How Much Does It Cost to Change Enrich Redemption Tickets and Other Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs)?

Coming from the Singapore miles game and having used many frequent flyer programs over the past decade, Peter is convinced that the benefit of using miles over cash was the added flexibility. And flexibility is something cash tickets typically lack unless you pay for a higher fare.

But in the Malaysian miles scene, many seem to believe otherwise, i.e cash tickets are more flexible than award redemptions.

In this post, we’ll break down the change fees for Enrich and various FFPs, and share some perspectives on how they compare to cash tickets.

Cost of Change for Redemption Tickets

Plans change, and when they do, flexibility matters. Not all frequent flyer programs are equal, as different fare classes come with different rules. Here’s an overview of all the redemption Tiers for Enrich and other frequent flier programs (FFPs):

Enrich: Comes with 4 main redemption fare tiers: Saver, Value, Basic, and Flex. There are also 2 additional ones, Suite and Shuttle, which we won’t analyse in this post.

Malaysia Airlines cash and redemption tickets has the same fare structure, except that Saver is generally only used for redemption tickets. You can read the official Malaysia Airlines comparison of different tiers here, and view the official change and cancelation fee here.

KrisFlyer: The Krisflyer FFP is more straightforward with just two tiers: Saver and Advantage. These days, Saver slots can be hard to find for popular routes unless you book well in advance. If you need to fly at a specific time, Advantage is usually the only option that you get.

Other FFPs: Asia Miles and the rest of the seafood FFPs (like British Avios, Flying Blue, and EVA Infinity MileageLands) only have one redemption tier, which keeps things simple.

Which is More Flexible: Miles or Cash Tickets?

Cash is king when it comes to booking flexibility.

You can almost always get the date you want with cash. With miles, you’re at the mercy of redemption slot availability, which means hunting for award seats. So from a booking standpoint, cash wins on flexibility.

But when it comes to changes after booking, miles is better than cash tickets, except MH

Programs like KrisFlyer, Asia Miles, and EVA Air Infinity MileageLands charge a low change or cancellation fees. You get a “Flex” ticket, but at a much lower cost than you would paying cash. And that’s one of the advantage of miles chasing.

MH is the Exception

Because Enrich uses dynamic redemption system, finding a Saver slot is already a challenge. Changing your flight means you need to find another Saver slot for your new date, which might not exist, or you will have to top up for the Points difference.

Combine that with the RM350 change fee for international flights, Enrich redemptions end up being quite inflexible.

But to be fair, Malaysia Airlines’ cash tickets aren’t much better. They follow the same fare family structure and charge the same fees for changes and cancellations. With MH, the more you pay, the more flexibility you get, be it cash or redemption ticket. The key difference is in availability: redemptions depend on award space, while cash tickets can be booked outright.

Conclusion

That’s how we see it, miles is better than cash when it comes to flexibility for changes for most FFPs with the exception of Malaysia Airlines / Enrich.

That said, Enrich Saver tickets are not totally inflexible. You can still make changes for RM350 on international flights, provided there’s a redemption slot available on your new date. Just make sure the fee is worth it (if a new ticket costs less than RM350, then what’s the point?). However, Saver tickets can’t be cancelled to redeposit your Enrich Points.

Did we miss anything? What’s your experience been like with changes and flexibility? Let us know what you think.

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