I last wrote an article to warn you all from converting your hard-earned credit card points into Enrich Miles, unless you were planning to travel in the immediate term. You can view that article here. The reason was simple: Enrich continues to devalue its frequent flyer program, and you now need significantly more miles to travel to select destinations across Asia.
As I had already posted that article back in October, I didn't feel the need to post another one, but unfortunately, a few of my readers had notified me that there had been another round of devaluation in January. This may very well be the final nail in the coffin for Enrich Miles lovers.
Biggest Losers: Business Class Tickets
Let's jump straight in. Business Class tickets see the highest devaluations. I was completely shocked to see some sectors devalued by up to 70%!
For example, a One-Way Business Class ticket from KL to Bali now costs 28,400 Enrich Miles! That's a whopping 70% devaluation as it used to be only 16,000 Enrich Miles.
Here's another crazy devaluation: A Business Class ticket from KL to London now costs 149,300 Enrich Miles! I'm curious to understand the logic of such a move. Is Malaysia Airlines being overoptimistic about securing load on their KL-London routes? You truly must be a special kind of person if you were to swallow 149,300 Enrich Miles on a ridiculously poor Business Class product instead of spending 70,000 Avios to sit in Qatar Airways' QSuites, the best business class product in the sky.
Economy Class: Why Bother?
If you're a frequent reader of my blog, you'll know that I continue to emphasize the importance of airline miles conservative policies. What this means is that you should not just evaluate the required miles for a particular journey that you wish to book, but rather, take into account the amount of money you had to spend in order to accumulate those miles in the first place.
Redeeming your hard-earned airline miles for Economy class tickets is usually of poor value, and most of the time, I'd recommend you simply purchase the tickets using cash directly. But in some cases, there could be some positives.
Here's one example of a decent deal: A One-Way Economy Class ticket from KL to London. In fact, as someone who frequently travels this route, I can say with absolute certainty that the amount of miles required have actually dropped. This is definitely strange, considering the KL-London route is one of Malaysia Airlines' most profitable routes.
Despite what the executives at Malaysia Airlines says about the 'lucrative' route, I've read forums and social media posts that seem to suggest that the airplanes are hardly full these days. Wow. I wonder why that's the case. Maybe it's because every single airline in the Middle East has a superior product compared to Malaysia Airlines in Economy Class?
Full Comparison Table
I've gathered enough data to give you a quick summary of the Enrich Miles required after the devaluation. You can pin this on your wall or simply bookmark this page.
Business Class Tickets (One-Way Redemption):
From KLIA to | Before Devaluation (Pre-Feb 2024) | After Devaluation |
|---|---|---|
Peninsular Malaysia | 8,600 Miles | 9,300 Miles |
Sabah | 13,800 Miles | 21,300 Miles |
Sarawak | 13,000 Miles | 18,000 Miles |
ASEAN | 16,300 Miles | Varies: HCM: 18,900 Miles Jakarta: 21,400 Miles Bangkok: 21,700 Miles Singapore: 22,400 Miles Bali: 28,400 Miles |
South Asia | 32,300 Miles | Varies: Mumbai: 44,000 Miles Delhi: 50,800 Miles |
China | 37,100 Miles | Varies: Shanghai: 47,500 Miles Beijing: 48,700 Miles Hong Kong: 56,300 Miles Guangzhou: 59,600 Miles |
Taiwan | 49,900 Miles | 37,500 Miles |
North Asia | 42,500 Miles | Varies: Osaka: 66,400 Miles Tokyo: 66,600 Miles Seoul: 72,800 Miles |
Australia | 53,500 Miles | Varies: Perth: 82,700 Miles Sydney: 110,800 Miles Melbourne: 113,000 Miles Adelaide: 115,000 Miles |
New Zealand | 105,300 Miles | 168,400 Miles |
London | 93,000 Miles | 149,300 Miles |
You can view the full table here.
Final Thoughts
As expected with Malaysia Airlines's history of 'best practices', they've conveniently launched a Bonus Enrich Points campaign right after the devaluation has happened. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is that plenty of Enrich Miles worshippers will continue to follow suit and convert their credit card points into Enrich Miles. I'd said it many times, always look for an alternative to Enrich Miles, because the program is literally milking you dry!
