Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - CP Hotel Voucher in HKG

My wife and I are flying AA/CP on AA F award tickets next spring (US-HKG-AKL-HKG-US). Because of the all the recent cancellations, we have run into a problem on our return. The AKL-HKG segment now arrives after the last departure of the day to the US. CP is going to give us a hotel voucher for an overnight in HKG to compensate us for the delay. Travelling in F, I would expect this would be for a decent hotel. Does anyone have any idea as the hotels that will honor this? Any strategies? I'll also be asking for food and ground transportation compensation also. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have tried to talk CP into allowing us to return via CDG or LHR (would save about 18 hours on the return), but they are adamant that we must return via the Pacific.

1. CX is Cathay Pacific's airline code, not CP.

2. You are on an award ticket. You didn't pay $15,000. Take what they give you.

The airport hotel is 5 star. If they offer it, take it.

olafman is right. Take whatever CX will offer you for the missed connection. They will automatically cover for breakfast and maybe lunch up to a certain value. Do not ask for more. It will be considered rude - especially in HK, and especially if you are "gwei-lo".

i think what they offer will be fair.
and i don't think they would ever let u re-route via europe. but stop over for a night in HK isn't such a bad experience, is it?

as for the hotel (plus all the relevant meals), i suppose it would be Regal Airport Hotel. As i remember the US-bound flights do leave late evening, waht are their porposed itin/schedule?
if you choose to take a later flight, that should be possible (you could also try to talk them into giving you an extra night!), you could also make a point of staying at a Hotel on HK Island if there is enough time. In the past i heard they had used Furama (but Furama has been tron down now).
In any case, u sdn't worry about the quality of the hotel. (I was put into Fairmont YVR by CX, if that could be a benchmark)


[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-13-2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pegasus8228:
i think what they offer will be fair.
and i don't think they would ever let u re-route via europe. but stop over for a night in HK isn't such a bad experience, is it?

as for the hotel (plus all the relevant meals), i suppose it would be Regal Airport Hotel. As i remember the US-bound flights do leave late evening, waht are their porposed itin/schedule?
if you choose to take a later flight, that should be possible (you could also try to talk them into giving you an extra night!), you could also make a point of staying at a Hotel on HK Island if there is enough time. In the past i heard they had used Furama (but Furama has been tron down now).
In any case, u sdn't worry about the quality of the hotel. (I was put into Fairmont YVR by CX, if that could be a benchmark)


[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-13-2001).]</font>

Maybe you were put up in those hotels because you were in F/J class.

I have heard of stories of Economy Class pax being put up into hotels like "Executive Inn" in YVR, and "Hotel Concourse" (In Tsuen Wan in HK)

I wouldn't completely rule out a re-route through Europe. It's worth calling and asking the agent since this would be and involuntary re-route.

Sorry about the CX/CP mixup. I've been following this section for quite a while and should have known better.

I don't want to appear to be 'grasping', but CX's flight changes have definitely made my return a lot more difficult. I burned 280K AA miles for these tickets and had hoped for a bit more flexibility from CX. AA has been very accomodating for all their changed flights, but CX has been rather stubborn.

My return from AKL arrives in HKG about 2030. Currently, the last flight of the day to the States leaves at 1630. Previously, CX had 1 flight each to LAX and SFO that left at ~0000. Those later flights are now gone and CX insists that I overnight in HKG. Unfortunately, because of flight schedule vagaries, my new arrival into LAX is too late for me to a get connection to get home that day and I will have to spend another extra night at JFK or BOS. There is a connection at LAX that will get me home, but there is not enough time for it to be 'legal'. My only hope is if my HKG-LAX segement is an hour early. In that case, AA will accomadate me in F (space available) to get me home that day.

CX does still have flights to CDG & LHR that leave at ~0000 that I can easily make. AA is very willing to get me home from those other cities, but CX won't allow the change.

Note that I have no status on either AA or CX.

i had encountered with the HKG-.(lax).-BOS problem before. (aren't you refering to the midnite flight HKG-LAX about the 1-hour-short-legal connection? both 2330 flights to LAX, SFO are still there when i checked CX's web-site, i believe they have been resumed long ago. only the polar route flight to JFK was suspended)

my solution was:
i had to take red-eye LAX-ORD-BOS, which takes me into BOS at around 930am. (arriving at ORD 530 or 600am)

perhaps this would work for you.
(and if you are lucky and the plane arrives early, u might be able to switch to a direct flight at LAX. you sd have checked lugguage, but this sdn't be a problem because you have to clear custom at LAX anyway)

however, unless you are really tight in schedule, spending a night in HKG will make the trip a bit more comfortable. the MD80 lax-ord-bos is not as comfortable as taking CX F all the way to JFK

alternatively, they could also accommodate you in LAX instead of HKG. i was put into LAX Marriot once. the quality was okay, a typical airport Marriot, nice swimming pool, but the rooms are a league behind Fairmont/Furama

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-15-2001).]

Bill,

the complete elimination of all midnight service to North America is a pain. Although CX service is miles ahead of QF I doubt many could justify spending 2 nights in places you do not want to be in addition to the over 12 hour connection in HKG on the way to AKL.

Assuming you do not need to be in HKG I would switch to QF at this point. If you need a stop in HKG or just want to take CX that bad then you could route via SYD on the return. you may need to cough up the cash to get to SYD, but it would eliminate the HKG overnight.

rich

ps. u heading back to btv or alb?

hkg-lax midnight flight is still around
except for Dec15-18
source: u can check CX's fightplanner (check the box "show all date" to see schedule changes.)

unless those are the days u r travelling,
u sd be able to take
akl-hkg-lax-ord-bos, e.g.
hope this works for u, good luck http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

You have mail.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pegasus8228:
hkg-lax midnight flight is still around
except for Dec15-18
source: u can check CX's fightplanner (check the box "show all date" to see schedule changes.)

unless those are the days u r travelling,
u sd be able to take
akl-hkg-lax-ord-bos, e.g.
hope this works for u, good luck http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

sadly that midnight lax - hkg flight is only around for the christmas rush and CX returns to day only flights in mid january. Since Bill is travelling in early spring he is left without any overnight flight options from HKG. In addition I do not believe he is trying to get to BOS except as a possible connection point.

rich




[This message has been edited by RichLond (edited 12-15-2001).]

it had always been the midnight express get fully booked before the afternoon one, esp. in the front cabin.
there is no competition on these schedules.

it beats me on why they chose to keep the day flight (unless it is aircraft availabiliy, even so, they should sacrifice other routes). hope someone in CX is listening

As others have noted, the midnight service to the States will not be operating in the spring. It doesn't make sense to me either. The late departure allowed people a full day in HKG. Also, the outbound flights from the US that operated the same equipment left the west coast at about 130PM. This allowed enough time for people on the east coast to get the first flight of the day to LAX/SFO and still make their HKG connection.

All the changes are costing me money. In addition to changes I previously mentioned, AA no longer services my home airport (BTV). They did when I obtained the tix, but now I have to provide my own transportation to/from an airport that they do service. This means one-way car rentals ($$) for both the outbound and return. I'm now going out of BOS (to take advantage of the non-stop 767 service to west coast) and returning to ALB via JFK (for convenience in getting home). Both BOS and ALB are a 2.5-3.5 hour drive for me. Currently, my flights get me into JFK after the last flight of the day to ALB forcing another extra night in a hotel (more $$). If my flight into LAX gets in early enough, I can do the LAX-ORD-ALB shuffle and avoid the extra hotel cost.

AA offered me the Quantas option, but I turned them down. My return to LAX is the only segment in a CX 747 and I want to see what it is like (outbound is on an A340 from SFO).

Oh well, I'll probably wait until after Christmas and try AA again. Perhaps CraAAzy's idea about this being an involuntary reroute will help. I may even try contacting CX directly.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and comments.