Incorrect Points & SC from a MH flight

5 replies

RD ADL

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 18 May 2020

Total posts 10

Hi all. Wondered if anyone had any recent experience of (hopefully) incorrect posting of points and status credits after a Malaysian Airlines flight?

Flew MH140 ADL-KUL las week in J Class. Post to QF Frequent Flyer account only gives me 30 Status Credits for a “flexible economy” ticket.

Never happened to me before so guidance or ideas on what next would be appreciated

RD


turner773

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 03 Mar 2014

Total posts 24

Qantas only awards status credits on Malaysia Airlines for travel in discount and flexible economy - you have received status credits at the closest earning class of travel. I think ADL-KUL should earn 50 status credits in that class though, rather than 30 which is the rate for the rest of the east coast.

quantumreality

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 16 Jan 2018

Total posts 61

It all boils down to your booking class code that Qantas acknowledges (or has agreed) with the partner airlines.

Airlines may market a flight as whatever class of service they want but at the end of the day, it is the booking class code that determines your points and SCs.

I recently flew MH too, the outbound was booked in a code that wasn't 'listed' as eligible for points in the Qantas in their 'partner airlines earning category table', so even though I paid extra for the 'flexible' package add-on, no points nor SCs were credited. On the inbound, the booking code was 'acknowledged' (even though I didn't pay for any extra flexible package add-ons) so SC and points were credited.

I also flew Finnair recently, in Premium Economy. On the outbound, the code was 'E' which wasn't acknowledged by Qantas (so no points or SCs given even though I flew PE 'sniff sniff'). On the inbound, because I had to change my flight and paid handsomely for that change, I believe my booking code was changed to one that Qantas acknowledged (I can't remember what the code was) and I was credited with SCs and points using the amount of fully flexible economy category (even though I flew Premium Economy).

Lessons learned for me were that (1) always checked the booking class code (irrespective of the service class), and (2) paying 'extras' for more flexible add-ons (e.g. no-fee change or full cancellation etc) does not mean that it is a 'fully flexible economy' as in traditional 'Y' class. Certain airlines allow customers pay for these 'flexible' packages, even though the booking class code can still be 'restrictive' in the traditional sense - you may get 'penalised' when it comes to your creditable FF points.

Last editedby quantumreality at Oct 02, 2022, 09:44 AM.

RD ADL

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 18 May 2020

Total posts 10

Sorry typo flight was SYD-KUL.

@quantumreality thanks for sharing your experience so comprehensively.

Pre-pandemic I used to do a fair few CX flights and whilst the SC were less than QF flights, it was still reasonable.

You're right a lesson learned here for me too - still got 9 months to pull in around 300 SC to retain Platinum but looks like its back to QF only flights for me going forward for the outbound/inbound legs to Asia. In fairness, only didn't choose them this time as they didn't have a CGK flight on a Wednesday at the time I booked. Hey ho. Lesson learned.

Thanks for the replies.


RD

hakkinen5

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 20 Aug 2014

Total posts 193

Quantumreality is spot on there. Malaysia Airlines fares between the east coast and Malaysia, booked in Business on C, D and J class fare buckets earn at Qantas' Flexible Economy rate which is 30 status credits. Ironically, the same flight from Perth to KL earns 50 status credits, despite being a much shorter flight. I've taken this flight recently. Upcoming I have a flight from North Asia to KL and because that route is not listed in the Partner Airline Earn Category table, and is in the "All other flights" section, points and SC's are awarded on the "mileage travelled" part of the table. So that flight will earn 100 status credits, despite being shorter than the KL to Melbourne connecting flight which will only earn 30SC's. It really is quite a complicated and inconsistent table of earning points.

ACM

Member since 05 Sep 2017

Total posts 31

Malaysian is a tricky one to navigate. I just bought Singapore to Kuching return in what was called flexible economy, yet the booking class is Q, an ineligible fare class for Qantas.

Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Incorrect Points & SC from a MH flight

Attach Files