Oct 29, 2013, 4:27 am
Last edit by: ZZ100
Is it possible to buy a (cheap) upgrade on Cathay Pacific upon check-in?
The short answer is no.
Cathay, as a general rule, does not allow you to purchase last minute upgrades if there are empty seats in Y+, J or F. The only way to upgrade a ticket is to pay the fare difference between your current ticket, and an available fare class in the higher cabins. Note that if your current ticket has restrictions (cancellation fees, non-refundable) these still apply.
There are been stories of people who have been offered cheap upgrades by Cathay, but this is more an exception than a common occurrence.
If I upgrade my ticket using asia miles, do I still earn miles?
Yes, you will earn miles for the original fare class that you booked, not the upgraded cabin.
How do I get a free upgrade / operational upgrade (op-up)?
Cathay Pacific does not upgrade passengers just because there are empty seats in higher classes. Upgrades will only occur where there is overbooking in lower classes.
The order of upgrades when required is believed to be:
I am travelling on an award ticket. Will I still be considered for a free upgrade?
Yes - there are many stories of passengers on award tickets, or who upgraded a class using miles, getting (additional) upgrades.
What happens if the aircraft has 4 or 3 cabins, but is only selling Business and Economy seats?
It is likely if you have Marco Polo status, and to a lesser extent oneworld status, you may be able to sit in either First Class seats (if booked in J) or Premium Economy (if booked in Y) with service of the original cabin. There doesn't appear to be consistency yet as to how these semi-upgrades are allocated. Some people have been able to choose seats in the higher cabin during online check-in, or some will get them on request at check-in. However, there is no entitlement to these seats.
Will I get an upgrade on my Birthday, or for my membership anniversary, or for reaching xx number of lifetime club miles?
Please see this link for members' experience with these kinds of upgrades: Marco Polo Anniversary Upgrades
I want to use Asia Miles to upgrade a BA flight. How do I do this?
As of 22 June 2018, it is no longer possible to upgrade BA flights with Asia Miles.
How do I upgrade a CX flight using miles?
If you already have issued your original ticket:
If you have not made any booking yet, and you want to check availability:
If you don't receive a new e-ticket before departure, call up Marco Polo club to double check if the upgrade has been issued.
The short answer is no.
Cathay, as a general rule, does not allow you to purchase last minute upgrades if there are empty seats in Y+, J or F. The only way to upgrade a ticket is to pay the fare difference between your current ticket, and an available fare class in the higher cabins. Note that if your current ticket has restrictions (cancellation fees, non-refundable) these still apply.
There are been stories of people who have been offered cheap upgrades by Cathay, but this is more an exception than a common occurrence.
If I upgrade my ticket using asia miles, do I still earn miles?
Yes, you will earn miles for the original fare class that you booked, not the upgraded cabin.
How do I get a free upgrade / operational upgrade (op-up)?
Cathay Pacific does not upgrade passengers just because there are empty seats in higher classes. Upgrades will only occur where there is overbooking in lower classes.
The order of upgrades when required is believed to be:
- VIP (Heads of State, Government Bodies, or Canto Pop/Movie stars)
- CX Diamond Plus
- CX Diamond Invitation, Diamond
- CX Gold
- CX management staff on travel duty
- oneworld Emerald
- CX staff on duty nominees , other airline staff nominees, CX staff on personal travel
- oneworld Sapphire
- CX Silver
- oneworld Ruby
- CX Green
- Asia Miles
- Non status
I am travelling on an award ticket. Will I still be considered for a free upgrade?
Yes - there are many stories of passengers on award tickets, or who upgraded a class using miles, getting (additional) upgrades.
What happens if the aircraft has 4 or 3 cabins, but is only selling Business and Economy seats?
It is likely if you have Marco Polo status, and to a lesser extent oneworld status, you may be able to sit in either First Class seats (if booked in J) or Premium Economy (if booked in Y) with service of the original cabin. There doesn't appear to be consistency yet as to how these semi-upgrades are allocated. Some people have been able to choose seats in the higher cabin during online check-in, or some will get them on request at check-in. However, there is no entitlement to these seats.
Will I get an upgrade on my Birthday, or for my membership anniversary, or for reaching xx number of lifetime club miles?
Please see this link for members' experience with these kinds of upgrades: Marco Polo Anniversary Upgrades
I want to use Asia Miles to upgrade a BA flight. How do I do this?
As of 22 June 2018, it is no longer possible to upgrade BA flights with Asia Miles.
How do I upgrade a CX flight using miles?
If you already have issued your original ticket:
- Try upgrading using Manage My Booking on the website (not always successful)
- If self-service doesn't work, try calling Marco Polo hotline to check availability
- If there is availability, you will need to issue the upgrade immediately to secure it. They may give you a few days grace before isssuing the upgrade, but this is now rarely given.
- In a few days, or longer if they are busy, your miles will be deducted, and you will be emailed a new e-ticket with the upgrade class details on it, and your online booking for your original booking class will disappear.
If you have not made any booking yet, and you want to check availability:
- Call Marco Polo club to check for availability on the flights/dates you want, or check for normal redemption availability on the website.
- Book a revenue ticket in the class of service for which you will be paying. Do NOT do this via the website -- call a CX telephone sales number/travel agent.
- Put the booking on hold.
- Call the Marco Polo/Asia Miles Service Center. Have them book the upgrade and give you a deadline to have the ticket issued. (It's usually about 72 hours).
- Have telephone sales/travel agent issue your revenue ticket.
- Call Marco Polo/Asia Miles back. Give them the revenue ticket number against the PNR and ask them to issue your upgrade.
- In about two or three days, you'll get a new ticket with the upgrade showing.
If you don't receive a new e-ticket before departure, call up Marco Polo club to double check if the upgrade has been issued.
The Ultimate Upgrade Question thread
May 11, 2015, 1:29 am
#196
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 36
While that is valuable information, i was hoping for information on ways to investigate flight scenarios and the likelihood of upgrade/award seats coming available. CX's website just says "full" and does not give any deeper information like the total number of unsold tickets in each class etc (asuming more unsold tickets=greater chance to buy upgrade). We aren't picky about which US airport we fly into and need a way to make a more educated bet at upgrade availability. We also aren't locked into CX, but it seems like the best bet.
May 11, 2015, 1:40 am
#197
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,795
(I'm waiting for another FTer or two to sort out mine...)
As a poor man's proxy you can go onto CX.com and try buying tickets...see what fare codes the site gives you. Work your way up from one pax to six.
May 11, 2015, 3:20 am
#198
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 36
May 13, 2015, 8:25 am
#200
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 36
So let's say, hypothetically that a person with no status on CX, but a bucket load of miles is wanting to make several redemptions on an SIN-HKG-LAX flight. There is no award availability showing, yet the flights currently show 9's across the board in every ticket class. What are the reasonable chances of four "instant" upgrades clearing wait list vs. two full award redemptions. Is there a specific ticket class to keep an eye on (C,D,J,I)? Also, what is the best resource to make these inquiries, kvs, EF?
May 19, 2015, 6:22 pm
#204
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MPC,CA,MU,AF
Posts: 8,171
If you are ticketed in Y, the chance is you will be in Y. When I book a long-haul J, the connecting short-haul is always J (unless full). It is strange that the connecting flight is in Y while the long haul is in J, unless J is full or there is no J (possible on this segment).
May 19, 2015, 8:31 pm
#205
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriot Am, MU Pt
Posts: 3,092
If you are ticketed in Y, the chance is you will be in Y. When I book a long-haul J, the connecting short-haul is always J (unless full). It is strange that the connecting flight is in Y while the long haul is in J, unless J is full or there is no J (possible on this segment).
Anyways it is really a very short flight. J isn't even remotely worth it being it's likely double or triple the price if not more.
May 22, 2015, 8:12 am
#206
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Villa Rica
Programs: AA ExP, HHonors Gold
Posts: 21
Sounds like the original ticket was upgraded with an SWU, miles or another instrument on the inbound to HKG, but since HKGCAN is operated by KA, it's not upgradeable?
Anyways it is really a very short flight. J isn't even remotely worth it being it's likely double or triple the price if not more.
Anyways it is really a very short flight. J isn't even remotely worth it being it's likely double or triple the price if not more.
May 28, 2015, 1:02 am
#207
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX, UA, Shangri-La, Hyatt, Starwood
Posts: 7,708
I paid the fare difference to upgrade to J as the fare dropped in price substantially since the ticket was first booked. It was cheaper to pay the price difference than it was to upgrade with miles and cash (let alone the savings of 50k miles and earning potential of bonus miles/points).
However, if by 'swing' you mean score a cheapo or complimentary upgrade, you can forget about it. This isn't AA. The fact you are inbound on AA in J is irrelevant to your odds of getting a freebie upgrade. As a general rule, CX/KA upgrade almost only in an oversold situation, and they put their DM and GO members ahead of OWE, which means it's very difficult (albeit, not impossible) to score an op-up as a partner OWE flying CX or KA. It is irrelevant if J is wide open, if economy isn't oversold CX/KA won't even give a freebie upgrade to their own elites, let alone others traveling through. In general, if you want J you pay up.
Neither do CX/KA play the let's-make-a-deal game in HK (as it sounds like AA did for your J ticket) to auction off the remaining J seats on the CAN sector at discount prices cheaper than any existing fare classes. If J doesn't go out full, that's fine by them. There are rare instances of this happening (usually at outports trying to score ancillary revenue points with home base) - but it is so unlikely that we just say it's impossible.
Last edited by QRC3288; May 28, 2015 at 1:08 am
May 28, 2015, 9:25 am
#208
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MPC,CA,MU,AF
Posts: 8,171
to answer your original question, you definitely can get an upgrade to CAN in J, provided you are willing to pay the fare difference, unless you are traveling on a really complicated ticket issued on AA stock or something (because they'll have to separately price the HKG-CAN sector). I still think that should be possible but you'll need to have time for them to calculate it. If you bought the KA ticket separately it should be very easy (5-10 mins max at the transfer desk) to do. You can pay right there.
May 28, 2015, 7:00 pm
#209
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 19
CX Asia Miles upgrade from R to J
Am trying to use Asia Miles to upgrade from Prem Econ (R) to Business. Have booked the R fare class ticket but still left hanging in suspense. Asia Miles has put my ticket on hold and waitlisted the upgrade request. Travel is in Sep/Oct 2015 to SFO-India-SFO. I booked my ticket in R class paying prem econ fare for the entire trip, even though CX will not offer prem econ on India flights from Oct.
1. Cathay tells me I need to shell out more miles to upgrade from Y to J for the India segment than what it would required for R to J. Since I am paying R class fare anyway, why should I shell out increased miles to upgrade from Econ to Business? Seems unfair....
2. In general what are the chances of getting R to J upgrade on CX? As travel is few months away and during low season hoping it goes thru.
3. Wondering if chances of getting upgrade on BA would be brighter than CX?
1. Cathay tells me I need to shell out more miles to upgrade from Y to J for the India segment than what it would required for R to J. Since I am paying R class fare anyway, why should I shell out increased miles to upgrade from Econ to Business? Seems unfair....
2. In general what are the chances of getting R to J upgrade on CX? As travel is few months away and during low season hoping it goes thru.
3. Wondering if chances of getting upgrade on BA would be brighter than CX?
May 30, 2015, 12:53 am
#210
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MPC,CA,MU,AF
Posts: 8,171
Am trying to use Asia Miles to upgrade from Prem Econ (R) to Business. Have booked the R fare class ticket but still left hanging in suspense. Asia Miles has put my ticket on hold and waitlisted the upgrade request. Travel is in Sep/Oct 2015 to SFO-India-SFO. I booked my ticket in R class paying prem econ fare for the entire trip, even though CX will not offer prem econ on India flights from Oct.
1. Cathay tells me I need to shell out more miles to upgrade from Y to J for the India segment than what it would required for R to J. Since I am paying R class fare anyway, why should I shell out increased miles to upgrade from Econ to Business? Seems unfair....
2. In general what are the chances of getting R to J upgrade on CX? As travel is few months away and during low season hoping it goes thru.
3. Wondering if chances of getting upgrade on BA would be brighter than CX?
1. Cathay tells me I need to shell out more miles to upgrade from Y to J for the India segment than what it would required for R to J. Since I am paying R class fare anyway, why should I shell out increased miles to upgrade from Econ to Business? Seems unfair....
2. In general what are the chances of getting R to J upgrade on CX? As travel is few months away and during low season hoping it goes thru.
3. Wondering if chances of getting upgrade on BA would be brighter than CX?
3. Do you mean getting upgrade using Avios or Asia Miles on BA? Cross-airlines upgrades (using Asia Miles to upgrade BA flights) are more complicated and inflexible. I tried twice and eventually gave up both times (because I did not have enough time - only a week or so to departure). In regards to Avios on BA, it should be raised in the BA forum.