Malaysian airlines advice please

[Yesyesanamechange]

I've name changed for this as it will out me but am a regular poster.

My son is due to fly Malaysian airlines on Saturday to see his father who lives abroad. He is flying with his grand parents.

I'm really uneasy about this. His father has refused to look at other options with regards to changing flights etc.

Can someone please talk me down?

Is he flying on a potentially dangerous flight path or is it just the airline that you're worried about? I don't think switching airlines is necessary, but I'd find out whether they are still flying on the same path as the shot down plane if this is a possibility given your son's destination (I doubt very much they are, I say this as finding out this information might reassure you).

They are flying to sydney via Kuala Lumpur.

I've seen in the paper this morning they are offering full refunds on their flights.

I'm not sure what the route is will have a google.

No airlines will be flying over the Ukraine area of dispute for the foreseeable, sadly a decision taken too late now.

Flights leaving the UK have to meet strict criteria on safety.

Malaysian Airways are usually very nice planes. They are usually in the top 15 safest planes to travel in according to ATRA (Air Travel Ratings Agency) which assessment includes maintenance of planes.

Hope that helps.

I read in the guardian that Malaysia airlines will fly alternative routes over Europe with immediate effect.

There have been thousands of people who have flown with this airline since this incident, but those flights don't register as nothing happened to them just the one that went wrong

I know I'm probably over reacting. But he is going away for a whole month and he's only 11. I'm wound up about the whole trip and this is the final straw.

Are you insured? My worry would be if the airline goes bust can he get home?

Malaysian airlines is the Malaysian National carrier, I genuinely think the government here wouldn't let it go bust (they already heavily subsidise some domestic routes). We flew with them last week, have flights booked next week, August, September and have just booked flights for November.

Their planes and cabin crew are generally lovely. They have been extremely unfortunate recently.

I would have more concerns flying with one of the half dozen carriers or so who flew on over Ukraine in the hours after MH17 had been shot down.

If i could find an alternative who had never used that route as they had deemed it not to be safe I might consider switching my loyalty to them as it would demonstrate they had a more robust risk assessment in place for their flight paths - I haven't yet heard any airline claiming this though.

Try not to worry (probably impossible) or transmit your worry to ds.

BA & air France both voluntarily avoided that air space boleh

That said, I agree w PPs - Malaysia is a good airline & you should try not to worry.

Thanks Angel - that's interesting to know.

Malaysian are not being specifically targeted and are as safe as any other airline. Now, I would think they would be safer!

the risk is that they will go bust, (although unlikely with a national carrier) so make sure you have scheduled airline failure insurance in case it happens during your son's holiday. This is in addition to normal travel insurance, but last time I took it out it cost a pound.

If I was picking an airline based on safety I'd pick BA.

But the chance of anything happening is so remote that just try not to worry.

This is probably the safest possible time to fly right now. No airlines will be taking any chances, specially Malaysia airlines. There are no airlines flying over the Ukraine at all now. I would think it is very safe right now, but I can understand you feeling a bit anxious.

Do what you feel best about - he's away a month, it would be awful if you worried all that time about the return trip. I don't think logic really comes into it - it's about feelings. FWIW I wouldn't use them - I decided that after the missing plane as I thought the aftermath was handled so badly

as always, the drive to the airport is far, far riskier than the flight.

I thought that Qantas were the only airline that had never killed anyone in a crash - but in fact the list of such airlines is huge.

I'm flying with them a week Saturday. I'm a crap flyer so was already terrified, last few days have been stressful to say the least!

BUT, logically/rationally, flying with them would be no better than flying with any other airline, now that they've changed their flight path. It's such an awful thing that's happened, but all Europe-Asia flights will now be safer than they were a couple of weeks ago, flying over Turkey instead of Ukraine.

*no worse than flying with another airline!

solvency of MA the only concern, as mentioned above. Both incidents totally random and if you look over the stats they otherwise are a safe reliable airline.