Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - when should I check-in

I know that the CX NRT-HKG flight I am taking will be full and I do have pretty good OPUGs chance with CX.

Should I check-in the CX flight right at the beginning at DTW (some 24-25hours before the CX's departure time) or wait until I arrive NRT (AA arrive at 3:45 and CX departing at 6:20).

One seems too early and another seems too late. Any suggestion?

Thanks!

AFAIK, it makes no difference. have been op'ug when
1. checking in online 48 hours before departure
2. checking in an onward connecting flight at origin
3. checking in at the airport about 1.5 hours before departure

Seems you covered all the senarios that can gonna happens..

Thanks!

I could be mistaken here, but I seem to have had particularly good luck when checking in on-line before the flight. If I remember correctly, Guy Betsy mentioned that CX does a sweep of MPC members before a full flight, and slots people in for upgrades according to their level. I've had J class boarding passes waiting for me at check-in a few times when I did on-line check in. So, there's no penalty, and it might even help! Good luck.....

As to the online checkin, I doubt if it makes any differences. On a full flight, whether or not you have checked in online or not, I think they will still do a passenger sweep according to the reservation. Then they will pick up the person according to status, and do the upgrade. This way, if the person fails to show up, they can simply allocate his/her seat to another pax.

If I am AA gold, will this show up in my CX reservation if I give them my AA number? Would this help my chances of being upgraded?

Yes, but not as much as you might hope. CX will give preference to its Marco Polo members (of the same level), so as AA Gold you'll be behind CX Silver (and Gold and Platinum) for upgrades. Nonetheless, it's worth a try--I got a couple of upgrades as CX Silver; it just depends on how overbooked the flight is and who is ahead of you in line.

Will an AA plat be ahead of a CX silver?

Good question, I don't know the answer, but I bet Guy Betsy does!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by johnep1:
Will an AA plat be ahead of a CX silver?</font>

It looks like at least an AA Emerald/Executive Platinum gets ahead of a CX Ruby/Silver.

I just flew HKG-LAX and had my AA Emerald number in the record. After the check-in counter closed (40 minutes before the departrue), I decided to change the FFP preference to my CX Ruby number. But by then, I was operationally upgraded. A CX agent at a lounge checked it over the phone and said that I would lose the upgraded seat if I change it now to my CX Ruby.

It was a long-haul and upgrade to F, so I just took the upgraded seat ....