Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Does CX offer online lowest-price guarantee?

I am prompted to ask this question following recent experience:

Over a period of three days I was using expertflyer to check sub-class availability for a special fare (mix of O, Q, N, and S class) out of London, to Australia. Using CX's online booking engine in parallel, I was able to confirm these sub-classes were indeed not available for the dates that I wanted. However, higher fares (V, L, M, K and H classes) were available at around double the price. I also called CX London reservation and they story was the same.

In fact, the availability of the lower classes was consistently non-existent over the 4-5 day period I was looking at I eventually gave up trying.
The passengers (I was booking this for family) then called up a local travel agent and it issued them O class tickets at V class prices. I was obviously upset by how stupid they were for buying a non-mileage tix for a mileage price.

My questions:

1) how come the travel agent was able to book O class when CX's own online booking and phone reservation system couldn't? [Pls note: CX does offer this "O" class fare through both its reservation and website and in fact I did find availability on some undesirable dates]

2) I can't find any references but presumably CX doesn't guarantee cheapest fares online?

I am prompted to ask this question following recent experience:

Over a period of three days I was using expertflyer to check sub-class availability for a special fare (mix of O, Q, N, and S class) out of London, to Australia. Using CX's online booking engine in parallel, I was able to confirm these sub-classes were indeed not available for the dates that I wanted. However, higher fares (V, L, M, K and H classes) were available at around double the price. I also called CX London reservation and they story was the same.

In fact, the availability of the lower classes was consistently non-existent over the 4-5 day period I was looking at I eventually gave up trying.
The passengers (I was booking this for family) then called up a local travel agent and it issued them O class tickets at V class prices. I was obviously upset by how stupid they were for buying a non-mileage tix for a mileage price.

My questions:

1) how come the travel agent was able to book O class when CX's own online booking and phone reservation system couldn't? [Pls note: CX does offer this "O" class fare through both its reservation and website and in fact I did find availability on some undesirable dates]

2) I can't find any references but presumably CX doesn't guarantee cheapest fares online?

1) travel agent with good business with CX can certainly call revenue control to open up additional seats. I once have a 0-ed V class flight which when I book via travel agent, I manage to get 9 tix out of it which is not avaliable on CX.com nor CXholiday.com

At the same occasion I manage to squeeze one more people in an already issued group ticket (tix that start with at least 2 people)

Also my friend managed to get a HKG YVR vv tix for 7K when the best available rate online is 10K and seat counter shows 0 seat in that class

2) Ya, they never guarantee that

1) travel agent with good business with CX can certainly call revenue control to open up additional seats. Interesting, it sounds like a travel agent diamond membership!

But the travel company in question is an obscure little agent in suburban London.

1) travel agent with good business with CX can certainly call revenue control to open up additional seats. I once have a 0-ed V class flight which when I book via travel agent, I manage to get 9 tix out of it which is not avaliable on CX.com nor CXholiday.com

At the same occasion I manage to squeeze one more people in an already issued group ticket (tix that start with at least 2 people)

Also my friend managed to get a HKG YVR vv tix for 7K when the best available rate online is 10K and seat counter shows 0 seat in that class

2) Ya, they never guarantee that

So which travel agent has good relationship with CX? I would certainly book via them in which lower class fares were already full.

So which travel agent has good relationship with CX? I would certainly book via them in which lower class fares were already full.

The linkage with the agent also may affect some that they are willing to go a extra mile for me :P We spent like 100K per year with them

The flight concerned is HKG KIX and on group ticket in early April, that may partly contributed to the magic (you know how bad the economy is at that time), the 0-ed V class was later reopen 3 weeks before departure. The agent really complained to me on how troublesome to squeeze someone into a group.

The other flight concerned is HKG YVR vv probably on group tix discount also

1) travel agent with good business with CX can certainly call revenue control to open up additional seats. I once have a 0-ed V class flight which when I book via travel agent, I manage to get 9 tix out of it which is not avaliable on CX.com nor CXholiday.com
My brother's TA office often gets these kind of things when he has a group travel going. Even when SABRE is showing Os, he can get a hold of the CX sales person who provides his office with the contracts to get those seats confirmed. But usually for him to get that worked out it has to be a group travel combined with a tour package and not just the airfare alone.

Ok, since I'm going on a business trip to PVG in late Sept. (and now I can order my own tickets again, hurray!) I have just went on Cathay Pacific online and checked the price. Their V class is $200 more than my travel agent's K class on the same flight with the same time.

So no, I guess CX doesn't offer online lowest-price guarantees.

1) travel agent with good business with CX can certainly call revenue control to open up additional seats.

Yes, I've seen this happen with travel agents in Hong Kong a few times. A couple of years back (when business was good for CX), the flight to Rome was zeroed out in all fare sub-classes for our preferred departure date during the summer peak season. Not sure, but I seem to recall the flight was so full the waiting list had also been closed. Anyway the agent--with whom we did a lot of business--got her GM to take up our case with Cathay, and they forced open two seats for us in one of the economy sub-classes. Not the cheapest (it was K I think)--but we were very happy to get any kind of seats. We were MPC Green at the time, so there was no issue of any kind of seat guarantee.

I've also seen this happen with other airlines, such as Emirates, where a good agent with the right connections can get you instantly confirmed even on flights with a long waiting list.

Also remember that there are point of sales restrictions. I believe EF has a point of sale for the US. Those sub classes may be available in the US, but not in other countries.

I don't know about other markets, but CX NZ website is crab (substitute b with another letter). I always get better prices (and clearer fare conditions) from the travel agents than go to CX's own website.

SQ and EK have pretty accurate pricing and clear information, CX needs to catch up!

Hi KO2546,

I have three comments on your 2 questions.

- SXC post makes a very important point. Fare bucket availability depends on point of sale. What you see on EF might not be available from your issuing country or vice versa.

- In some countries, small TA buy their ticket from big TA organizations.

- In some countries some TAs have questionable practices. They might overcharge you by buying ticket in a "cheaper" fare bucket. I know examples in Thailand where the TA ask for a higher fare and waitlist you in a cheaper bucket which often clears.

Thanks for the info.

Should we be booking tickets through agents like Swire travel who may be able to pull more weight?

2) I can't find any references but presumably CX doesn't guarantee cheapest fares online?[/I]

I can confirm this for cathaypacific.com. A few months back, I was booking HKG-JFK-HKG, found a reasonable V fare "Smart Saver". I then searched priceline.com.hk and found a cheaper (~HK$50). In the end, I booked on CX's own website, not worth the hassle of calling to enter my MPO number etc.