Aug 7, 2015, 8:58 am
Cathay Pacific Award Availability
when using Alaska Airlines Miles
North American CX Gateway Cities
New York City (JFK/EWR)
Boston (BOS)
Toronto (YYZ)
Chicago (ORD)
Vancouver (YVR)
Los Angeles (LAX)
San Francisco (SFO)
Notes and tips:
You cannot book CX award flights on alaskaair.com.
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...rs/cathay.aspx
Both BA and JL websites can be used to search for CX partner inventory. JL is typically a more accurate engine. BA should only be used on a per-segment basis (in other words, do not search for LAX-BKK, search for LAX-HKG, then HKG-BKK). Note that AS award availability is only for 330 days, the BA engine will show availability to 365 days.
There are mixed reports on getting a CX stopover outside of HKG. By rule, HKG is the only allowed stopover. Stopovers are not allowed on intra-Asia award bookings (you will need a North American segment to be able to book a stopover).
All CX awards except for the intra-Asia award must either originate or end in HKG or North America. If you wish to fly Middle East/India/Europe/Asia/Australia to a CX destination beyond your initial flight to or from HKG that is not a North American destination, it will be two awards: XXX-HKG and HKG-YYY. CX intra-Asia awards do not include a stopover.
CX releases availability close in. If you do a change where you book another cabin and upgrade to F (which often may be the only way to get F on CX), you will be charged the $125 rebooking fee (waived for MVPG+).
*Have the AS CSR perform the search one leg at a time (Transoceanic first). That might yield more results than the whole itinerary at once.*
The CX forum has a FAQ on the CX experience.
Award eligible Destinations
By region.
(Dragon Air is not allowed on AS award)
Africa
Johannesburg (JNB)
Asia
Bangkok (BKK)
Beijing (PEK)
Cebu (CEB)
Denpasar (Bali) (DPS)
Fukuoka (FUK)
Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
Hong Kong (HKG)
Jakarta (CGK)
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) [Ends 30 April]
Manila (MNL)
Osaka (KIX)
Sapporo (CTS)
Seoul (ICN)
Shanghai (PVG)
Singapore (SIN)
Surabaya (SUB)
Taipei (TPE)
Tokyo (HND)
Australia/NZ
Adelaide (ADL)
Auckland (AKL)
Brisbane (BNE)
Cairns (CNS)
Melbourne (MEL)
Perth (PER)
Sydney (SYD)
India/Middle East
Bahrain (BAH)
Chennai (MAA)
Colombo (CMB)
Delhi (DEL)
Doha (DOH) [Discontinued as of Feb 2016]
Dubai (DXB)
Hyderabad (HYD)
Malé (MLE)
Mumbai (BOM)
Riyadh (RUH)
Tel Aviv (TLV)
Europe (To/from HKG only. NA is separate award)
Amsterdam (AMS)
Barcelona (BCN)
Düsseldorf (DUS)
Frankfurt (FRA)
London (LHR, LGW)
Manchester (MAN)
Milan (MXP)
Paris (CDG)
Rome (FCO)
Zurich (ZRH)
when using Alaska Airlines Miles
North American CX Gateway Cities
New York City (JFK/EWR)
Boston (BOS)
Toronto (YYZ)
Chicago (ORD)
Vancouver (YVR)
Los Angeles (LAX)
San Francisco (SFO)
Notes and tips:
You cannot book CX award flights on alaskaair.com.
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...rs/cathay.aspx
Award Travel on Cathay Pacific
Book Your Award Travel: To use Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ Miles on Cathay Pacific, call Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (TTY: Dial 711 for Relay Services) 5:00 a.m. - Midnight (PT), daily
Book Your Award Travel: To use Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ Miles on Cathay Pacific, call Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (TTY: Dial 711 for Relay Services) 5:00 a.m. - Midnight (PT), daily
There are mixed reports on getting a CX stopover outside of HKG. By rule, HKG is the only allowed stopover. Stopovers are not allowed on intra-Asia award bookings (you will need a North American segment to be able to book a stopover).
All CX awards except for the intra-Asia award must either originate or end in HKG or North America. If you wish to fly Middle East/India/Europe/Asia/Australia to a CX destination beyond your initial flight to or from HKG that is not a North American destination, it will be two awards: XXX-HKG and HKG-YYY. CX intra-Asia awards do not include a stopover.
CX releases availability close in. If you do a change where you book another cabin and upgrade to F (which often may be the only way to get F on CX), you will be charged the $125 rebooking fee (waived for MVPG+).
*Have the AS CSR perform the search one leg at a time (Transoceanic first). That might yield more results than the whole itinerary at once.*
The CX forum has a FAQ on the CX experience.
Award eligible Destinations
By region.
(Dragon Air is not allowed on AS award)
Africa
Johannesburg (JNB)
Asia
Bangkok (BKK)
Beijing (PEK)
Cebu (CEB)
Denpasar (Bali) (DPS)
Fukuoka (FUK)
Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
Hong Kong (HKG)
Jakarta (CGK)
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) [Ends 30 April]
Manila (MNL)
Osaka (KIX)
Sapporo (CTS)
Seoul (ICN)
Shanghai (PVG)
Singapore (SIN)
Surabaya (SUB)
Taipei (TPE)
Tokyo (HND)
Australia/NZ
Adelaide (ADL)
Auckland (AKL)
Brisbane (BNE)
Cairns (CNS)
Melbourne (MEL)
Perth (PER)
Sydney (SYD)
India/Middle East
Bahrain (BAH)
Chennai (MAA)
Colombo (CMB)
Delhi (DEL)
Doha (DOH) [Discontinued as of Feb 2016]
Dubai (DXB)
Hyderabad (HYD)
Malé (MLE)
Mumbai (BOM)
Riyadh (RUH)
Tel Aviv (TLV)
Europe (To/from HKG only. NA is separate award)
Amsterdam (AMS)
Barcelona (BCN)
Düsseldorf (DUS)
Frankfurt (FRA)
London (LHR, LGW)
Manchester (MAN)
Milan (MXP)
Paris (CDG)
Rome (FCO)
Zurich (ZRH)
CX (Cathay) Award availability
Dec 26, 2016, 2:21 pm
#1681
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Actually I found myself consistently getting 1A as my initial seat assignment on my most recent redemption on CX in October, from various cities as I closed in on my ideal itinerary. They didn't seem to be effectively blocked, though the seat map indicated such. This was the seat I always asked for, and always received it despite having only my AS MVPG status associated with the PNR.
Alaska can NEVER get you 2A/K out of the gate, you MUST call CX to change the seat assignment. I also consider 2A the best seat, with 1A a close second. This seems to be the conventional wisdom
I've seen it indicated for some while that the North American call center would NEVER release 2A/K for you, that you needed to call HKG. This is mostly - but not entirely - true. If you get the right agent in YVR, they'll do it for you. If you really don't want to call HKG, then just HUCA. HKG agents ALWAYS did it for me after explaining that I could be moved if an actual need for the bassinet develops. I made it a practice to preemptively make them aware that I already knew about this, in order to appear as a frequent flyer in CX F. It seemed to help speed things along once I began doing that.
One other thing: I stopped punching through the call center menu to the awards desk (at either city) since the hold times were always SIGNIFICANTLY longer and those agents seemed far more familiar with (and therefore more likely to enforce) the restrictions on partner award seat assignments.
=> Choose the menu option for people who have bought their ticket from CX instead. Much quicker it seemed.
Hold times seemed to vary wildly by the time of day at BOTH call centers. Sometimes HKG was much shorter. Avoiding prime-time seemed to reduce hold times (unsurprisingly). Of course, if you just landed your ideal flight it doesn't matter what time of day it is: call right away to see if you can get the coveted 2A, no matter which call center it ends up being!
Alaska can NEVER get you 2A/K out of the gate, you MUST call CX to change the seat assignment. I also consider 2A the best seat, with 1A a close second. This seems to be the conventional wisdom
I've seen it indicated for some while that the North American call center would NEVER release 2A/K for you, that you needed to call HKG. This is mostly - but not entirely - true. If you get the right agent in YVR, they'll do it for you. If you really don't want to call HKG, then just HUCA. HKG agents ALWAYS did it for me after explaining that I could be moved if an actual need for the bassinet develops. I made it a practice to preemptively make them aware that I already knew about this, in order to appear as a frequent flyer in CX F. It seemed to help speed things along once I began doing that.
One other thing: I stopped punching through the call center menu to the awards desk (at either city) since the hold times were always SIGNIFICANTLY longer and those agents seemed far more familiar with (and therefore more likely to enforce) the restrictions on partner award seat assignments.
=> Choose the menu option for people who have bought their ticket from CX instead. Much quicker it seemed.
Hold times seemed to vary wildly by the time of day at BOTH call centers. Sometimes HKG was much shorter. Avoiding prime-time seemed to reduce hold times (unsurprisingly). Of course, if you just landed your ideal flight it doesn't matter what time of day it is: call right away to see if you can get the coveted 2A, no matter which call center it ends up being!
I found the light of fasten seatbelt shines into 1A and affecting sleep if not wearing eyeshade. On a very turbulent ride this can be very annoying. 2A does not have that issue. That is about the only thing 1A is not as good as 2A.
Dec 26, 2016, 4:37 pm
#1682
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,531
Right. Any agent can handle the seat assignment from my experiences. I also always started with the spill about willing to move should a baby needs the bassinet at 2A.
I found the light of fasten seatbelt shines into 1A and affecting sleep if not wearing eyeshade. On a very turbulent ride this can be very annoying. 2A does not have that issue. That is about the only thing 1A is not as good as 2A.
I found the light of fasten seatbelt shines into 1A and affecting sleep if not wearing eyeshade. On a very turbulent ride this can be very annoying. 2A does not have that issue. That is about the only thing 1A is not as good as 2A.
Dec 26, 2016, 7:48 pm
#1683
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Luckily I have not had a fellow passenger at 2A that needs things often. Otherwise that could also be an annoyance. We had a full cabin HKG-LAX in Sept - 3 passengers were traveling on business from same company - one man in 2A and one man in 1D. The 3rd person was a woman in 2D. 2A stood there talking with 1D nonstop before push off. I asked him if he would like to switch seat with me. He declined. Fortunately he did not go talk to 1D after we took off, and he was relatively quiet thru the flight. Unfortunately the 3 were back in full action more than 2 hours before landing - THAT woke me up. On this flight even if I were in 2A would not help because 1/2 of the cabin was traveling together - inevitably they would have interaction that would affect the other 1/2 of cabin. The passenger in 1K actually was the least affected when 1D, 2D and 2A were a group traveling together.
Dec 29, 2016, 2:52 pm
#1684
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: PHX
Programs: AA, SPG, UR
Posts: 329
Got myself a 2A with a "we will add a note to the gate agents that they can move me if a bassinet baby is to be accommodated" note. I am thinking about 1 in 500 chance that I will be booted off 2A 
Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Last edited by FT-hss; Dec 29, 2016 at 2:53 pm Reason: Clarity
Dec 29, 2016, 3:11 pm
#1685
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 4,216
Got myself a 2A with a "we will add a note to the gate agents that they can move me if a bassinet baby is to be accommodated" note. I am thinking about 1 in 500 chance that I will be booted off 2A Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Dec 29, 2016, 4:56 pm
#1686
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,531
Got myself a 2A with a "we will add a note to the gate agents that they can move me if a bassinet baby is to be accommodated" note. I am thinking about 1 in 500 chance that I will be booted off 2A Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Question: Would they still give me an alternate F seat on the same flight or can they even move me to business class?
Dec 29, 2016, 11:40 pm
#1687
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Programs: AA ExPlat, AS MVP Gold
Posts: 909
I had 1K on 77W from HKG-LAX on a flight that goes in about three weeks. This is an AA redemption. AA couldn't move me to 2A or K, claiming both seats were occupied. (I was pretty sure they were simply blocked).
Tried to call CX a couple days ago and punched in option 3 for redemption tix. Waited 15 minutes on hold before hanging up. Called back today, pressed 1 for tix purchased from CX (ooops! finger slipped). Agent answered in about 30 seconds and moved me to 2A with barely a pause. I'll note that the F cabin on my flight is currently empty other than me. Not sure what magic was at work--I didn't ask about the call center where the agent was located--but wanted to pass along the anecdote.
--mcz
Tried to call CX a couple days ago and punched in option 3 for redemption tix. Waited 15 minutes on hold before hanging up. Called back today, pressed 1 for tix purchased from CX (ooops! finger slipped). Agent answered in about 30 seconds and moved me to 2A with barely a pause. I'll note that the F cabin on my flight is currently empty other than me. Not sure what magic was at work--I didn't ask about the call center where the agent was located--but wanted to pass along the anecdote.
--mcz
Dec 30, 2016, 10:51 am
#1688
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I had 1K on 77W from HKG-LAX on a flight that goes in about three weeks. This is an AA redemption. AA couldn't move me to 2A or K, claiming both seats were occupied. (I was pretty sure they were simply blocked).
Tried to call CX a couple days ago and punched in option 3 for redemption tix. Waited 15 minutes on hold before hanging up. Called back today, pressed 1 for tix purchased from CX (ooops! finger slipped). Agent answered in about 30 seconds and moved me to 2A with barely a pause. I'll note that the F cabin on my flight is currently empty other than me. Not sure what magic was at work--I didn't ask about the call center where the agent was located--but wanted to pass along the anecdote.
--mcz
Tried to call CX a couple days ago and punched in option 3 for redemption tix. Waited 15 minutes on hold before hanging up. Called back today, pressed 1 for tix purchased from CX (ooops! finger slipped). Agent answered in about 30 seconds and moved me to 2A with barely a pause. I'll note that the F cabin on my flight is currently empty other than me. Not sure what magic was at work--I didn't ask about the call center where the agent was located--but wanted to pass along the anecdote.
--mcz
Jan 1, 2017, 11:07 pm
#1689
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 17
Hi all,
first time poster and first time redeeming AS
Just redeemed a HKG - LAX in F with a 1A seating in June
CSR told me it is confirmed, i don't have any elite status, so i think they unblock those seats?
first time poster and first time redeeming AS
Just redeemed a HKG - LAX in F with a 1A seating in June
CSR told me it is confirmed, i don't have any elite status, so i think they unblock those seats?
Last edited by gambud; Jan 2, 2017 at 6:57 am
Jun 28, 2017, 8:24 pm
#1690
Moderator: Alaska Mileage Plan
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 12,307
Moderator Note: This thread contains some very old information and has grown unwieldy, so it is closed. Please continue the discussion in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...17-beyond.html
dayone, AS/VX Moderator
dayone, AS/VX Moderator
