Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - CX 888 26AUG - upgrade/bump possibility?

Hi all;

So I know we all loathe these "what are my chances on flight X?" threads, but it would appear (at least anecdotally) that a savvy FTer such as myself could stand to swing an interesting deal at HKG on Tuesday given what looks to be like a jam-packed slate of flights to North America this month in general and on my DOD in particular.

I don't fly CX a whole lot, but I gather from the posts I have read regarding CX cabin-rolling that a) your status counts and b) your charm (or lack thereof) generally does not. This would be in stark contrast to my regular airline, which upgrades on no particular basis and sucking up to the gate agent is de rigeur.

I'm a BA Silver and I'll be flying to JFK on 888 on the 26th. I'll be arriving at HKG the day before and crashing at the Royal Something-or-other hotel attached to HKG for the night. My questions:

- How early can I check in for 888?
- Should I make any mention of my flexibility to any airport agent, or is the rolling process usually taken care of "upstairs"?
- Although I will check in under my BA number, I wish to credit this flight to AA. When should I give up the ghost and get my FFP affiliation switched? I hear time may be too tight at the gate to do it there, but I wouldn't want to miss a last-minute bump.

Any thoughts/strategies from the CX-perts would be appreciated.

Jeff

My CX experience is limited, but here are my thoughts:

1.You are definitely on the right track as far as using your BA status. As a BA Silver
(oneworld sapphire) you should be entitled to use the CX lounges. I have not been to The Pier, but in The Wing they have a desk staffed with 2 or 3 CX agents who should be able to quickly switch you to the AA frequent flyer number shortly before you leave the lounge to board.

2.I have been upgraded both at check-in and
as I boarded the aircraft (the boarding pass rejects when the agent feeds it into the machine and they quickly issue another one on the spot). Others here have posted that they were paged in the lounge and notified that they had been upgraded, so your experience could be any one of the three.

3.If you don't already have your BA number in your record, it would not hurt to have it entered ahead of time (just in case they are scanning the manifest for elites to upgrade before you check in). I don't know if it was a factor, but I was always smartly dressed at check-in. As far as how long before departure to check in, I don't have any
specific knowledge, but my gut feeling is that your chances might be somewhat lessened by an extremely early check-in.

Good luck!

You can check in the day before at HKG, in city as well, I assume. At the airport, you have an option of checking in the day before (even slightly earlier than that -- I don't know exact time frame for early check-in) via a kiosk.

My suggestion is to check in as early as possible with the highest possible elite status you may have. Maybe 40 minutes before the flight, if you are not upgraded, it is not likely you will be at the gate. Then switch to whatever FFP you want.

What a coincident! I will be flying the other YVR flight that afternoon on CX 838!

About operational upgrade, it is extremely difficult to predict, but CX 888 is pretty full. However, CX 888 is more complicated because there are passengers heading to JFK and the op up chances really vary. Other than your status, your fare class also has much to say about possibility of op up... if you buy a full fare Y, you will have a bit more chances to get upgrade. Although I got a op up from a full fare J to F recently on a YVR-HKG flight, Vancouver flights are pretty difficult to get opup because there are many MPO Diamonds and Lifetime based in Vancouver... so be ware of it...

Good luck!

Carfield

wow i wonder howm any MPC Diamonds / Lifetime are in YVR hehehe

I have the same general type of question.

I'll be doing CX 881 J LAX-HKG in a couple of weeks and F is zeroed and Y has 12 left at the moment. J still shows available.

Am curious what CX does for the customer in oversell situations. What is the policy/ammenities for denied boarding/bumps for this long haul in F, J, and Y?

Not much chance of an op-up for me as I'm on BA miles, but no status with OW.

BTW was kinda surprised that I was able to get 86A in both directions with no problem and at the last moment. (I think that this is supposed to be an exit row, but it sure doesn't look like it on seatmaps.com).

DOM is BC? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif KRUG?



[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited 08-23-2003).]

Thanks everyone!

Carfield - YGM. I am traveling on an M fare, BTW.
tvl4free - seatmaps.com doesn't give any indication that row 44 on the 747 gives any additional legroom, but believe me it does!

Shocking as it may be....

Guy Betsy buys an economy class ticket YVR-HKG-YVR next week on CX 839.

Well, Y is completely gone with no waitlist permitted so I had to get my Diamond prvilege in getting that K class seat confirmed. Return on the 7th on CX 838 is just as bad.

Even with my Marco Polo Diamond status, I am not guaranteed an upgrade though I will be one of the first to be considered. It's just that time of the year when everyone is travelling home...in either direction!

Well, I didn't get the upgrade... in fact, I couldn't even get a roomy seat in row 44, despite checking in at 8 am for a 3 pm flight. However, judging from the pax info I had in hand from the lounge in SIN, I beleive most of my "competition", i.e. Emeralds and other Sapphires, were taken care of, which is cool by me. I knew of two emeralds and 8 MPO Golds that were skedded to be in Y on my flight, and the actual manifest indicated me and only me as the Sapphire in Y once everyone was boarded. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif .
Oh well, easy come, easy go. I did score the op-up out on my SIN-HKG leg, though!

I saw your flight taking off that afternoon while at the Wing.

I actually got the operational upgrade to F. I was very surprised because J was lightly booked, but I guess Y was very overbooked. Wow, I bought a RT J ticket (despite full fare...) but gotta fly F RT. I was so spoiled by CX...

A detail report will be posted after the labor day weekend!

Carfield

I received no bump on 1 Sept. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I did get an "operational upgrade" to an exit row (bulkhead, alas) seat from my crappy seat 3/4ths of the way in the back, so I guess OW Emerald/Sapphire (managed to get both into my PNR) count for something. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

It was a bearable experience and my M-class flights posted to QF at 100% mileage too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

On another note... on my flight on 1st SEP between YVR and HKG...CX op up'd quite a few passengers from Y to J. The interesting thing was that all who were op up'd were Marco Polo members.