Introduction

Earlier this year, Malaysia Airlines announced revision to their Enrich Redemption Program where they inflated the Enrich Points required to redeem a Business Class ticket close or more than 100%.

For example, we used to only need about 55K or less Enrich Points to redeem a Business Class ticket KL/Melbourne. But after MAS inflated they redemption program, we needed 113K Enrich Points!!!

Below are the latest redemption rates announced earlier in 2024:

In respect to the above, I was kind of pissed of with the more than 100% inflated Enrich Points compared to last year to redeem a Biz Class ticket to Melbourne. I am sure all of you agree that the above redemption rates are kind of ridiculous as we can fly First Class to Melbourne with less KrisFlyer Miles!!!

Once again, from the above table, the Enrich Points required for Business Class are as follow:

KL/Seoul – 72,800 EP

KL/Tokyo – 72,800 EP

KL/Melbourne – 113,000 EP

KL/London – 149,300 EP

KL/Auckland – 168,400 EP

Good News

A Bro messaged me to inform that he managed to see a one-way Business Class with Malaysia Airlines for only 100K Enrich Points. So to reconfirm, I did my own search and true enough I can get it!

Below is my search results:

In respect to the above image where we need 100K Enrich Points for a Enrich Saver Business Class ticket KUL to LHR (London), the tax is only RM294!!! So I will say it is a good deal, not the best but nonetheless a good deal. However you will note that the tax will be much higher for London to KL because Heathrow Airport Tax is one of the highest in the world.

Basically 100,000 Enrich Points compared to the 149,300 Enrich Points is a reduction of 33%. So it made me wonder did Malaysia Airlines purposely quoted the redemption rate of 149,300 in their announcement earlier this year with the intention to offer 33% discount for Enrich Saver. Please note on certain days we may even need more than 400K Enrich Points to redeem a Biz Class ticket KUL to LHR.

Let’s continue with Biz Class to other destinations

So compared to the earlier announcement that we need 113K Enrich Points, the above 75K Enrich Points required for a Biz Class ticket KL to Melbourne is 33.6% which is also close to 33%

What about KL to Sydney on Business Class? Below is the search I got:

From the above, for KL to Sydney we need 75K Enrich Points which is exactly the same as to Melbourne BUT earlier Malaysia Airlines announced we needed 110,800 Enrich Points.

So with 75K Enrich Points for a Biz Class KL to Sydney compared to 110,800 Enrich Points, it means a reduction of 32.3% which is just slightly below 33%

However, note that the tax KL to Sydney is only RM409 which is very reasonable.

What above KL to Auckland? Below is what I got from my search:

We need 105,000 Enrich Points for a Biz Class ticket KL to Auckland with Enrich Saver and the tax is only RM473.

Once again, the above is a reduction of 63,400 Enrich Points compared to 168,400 Enrich Points announced earlier, which means a reduction of 37%. This does looks like a freaking good deal; but is it?

Below shows the KrisFlyer Miles required KL to Auckland on Business Class. With the Saver Option, you will save 36.5K air miles compared to Enrich Saver at 105K!!! So in this case, Enrich is still ridiculous, hahahaha. Seriously, today with Maybank 2X TP for Local spending with the Maybank 2 Cards Premier, it means we need to spend RM127,750 just to earn 36.5K air miles!

What about KL to Seoul and Tokyo? Below are the searches I found. Both Seoul and Tokyp require the same number of Enrich Points but look at the tax.

The tax to Tokyo is almost RM500 more compared to Seoul? Actually a few people have pointed out the the tax for Biz Class KL to Japan is high with Malaysia Airlines. I guess there must be a reason why….. so I asked uncle google but only found articles on departure tax. So I have no idea why the tax from flight departing to Japan from KLIA is more than other countries including London.

Anyway, 50K EP compared to 66,600 EP and 72,800 EP for Seoul and Japan means a reduction of 24.9% and 31% respectively.

Now, before I forget, you can fly to Seoul with AirAsia Premium Flatbed one-way for only RM1600!!! Save your 50K Enrich Points and fly to London if you know how to optimize the value of your hard earned air miles. Click here to read my article titled Use Your Air Miles For First Class Because You Can Afford To Experience Business Class Flat Bed.

Conclusion

From the above examples, it shows that currently (I have no idea how long the discount will last) with Enrich Saver we can save 25% EP for Japan and about 33% EP for London, Australia and Seoul but Auckland we can save 37%.

As far as the taxes are concerned, it cost less than RM300 to London/Seoul and goes up to RM768 for Japan. I have no idea why this is the case since all the flights depart from KLIA. Maybe the other countries imposed some kind of fees (can be any kind of fees including parking fee at the arrival airport) but I don’t know.

Well I guess Malaysia Airlines management have come to their senses on the ridiculous rates for redeeming Business Class tickets (compared to other FFP) announced earlier (and still shown at MAS website) and therefore reduced the Enrich Points required for their Business Class redemptions. But then again maybe it was their intention from the start to quote a higher rates and then offer Enrich Saver at lower rates to give the impression to their customers that they are getting a good deal? I don’t know what is the strategy adopted by Malaysia Airlines Management…. but one thing for sure as I mentioned in another article, Malaysia Airlines Management must be doing something right as there was a report that they now have Billions of Ringgit in cash.

Whatever it is, I am happy to note that I can redeem a Business Class ticket with Malaysia Airlines KL to/from Australia DIRECT with 75K Enrich Points and pay less than RM500 in taxes. So a big thank you to Malaysia Airlines Management 🙂

IF you noted in the above paragraph, the coded message was DIRECT. Yes, the only advantage of us residing in Klang Valley is we get to save time by flying Direct to certain destination compared to transiting in Singapore for example. For family with young children, flying direct is so much more convenient then transiting in another country. But for those of us who do have young children to give us headaches, then it makes more sense to convert our credit cards rewards points to KrisFlyer and experience Suite Class or First Class where we get to eat all we want, drink all the Hennessy XO or JW Blue Label, and sleep on Tempur mattress at the Private Room. Oh this made me remember. do not rush lah if you are flying Suite Class or First Class with Singapore Airlines but allow at least minimum 3 hours transit time to enjoy the Private Room…. and if you have lots of time, you can go to the First Class Lounges and also Business Class Lounges at T1, T2 and T3, hahaha.

But Bros & Sis, Time Is Of The Essence, I have no idea how long the above Enrich Saver offers last….. so if you missed the boat then you only have yourself to be blamed when you see your Enrich Points Expiring soon and you need 500K Enrich Points to redeem a Biz Class ticket to London.