Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - When You Book An Upgrade On The Cathay Site, Does That Guarantee The Upgrade?

I'm a little worried, because I find the whole Cathay process confusing, so I thought I'd ask the experts here.

I have booked and paid for an upgradeable economy ticket on Cathay. I also have gone to the Cathay site and, through Asia Miles, booked an upgrade to Business class using my Asia Miles. The Cathay reservation for the flight, on that site, now has me listed as U class, and says confirmed. My reservation also says that the ticket needs to be issued by January 25.

Does that mean that, as long as I have the Asia Miles in my account to upgrade, and I call them to do so, the upgrade is guaranteed? Or can they reject it because there were not enough U class seats available as of January 25?

The reason I ask is because I am also traveling with my girlfriend, whom I have booked in C via American miles, and her ticket needs to be purchased by Tuesday. I can pay $480 to buy the Asia Miles to upgrade my ticket and can book by today, or I can wait until January 20, when I will have enough miles in my account via Starwood transfer without paying anything. But I don't want to book her ticket unless I know I can confirm mine.

Does anyone know the answer? The Cathay folks can't speak English well enough to understand my question.

There were some changes in the way Asia Miles operate since last October. In the past, I had until 4 days prior to departure to ticket an upgrade, but I found that CX is asking passengers to ticket upgrade early these days.

If your reservation says 25 January, I suggest you ticket by 23 January the latest. If the seat is confirmed, you are OK. (Saying that, there is always a chance that you may lose a J seat, upgrade or not, due to downgrading if J is oversold.) I personally would spend $480 to avoid any unforeseen issues.

Notes:
* Are you sure you will have the miles in your account by 20 January? Nobody seems to be certain about the time required for such a transfer.
* You need to have a Y, B, H or K fare ticket issued when you ticket your upgrade.

Thanks, per your preference, I just paid the money to avoid the stress.

If you have a confirmed upgrade seat, it will be held for you until the ticketing date as per the website. I have never had a confirmed upgrade cancelled on me. This is one of the benefits of the Asia Miles program compared to other programs in that you can make a upgrade request, and you get some time to have it ticketed.

I've never had a problem with the English of the Marco Polo club staff. It could be that your question was termed in such a way that they couldn't understand it ie since you were asking about automatic cancellation of a confirmed upgrade and this is a foreign concept at CX, they may not have understood what you were asking.

Someone who doesn't understand the word "confirmed" complaining about someone else's English is a bit rich in my opinion.

Someone who doesn't understand the word "confirmed" complaining about someone else's English is a bit rich in my opinion.

When it says "confirmed" on the website, and then when I try to actually ticket it, the agent says, "I cannot confirm for you," and then I am told that the upgrade is not available via the phone, yet I can book it online. . . . If you think it's rich to be confused in that situation, well, that's your choice.

So can you see the upgrade booking on your itineraries when you log into the CX website? If so, when you rang to issue the ticket what did you say?

Normally you say, "I would like to issue my upgrade award, and here is the booking reference of the upgrade award, and here is the ticket number/booking reference of my economy ticket."

So can you see the upgrade booking on your itineraries when you log into the CX website? If so, when you rang to issue the ticket what did you say?

Normally you say, "I would like to issue my upgrade award, and here is the booking reference of the upgrade award, and here is the ticket number/booking reference of my economy ticket."

That's pretty much what I said.

Award availability on CX.com isn't accurate. This may be the reason that the CSO cannot issue the upgrade for you.

Award availability on CX.com isn't accurate. This may be the reason that the CSO cannot issue the upgrade for you.

Normally if there's a problem with online availability it won't allow you to complete the online transaction. If it completes, and it shows confirmed in your itineraries there shouldn't be a problem.

I believe OP is an AM member, not a MPC member. I would normally call MPC to handle awards, but AM members may have less access. My wife could not see her booking when she was an AM member, but she could see it immediately after she joined MPC.

I believe OP is an AM member, not a MPC member.

That is correct. I have not joined the Marco Polo Club. In any event, I did purchase the miles and ask to have the ticket issued just yesterday. The agent said that he sent the ticket to "ticketing" to confirm the upgrade. But as of now, there is no change in status, no confirmation of the booking (other than the "confirmed" U status on the Cathay page, which has been showing for two weeks now), and no charge has yet shown up on my credit card for the miles I purchased yesterday. But I'm a bit more comfortable now that I've done everything I am supposed to do from my side to have the ticket issued.

Award availability on CX.com isn't accurate. This may be the reason that the CSO cannot issue the upgrade for you.

I've seen that statement on this board a lot. That is one of the things that concerns me when I booked the upgrade and the status of my ticket said that it was "confirmed" in business, but then the agent said that she could not "confirm" me, and would not let me purchase the additional miles two weeks ago, after I had booked and confirmed the upgrade online.

So, I purchased three days ago, at which point they said that they were sending it for confirmation of the upgrade and ticketing. As of now, there is no charge to my credit card for the additional miles, no deduction of miles from my Asiamiles account, no change in status on the Cathay site, and no email confirming the upgraded ticket number.

Should I be concerned, or does it normally just take this long? I still have 15 days before it absolutely must be ticketed.

Is there some way to find a ticket number on the Cathay site or otherwise?

When I have ticketed an award it has taken 7 days sometimes in the past if the departure date is not soon. If the departure is imminent then ticketing will occur faster.

You can normally tell that it has been ticketed once your Y-class reservation dissappears from your online itineraries.

Additionally, if when requesting ticketing the person didn't say there would be any problems, you are very unlikely to get any problems.

My upgrade booking took 20 days for CX to deduct the miles.

AMs can (now) check their booking. I've done it for my mum and my gf. cx.com-> left side of the menu--> look for manage my booking.
That is the only way to access AFAIK. dont input AM number on the homepage, it wont work.

So, I purchased three days ago, at which point they said that they were sending it for confirmation of the upgrade and ticketing. As of now, there is no charge to my credit card for the additional miles, no deduction of miles from my Asiamiles account, no change in status on the Cathay site, and no email confirming the upgraded ticket number.

Should I be concerned, or does it normally just take this long? I still have 15 days before it absolutely must be ticketed.

Is there some way to find a ticket number on the Cathay site or otherwise?

Don't worry. They have to issue awards for flights that are departing much ealier than yours. CX usually issues awards two days before departure (at least IME).

You can normally tell that it has been ticketed once your Y-class reservation dissappears from your online itineraries.

My Y class reservation disappeared from my online itineraries before they ticketed me, when they told me that they could not confirm me.

There were some changes in the way Asia Miles operate since last October. In the past, I had until 4 days prior to departure to ticket an upgrade, but I found that CX is asking passengers to ticket upgrade early these days.

If your reservation says 25 January, I suggest you ticket by 23 January the latest. If the seat is confirmed, you are OK. (Saying that, there is always a chance that you may lose a J seat, upgrade or not, due to downgrading if J is oversold.) I personally would spend $480 to avoid any unforeseen issues.

Can you please explain what this $480 does in relation to the CX upgrade process? Thanks.

Can you please explain what this $480 does in relation to the CX upgrade process? Thanks.

OP needs additional miles - from SPG transfer or top-up - to ticket. He is concerned about losing his reservation if he wait for the SPG transfer. While that is not likely, there is still a potential risk. There is some rule changes since October (in addition to more miles needed) that I am not sure about. The other option is top-up, but that would cost US$480 for him to buy Asia Miles.

so in the end, what are you supposed to have? I have a OW ug from an H class ticket, that I did a month ago. I just called again, and they said they'd send me an email - I got an eticket in the email, showing business (interestingly, 'coupon status: open for use') with my credit card and original fare. No mention of the upgraded, other than the "Business-U Confirmed". Am I done? Do I need to wait for something to arrive in the mail (that's what they originally had been telling me)? Or do I just show up at the airport and I'm good to go?

Thanks!

so in the end, what are you supposed to have? I have a OW ug from an H class ticket, that I did a month ago. I just called again, and they said they'd send me an email - I got an eticket in the email, showing business (interestingly, 'coupon status: open for use') with my credit card and original fare. No mention of the upgraded, other than the "Business-U Confirmed". Am I done? Do I need to wait for something to arrive in the mail (that's what they originally had been telling me)? Or do I just show up at the airport and I'm good to go?

Thanks!

Yes you are good to go. They aren't supposed to do anything except to cancel your existing Y reservation. What are you worried about? :confused:

so in the end, what are you supposed to have? I have a OW ug from an H class ticket, that I did a month ago. I just called again, and they said they'd send me an email - I got an eticket in the email, showing business (interestingly, 'coupon status: open for use') with my credit card and original fare. No mention of the upgraded, other than the "Business-U Confirmed". Am I done? Do I need to wait for something to arrive in the mail (that's what they originally had been telling me)? Or do I just show up at the airport and I'm good to go?

Thanks!

kchika is right. You are all set. The email is the e-ticket receipt. You should be able to find the ticket number under CX's 160 stock on it. It says "Business-U Confirmed" as all awards to business class are under the U booking class. You can print out a copy and carry with you just in case. (I "lost" one segment out of eight on an e-ticket last July half-way through my trip. I had to call MPC to reinstate it. Having a printout is not necessary but will help.)

BTW, Asia Miles might have said they will send your ticket via mail, but you should have talked with an agent already. He/She should have told you that they would only be sending out the e-ticket via email.

My Y class reservation disappeared from my online itineraries before they ticketed me, when they told me that they could not confirm me.

there must be a real mix up in communication here or a difference of terminology. Your experience is different to any I've had or anyone else on this board so it makes me think between yourself and Asia miles there is a misunderstanding.

Well, I'm much less concerned now. My Asia miles balance is now down to zero, and there is an indication on the Asiamiles site that the additional miles were purchased (although I have not yet seen the charge to my credit card). Interesting thing is that the site says that the upgrade was to my first flight, but does not mention the return. Also, on the day they appear to have processed the upgrade, I got an email from Marco Polo Club confirming my economy class reservation. Still, they do indicate that 70,000 miles was used, and the Cathay site does still list the booking as confirmed in U class, so I figure that I'm fine at this point.