Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Traveling On Biz JFK-HKG. Have some questions.

Hello all, this is my first post. I am traveling on a business class fare from JFK to HKG.

It will be my first time in CX Biz. Very excited about this. Traveled LGA-ORG-HKG the other times on Biz and Uniteds offering was horrible at the time. I think they are still on the old 744 equipment .

My friend is flying with me in Economy. Two questions for you gurus.

1. Can he accompany me to any of the lounges? Probably not but thought I would ask for any tips, etc.

2. While in flight can he come and sit with me at all for a little bit to discuss some of the items while we are in HK? Or is this strictly prohibited? I assume no as well but again thought I would ask. :)

Thanks very much everyone .

My friend is flying with me in Economy. Two questions for you gurus.

1. Can he accompany me to any of the lounges? Probably not but thought I would ask for any tips, etc.

2. While in flight can he come and sit with me at all for a little bit to discuss some of the items while we are in HK? Or is this strictly prohibited? I assume no as well but again thought I would ask. :)

Thanks very much everyone .

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Sorry, quick answers to your questions are No & No.

1. You can invite an Economy guest to lounge only when you are a CX freq. flyer elite, ie. Marco Polo Gold or above. Or you are an elite member of other One World member airlines.

2. You cannot invite a Economy passenger to sit with you for a while in Biz Class. Also, there is no place for him to sit! The aircraft you will be on is 777-300ER, it is the new herringbone design with individual "pod"ish seats. One can not talk to the other conveninently. So you would have to visit your friend and sit with in Y.:(

I figured they were stupid questions but thought to ask. Thanks again.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Sorry, quick answers to your questions are No & No.

1. You can invite an Economy guest to lounge only when you are a CX freq. flyer elite, ie. Marco Polo Gold or above. Or you are an elite member of other One World member airlines.

2. You cannot invite a Economy passenger to sit with you for a while in Biz Class. Also, there is no place for him to sit! The aircraft you will be on is 777-300ER, it is the new herringbone design with individual "pod"ish seats. One can not talk to the other conveninently. So you would have to visit your friend and sit with in Y.:(


Sit in Y (that is assuming there are open seats) ?]

Stand with him in Y would be better... :eek:

Welcome to FT!

There is a sticky FAQ thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cathay-pacific-asia-miles/919353-cx-faq-complete-cx-experience.html) related to the CX experience you may expect. A lot of the information should be useful for you.

Enjoy your CX flight, and do come back and tell us how you think about the new J! Cheers. :cool:

Great read on that sticky. Lots of great information.

Regarding lounge access, if you check in together, it is possible they will allow your friend to come to the lounge with you if you ask nicely. You are technically not allowed this so if they say no, then you can't argue.

They are more likely to allow this when checking in at HKG, than at JFK.

Thank you. However I can't see how we would be checking in together as he is just a friend traveling in a different class and not a family member.

Thank you. However I can't see how we would be checking in together as he is just a friend traveling in a different class and not a family member.

If you are going to travel to the airport together, just walk up to the J class counter together. They will check both of you in together. I think even at JFK, even though operated by BA, they will just check you in, but again...because it's BA, it could be unpredictable.

At HKG, you should have no problems.

I will try that for sure. I really appreciate you taking the time to post your tips and answers. Thank you sir!:)

....2. You cannot invite a Economy passenger to sit with you for a while in Biz Class. Also, there is no place for him to sit! The aircraft you will be on is 777-300ER, it is the new herringbone design with individual "pod"ish seats. One can not talk to the other conveninently. So you would have to visit your friend and sit with in Y.:(...

practically, this is right, however, where is it written or is it one of those unwritten things?

Hello all, this is my first post. I am traveling on a business class fare from JFK to HKG.

It will be my first time in CX Biz. Very excited about this. Traveled LGA-ORG-HKG the other times on Biz and Uniteds offering was horrible at the time. I think they are still on the old 744 equipment .

My friend is flying with me in Economy. Two questions for you gurus.

1. Can he accompany me to any of the lounges? Probably not but thought I would ask for any tips, etc.

2. While in flight can he come and sit with me at all for a little bit to discuss some of the items while we are in HK? Or is this strictly prohibited? I assume no as well but again thought I would ask. :)

Thanks very much everyone .

Wow, this is exactly what happened to me once when my wife and I were traveling, and I was upgraded and she wasn't (back then she was only Asian Miles, not even MPC Green, because she has elite status with Northwest and she doesn't want to change, LOL, taught her a lesson.)

Being the gentleman that I am, I gave up my seat for her and I sat on her seat in economics. Anyway, to answer your questions.

1) JFK - yes, have your friend and you check-in together in the Business Class check-in (British Airways), the agent gives you a lounge invitation that will say +1 on it. However, on the return trip there will be NO +1 in HKG lounges and you have to use 10,000 miles if you want your friend to join you. (happened to my wife, I had to use miles to get her in the lounge in HKG on the return trip)

2) No, the FA will resist any Economic passengers from going into Business Class, even if it's just for a quick chat. Business class passengers, however, are free to go back to Economic class and chat it up. I was told to go back to Economic twice and the second time the Flight Attendant got a little annoyed and upset at me (can't blame her I guess, she's following procedure), so my wife came back and talked to me.

Anyway, hope this helps

If you are going to travel to the airport together, just walk up to the J class counter together. They will check both of you in together. I think even at JFK, even though operated by BA, they will just check you in, but again...because it's BA, it could be unpredictable.

At HKG, you should have no problems.

Hmmm... second time I read this. This is completely the opposite to my numerous experiences traveling with friends, relatives, and collegues. The BA lounge seems to be very accommodating. The HKG lounge are very strict (see my previous post)

....
(can't blame her I guess, she's following procedure), so my wife came back and talked to me.

what procedure? is it ad hoc...that is why i really would like to see something on this...i see people from Y visit others in J...do not see any issue unless they start sharing food etc....and booze...:)

what procedure? is it ad hoc...that is why i really would like to see something on this...i see people from Y visit others in J...do not see any issue unless they start sharing food etc....and booze...:)

No, they are not supposed to, especially on flights to/from US. J passengers can walk back to Y and bring food and snacks, but Y passengers are not supposed to go to the front. Having said that, it is not easy to enforce.

Great read on that sticky. Lots of great information.

why doesnt anyone take a blind bit of notice of the sticky ???? maybe time we put a big notice up saying saying dont post on hear until you have done a search as the chances are you asking a question that start "first time XXXXX" and it the same question that has been asked a trillion times in the last week

1) JFK - yes, have your friend and you check-in together in the Business Class check-in (British Airways), the agent gives you a lounge invitation that will say +1 on it. However, on the return trip there will be NO +1 in HKG lounges and you have to use 10,000 miles if you want your friend to join you. (happened to my wife, I had to use miles to get her in the lounge in HKG on the return trip)

In my recollection (I did not keep my lounge invitations), invitations printed from CX's OWN check-in counters never show +1 or +2. In HKG, the lounge agents can tell from the status and COS whether the passenger can have guests. So if you become CX GOLD, in HKG, the invitation will show your status and COS without the +1, but your wife can be admitted based on your status.

No, they are not supposed to, especially on flights to/from US. J passengers can walk back to Y and bring food and snacks, but Y passengers are not supposed to go to the front. Having said that, it is not easy to enforce.

according to what? i mean in the US case, there is perhaps some rules on the same but if the US is not involved, i really would like to understand where this rule comes from....

according to what? i mean in the US case, there is perhaps some rules on the same but if the US is not involved, i really would like to understand where this rule comes from....

Unfortunately, cxcabincrew is not posting anymore. Otherwise he may give us some information on CX's own policy. If a FA invites a Y passenger back to the Y cabin, there is really nothing to protest. After all, he/she is only entitled to Y.

Unfortunately, cxcabincrew is not posting anymore. Otherwise he may give us some information on CX's own policy. If a FA invites a Y passenger back to the Y cabin, there is really nothing to protest. After all, he/she is only entitled to Y.
i guess that is right, i just like to see some official position on the same...i wonder where cxcabincrew went?

In my recollection (I did not keep my lounge invitations), invitations printed from CX's OWN check-in counters never show +1 or +2. In HKG, the lounge agents can tell from the status and COS whether the passenger can have guests. So if you become CX GOLD, in HKG, the invitation will show your status and COS without the +1, but your wife can be admitted based on your status.

At JFK when they give loungers it's British Airway lounge, and they print out British Airway lounger invitations, and that has +1 (or +2) on them. When I travelled with two collegues with me the agent has no problem printing out +2. When I then ask him if they can also enjoy the lounge with me on the return trip the agent told me to ask the HKG lounge crew.

Tried it a few times, not once was I allowed to take one guest let alone two. Like you say if you don't have GOLD you are expected to folk up miles, but JFK grounds crew has no problem letting in a Silver with guests.

I was thinking about this a bit more...at JFK, it's BA staff doing check-in, giving extra CX pax access to the BA lounge. I think CX needs to pay for the use of BA lounge by its pax, right ? since it said officially on the lounge invites, BA can charge extra when they charge CX for the lounge usage payment ? or was it usually just a flat fee instead of per-person ?

just playing devil's advocate here, whether there's an incentive of BA doing it, since I thought in general BA isn't that generous themselves regarding lounge access usually...

In my recollection (I did not keep my lounge invitations), invitations printed from CX's OWN check-in counters never show +1 or +2.

IME, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Will try it out and see what happens. The worst that can happen is they say no.