Malaysia Airlines announced another set of Covid-19 miles and voucher extension policies and decided to extend their Enrich status, expiring miles and vouchers by an additional year.
Previously the airline has extended member tiers that are earned based in 2019 activity through March 31, 2022 (by one year) which have now been pushed into March 2023.
Enrich just sent out an email to their members last night informing them that miles are now extended as well through December 31, 2022.
Malaysia Airlines Enrich was one of these airlines with a continuous policy of kicking the can down the road, extending little by little rather than taking care of it once with a generous extension which they eventually had to do last round in March and once again now.
The first few mileage extension policies didn’t go far enough and instead of putting a long-term policy in place Malaysia Airlines Enrich is taking another half-hearted approach and extending miles by six months post their original expiry date (Enrich Miles expire on a monthly rotation).
You can access Malaysia Airlines here.
This is what the email reads:
We have been waiting to fly just as eagerly as you. As Malaysia Airlines reopens domestic connectivity and resumes some of our international flights, we bring you wonderful news as we take to the skies again.As an airline that truly values your unwavering support, we fully understand your needs. Hence, in recognition and appreciation of your loyalty and patience over the challenging past 20 months, we are delighted to provide you with more flexibility when it comes to your benefits by:
- Further extending your Enrich Points validity up to 31 December 2022 for points expiring between December 2021 to November 2022 for you to redeem your travel and lifestyle rewards.
- Extending your Elite status for another year until March 2023, so you can continue to enjoy all your Elite Tier Privileges.
- Making it easier for you to retain or fast-track your tier status by further reducing the tier qualification by 30% for the year 2022. To retain or upgrade to Platinum status require 70 Elite Points, Gold status require 42 Elite Points and Silver status require 21 Elite Points respectively.
- Also further extending the validity of your Enrich Golden Lounge access voucher until 31 December 2022 for vouchers expiring between December 2021 to November 2022 so that you can utilise them for upcoming travels.
We sincerely hope that you will have more time to enjoy all that you truly deserve, with these extensions.As we gradually regain our freedom to travel, we wish to rebuild your confidence by ensuring you that we are taking all the necessary measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and crew across multiple touchpoints, be it on the ground or in the air.
According to the information on the website, the Points and Tier extension will be reflected in members’ online accounts in January 2022.
Members who are starting to fly again in 2022 can (re)qualify their Enrich status fast based on the reduced tier qualification rules. To retain or upgrade you will need:
- Platinum status 70 Elite Points,
- Gold status 42 Elite Points
- Silver status 21 Elite Points
John recently wrote that the Malaysia Government is considering opening for tourism arrivals in January of 2022.
Malaysia Set To Reopen For International Visitors By January 1, 2022
This date hasn’t been formally set as of this time so we gotta wait a little longer and see what they have in store for us.
Malaysia has been hermetically sealed for 18 months and it was pretty much impossible to maintain the tier level for those who remained in the country while at the same time it made very little sense for those members outside Malaysia to continue crediting oneWorld flights to the program.
Conclusion
Malaysia Airlines was about the last airline to announce its elite status extension due to the current global pandemic. This time they finally made a generous cut and extended miles/vouchers for a full year until the end of 2022 and Enrich Elite status through March 2023.
Malaysia has opened its borders again allowing Malaysian citizens and residents to travel, however, inbound tourism by foreigners is still not available (might be on/after January 1). The best is to absolutely avoid collecting miles with Enrich in any way, shape, or form and that includes credit card points. If you’re in Malaysia and carry one of the credit cards that collect Enrich miles I’d look for an alternative for the time being until redemption options and travel opportunities are back in full swing.
