Malaysia Airlines Rebooking Experience At Kuala Lumpur Due To Later Misconnect

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the itineraries and flights I had booked and flown by then to meet the British Airways Lifetime Gold requirements by yesterday (March 31st) and about a delayed Malaysia Airlines flight that resulted in them taking over my ticket and rebooking me.

Readers asked me to write about the rebooking experience, which was actually the second time this had happened with Malaysia Airlines.

My previous experience dates back to the mid-2010s when a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul was delayed overnight. They probably needed the plane elsewhere, and their schedule allowed for a 10-hour delay without disrupting the return flight. I managed to get rebooked on Korean Air after some negotiation at the airport.

This time, the situation was a bit different. I was traveling on a Royal Jordanian ticket from Paris to Kuala Lumpur and back, with the Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur segment operated by Malaysia Airlines. The ticket was issued on Royal Jordanian ticket stock.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok was scheduled for 10 PM, allowing a smooth connection to a Royal Jordanian flight from Bangkok to Amman. I arrived at the airport well in advance, as my plan was to test the tarmac car transfer and work for a few hours at the Satellite Lounge (I prefer the table service area on the right, reserved for Emerald members and suite customers).

When I went to the gate, after moving back from the satellite to the regional, the agent informed me that boarding would be delayed because the crew hadn’t even left Langkawi yet. We checked the schedule and the revised departure time, and concluded that the flight wouldn’t make the connection work. The flight time from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur, plus the turnaround time, meant there wasn’t enough time to catch my next flight in Bangkok.

I went to the regional lounge, but they told me I needed to speak to the transit desk, as they couldn’t rebook me there. The transit desk’s main function is to print connecting boarding passes; they don’t rebook passengers directly, but instead call an internal rebooking number for assistance.

I checked ExpertFlyer for available Oneworld options from Kuala Lumpur to Paris, but the choices were limited. The transit desk assured me they would call the lounge once they had a new itinerary.

After a while, I went back to the transit desk and was told they were still working on the rebooking. Eventually, I received a new e-ticket showing that I had been rebooked on Turkish Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur to Paris via Istanbul. While this wasn’t ideal—especially since Turkish Airlines had just experienced operational issues in Istanbul due to snow—I decided to accept the rebooking, as I hadn’t flown with them in several years.

Surprisingly, they didn’t ask if the Turkish Airlines option was acceptable to me. The transit desk then offered hotel accommodation, but it didn’t make sense, given I’d only have about 90 minutes there after factoring in immigration and transportation.

Once I was at the Satellite Terminal Lounge and took the Malaysia Airlines private car transfer, I began to question whether the Turkish Airlines option was the best one. I needed Tier Points toward my lifetime tier, and the retroclaim with BA wasn’t guaranteed to be successful. So, I decided to visit the Malaysia Airlines Transfer Desk at the Satellite to explore Oneworld options.

To my surprise, there was availability on the morning Malaysia Airlines flight to London. This flight would connect to a British Airways flight to Paris, giving me some time to work in a lounge at Heathrow. I decided to accept this option and received another e-ticket receipt.

Now, I had enough time for a few hours of sleep, and the transit desk was able to arrange a room at the Sama Sama Express Hotel, located within the terminal, which also houses a Priority Pass lounge.

Conclusion

In retrospect, I could have probably just taken the very delayed Malaysia Airlines flight to Bangkok and dealt with the misconnect there, as Bangkok offers better connection options than Kuala Lumpur.

However, I was quite satisfied with the chance to take the Malaysia Airlines flight to Heathrow, and the rebooking process through the desk at the Satellite Terminal was far better than at the regional desk.

I was also surprised that Malaysia Airlines had no pushback when taking over the Royal Jordanian ticket and handling the rebooking process. This is how it should be done, but it’s a rarely a frictionless experience these days.  I just don’t understand why airlines nowadays don’t empower their front-line staff to handle rebookings directly?

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