know about it.

 

2. I received fly 10 sectors and earn 25K points for free, and called the call centre about the starting date, and nobody knows as well.

 

3. ASEAN escapade tickets, fly 4 sectors in ASEAN for 250 USD 2 years ago, I did ask for the terms and conditions, they didn't even know about the promotions.

 

and....try to find any featured promotions on Going Places magazine, try to give them a call, and see how knowledgeable they are about the product!

Edited June 25, 2012 by affendi osman

[Raymund Yeoh 1]

since everyone today is in the mood of ranting, here's my pitch....

 

1) I travel PEN-SZB route once a month for work....so far I have booked my flights on MH but codeshared using FY....the only peeved thing I have is afterymu flights (3 weeks) later no miles/ sectors being awarded....only after I email the customer service and when the reply back ( 2 weeks) later are my miles n sectors being credited in

 

2) Why can't MH merge the MH website and Enrich website together....all other major airlines hav it in one single website....this just peeved me off.

[H C Chai 4]

 

One hour on, and I'm done. What an ordeal.

 

 

I share your pain, Dr! I had the problem with the phone number too, tried different combination. Just when I was to give up, it went through. In the end I had to use my Malaysia home number as the system does not recognise a UK number.

 

I hope they will get the booking engine sorted soon.

[Fairul 0]

i experienced the same thing when I did booking for KUL-KCH last March. Errors here and there for address, phone number etc2...end up using MH Buddy which is very straight forward. When I complained it to MAS tweet account, the response I received was " We are sorry for the incovenience. We will look into the matter"

[Raymund Yeoh 1]

Mayb all these problems can be seen fr a diff perspective....mayb the MH tech guys n whoever is incharge r working their butts off to resolve this

but the problem may arise from the vendor who sold them n created the website......they could hav sold the idea to god knows who n convince them this is the "Best airline website" in the world but in reality it is ions behind our neighbours in the likes of CX, SQ, TG.

 

I'm quite sure the website for MH n Enrich was done but outside vendors who does not really know how to design an airline website or the person incharge in MH back then for this website design was not net savvy enough to understand the basics of a workable n user friendly website

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

Mayb all these problems can be seen fr a diff perspective....mayb the MH tech guys n whoever is incharge r working their butts off to resolve this

but the problem may arise from the vendor who sold them n created the website......they could hav sold the idea to god knows who n convince them this is the "Best airline website" in the world but in reality it is ions behind our neighbours in the likes of CX, SQ, TG.

 

I'm quite sure the website for MH n Enrich was done but outside vendors who does not really know how to design an airline website or the person incharge in MH back then for this website design was not net savvy enough to understand the basics of a workable n user friendly website

 

Thank you Raymund for explaining what I'm trying to say. Rest assured the team are hard at work trying to get all the kinks out.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Mohd Suhaimi Fariz

[Naim 6]

Hahaha, the funny thing is, all these 'wrongly-formatted' data we entered are blocking us from buying plane tickets! We cannot progress from this particular page where you are demanded to enter your info correctly. At least they could have prompted us with the right formats for us to follow. I can say that somebody's obsession with nicely formatted input info is hindering ppl from buying plane tickets, of all things! How corny can that get?

[chookyan 0]

Another very silly thing with MAS is the web check in. You can only check in online 48 hours onwards before departure. It is very inconvienent if I am on a long trip and I can't check in online for the return sector earlier as I might not have access to a printer later on.Firefly allows you to check in online 400 days ahead. Same owner 2 different systems.

[Mushrif A 3]

Hahaha, the funny thing is, all these 'wrongly-formatted' data we entered are blocking us from buying plane tickets! We cannot progress from this particular page where you are demanded to enter your info correctly. At least they could have prompted us with the right formats for us to follow. I can say that somebody's obsession with nicely formatted input info is hindering ppl from buying plane tickets, of all things! How corny can that get?

 

"You have to do it my way, do as I say...or you have to fly somebody else!"

[BC Tam 2]

So, has there been some 'upgrade' of the MH site and/or booking engine recently ?

I remember something like a year ago there was this announced upgrade that got everyone so excited, then got everyone frustrated cause no one could make any booking

Problem seemed solved thereafter, I had no problem booking online just a month ago

Appears there are now problems again - which makes me suspect someone has been fiddling about with the system

Care to comment ?

[Raymund Yeoh 1]

Thank you Raymund for explaining what I'm trying to say. Rest assured the team are hard at work trying to get all the kinks out.

 

Don't thank me....just lookin fr another view point....bottomline is they need to get it fixed soon else when MH joins 1world, it will lose out badly...

[BC Tam 2]

Firefly allows you to check in online 400 days ahead

Can you buy a ticket 400 days ahead of time ?!

[H C Chai 4]

...they could hav sold the idea to god knows who n convince them this is the "Best airline website" in the world but in reality it is ions behind our neighbours in the likes of CX, SQ, TG.

 

 

Hmm... I'm not so sure if SQ website is any better these days.

Edited June 25, 2012 by H C Chai

[Raymund Yeoh 1]

Hmm... I'm not so sure if SQ website is any better these days.

 

Well for me at least when I book on SQ....i hav no problems in one go and I can view my FF miles n updates in SQ website but not in MH website...its split into 2 websites....to me splitting into 2 websites is just a way to make more money for the vendor

[chookyan 0]

Can you buy a ticket 400 days ahead of time ?!

 

My friend check this out - http://firefly.com.my/about/faq under web check in. Yes, there are people who do buy a ticket 365 years ahead but by that time the flight might no longer be operating due to commerical reasons. Sounds familiar

[flee 5]

Firefly booking engine is a lot more responsive (understandable as they are a smaller biz). I booked my RM 35 LIMA flights (March 2013) and was able to check in immediately - similar to what AirAsia, EasyJet, etc. offers.

 

Perhaps, FY tech people can teach their parents' techies a thing or two!

[c.lee 0]

Another very silly thing with MAS is the web check in. You can only check in online 48 hours onwards before departure. It is very inconvienent if I am on a long trip and I can't check in online for the return sector earlier as I might not have access to a printer later on.Firefly allows you to check in online 400 days ahead. Same owner 2 different systems.

There is no need to print the boarding pass after web check-in. Just proceed to the web check-in counter and they will issue you a proper boarding pass.

 

Firefly booking engine is a lot more responsive (understandable as they are a smaller biz). I booked my RM 35 LIMA flights (March 2013) and was able to check in immediately - similar to what AirAsia, EasyJet, etc. offers.

 

Perhaps, FY tech people can teach their parents' techies a thing or two!

Precisely. So is MI's website compared to SQ's.

 

By the way, I encounter the "original fare was no longer available" bug quite frequently. At the page of flight date selection, I am quoted a certain fare. However, after clicking "continue", another fare (often higher) will be quoted for me, with an error of "original fare was no longer available please check new price".

 

[BC Tam 2]

Yes, there are people who do buy a ticket 365 years ahead but by that time the flight might no longer be operating due to commerical reasons

Don't worry about the flight still operating (due to commercial or whatever reason) by then - doubt if the pax will be able to make the flight, in one piece that is

 

Incidentally, have you tried playing around with the booking engine today ?

Did not allow me to go beyond Mar 2013, which is significantly less than 365 years days by my calculation

I could be wrong though

Edited June 25, 2012 by BC Tam

[H C Chai 4]

Don't worry about the flight still operating (due to commercial or whatever reason) by then - doubt if the pax will be able to make the flight, in one piece that is

 

Hey what's wrong with that?! I booked mine recently 330 days out

[Timothy 1]

I've said what I needed to say. Yes, I will forward your sugestion to them team.

Perhaps linking them to this thread would be more straight forward.

 

Mayb all these problems can be seen fr a diff perspective....mayb the MH tech guys n whoever is incharge r working their butts off to resolve this

but the problem may arise from the vendor who sold them n created the website......they could hav sold the idea to god knows who n convince them this is the "Best airline website" in the world but in reality it is ions behind our neighbours in the likes of CX, SQ, TG.

 

I'm quite sure the website for MH n Enrich was done but outside vendors who does not really know how to design an airline website or the person incharge in MH back then for this website design was not net savvy enough to understand the basics of a workable n user friendly website

 

This begs the question, why would MH not have an in-house tech team to supervise / audit the building of the website as it goes along ?

 

Did an elementary tracert on where my data goes upon starting the booking engine, and it seems to route through something called SKALI.net. Want to know what's more horrible than time-outs ? I found the data passed is NOT SECURED. Credit card info, DOB, email, names ... poofff ... if someone had a sniffer around then the data is basically handed over to them UNENCRYPTED.

 

MAS = Mana Ada System.

 

I've heard this mantra since '97 when they made the move to KLIA and supposedly fielded a "new" passeger handling system. Was stuck for 2 days as a young traveller then. I don't mean this as a bashing post but security wise, this is probably the worst website I've used. I believe the average wordpress blog has better security features. Also, just in case some tech people are watching in; why do you leave footers on most pages with contact info ? ie: Jeffry Elliot. j3ff@thatairline.com etc. Also much of your software remains unpatched.

PATCH THEM NOW.

 

Edit: Removed contact info. Publicly available either way.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Timothy

[BC Tam 2]

Hey what's wrong with that?! I booked mine recently 330 days out

You're not as diligent in time scheduling as those who book their's 364 years & 35 days ahead of you

[chookyan 0]

C. Lee - There is no need to print the boarding pass after web check-in. Just proceed to the web check-in counter and they will issue you a proper boarding pass.

 

If you are flying domestic with MAS and with the print out boarding pass you can proceed straight to the boarding gate without any need to go to the web check in counter unless you are flying international.

[Suzanne Goh 0]

By the way, I encounter the "original fare was no longer available" bug quite frequently. At the page of flight date selection, I am quoted a certain fare. However, after clicking "continue", another fare (often higher) will be quoted for me, with an error of "original fare was no longer available please check new price".

 

 

 

 

It's a bug - but not quite computer related as you might imagine.

 

What it is doing is pulling from GDS a particular RBD (booking code) and applying the relevant fare to it, BEFORE looking at point of sale restrictions. That check happens at the next step and you find it can't be sold from the particular origin unless certain conditions are met - the one that CAN be sold to you is then displayed.