Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Cheated out of Asia Miles during this flight >

A BIG hello ... This is my first post. :) I hope this is the right forum to post this in.

In the past, whenever I traveled to the Philippines, I would purchase my Cathay Pacific LAX-HKG-MNL round trip tickets from a travel agent friend of mine. I always earned mileage through the Asia Miles program.

Since I live in Phoenix, I would also purchase a Southwest Airlines roundtrip ticket via the internet from Phoenix to LAX and return. This ticketing was completely separate from the Cathay Pacific tickets.

We did things a little different the last time I flew to the Philippines ... I had my travel agent friend get me the same Cathay Pacific tickets [but] this time he included a United Airlines fare from Phoenix to LAX and return to Phoenix on the Cathay Pacific issued ticket packet.

I never did get the mileage for this round trip LAX-HKG-MNL. Come to find out my Cathay ticket became a sub-catagory "S" ticket because it originated with a different airlines (United). United is not even a partner with Cathay.

Bottom line .... Whenever you fly Cathay, make sure the ticket shows anything but an "S" after the flight number.

As of July 2004, "S" subcatagory Cathay Pacific tickets are [not] eligible for Asia Miles frequent flyer miles.

Now, what really ticks me off is that I paid even more for the Cathay Pacific LAX-HKG-MNL long-haul portion of this ticket than I did on the previous 3 trips I made with Cathay .... but again, THIS TIME, for some reason, my flight numbers had that horible "S" sub-class behind it.

It just don't seem right to me!

In fact, here is the e-mail I recieved from my travel agent friend:
___________________________________________

I AM REALLY SORRY FOR YOU NOT GETTING THE ASIA MILES ON CATHAY-PACIFIC AIRWAYS.

WHEN WE CHECKED OUR RECORDS, IT SHOWS THE FIRST 3 TICKETS YOU PREVIOUSLY GOT FROM US ARE ALL ORIGINATING FROM LAX TO MNL, BUT THE LAST ONE IS FROM PHX/LAX/MNL. THAT IS WHY IT IS ANOTHER CLASS.

MY CONSOLIDATOR TOLD ME THAT WHEN THE TICKET WAS ISSUED THEY WERE NOT AWARE ABOUT THE CHANGES ON GETTING THE ASIA MILES FREQUENT FLYER MILEAGE. BUT WHEN HE CHECKED TODAY, HE SAW THAT CHANGE IN THERE WEBSITE.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. I'LL JUST HAVE TO WATCH FOR THAT "S" LETTER AFTER THE FLIGHT NUMBER ON THESE CATHAY FLIGHTS.

SORRY, MY CONSOLIDATOR CAN'T DO ANYTHING.

I wonder if there is a supervisor that speaks good english at Cathay Pacific that could get me my missing miles.

I really don't know the "real reason" my flight numbers had that "S" sub-class behind it, but for the price I paid for this ticket (more than the last 3 times I took this exact same flight) .... I think I really got cheated out of 16,000 miles!

Anyone know what a "S" sub-class actually is?

Thanks,

It is NOT the fault of CX that you didn't get your points. YOur Travel Agent booked a S Class ticket so you get no miles. Despite you paid the same price as your previous ticket. It is your TA who ripped you off not CX. So next time please make sure you check ur ticket class before buying (if miles is important to you).

Also FYI most CX CSO speaks perfect english.

newcx12345 ...

Thank you for the welcome and the information.

You sound almost offended when I said that I would like to speak to someone at CX that speaks good English. Well, the guy I talked to today spoke very poor English. He was very hard to understand ... and I don't speak Chinese. He never could tell me what an S class ticket is other that it well never get me free air miles.

By your post count, I would think that you are very informed in these matters. In my case, I certainly am not very informed when it comes to all the various rules that pertain to ticketing and the Asia Miles program in general. I just buy the ticket and obviously get upset when I don't get the miles. Sure the miles are important to me. I would assume they are important to anyone that has joined Asia Miles. If not, they would not even take the time to join.

With that said, can you explain to a novice like me what a S Class ticket actually is?

I guess I never read the fine print that says this certain ticket class don't get you mileage. Learn something everyday.

This site has information on which subclasses earn miles:

http://www.asiamiles.com/en/earn/airlines/partners/1,,118604,00.html

IIRC, 'S' used to earn miles but there was a subclass reshuffle sometime ago. If you had been an avid reader of this forum, you would have probably been alerted to it, too.

If earning miles is important, when a reservation is made, before the ticket is issued, call the agent or CX to check the subclass.

newcx12345 ...

Thank you for the welcome and the information.

You sound almost offended when I said that I would like to speak to someone at CX that speaks good English. Well, the guy I talked to today spoke very poor English. He was very hard to understand ... and I don't speak Chinese. He never could tell me what an S class ticket is other that it well never get me free air miles.

By your post count, I would think that you are very informed in these matters. In my case, I certainly am not very informed when it comes to all the various rules that pertain to ticketing and the Asia Miles program in general. I just buy the ticket and obviously get upset when I don't get the miles. Sure the miles are important to me. I would assume they are important to anyone that has joined Asia Miles. If not, they would not even take the time to join.

With that said, can you explain to a novice like me what a S Class ticket actually is?

I guess I never read the fine print that says this certain ticket class don't get you mileage. Learn something everyday.


Sorry if I offended you in anyway. Just to let you know that not ALL economy class tickets (or Business and First ) are equal. The airlines introduce different letters to represent different fare structure as aprt of their overall inventory/yield management.

The link Chiangi San posted contains a list of the class codes that you can get Asia Miles. S Class is not one of them.

When you buy a ticket from now on you should definitely ask for the Booking Code as TA are notorious for tricking people who don't know the system and sell them a much higher fare than they are currently booked on. (usually they claim a certain class code is booked out and ask the pax to pay extra for a higher class where the lower class is available. So they pocket the difference.

Not to say your TA friend did that to you but just beware of this and ask for this piece of information. It is BS if they said they don't know because in order for them to place a reservation in the system they must know the fare code. If in doubt call the airline.

I can't see how you've been cheated. Either you didn't make it clear to your travel agent that you wanted a mileage earning fare, or your travel agent was incompetent, not realising that S is not mileage earning. You have no complaint against CX - the rules are clear and there are many subclasses which don't earn miles (W, N, O, Q, S, ...).

Generally speaking (but not always, as you have found) the non-mileage earning fares will be cheaper than the meileage earning ones. It's your choice whether you wish to make that tradeoff.

For example (moving a little away from the topic), this week, for only the second time ever I deliberately took a non-mileage earning CX ticket for HKG-SIN-HKG because I couldn't justify the extra 7-800 HK$ necessary to get miles. This is becoming a bit of a pain for me on HKG-SIN specifically, where the competition from LCCs is driving down the fares but pushing all the Diamond members toawrds non-mileage earning tickets (because we are guaranteed a seat at 24 hours notice in any published fare, although still subject to the other conditions of the ticket).

I now understand that CX was not to blame. I only have to blame myself. In my case, I was just ignorant to these mileage programs and how the airline ticket programs work.

I was wrongly under the assumption that when you are enrolled in a frequent flyer mileage program such as Asia Miles, you would automatically get the miles accdedited to your account if you presented your Asia Miles / Polo Club card at the ticket counter at check-in time. I had no idea there were so many different classes of Economy tickets. I had the idea that Economy Class is Economy Class and First Class is First Class. I thought they all earned mileage ... Maybe some earned mileage at 150% due to certain incentive programs, but nontheless, you would at least get mileage when traveling on the airlines as long as you are enrolled in the program .... Well, I was wrong.

I would bet that for the majority of the average flying public that belong to some sort of these frequent flyers programs, don't have a clue what "Fare Codes" are or the many rules that apply to there particular frequent flyer program. They have the same understanding / mis-understanding as I had before finding all this out the hard way when I lost 15,918 miles on this last trip.

You folks are much more in-tune with all these rules and regulations since you are members of a message board that basically deals with these types of questions on a daily bases. For me; I just stumbled on this message board yesterday.

Anyway, thanks for the info you all provided. Maybe some day I will be able to get a free round trip ticket to the Philippines (that's the only reason I am even in this Asia Miles) ... but I have a feeling, it ain't going to be anytime too soon!

Ron,

You were quite lucky to get FF miles on your 3 earlier trips if they were consolidator tickets (as your TA says in their note) ... most consolidator fares do not earn FF miles, though it does vary by fare and airline. It sounds like your TA also wasn't aware that this fare didn't earn FF miles, in which case it wouldn't have helped, but in general if you want a cheap fare and also earn FF miles you have to tell your TA that so they avoid the very cheapest fares which do not earn FF miles. Sometimes you are better off saving the money and not earning miles as the extra cost is not effective.

Thanks number_6 ....

Your right. The last 3 times I flew from LAX to MNL I earned 15,918 miles on each round trip. Those tickets were bought from the consolidator the same way the last ticket was purchased ... except they included that United Airlines PHK-LAX round trip on the ticket so I didn't have to mess with Southwest. I guess somehow that changed everything. In fact my last trip that I got the mileage credits on was last Nov, so it was not that long ago.

Anyway, this is not going to happen again ... And if I can't get mileage at a cheap price like before on CX.... I will just get one of those cheap Asiana flights they advertise to Manila via Inchon.

BTW ... I am very happy that CX upgraded my Economy seat flight on the leg from HKG to LAX to Business Class on that last flight .... even though I didn't get any mileage, it made for a real nice 14 hour flight! And the round trip LAX-HGK-MNL Cathay ticket only cost me $723 total ... taxes, fees and all.

Ron,

most consolidator fares do not earn FF miles, though it does vary by fare and airline.

Not sure if "most" is the appropriate word here. Many Flyertalkers have received FF miles on consolidator fares.

Not sure if "most" is the appropriate word here. Many Flyertalkers have received FF miles on consolidator fares.And they are cherry-picking the consolidator fares (maybe not even caring about the destination if they are true FTers). Statistics on this are impossible to find, but I'd guess about 1% of all consolidator fares offered world-wide accrue FF mileage. US origin is higher, maybe 5%. Some TAs in the US only carry fares that do offer FF credit (as they know their market).

BTW ... I am very happy that CX upgraded my Economy seat flight on the leg from HKG to LAX to Business Class on that last flight .... even though I didn't get any mileage, it made for a real nice 14 hour flight! And the round trip LAX-HGK-MNL Cathay ticket only cost me $723 total ... taxes, fees and all.That is a great price. The value of 16K FF miles (presuming Asiamiles) is between USD 100-200 (Asiamiles are worth more than most plans due to their use as upgrades on BA and CX).

That is a great price. The value of 16K FF miles (presuming Asiamiles) is between USD 100-200 (Asiamiles are worth more than most plans due to their use as upgrades on BA and CX).


I would happily pay USD200 for the unlimited opportunity to acquire 16K Asiamiles. No hard statistics are available, but I suspect that 16K Asiamiles are worth closer to USD250-USD400, and this does not take into consideration the ability to fly TransAtlantic BA Club World from the East Coast USA for only 60K miles (or First for 90K miles).

I would happily pay USD200 for the unlimited opportunity to acquire 16K Asiamiles. You can...CX has lots of fares where an extra USD 200 gets you 16K Asiamiles. Of course you have to make the flight and pay the base fare. I suppose this is the essence of the FF dilemna, and why FF plans are primarily a marketing tool for the airlines' benefit.

I had flown CX on an S class ticket in Dec 2003 from BKK-SYD-BKK and tried to credit it to Asia Miles, no credit then nor was I able to get credit for AA. Needless to say I was pretty mad as I wanted to take SQ or TG but all the return flights to Bkk were full. It sucks as you win some you loose some.
-UFFA

It is NOT the fault of CX that you didn't get your points. YOur Travel Agent booked a S Class ticket so you get no miles. Despite you paid the same price as your previous ticket. It is your TA who ripped you off not CX. So next time please make sure you check ur ticket class before buying (if miles is important to you).

Also FYI most CX CSO speaks perfect english.


I think the travel agent gets more commission with a S class ticket.