Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Getting flight 24 hours early HKG-JFK standby?

Hey all -

I am on CX840 on 30/4. I'd like to be on it on 29/4. I am most certainly trying to avoid paying the change fee and difference in fare.

Any chance of showing up on the 29th and getting on the flight? Can any one look at the load and let me know how heavy it is?

Or is this just impossible on CX? What about just switching to the earlier flight on the 30th?

FWIW, my ticket is on AA stock.

David

Hey all -

I am on CX840 on 30/4. I'd like to be on it on 29/4. I am most certainly trying to avoid paying the change fee and difference in fare.

Any chance of showing up on the 29th and getting on the flight? Can any one look at the load and let me know how heavy it is?

Or is this just impossible on CX? What about just switching to the earlier flight on the 30th?

FWIW, my ticket is on AA stock.

David

What class of service? Paid/reward? Are you elite on anyone?

A lot of factors - the booking class, the first segment of the ticket, codeshare... The best is to ask your TA or AA as they know the restrictions on the ticket.

......I am on CX840 on 30/4. I'd like to be on it on 29/4. I am most certainly trying to avoid paying the change fee and difference in fare....

Sounds like it is a paid, restricted ticket. CX will charge you the appropriate change fee per your fare rules. There is no free standby on CX:(, except perhaps same day HKG-TPE where there are hourly flights.

Sounds like it is a paid, restricted ticket. CX will charge you the appropriate change fee per your fare rules.

OP said the ticket is on AA Stock, so would CX be able to do anything or would he have to go through AA's Hong Kong office?

Sounds like it is a paid, restricted ticket. CX will charge you the appropriate change fee per your fare rules. There is no free standby on CX:(, except perhaps same day HKG-TPE where there are hourly flights.

Hard to say if change fee will do. I saw a family (in HKG) who wanted to change to J by paying the difference, but CX check-in staff was not able to figure out what their original fare was because the tickets were on AA stock.

Hard to say if change fee will do. I saw a family (in HKG) who wanted to change to J by paying the difference, but CX check-in staff was not able to figure out what their original fare was because the tickets were on AA stock.

When I inquired about this (upgrade from Y to J) on my outbound, at JFK, the agent was able to quote me a price (2200 o/w).

Sounds like I'm out of luck with my restricted economy ticket and no status on CX. Since I arrive from HKT on Tuesday night anyways, I'll trod over to the counter and see if they cna at least get me on the earlier flight Wednesday.

I'll report back...

David

When I inquired about this (upgrade from Y to J) on my outbound, at JFK, the agent was able to quote me a price (2200 o/w).

Sounds like I'm out of luck with my restricted economy ticket and no status on CX. Since I arrive from HKT on Tuesday night anyways, I'll trod over to the counter and see if they cna at least get me on the earlier flight Wednesday.

I'll report back...

David

Don't give up yet. I buy restricted economy tickets (on CX stock and not promotional fares) all the time. I can change my flights except the first segment, as long as I fly the other segments in sequence. I have to pay extra if I change the return long haul from weekday to weekend. While I am not sure about your case, but as this is not your first segment, you may still be able to change.

Being able to change the day/flights is dependent on your ticket but not your status. Whether or not you can get a seat on an almost full flight will depend on your status (OW status is good - not necessarily CX status).

Best of luck! I hope you can fly on the day of your choice.

Being able to change the day/flights is dependent on your ticket but not your status. Whether or not you can get a seat on an almost full flight will depend on your status (OW status is good - not necessarily CX status).

Yes.
But, I had an odd experience.
I had an non-refundable non-changeable NRT-HKG-NRT ticket.
I went to HKG airport 4 hours in advance.
At the first class chekin couner, an agent asked me whether I wanted to change to an earlier flight to NRT.
I refused.
I thought my original flight was oversold, but there were some empty seats in the cabin.
Maybe, CX overly arranged passegners from the later flight to the earlier flight due to oversold, or simply the checkin agent did not realise my ticket restriction.

When arriving early at the airport, and given that there is another flight going to the same destination earlier than my original flight, check in agents almost always offer me the choice of the earlier flight, even if I'm on a heavily restricted ticket. This happens especially if I travel in a premium cabin.

It is to an airline's advantage to offer a passenger same-day standby on an earlier flight provided that offering the standby flight costs them nothing. This means when the earlier flight is (obviously) not full or nearly full, the potential standby passenger has checked in early enough and is willing to go on the earlier flight, and there are no irregular operations like bad weather or a swamped check-in counter. The benefits that could be gained for the airline are that they deal with a passenger that they would have had to deal with anyway (and they know the passenger has actually shown up) and it frees up a seat on the later, original flight, which might be sold or given to another passenger who might have otherwise had to have been bumped. For the passenger, he/she gets to the destination a little earlier. None of these are bad things, and when the airline can bend the rules at its discretion for the mutual benefit of both airline and passenger, then why wouldn't they?

One-day-earlier standby is an entirely different animal -- because it involves potential fare differences, change fees, and fare recalculations, it's more hassle than it is worth to offer free of charge (I'm referring to restricted tickets that don't allow for changes without a fee). That's why they have the change fees in the first place -- it is to be a disincentive to people to change plans and to give the airline more certainty about what their passenger loads are going to be.

As promised, I'm reporting back.

After clearing immigration at HKG (barely - they took me to the back room and had me wait about 15 minutes while they randomly checked my passport), I went to the CX ticket counter around 5:45 (for the 6:40pm flight).

Was told to come back at 6pm, and that it didn't look good. Came back at 6pm, and was handed a boarding pass for the flight. Flew back on what looked to be a completely full flight (at least in Y).

So, you can do a 24 hour early standby with no fee, even on a restricted ticket (AA wanted like $400 to actually change the ticket).

Of course, YMMV.

David