Malaysia Airlines’ already struggling Enrich Miles program has once again shot itself in the foot by (very discreetly in its July e-newsletter) announcing the end of the 15% online booking discount for Malaysia Airlines flights.
This discount is very similar to the one Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer offers (which we hope doesn’t follow Enrich’s lead).
Since, the devaluation of Enrich program in February 2015, it has had a pretty expensive award chart for its own flights:
And here is the award chart for its partners:
Enrich is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Citi Prestige, Altitude Rewards and Amplify Rewards.
An example comparison: Sydney/Melbourne to London
With Malaysia’s only remaining long-haul flight to Europe being to London Heathrow (after cutting Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt out), a one-way Business Class flight from Sydney or Melbourne looks like this:
- 97,750 miles on Malaysia Airlines (with discount) increases to 115,000 (no discount)
- 87,000 miles on partners such as Emirates, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific or British Airways
So, before it was more expensive to fly that route on Malaysia compared to its partners, and now it is even more so.
For one-way First Class:
- 276,250 miles on Malaysia (with discount) increases to 325,000 (no discount)
- 132,000 miles on partners (excluding Emirates as First Class redemptions are not permitted)
The competition
Malaysia is pairing back its operations following its recent turmoil in the past couple of years, focusing on direct traffic to/from Kuala Lumpur.
In the Australian market, it currently operates a 2x daily service from Sydney and Melbourne, 1x daily service from Perth and 4x weekly service from Adelaide.
AirAsia has really shaken up the market, competing on the routes from Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth (which also has service from Lion Air subsidiary Malindo Air), with Emirates operating a 777 from Melbourne, but at an inconvenient 2:30/3:30am departure time.
Our recommendations
- If you do have a specific redemption on Malaysia Airlines aircraft in mind, then we would suggest booking it by 11:59pm Malaysia Time on 31 July (or 1:59am AEST on 1 August), when the discount ends
- Enrich now allows for Business (sans chauffeur service) and Economy Class redemptions on Emirates, so if you do have some Enrich miles in your account, this is one of the best-value ways to use them
You can get more information on this change from the FAQ page Enrich has created.
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