Malaysia Airlines to join OW.

[sqdazz]

I am loving this news. MH will open a new option to my Thailand Australia monthly travels woo

[Guy Betsy]

Ze official announcement on the Oneworld website : http://www.oneworld.com/ow/news/details?objectID=25793

Damn... I now have to get a photo taken with the Baju Kebaya Girls soon!

[kt74]

Fantastic news, and so much better than Skyteam

I know MAS isn't quite a "five star" airline, but the product is still better than average and fares are reasonable. Nice to have a decent alternative to Star in SE Asia

Much like the rest of you, I now have a loyalty dilemma... I have some MAS regional business class flights this week - shall I credit to Flying Blue as normal, or do I join and start building Enrich (as an alternative and maybe easier programme to get status than BAEC in the UK)?

Hmmm....

[Fryderyk HPH]

I am sure SQ's justification for SQ LCC extends much more holistically beyond mere rumours and speculation by the engineers union of QF that first emerged barely a month ago. More likely, it's QF's intentions for JQ Asia and the phenomenal growth of Air Asia X that have prompted the decision to launch an LCC. SQ is many things but they're not stupid.

SQ is definitely not stupid and I'm sure they planned this for months...
But I'm sure this was very much unexpected also...

I want to wait for the impending SQ announcement on their new medium/long-haul LCC. If my guess is right this announcement would be another shocker (and a bombshell to AirAsia X).

Back to topic...
I guess MH could only go the way of oneworld after they realised Garuda and Vietnam got into Skyteam... The Skyteam pie in SEA would then be too small to share around. So, MAS might have to act as Qantas' feeder into SEA for some time to come.

It is really interesting actually. Jetstar had a cooperation with AirAsia sometime ago and they said they wanted to do things together (or something like that), and now parent airline Qantas partners with MAS? LOL I think something's got to give...

[jhm]

Wonderful news!

MH's prices are keen (unlike others); they have a history of price f*ups which they honour; I like their service and food (although not the J seat); the lounges at KUL are very nice; and KUL as a city also has great food and accommodation options.

So for me, the question now is ... what's the shortest/best value MH roundtrip ex-KUL which has F ?

[sealalula]

Does this mean BA/QF will shift their hub to KUL?

[SilverChris]

Does this mean BA/QF will shift their hub to KUL?

Highly unlikely. I remember KLIA was trying to get QF to move its hub over but QF refused.

[Gunnar Smithsen]

I am loving this news. MH will open a new option to my Thailand Australia monthly travels woo

Whilst my travels to Thailand aren't quite as frequent, definitely a +1 for me on the above from sqdazz

[lingua101]

but this will not happening until probably late 2012 right?

I did a quick check. But I think the sector requirement on MH is more than CX.

BTW, I notice something interesting

Indonesia GA -> ST
Spore SQ -> SA
Mysia MH -> OW

Then
Thailand TG -> SA
Vietnam VN -> ST
No OW in Indochina area

Then
HK CX -> OW
Taiwan CI -> ST
Taiwan BR -> SA (is this confirm??)

[MAN Flyer]

Excellent news that they are finally joining an alliance, and what a bonus it's OW instead of ScaryTeam.

I'm sure you'll find a number of SQTalkers around familiar with Enrich Especially the Malaysians

I also have lots of experience dealing with Enrich over many years now, and they are easily the worst loyalty programme of any kind I have had the misfortune of dealing with.

Now that there will be other places worth dumping the miles it makes MH much more attractive, as it means no more dealing with the idiots at Enrich, and I say this as a previous Enrich Gold.

I know MAS isn't quite a "five star" airline, but the product is still better than average and fares are reasonable. Nice to have a decent alternative to Star in SE Asia

MH's soft product is right up there with the very best of them. Their cabin crews are fantastic and will possibly be the best in OW now. It's just a shame they still have those 737's on international flights, I even saw one in PER a couple of weeks ago!.

I like their service and food (although not the J seat); the lounges at KUL are very nice; and KUL as a city also has great food and accommodation options.

I agree the service is great, and the J seat is pretty good and up there with most until the last couple of years. On the 777 it's fab as you get boatloads of room. The Rimbun/Regional lounge in the main terminal is fantastic but the J and F lounges in the satelite were in desperate need of a refurb the last time I was in there. The last time I flew F ex KUL I used the Rimbun instead of the F lounge in the Satelite.

Does this mean BA/QF will shift their hub to KUL?

They will undoutedly move some flights there to connect into MH's regional hub but SIN is such a big O&D market it will still be heavily served by both.

Bring it on! Will make it even easier to earn and maintain BAEC Gold.

No point, BA Gold is worthless now apparently.

[jhm]

I agree the service is great, and the J seat is pretty good and up there with most until the last couple of years. On the 777 it's fab as you get boatloads of room.

I was thinking of the 747 but forget about the 777 which I've also tried (thanks to MH and HKT-KUL-JNB ). Nevertheless, it's still sloped so for me the BA/CX J seats are much better.

[sqdazz]

MH's soft product is right up there with the very best of them. Their cabin crews are fantastic and will possibly be the best in OW now. It's just a shame they still have those 737's on international flights, I even saw one in PER a couple of weeks ago!.

That is probably the new direct service from Perth to Kota Kinabalu. They use 777-200 on the Kuala Lumpur/Perth runs I believe.

[SilverChris]

That is probably the new direct service from Perth to Kota Kinabalu. They use 777-200 on the Kuala Lumpur/Perth runs I believe.

True, but I think he also meant the rotting 734s and the lavish new 738s.

[Chesty]

Can't believe there is demand for a direct to KK service though from Perth?

[Sethor]

That is probably the new direct service from Perth to Kota Kinabalu. They use 777-200 on the Kuala Lumpur/Perth runs I believe.

Also the A330 3 x Weekly.