Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Questions regarding online ticket purchase

I am attempting to price out some ticket options on CathayPacific.com. I have never purchased tickets through their website before, so I have some questions.

1) What is the best way to purchase an infant ticket (infant on lap)? The website says to simply call the EService Center in HKG for more details. I have them a call and a customer service representative said that I should purchase the adult fare on the website and then go to the airport to purchase the infant fare.

2) For the dates and routes I am looking at, the fares basis codes I get are H/K outbound and K/M inbound. Since only Y or H economy fares are eligible for AA AAdvantage accural, how can I price the H economy fare?

3) I noticed that these K/M fares are available through their website, Expedia, and Travelocity. These are listed as special fares and are not listed in Expert Flyer, ITAsoftware, or Orbitz, nor are they available through their phone reservations. However there is an H fare is listed on these sites. Let's call this a normal H fare. Is there a special H fare that I may be able to find on Cathay's website which will be cheaper than the normal H fare?

4) With all these special needs (H fare, infant ticket), would it be more advantageous for us to book through a some travel agent instead?

1) That's right, infant tickets are paper tix and therefore can't be bought online. You buy the adult ticket, call the e-service hotline and ask them to add the details of the child to your booking, that would allow you to get a seat with a bassinet (if you want one). You then buy the ticket at the airport, at 10% of the FULL adult fare, which can be a lot higher than you think!


4) Definitely! The CX site is not hi tech enough to handle your need on this occasion. Better off calling their booking office on 2747 1577.

1. If the infant is big and if you are traveling long haul, you may want to consider buying him/her a child's ticket. We did that once years ago on business class (UA though). We would rather get four seats in economy than two seats in business. Our kids were actually already behaving very well already.

1/2/3/4. Call a travel agent (shop around first). If you are to buy H fare, you may be able to buy at a price much lower than the published one. You can also arrange your infant ticket through them.

Thank you for your responses. I will search for a travel agent to inquire about my intended booking.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good CX travel agent in the San Francisco Bay Area? I am open to all recommendations, but would prefer someone close to the South Bay where I am now.

I'm planning an open jaw trip ORD-KUL and DPS-ORD for February and the pricing on the CX website was good but it was showing as a K going out and an H coming back. I need an H to get 70% mileage credit to my JAL account, K only gets me 50%. So I just called them up and they gave me a complete H fare which cost a bit more but it was still very good, certainly much better than JAL. That and the much better scheduling make it a no brainer. :p