Thought processes of a cheapskate
I have been considering what to do about my KUL-BKK flight. I am booked on Air Asia in seat 1D which cost me A$60. My health issue means I will have to pay an additional A$30 for checked-in luggage and wheelchair assistance. I haven’t been looking forward to this flight as I have seen some quite poor reviews of their wheelchair assistance, even though you have to pay for it.
Last night I found that I could get a Malaysia Airlines flight from KUL to BKK in J for MYR600 + MYR72.90 taxes, a total of A$219. It would earn 825 QFF points and 40SC. It books into D class. Considering that I would have to cough up the extra $30 for the Air Asia flight, I convinced myself that the real cost of the MH flight would be $190. These are the thought processes of a cheapskate :idea:.
This fare is not available on all flights and the earliest I could get arrives into BKK at 4:20pm, 50 minutes later than my current flight. This is not ideal as it could shorten the time I get in the Conrad exec lounge on arrival. The cost for the ideal flight which arrives at 1:25pm was A$490, so that was never going to happen.
On checking the fare rules I found that it allows what MH call “Go Show”, or fly ahead, free of charge. So, as long as J is not full I will be able to take my preferred flight, and if I can’t, it won’t be a total disaster. That will just mean that I spend about 5 hours in the Golden Wing First Lounge pre-flight and have to drink faster when I get to the Conrad
.
Another thing to consider was that while I’ve flown in both Y and F with MH, I’ve never done J. The reviews of MH J in a 737-800 are nothing special, but what the hell. As Tony Hancock points out, "they serve meat on sticks with peanut sauce". Apparently they’ve recently stopped serving alcohol in J on flights less than three hours, but I can make up for that in the F lounge beforehand.
The flight distance is 757 miles, a little further than ADL-SYD, which I do quite often. Flight time is 2 hours, 5 minutes. The cheapest Qantas flight ADL-SYD on the same day is $178 in Y and $801 in J. That makes $219 (make that $190) for the MH flight seem quite reasonable, even to a cheapskate.
Anyway, at 1.33am local time, after about 4 hours of trying to convince myself that I did indeed deserve to treat myself to this experience, and having consumed a few beers to dull the pain, I hit the 'purchase' button.
The most painful thing about this is that I will have to throw away my $60 Air Asia flight. $60 down the drain. Ouch! But lesson learnt. If I’d looked at the time I chose that flight I probably could have booked a Y flight on MH for less than a hundred bucks, with luggage and wheelchair assistance included, along with all of the WP benefits. I was more focused on the value differential between a J award flight and the Air Asia flight. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing.
. Well I was a little early for dinner at 5pm. Five other people turned up a bit later, so I left .
.
