Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - CX would do well to offer more redemption seats, and perhaps at good discounts!p

Now that SARS is causing such a serious slump in its business, CX would do well to offer more redemption seats, and perhaps at good discounts! The obvious advantages are that it will be a good opportunity to discharge some of its liabilities (in airmiles) without pain of sacrificing revenue tickets. In other words, since the planes are often quite empty, CX might as well take the opportunity to fulfil its duty of honoring the miles. CX might as well offer some discounts for redemption. This way, it will do itself a load of good in terms of Public Relations and customer loyalty.

Better still, CX could limit discounts to upgrades and companion tickets. This way, it will at least sell some tickets. It has been 1.5 months since the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong and CX is not doing very much to salvage the situation apart from cutting flights. This sluggish attitude is perhaps like that of the HK Government?

CX has slashed flights too aggressively to sell tickets, perhaps because it had to, given few reservations they have.

From NRT, we won't be able to connect the same day even to such popular destinations as BKK in most of the days in May. The same holds true for ex-BKK.

It is just too unrealistic to buy CX tickets. At least for me. I can't spend a night in HKG whenever I go to SIN or BKK. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

CX did a very honorable thing for me, though. I had one ticket expiring in a few weeks. But they have extended the validity of the ticket by one month -- mind you, this is not like U.S. airlines that have allowed pax to change the date once.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IncyWincy:
Better still, CX could limit discounts to upgrades and companion tickets. This way, it will at least sell some tickets. It has been 1.5 months since the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong and CX is not doing very much to salvage the situation apart from cutting flights. This sluggish attitude is perhaps like that of the HK Government?</font>

Very difficult to sell tickets as a flagship carrier for a city that the media portrays as a near lock-down. CX is doing the right moves, all the way, handling this issue.

They have the best airline, the best staff, the best management. They will be ready to get very high loads of passengers, once their city is "advertised" as safe in both the (near US owned illegal) media and through their own paid promotions and word of mouth!

I suggest to keep a watch on Toronto as a precursor on how HKG will become. It's great TV watching the WHO say "don't go", the CDC saying "Go" and Toronto's mayor saying the WHO is irresponsible in their decisions. When Toronto clears up that political mess, keep an eye on how the city recovers. Then when HKG recovers, expect 10 times the amount of recovery than Toronto.

SHADO

If you have a forced overnight in HKG due to CX's schedule cuts, do they pay for a night of hotel?

I imagine the answer might depend on whether you booked your ticket before or after the schedule change. (If you originally had a reasonable connection, but are now forced to overnight, there's a clearer case for a comp'ed hotel at CX's expense.) On the other hand, the answer might be "no" either way!