Yesterday I booked with Etihad (direct) to go to the UK around Christmas time. Flying out of Perth if you book before Virgin Australia opens up it's bookings Etihad will give you a MH option which is better than trekking Over East and paying more.
Now I have discovered the performance stats of MH126 and yeah I'm a bit concerned now. I have just over 1 and half hours connection time on to Etihad. I looked into MH's connections and it seems their (direct) London flight leaves roughly at the same time my Etihad flight leaves.
It's all on a single ticket and at least any delays I'm dealing with Etihad. Though probably a bit concerned that the next flights aren't for 12 hours plus factoring in being busy season with risks of being stuck in airports.
I may see what the price difference is when Virgin opens up, as my change fee is $0.00. Though I don't find the flying over East thought much fun and knowing my luck Virgin would cancel their flight. I'm not concerned about the return leg.
From what I can see the aircraft tends to leave KUL 1 hour-ish late for some unknown reason mainly and isn't being turned around quickly in KL so it's not aircraft availability. Though it arrives into Perth with a short ish delay which is nothing major, though has an 1 hour turnaround ... So I think this makes everything super tight. The delays do tend to be around 30-ish minutes for arrival.
It's a long time until my flight, though in reality there's always a risk no matter what on-time performance is like.
Probably a bit surprised that they haven't addressed this somehow MH124 seems to be pretty rock solid (afternoon departure). I could switch to MH124, but then I'm waiting in KUL for 12 hours waiting for a connection.
On the plus side I'm staying with family in the UK, so there's no knock on effect with hotels etc.
Why I am flying PER - KUL - AUH - LHR return you maybe thinking. Under $5,000 during peak season, flying over full flexi economy (high Velocity status credits on Etihad flights) and returning in business class (currently Etihad A380 out of LHR).
To add, I'm surprised that over all this time the performance hasn't approved.