Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Fare48: Weekend getaway on Business Class

seems it's called Fare48 because there's a 48-hour booking/ticket-issuance window, and a 48-hour departure window...

http://www.cathaypacific.com/hk/offers/online/0,,41094-73695,00.html

destinations: cebu (hk$2890), penang ($7430), denpasar/bali (hk$5790)

ticket sales/issuance: nov 14-15
departure: nov 22-23
stay: 2 to 7 days

some hotel specials too...

and, it says "this week's Fare48"...so i assume they will be doing it on a regularly basis ?? sounds cool...

"This week" sure do arise our interests! But from the validity of the tickets, I think the destinations will be limited to regional routes within Asia. Personally, I hope to see them extended to Japan routes. But will these FARE48 offer continue through the high season? humm...

Note how this deal is only offered through cyberspace. I feel that this is just another feable tactics deployed by the airline to lure its customers to utilize their website. (along with 5000 bonus miles for purchasing, 1000 for checkin... so on) Knowing that CX has invested thousands of dollars into their website over past year, maybe they are just eager to see if their website has made any difference. Will their effort pay off? humm...

just my guess, but i think most of these discounted business fares would be to leisure destinations where they don't expect that much premium business...so cebu, bali and penang...japan ? probably not tokyo at least...maybe we will see it some time in the future for sapporo ?? and, in fact say the current special 50% senior discounts exclude japan, korea and vietnam as well...they probably don't need/want to discount japan routes...

is this fare48 really only offered online ? it doesn't say so in the terms and conditions...it only says "Please note that you must purchase your ticket online in order to enjoy the special rates for hotel booking"...otherwise, no mention of the fares only offered online...not sure...but in fact it doesn't hurt to buy online at all...bonus miles (online booking 1k/5k bonus, double citibank-cx card bonus miles)...and you can either choose to get e-ticket, get the ticket on departure at the airport, or have them send the ticket to you (via courier i think)...so not bad at all...except if you can get your agents to give you back some of the commissions they are earning on these tickets...

New destination posted.

Sales close: 29 Nov 2001
Travel date: 6 or 7 Dec 2001
Tkt valid : 2-7 days

<Destination>
Manila (HK$2900)
Kuala Lumpur (HK$7,450)
Surabaya (HK$5,810)

Seems like this fare is not only for business class. Now you can book your flights from HK to Europe including Amsterdam Frankfurt London* Paris Rome fon Economy class for only $3900 dollars!

Minimum stay of 2 days, maximum stay of 14 days, ticket issue period 11-12 of December, and departure date between 24, 25, 26.

Worth a look. Any thoughts of miles run?

for the same departure period (dec 24-26), but a ticketing period of dec 13-14, HKG-SFO/LAX/NYC-HKG will also be available for the same HK$3900...same min 2 days max 14 days restriction...

just a reminder to those of you who thought about using these fares for mileage runs...

i think last week was the first week they offered economy class fare48's ?? i don't remember the rules for last week...but this week, i noticed this line in the fine print:

7. Asia Miles accrual is not applicable to the above fares.

if they are not eligible for asia miles accrual...these fares are not going to get you miles with any other FFPs either...

i think in the first few weeks of fare48's, when they offered only business class deals, those fares are eligible for mileage accrual...maybe not for economy class fare48's...