jamienbaker

Of course one runs that risk. The alternative is to fund with Avios, but the value proposition isn't as good. In my case, it was worth taking the risk as there were alternative flights at the AA window that I was willing to accept (i.e. EWRHKG in J).

Haven't done with AS given the well-chronicled disparity in terms of what AS can/can't see. Like the 5 J seats SGNHKG that AA and BA can see RIGHT NOW, that AS can't.

Jamie

Happy

Checking does not need to be furiously - the availability is always there before AA opens up for booking. Beating others in calling AA and snatch that seat out of many competitors would be the mission impossible. The "furiously" applied to the calling AA, not checking availability which you can readily see on BA.

The competition is way too big - I am not the person who can stay up at midnight and then furiously calling AA trying to beat tens of dozs of other callers to book that F seat. A friend tried that multiple times and failed each time. She started calling since midnight, and then saw the seat disappeared by 4am. The same fate repeated for 3 nights.

Then she came up with the BA strategy. Worked perfectly for her. So when the time came for my date, I employed the same tactic. NO WAY I could even try to call AA every 15 min starting from Midnight... NO WAY. I am not insane enough to long for that F seat with such crazy dealing with AA.

When I took out the seat with BA miles, people tried to use AA miles would give up because the seat was gone BEFORE AA opens the window. Then I can leisurely cancel it in the afternoon when nobody is looking (the first day of the window already showed no inventory for the AA folks, and they all would wait for the next day opened up and then called starting midnight....)

The reason why I immediately cancel BA and then rebook with AA is because the very close proximity of time, the seat would return to the inventory almost certainly. Waiting 35 days later to cancel, the seat may or may not return to the inventory. I dont want to chance that, not because of a saving on the cash payment.

What if I cancel the BA booking but the seat does not return to the inventory? Then it would be a complete waste of time and effort, not to mention a few bucks.

J. by the way, had more than enough choices even when AA opened up for booking. It was the 1F that was the illusive target. Since we can always book J, I dont need / want to waste $ in holding the F longer than 24 hours then ran a greater risk the F might not return to the inventory.

As for AS agent, I dont know what to say - some agents are able to see availability some dont. No idea why and no idea HOW to get to the agent that seems to know how to look up CX availability more easily. It is a complete luck of draw to me.

rufflesinc

I can imagine this a year ago when the deval was about to hit, but have you seen this always happen? I know this is always true for QF, but other than during the deval, CX always seems to have at least one F least around the days I want.

When booking CX F using AS a few months ago, I found out the F seat was released late morning or early afternoon ET. I didn't call every 5 or 10 mins but every hour or so and still got the seats both in and outbound.

Happy

To be honest, the ONLY time I booked this early for ANYTHING, was the AA deval on the CX F. Everything else, including the QR 380F, I did not book at the window opened but as late as possible. I much prefer to book 3 months or less before departure if possible. Alas in recent years I have to book 6 to 8 months out due to many more people now have boat loads of miles than in the years past.

1F is not hard. Having 2x 1F on close flights on the same date is not always possible. For the BA exercise I actually did both my ticket and my husband's ticket the same way - still on different flights and as the travel date getting closer (early Feb) I saw CX started opening up J though not on our flights, but of course still no F. Will need to do the rebooking if there is seat released, when we are in Hong Kong.

Booked another itinerary a few weeks ago for travel in August - the LAX-HKG route has 1F on many flights many dates, but the JNB-HKG is much harder to find suitable date.

Those once a day long haul flight in CX network can be tough to get. They often oversold in all cabins as well, so cannot count on new release or last minute release.

eethan

I spoke with two agents who both claimed to be able to directly access the partner desk. Yet they couldn't see HKG-LAX on one day where BA showed 3 J seats and HKG-LAX on another day where BA showed 2 J seats. (They can see PY availability on those flights.) Update: Tried a 3rd date where BA is showing 3 J seats, and still nothing. They appear not to be able to see any of the flights departing late-afternoon and evening.

Would it help to call back after a couple of days? Any suggestions?

thebluejean

Boys redeeming AS miles on CX was an adventure itself. Last night the flights I wanted was finally in the 331 days window. Called and was on hold for half hour due to weather issue. The agent said I called too early and it's not loaded yet. I did ask her to see if she can see the flights I want in the previous days. Initially she can't see since the one of the legs (intra Asia) shows J2 on BA. After few typing she did able to find these even it's only J2 on BA. I waited pass mid-night and called. The first agent claimed CX doesn't operate this intra Asia flight and he can't find any direct flights between HKG to LAX even it's within 331 window. I thanked him and tried again. Luck would have it and I got the same agent! By the time it's 2 in the morning I just gave up and would try to call in the morning.

This morning I called and the agent from Seattle was able to find the 2J I wanted and she was even able to grab the 1F for myself and 1J for my husband between HKG to LAX! I was escalated and asked her to book these.

Conclusion: don't give up and keep calling until you can find an agent willing to find these seats even it shows J2 on BA!

Mauibaby2008

I was just able to reserve 2 J tickets on the same flight HKG - JNB, an addition to my F JFK - HKG I previously booked.

i was a little surprised when she told me there was an additional charge of $56.-- in taxes per person. Considering the JFK HKG leg only had $5.60 in taxes !

small price to pay for the flight, I guess 😉

crimsona

You likely booked that before the third runway surcharge, which I believe is added to all segments in and out of Hong Kong after a certain date

nas6034

Question: Can I book my initial segment right now USA-HKG since it's 331 days out then call back few days later to book the add-on leg (HKG-ASIA2)? I want HKG to be my stopover but don't want to lose the possibility of F/J seats on USA-HKG.

jinglish

Yes.

txflyer77

Just booked a US-NZ award on CX. SFO-HKG in F connecting to HKG-AKL in C, with about 15 hours in HKG.

First two calls were unsuccessful but on the third I remembered to ask segment by segment and the agent immediately found the space I'd seen on JL's site.

(Hoping that I can add VX's DEN-SFO to my res later this year once those no longer count as partner flights, otherwise I'll just buy that leg)

nas6034

Do they add-on the leg or re-ticket the whole thing with chance of losing your USA-HKG F seat?

jinglish

I'm not sure if it's a full re-ticketing, but through a couple of changes to my upcoming reservation (including using this tactic to secure space initially) I haven't been booted from J on any leg.

eponymous_coward

AS does not have the ability to change tickets like that; you get a new ticket to replace the old one.

desikid

BA web site no longer shows option to select partner airlines when searching for award seats.
Is this new change? I want to use AS miles on CX and tried SFO-HKG search on BA but it never showed CX flights not option to select partner airlines....