Jan 7, 2019, 9:47 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Awards: All Cathay Pacific / CX (Including First and Business Class)
Questions, Availability, Discussion
Questions, Availability, Discussion
For the current thread, please see here.
NOTE: As of 15 Jan 2017, JFK CX flights have relocated to Terminal 8.
Please feel free to use this thread for questions regarding CX Economy, Premium Economy, First and Business Class award redemption using AAdvantage miles, as well as questions regarding award availability, routings and related issues. Please go to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Forum to discuss or ask about meals, equipment, service, etc. on CX, as there is an existing wealth of information there - and this is the American Airlines AAdvantage Forum
.AA Flight award chart for oneworld® and partner airlines
Other related threads that may be of interest:
FT Discrepancy between CX Award Search and AA availability: Discrepancy between QF and CX award search and AA availability
FT How , When to Select CX Seats on CX Award: How / when to select seat on a Cathay (CX) award / flight (consolidated)
FT Cathay Pacific Experience - Seats / Interline/ Baggage FAQs: Cathay Pacific Experience / Seats / Interline / Baggage FAQs
Also, for Rules about awards, see AA oneworld and Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (2015 on).
NOTE:
1) Only "MileSAAver" awards apply to oneworld and AA partners.
1a) Premium Economy seats are not available with AAdvantage awards, may be soon as AA sells Premium Economy Feb 2017.
2) Awards on Cathay Pacific and subsidiary KA / DragonAir may be booked through AA.
3) aa.com does not reveal CX awards; you must call AA (1-800-882-8880) to book a CX award (though you may find BA, JL or QF websites may reflect CX award availability). As CX/KA awards can not be booked online on aa.com, you must call (no fee).
3a) Be aware that what you see on the BA, JL, or QF sites may not be visible to the AA reservations folks. You may want to note the flight on which the F award seat is shown as "available" on those sites and if the AA agent doesn't see any availability suggest that the AA agent check that specific one again. If the AA agent still cannot see it, thank them, hang up, and call back a little later.
3b) Sometimes CX will make flights available for award booking to CX frequent flyers, but not release the seats immediately for other oneworld frequent flyers. Usually though, the seats, if not taken by CX frequent flyers, are released after a while to other OW programs.
4) Although CX may release seats for award earlier, AA can book them no more than 331 days prior to departure. The awards that CX does release are available as early as 355 days prior to departure for CX and BA frequent fliers, and sometimes that means the awards you want w AA miles will be snatched up prior to the 331 day mark.
*** AA does not have a set schedule to load flights. They can load it anytime after midnight 331 days out. Most of the time it is within a couple to 12 hours of that. Other times, it can be a full day or a day and a half afterwards, especially on the weekends where there's most variability. Unlike JL award space, it is not a specific time of day.
4a) Keep in mind that when booking eastbound space to North America that it's one day later in HKG so that space usually becomes available 330 days in advance to North America; this is not always true, since CX has already loaded the availability a month prior to AA - it is just up to AA to load and release the seats on SABRE, so it typically ends up being 330 days out, but not necessarily.
4b) Similarly... if you are trying to book westbound, US->HKG->Somewhere then AA may not be able to book the HKG->Somewhere segment 331 days in advance of the US->HKG flight, if it is still 332 days out in HKG. As it is the flights from US->HKG that are hardest to get, if you find a seat US->HKG at the 331 day mark when it is first available for booking through AA but cannot book the continuation, you can just put that US->HKG segment on hold with AA, then call back the next day when connecting flights will be loaded into the system to try to book the onward flight from HKG.
5) CX tends to initially release award seats farther out, and then again closer to the day of departure if there is remaining F or J seat inventory available, so keep checking back with AA up to the last practicable minute. AA will ticket partner awards/changes up to 4 hours prior to departure.
5a) So is there a pattern to how many seats CX releases? They seem to consistently release 5 J award seats and 1-2 F award seats on long hauls to/from North America at 355 days out. For intra-Asia flights, they often release just 4 J seats.
5b) Patterns for west coast routes: Because LAX has 4 daily flights to HKG, it tends to be the easiest option for blocks of 3 or more J award seats. SFO and YVR only have 2 daily flights and even if 5 award seats were initially released at 355 days prior to departure, some of those may be gone by the time the 331 day mark rolls around. If you need 4 or 5 J award seats on these west coast routes, either use Avios to book at 355 days or consider routing through LAX where there may still be availability at 331 days out.
5c) Pattern for release of close-in (within about 14 days of flight) award seats? Driving Rain reports that using BA.com it appeared that on three consecutive Sunday evenings at exactly 1030pm Eastern Daylight Time inventory would open up for "close-in" CX flights (i.e. flights roughly within 14 days of that Sunday) to and from the US. While there were changes here and there periodically during the week, sweeping changes occurred on Sunday nights at 1030. Driving Rain reports that it seems that on Monday mornings in Hong Kong (i.e. 1030pm EDT on Sunday) someone at CX HQ consistently did a run through the inventory and freed it up. No guarantees, but a person looking for close-in flights might want to plan to check with AA shortly after 1030 PM Eastern Time on Sundays to see if anything has become available.
6) AA does not charge "YQ" surcharges [what they sometimes call "fuel surcharge"] on CX/KA award segments (BA Avios does), thus the taxes and fees on your "free" ticket on CX or KA are almost always significantly less than for the same routing on BA.
6a)
6b) There is a Hong Kong Departure Tax (HK) of $120 HKD (approx $15.50 USD) on every segment departing Hong Kong. Exemptions apply. If your ticket includes this tax and you qualify for an exemption, a refund can be applied for either in person at HKIA landside or via post to Civil Aviation Department. AA charges this tax for children under 12 years of age despite the exemption. In order to obtain a cash refund at HKIA, you will need passenger passport, passenger boarding pass, passenger ticket receipt showing the fare calculation line which will show the HK tax being charged. This receipt can be obtained at any AA counter worldwide including HKIA as well as Airport Express in-town check-in (AA check-in). As the AA counter at HKIA operates only during limited hours, Airport Express in-town check-in would be the the convenient option.
7) Not all CX flights offer First class; CX Business is markedly different on long haul and regionally configured aircraft.
8) If you're looking for multiple seats in First on a particular flight but can find only some but not all that you're looking for, take what's available in F, then take the rest of the seats you want on J (if available) on the same flight, and check back periodically to see if an F seat has opened up for award. There is no additional charge (in money, although there will be in miles) to change to an award to a higher cabin of service (e.g., J to F, Y to F, Y to J) as long as the award keeps the same origin/destination airports.
9) In general, rerouting to different flights after you have redeemed an award will not attract a monetary penalty so long as the originating and destination airports are the same (connection airport can differ without triggering change fee) and you are using oneworld carriers. For this reason, be aware of potential alternate routings and check them, too. For example, CX uses LAX, SFO, ORD, JFK, and BOS as ports of entry to the US from HKG (and also YVR and YYZ in Canada), so if you have one F and one J award seat on a non-stop from HKG to ORD, you might check flights from HKG to LAX for available seats in F, and if they are available, reroute from your HKG-ORD to HKG-LAX on CX, then continue LAX-ORD on AA First.
9a) Note the above rule also applies if you change the dates of flight but retain the same originating city and destination city. If you are flexible in your travel dates be sure to periodically check availability on other dates as well.
10) Be aware your award must conform to some rules on a) MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage - your award routing can not exceed 125% of the most direct routing available); a useful tool is Great Circle Mapper.
11) The Most Significant Carrier (transpacific usually, CX in most of these posts,) must offer a non-"constructed" fare between your origin and destination (you might find an unconstructed fare between DFW and SIN, but might not from Killeen to SIN).
12) If you can't pick your CX seats online, either due to them being blocked or you just want to call, you need to first get the CX PNR from AAdvantage at 1-800-882-8880. Then call CX at 1-800-233-2742. Some seats that are blocked on CX website are assignable via AA reservations. Close to departure AA can even assign 2A, 2K.
Note: if the Cathay Manage booking tool doesn't appear to recognize your CX PNR, you need to enter your first name AND middle name, separated by a space, in the "First Name" field.
13) Up-cabin visits (i.e. J pax joining F companion in F cabin) are not permitted per CX policy, though have been granted under special circumstances. But putting crew in the awkward position of being asked to violate policy is generally frowned upon. Down-cabin visits are permitted ex-USA. However, on flights to the USA, down-cabin visits are not permitted and this rule is vigorously enforced.
Posts made in 2017 may be read in ARCHIVE: 2017 AA Awards in Cathay Pacific / CX, KA...
Posts made in 2016 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2016).
Posts made in 2015 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2015).
Posts made in 2014 may be read in ARCHIVE: Awards: CX / Cathay Pacific / (inc. F and J) - 2014.
N.B. Older posts have been moved and archived to: Cathay Pacific / CX (inc. First and Business Class) award - ARCHIVED.
ARCHIVE: 2017 AA Award: Cathay Pacific / CX, KA availability, etc. (master thd)
May 27, 2017, 10:48 am
#376
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,212
US-HKG-Japan -> Partner award price to JP vs HK?
Good afternoon experts,
I am contemplating to book a J/F award. I tried to look at aa.com, I understood US-NRT incur different costs than US-HK, but there is no asterisk saying whether CX is allowed to route to JP. Is the new award pricing still ok when you go US-HKG-NRT on CX but charges region 1, as long as there is publish fare for the route you want to fly? For example, JFK-HKG-NRT J would charge 60k instead of 70k?
I am contemplating to book a J/F award. I tried to look at aa.com, I understood US-NRT incur different costs than US-HK, but there is no asterisk saying whether CX is allowed to route to JP. Is the new award pricing still ok when you go US-HKG-NRT on CX but charges region 1, as long as there is publish fare for the route you want to fly? For example, JFK-HKG-NRT J would charge 60k instead of 70k?
May 27, 2017, 10:56 am
#377
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
You CAN route North America-Asia 1-Asia 2 (USA-NRT-HKG) on one award, but not North America-Asia 2-Asia 1.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 27, 2017 at 11:37 am
May 27, 2017, 11:08 am
#378
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
Programs: CX Diamond, AA exExPlat, BAEC exGold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Starriott Titanium, GE
Posts: 2,966
Good afternoon experts,
I am contemplating to book a J/F award. I tried to look at aa.com, I understood US-NRT incur different costs than US-HK, but there is no asterisk saying whether CX is allowed to route to JP. Is the new award pricing still ok when you go US-HKG-NRT on CX but charges region 1, as long as there is publish fare for the route you want to fly? For example, JFK-HKG-NRT J would charge 60k instead of 70k?
I am contemplating to book a J/F award. I tried to look at aa.com, I understood US-NRT incur different costs than US-HK, but there is no asterisk saying whether CX is allowed to route to JP. Is the new award pricing still ok when you go US-HKG-NRT on CX but charges region 1, as long as there is publish fare for the route you want to fly? For example, JFK-HKG-NRT J would charge 60k instead of 70k?
The one that allows this is AS not AA
May 28, 2017, 11:36 am
#379
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
May 29, 2017, 12:52 pm
#380
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,212
No. Asia 1 cannot route through Asia 2 on one AA award. You would be charged 70k (US-Asia 2) PLUS 30k (Asia 2-Asia 1) because that routing is two awards.
You CAN route North America-Asia 1-Asia 2 (USA-NRT-HKG) on one award, but not North America-Asia 2-Asia 1.
You CAN route North America-Asia 1-Asia 2 (USA-NRT-HKG) on one award, but not North America-Asia 2-Asia 1.
Jun 2, 2017, 9:37 am
#381
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 407
Advice kindly sought about CX award space booking via AA call centers
Firstly, thank you taking the time to read this -- I genuinely appreciate it.
I just wondered if someone might be able to help me resolve the following issue or else has had similar experience?
The Issue
• I'm currently booked in CX J from HKG to LHR next March (2018).
• I received an Award Nexus alert yesterday to say that an F seat had now opened up on my particular flight.
• I then went to the BA.com website to see if I could see the space there, too... and yes, it was there.
• As I understand it, once I am beyond the +330 days (which, in my case, I am) then AA should be able to book (upgrade) this seat if I can also see it on BA and/or other OW airline sites.
As a result of the above, I called AA in Australia -- mainly as I'd read on FT and OMAAT that AA Australia call centers were particularly good at seeing space when other AA call centers couldn't see it -- and even they couldn't see the space. (I had the same thing happen about a month ago, too -- I saw F space on BA.com for my particular CX flight, which I feel sure wasn't phantom space, and I subsequently called AA Australia only to be told that they couldn't see any F space at all.)
I just wondered, as a result, whether:
(a) I was doing something wrong?; or
(b) CX doesn't release F space to partner airlines such as AA? (As I say, though, the same space was showing on the BA site and also seemed bookable.)
Any help in this matter would be much appreciated!
And again, many thanks for reading this.
I just wondered if someone might be able to help me resolve the following issue or else has had similar experience?
The Issue
• I'm currently booked in CX J from HKG to LHR next March (2018).
• I received an Award Nexus alert yesterday to say that an F seat had now opened up on my particular flight.
• I then went to the BA.com website to see if I could see the space there, too... and yes, it was there.
• As I understand it, once I am beyond the +330 days (which, in my case, I am) then AA should be able to book (upgrade) this seat if I can also see it on BA and/or other OW airline sites.
As a result of the above, I called AA in Australia -- mainly as I'd read on FT and OMAAT that AA Australia call centers were particularly good at seeing space when other AA call centers couldn't see it -- and even they couldn't see the space. (I had the same thing happen about a month ago, too -- I saw F space on BA.com for my particular CX flight, which I feel sure wasn't phantom space, and I subsequently called AA Australia only to be told that they couldn't see any F space at all.)
I just wondered, as a result, whether:
(a) I was doing something wrong?; or
(b) CX doesn't release F space to partner airlines such as AA? (As I say, though, the same space was showing on the BA site and also seemed bookable.)
Any help in this matter would be much appreciated!
And again, many thanks for reading this.
Jun 2, 2017, 9:47 am
#382
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: DCA, EGE, IAD
Programs: MR LTT, BA Gold, AA LTP, UA Silver
Posts: 6,077
Could be a variety of reasons, married segments issue, phantom award availability, etc. You may want to check out this thread for master discussion on these issues: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...aster-thd.html
Take special note of the anomalies listed in the Wiki at the top of that thread.
Take special note of the anomalies listed in the Wiki at the top of that thread.
Last edited by aaupgrade; Jun 2, 2017 at 10:00 am
Jun 2, 2017, 11:21 am
#383
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 539
This may seem wierd but from my experience I've found Australia call centers can see Etihad availability that US call centers can't but Australia can't see Cathay availability so I usually put the EY leg on hold with Australia then call the US call centers to add the CX legs I'm looking for. I would first double check on JAL's website to make sure it isn't phantom and then call the US call center to see if they have better luck seeing it.
Jun 2, 2017, 2:15 pm
#384
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
Jun 2, 2017, 2:19 pm
#385
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
AwardNexus has options to search BA, QF or JL. You did not say which of these options you were using. If you told AwardNexus to check using BA, then looking at ba.com directly is redundant. BA sometimes shows phantom availability. Double-check using the "CX(JL)" option in AwardNexus.
Jun 3, 2017, 4:36 am
#386
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 407
aaupgrade / Merlinrnr / KVS / SeeBuyFly -- thank you all for replying, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for the master thread link, aaupgrade -- that's a very helpful new resource. I shall certainly pore over this.
Thanks for the tip re the JAL site, Merlinrnr, and also for the interesting insight into Aussie call centers not being able to CX space but then being able to see Etihad space when other call centers can't. That may explain a lot!
KVS -- my flight date is 14 March 2018, CX 253
SeeBuyFly -- in Award Nexus, I'd selected CX(JL) for my alert, if this helps any?
Again, thanks so much, all!
Thanks for the master thread link, aaupgrade -- that's a very helpful new resource. I shall certainly pore over this.
Thanks for the tip re the JAL site, Merlinrnr, and also for the interesting insight into Aussie call centers not being able to CX space but then being able to see Etihad space when other call centers can't. That may explain a lot!
KVS -- my flight date is 14 March 2018, CX 253
SeeBuyFly -- in Award Nexus, I'd selected CX(JL) for my alert, if this helps any?
Again, thanks so much, all!
Jun 3, 2017, 9:37 am
#387
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Worldwide
Posts: 12,949
There is currently no F Award Availability on that flight:
[KVS Tool 8.4.9/Diamond - Awards/JL-OneWorld/US]
[KVS Tool 8.4.9/Diamond - Awards/JL-OneWorld/US]
Code:
HKG Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Intl HK [VHHH]
LHR London Heathrow UK [EGLL]
WED 14 Mar 2018
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Award Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------------
CX 343 HKG 00:45 LGW 05:50 359 0 CS0 YS4
CX 255 HKG 01:00 LHR 06:20 77W 0 FS0 CS0 YS0
CX 257 HKG 09:40 LHR 15:00 77W 0 CS0 YS4
CX 239 HKG 12:05 LHR 17:20 77W 0 CS1 YS4
CX 253 HKG 15:05 LHR 20:15 77W 0 FS0 CS0 YS4
CX 251 HKG 23:55 LHR 05:00 +1 77W 0 FS0 CS0 YS0
Jun 3, 2017, 12:15 pm
#388
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
aaupgrade / Merlinrnr / KVS / SeeBuyFly -- thank you all for replying, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for the master thread link, aaupgrade -- that's a very helpful new resource. I shall certainly pore over this.
Thanks for the tip re the JAL site, Merlinrnr, and also for the interesting insight into Aussie call centers not being able to CX space but then being able to see Etihad space when other call centers can't. That may explain a lot!
KVS -- my flight date is 14 March 2018, CX 253
SeeBuyFly -- in Award Nexus, I'd selected CX(JL) for my alert, if this helps any?
Again, thanks so much, all!
Thanks for the master thread link, aaupgrade -- that's a very helpful new resource. I shall certainly pore over this.
Thanks for the tip re the JAL site, Merlinrnr, and also for the interesting insight into Aussie call centers not being able to CX space but then being able to see Etihad space when other call centers can't. That may explain a lot!
KVS -- my flight date is 14 March 2018, CX 253
SeeBuyFly -- in Award Nexus, I'd selected CX(JL) for my alert, if this helps any?
Again, thanks so much, all!
You could try calling the AA number in the UK but past experience suggests that for awards AA is always using a US POS and there is nothing to be done about that. You could try asking the agent if they can set a UK POS but I don't know if anyone has ever tried that and they might not even be able to do it.
DAK
Jun 5, 2017, 5:13 am
#389
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 407
KVS -- many thanks again for the above. Very useful! (I did check on the space again a day later after I'd received the Award Nexus alert (via the same AN website), and it had disappeared. I wonder if it had been snapped up quickly -- I felt sure it wasn't phantom space as I'd seen it on the JAL (UK) site.)
dkerr -- many thanks for the above information, too. A very interesting data point! And you raise a very interesting question, namely whether a US-based AA agent would be able to set a UK POS in an attempt to see the space that I saw. I might give that a whirl the next time space re-emerges, if it does. A very interesting insight into the differing geographical sites, so cheers!
dkerr -- many thanks for the above information, too. A very interesting data point! And you raise a very interesting question, namely whether a US-based AA agent would be able to set a UK POS in an attempt to see the space that I saw. I might give that a whirl the next time space re-emerges, if it does. A very interesting insight into the differing geographical sites, so cheers!
Jun 9, 2017, 9:33 pm
#390
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
How can I search CX award availability for four days or less before departure? Normally I use JAL to do my searches.