MH - Serious breach of trust and mishandling of booking

[winfred]

I sent the following email to Malaysia Airline on Friday. 48 hours has passed and I am posting this here to share with everyone. As I am typing this post, my booking is still in limbo and I have now talked to 11 people at MH!

I made and paid for flights from HKG to MEL via KUL in late July 2016 for travelling in early Sep 2016.
On 5 Sep, I called and made changes to my flights. After paying the change fee Ireceived the attached confirmation. Flight were changed to incorrect onesand it is obvious by looking at the flights information below. I woulddepart Melbourne before I even get there!

DATE FLIGHT DEPARTURE AIRPORT TIME ARRIVAL AIRPORT CLASS BAG30SEP MH 9183 HKG-HONG KONG 0835 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR Z -RQ 40K OPERATED BY CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL M ARRIVAL:1220 09OCT MH 128 MEL-MELBOURNE 0105 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR Z -OK 40K TERMINAL 2 TERMINAL M ARRIVAL:0640 09OCT MH 129 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR 1030 MEL-MELBOURNE Z -OK 40K TERMINAL M TERMINAL 2 ARRIVAL:2125 11OCT MH 072 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR 0915 HKG-HONG KONG Z -OK 40K TERMINAL M TERMINAL 1 ARRIVAL:1305
I called on 7 occasions during the past 2 weeks to try to change the flights to the correct ones. Every time I have to spend between 45 mins to 1 hour on thephone. On 3 occasions my line was cut off and although I left my mobile phone number for them to call me back, they never did. On the other 4occasions I was told the changes would be done and I found out a few days laterthat it hasn’t.

Do I needto contact travel magazines, consumer rights groups and the relevant government agencies to get my bookings done? As of the date of this email, my flights are still not fixed.

Unless Iget a response within 48 hours, I will post this email on all relevant travelwebsites and contact the authority to lodge a formal complaint with them. As aOne World Emerald member I would lodge a complaint with One World as well.

 

[moa999]

Nothing is obvious with that formatting.

Adding some spacing I do see your issue, albeit don't know what flights you really want. I assume the KUL-MEL flight should be earlier.
DATE FLIGHT DEPARTURE AIRPORT TIME ARRIVAL AIRPORT CLASS BAG
30SEP MH 9183 HKG-HONG KONG 0835 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR Z -RQ 40K OPERATED BY CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL M ARRIVAL:1220
09OCT MH 128 MEL-MELBOURNE 0105 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR Z -OK 40K TERMINAL 2 TERMINAL M ARRIVAL:0640
09OCT MH 129 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR 1030 MEL-MELBOURNE Z -OK 40K TERMINAL M TERMINAL 2 ARRIVAL:2125
11OCT MH 072 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR 0915 HKG-HONG KONG Z -OK 40K TERMINAL M TERMINAL 1 ARRIVAL:130

All I can say is be persistent, patient and calm.
Politely say that you believe a mistake has been made - do not apportion blame - remember face issues in Asia
Ask to escalate to a supervisor as you have tried on a number of occasions to get it fixed.

Potentially send a DM on Twitter, maybe Facebook, although I suspect with MH that won't work.

Can't see that travel mags, or consumer rights will help at this stage. The relevant govt agency would be either one in Malaysia-operating carrier, or Hong Kong-place of purchase

I can see a mistake here, but can't see a breach of trust.

 

[winfred]

Potentially send a DM on Twitter, maybe Facebook, although I suspect with MH that won't work.

Can't see that travel mags, or consumer rights will help at this stage. The relevant govt agency would be either one in Malaysia-operating carrier, or Hong Kong-place of purchase

I can see a mistake here, but can't see a breach of trust.

The flights should be:
HKG KUL 30 Sep 14:25
KUL MEL 30 Sep 21:50
MEL KUL 9 Oct 15:05
KUL HKG 11 Oct 19:15

I do not know how it got so wrong. Lucky that they tried to fly me out of Mel before I get there to make the mistake obvious, otherwise they will make me pay a change fee again.

The trust part came from the fact that 4 different person, 2 of them supervisors, told me they will fix the problem but they never did. If I didn't call them again and just assume all is fine, I'll find out there is no seat for me when I try to check in.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

30SEP MH 9183 HKG-HONG KONG 0835 KUL-KUALA LUMPUR Z -RQ 40K
OPERATED BY CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL M ARRIVAL:1220

I don't mean to add to your woes however I couldn't help noticing that the very first flight HKG/KUL isn't confirmed as it has 'RQ' in the status box which means on request or waitlisted (ie not confirmed) whereas all other flights have 'OK' which means confirmed. I don't know whether it's anything to do with that flight being an MH codeshare flight operated by CX. Has this always been the case (ie not confirmed) or did you ever have an email of an itinerary receipt that said otherwise?

Looking at the MH availability on Expert Flyer I can't even seen that MH codeshare flight on CX mentioned so they've either ceased a codeshare arrangement on that particular CX flight and your booking is hanging in cyberspace or the MH allocation is full and as such no longer appears in the MH availability display. It appears that there are still seats on under the CX flight number though.

I wouldn't exactly call it a breach of trust as that would be like divulging your flight details to a third party without your consent.

Results from ExpertFlyer.com

Flight Availability Search
Departing HKG on 30/09/16 0:00 for KUL
Flying MH  




                                                                     Frequency
Flight        Stops  Depart             Arrive             Aircraft  Reliability     Available Classes
0 Connections
MH 79         0      HKG                KUL                738       Unavailable     J3 C0 D0 Z0 I0 U0 Y2 B2 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 X0 G0 
                     30/09/16 8:45      30/09/16 12:30               66% / 23m


0 Connections
MH 73         0      HKG                KUL                738       Unavailable     J0 C0 D0 Z0 I0 U0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 X0 G0 
                     30/09/16 14:45     30/09/16 18:25               34% / 29m


0 Connections
MH 433        0      HKG                KUL                738       Unavailable     J1 C0 D0 Z0 I0 U0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 X0 G0 
                     30/09/16 20:30     01/10/16 0:15                27% / 36m

Results from ExpertFlyer.com

Flight Availability Search
Departing HKG on 30/09/16 0:00 for KUL
Flying CX  
Direct/Non-Stop Only




                                                                     Frequency
Flight        Stops  Depart             Arrive             Aircraft  Reliability     Available Classes
0 Connections
CX 723        0      HKG                KUL                77W       Daily           J6 C5 D5 I3 W9 R8 E0 Y9 B9 H3 K1 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 
                     30/09/16 8:35      30/09/16 12:20               65% / 20m


0 Connections
CX (MH) 1725  0      HKG                KUL                738       Daily           J0 C0 D0 I0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 
                     30/09/16 8:45      30/09/16 12:30               66% / 23m


0 Connections
CX 725        0      HKG                KUL                333       F               J1 C1 D1 I0 Y9 B9 H6 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 
                     30/09/16 12:50     30/09/16 16:40               67% / 27m


0 Connections
CX (MH) 1727  0      HKG                KUL                738       Daily           J0 C0 D0 I0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 
                     30/09/16 14:45     30/09/16 18:25               34% / 29m


0 Connections
CX 729        0      HKG                KUL                333       Daily           J0 C0 D0 I0 Y9 B9 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 
                     30/09/16 16:00     30/09/16 19:50               70% / 29m


0 Connections
CX 791        0      HKG                KUL                333       Daily           J4 C0 D0 I0 Y9 B9 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 
                     30/09/16 20:20     01/10/16 0:10                59% / 48m

 

[opusman]

If there's a malaysian ticket office near you you could go in and try and resolve otc.

 

[yohy?!]

focus your efforts on solving it with MH directly - the Consumer Council in HK is notoriously toothless and likely would be no help

i would be trying different MH offices to see if you can get a hold of more helpful staff - ie try the AU/MY/HK numbers (depending on which you have called already), I have found this often helps as staff based away from the HQ can be less knowledgeable/helpful

 

[vitagen]

MH are useless, they cancelled the morning flight from Kul- Per next year and refused to refund my ticket so I had to ask my CC provider for a chargeback

 

[renura]

I am not sure what is happening with Malaysian Airlines, but it certainly isn't good.

I booked a flight from Syd to KL in business via the Enrich Website 5 days ago and for some reason I got charged twice for the required enrich miles as well as the taxes/charges.

I have made several attempts to get this resolved ASAP (e-mailed enrich, Syd Ticket office and others, but no response), I wanted to use the overcharged miles (55000) for another booking, but thus far have not even got a reply from them.

I have travelled with MAS for over 40 years and always praised them for their service, been Enrich Gold for several years, but now it appears it is time to move on.

Very disappointed.

 

[winfred]

Since I first posted the letter to MH here on 26 Sep, I have made another 3 phone calls to try to fix my ticket. Guest what, it still hasn't been fixed.

My travel starts in less than 72 hours and I have been trying more than 2 weeks to fix a small problem. I am running out of options!!

If they have an office in Hong Kong I would just storm in and start screaming. I may just catch AirAsia to KL and scream my lungs out at them in their KL office.

 

[winfred]

Since I first posted the letter to MH here on 26 Sep, I have made another 3 phone calls to try to fix my ticket. Guest what, it still hasn't been fixed.

My travel starts in less than 72 hours and I have been trying more than 2 weeks to fix a small problem. I am running out of options!!

If they have an office in Hong Kong I would just storm in and start screaming. I may just catch AirAsia to KL and scream my lungs out at them in their KL office.

I am on the phone to MH as I am typing this post. Guess what, I was told I am on a waitlist with 5 people in front of me and there is nothing they can do!! What a joke!!!

I called on 5 Sep, more than 3 weeks ago to make the change and there were plenty of seats. Because of their stuff up I have no seat!

 

[Batesy]

Just PM'd you with info that might assist.

 

[BAM1748]

If there's a malaysian ticket office near you you could go in and try and resolve otc.

I cannot seem to find a street address any more for an MH office in Sydney, but when I went for a walk today at lunch time I came across this.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15264656@N02/29915548431/in/dateposted/

 

[winfred]

I cannot seem to find a street address any more for an MH office in Sydney, but when I went for a walk today at lunch time I came across this.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/15264656@N02/29915548431/in/dateposted/

Thanks Batesy for the info.

I'm actually in Hong Kong and I was told by MH they don't have an office in Hong Kong.

I end up changing my travel dates as I need to make plans. I'm now going to Mel on 4 Oct instead. I cancelled a few meetings and move others to accommodate the incompetence of MH. Guess what they stuff up my changes, again. They changed my outbound flights but forgot about my inbound ones!

I spent another hour last night on the phone and waiting for them to fix it, again.

 

[winfred]

I finally got the changes done 2 days before my trip. I ended up talking to someone who tried to help me before and recognised my name. After 1 hour on the phone she managed to get it fixed.

I am still waiting for a reply from MH complaints department to return my email. I'm not holding my breath.

I just booked another HKG-KUL-MEL return in J with MH. Can't beat the price of HKD11k. I guess I just have to put up with this nonsense.