Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Hello I am new + Award Booking Questions

Hello All,

I just discovered this site today. I am a Gold MPO for around 15 years and I am definitely a LOYAL CX MPO member!

I have a few questions on Award Booking for my up coming trip.

I wanted to Upgrade from J to F (Z Class) on the following Routing in October:

SYD-HKG-LHR-HKG-SYD

Firstly, how many miles do I need ( I check in Asia miles but it keeps on stuffing up and give me a BA/QF sector in it)
I know on BA/QF you need 90000 miles but on CX do I need more?

Of course I am on waitlist at the moment as I need a total of 2 Upgrade (For my partner and myself).
so I am in the dilenma at the moment.
The chance of the firming up the WL on Z class is always hard, so I am thinking whether or not i should just do a dummy booking on a forward date where Z Class is available. (This is suggested by the MPO staff @ the Pier).
Then I will receive the voucher and on the ACTUAL date of travel, I just arrive early and if they have seats, they might be able to upgrade me using that voucher.

I want to know what is the process of Upgrading by miles in Outport Airports. (Can you redeem a return Upgrade award or just an oneway award - because there is a difference in the number of miles)

Also how many hours before a flight in HKG can I claim an Upgrade award. As i obviously want to use the F Class Lounge in the Wing before hand.

For the Upgrade Vouchers, do they come in a multiple voucher form (I've only claimed one-way upgrade award before).

The reason is that I prob want to stopover in HKG, so will they issue the following: SYD-HKG. HKG-LHR. LHR-HKG. HKG-SYD (ie. 4 seperate upgrade coupons)

I was wondering, what can you do after the 10 day Cancel rule. (as for my previous experience, I always had a confirm Upgrade booking, but not this time!) Can you check on a daily basis? I know in QF, they will put you on the WL until the day of your flight, and IF Revenue seats are still available, they will firm up your booking.

Welcome to Flyertalk....

Firstly, yes you'd get 4 coupon upgrade voucher with Asiamiles. It's better to get a return from J to First Class upgrade award because you need 95K miles for return as opposed to 60K for oneway. And after flying F one sector, you'd wonder why you didn't do the same for the return as well!

You may book a date when a seat is available and then show up at the airport on day of departure in the hopes of getting on that flight. You have to check the First Class revenue availability though. Because if F class is already showing full, you may not get on even if you show up early at the airport. As long as your J ticket permits changes without penalty, you may do the above.

Thanks,

I know. I travelled on F Class many times and I must say the difference between J and F is great!

I was wondering for 95K can I stop over in HKG twice or just once?

Also How strict is CX on these Stopover rules? (As i never encounter this problem before).

Also want to confirm, Is it possible to do that On the spot upgrade in OUTPORT stations? Because last time in SYD they said they can but have to make sure arrive there early so they can sort out the TELEX etc...
But I forgot to ask them Can I use the Award Voucher there or not. Because if I Claim it at the Airport they can ONLY do a One-way Upgrade, which as you mentioned is not as value for points as the return segment.


Another Question is, in HKG, How many hours in Advance can you request the Upgrade on F Class?

Thanks,

I know. I travelled on F Class many times and I must say the difference between J and F is great!

If you have travelled FIRST CLASS many times, why are you still a gold member?

Due to Upgrades, Award Tickets etc...

Unfortunately my work only offers J Class on BA and QF. And normally for my leisure travel, I travel in J for CX and a few A Class on RTW tix. I got upgraded to F many times. Sometimes I think they also look at how long you've joined the club as well.

I remember Gold was pretty prestigious ONCE UPON a TIME!

FYI, i was also a member of the Young Discoveres Club as well!! I still got the Pilot Logbook!

I just read through a few posts in the forum and just want to note the following in my F Class Travel Experience on CX:

The 744 is definitely better than the Airbus for F Class
The CX Layout in F Class (12) compared to BA and QF is a lot better
Also more efficient than SQ (where the put 1 single seat in the middle in the first row)

Thanks,

I know. I travelled on F Class many times and I must say the difference between J and F is great!

I was wondering for 95K can I stop over in HKG twice or just once?

Also How strict is CX on these Stopover rules? (As i never encounter this problem before).

Also want to confirm, Is it possible to do that On the spot upgrade in OUTPORT stations? Because last time in SYD they said they can but have to make sure arrive there early so they can sort out the TELEX etc...
But I forgot to ask them Can I use the Award Voucher there or not. Because if I Claim it at the Airport they can ONLY do a One-way Upgrade, which as you mentioned is not as value for points as the return segment.


Another Question is, in HKG, How many hours in Advance can you request the Upgrade on F Class?

You're allowed 2 stopovers. 1 outbound and 1 return, both at HKG for your award.

As long as you have the upgrade voucher on hand, you may try to get the upgrade at the airport... provided the airport has seats to release to you. It is best to try and get these seats confirmed before you travel. Generally CX is pretty good that in getting your waitlisted seats cleared. Because if you show up at the airport unannounced, you risk ending up travelling in Business if First is not available and you'd feel cheated because you had 'paid' for your award. Unfortunately no refund of miles due there.

SO my advise is to just wait it out.

Unfortunately, I am only a GOLD member ( however, I am NEARLY there!! only 40K more to go!) therefore the chance of them Cleraring 2 Z Class (or even 1 Z Class) is minimal. Also because of the stupid 10 day rule, you can't actually WL for hte last 10 days (where some people tend to release their dummy bookings or change)

"provided the airport has seats to release to you" I presume @ the airport, they can release any F Class inventory to you (A or F) if no one is on Revenue Standby.

Also in the Final 10 days, can you actually still ask for the Upgrade award (and ask them to Telex the info to the airport?) I know offically they can't but I remember in the past they were able to telex the airport without mailing the voucher to me.

Are you sure I can stopover in HKG twice on the 95K for the SYD-HKG-LHR-HKG-SYD Upgrade award?

They told me @ the MPO centre, only 1 HKG stopover is permitted?????

I know for my actual J Class ticket, I can stopover @ HKG twice however for the "FREE" segment from LHR - EUR (Europe) on BA) I have to Transit in LHR straight away (Which is Fine by me) But I actually want to Stopover in HKG twice (as 20+ hours in a bit much, even in F Class)

You're allowed 2 stopovers. 1 outbound and 1 return, both at HKG for your award.
I have to disagree with you there... the AM website says:
"Round-trip ticket awards allow Members to make a maximum of two stopovers, two transfers and one open-jaw at either origin, en-route or turnaround point, subject to further airline partner's Terms and Conditions."

For me that has always meant one stopover at the turnaround point plus one other. If you take a stoover at the turnaround point and in each direction at HKG that would total three.

I have the following Routing:

SYD-HKG-LHR-MXP-LHR-HKG-SYD


Lets sayd If I transit in LHR straight away to MXP but on the way back from MXP-LHR I stop in LHR. What will be the situation?


As I am only claiming an upgrade award, are there any special conditions.

Also how strict is CX in enforcing these rules?

I just prefer to stop in HKG twice

I thought an upgrade award was different, with the stopover conditions being whatever applies to the underlying revenue ticket, but on rereading the AM site I see that this is not what it says.

What also surprises me is that you have an underlying ticket which allows stopovers in both directions... is that a full fare J ticket? If so, there are much cheaper ways of doind SYD-LHR in First...

But no,
I was told it will cost me to do SYD-LHR (Return via HKG) on CX Z Class Upgrade 95,000 miles (with only 1 stopover permitted in HKG and LHR).

However if I want to Stopover twice in HKG they have to do the following Award Calc:

SYD-HKG-SYD = 50,000 miles (Upgrade from J class to Z Class)
HKG-LHR-HKG = 70,000 miles (As above)

therefore total = 120,000miles


Therefore I have fork out and extra 25,000 miles for stopping in HKG twice.

Just want to know how STRICT does CX follow these rules
Especially it is ONLY the UPGRADE that has the restriction and not the revenue ticket.

I have to disagree with you there... the AM website says:
"Round-trip ticket awards allow Members to make a maximum of two stopovers, two transfers and one open-jaw at either origin, en-route or turnaround point, subject to further airline partner's Terms and Conditions."

For me that has always meant one stopover at the turnaround point plus one other. If you take a stoover at the turnaround point and in each direction at HKG that would total three.

Sorry that was my understanding when I had an upgrade award from Y to Business and flew LHR-HKG-MEL-HKG-LHR and stopped over in HKG twice.

So you actually stopped in HKG twice?

I think they must've changed the rules. You can only stopover once (2 stopovers in total now for any airline awards) Except I think Onewoerld special awards

To be precise, what GB described is in accordance with the rules, provided that he didn't also stopover in MEL. FTers have done many things stranger than that! :)

OIC! so you flew all the way to MEL and didn't even stopover there. I presume you hop on the plane straight away and went back to HKG.

Understand now.

Thanks

I didn't say that this is what he did (I am not privy to GB's travel history), simply that it is a scenario which would make it possible to stop over twice in HK within the letter of the rules.