cathay fare 'calendar' view not available for business class fares?
Nov 18, 2016, 11:36 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: SIN
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 59
cathay fare 'calendar' view not available for business class fares?
For the last few weeks, every time I try to search for a business itinerary on the Cathay site and select the 'Flexible with travel dates" option, I get the message "Fare search by "Flexible with travel dates" is not available for your chosen itinerary." and have to check every day and flight combo manually for a price. Anyone else experiencing this? 
e.g. OSL-HKG RT FEB 1st - 30th
e.g. OSL-HKG RT FEB 1st - 30th
Nov 19, 2016, 12:01 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
Programs: CX Diamond, AA exExPlat, BAEC exGold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Starriott Titanium, GE
Posts: 2,966
either fares have not been loaded, or OSL is a minor outport that doesn't have the calendar table
I'm guessing its the former. But it's pretty late for fares not to be loaded yet. Or maybe a POS issue?
I'm guessing its the former. But it's pretty late for fares not to be loaded yet. Or maybe a POS issue?
Nov 20, 2016, 5:52 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: China
Posts: 1,552
It will be the former I reckon (volume of OSL-HKG J class passengers/ searches doesn't justify having calendar table)
Blame the meta-search engines (Kayak, Google flights etc) They go in and refresh their caches on all available routes very frequently. OK for the airline for (say) MAN-HKG, but for a situation like this (OSL-HKG in business) the costs to the airline probably aren't worth it, so they move some routes to flight/ day search to reduce the load on their system
Blame the meta-search engines (Kayak, Google flights etc) They go in and refresh their caches on all available routes very frequently. OK for the airline for (say) MAN-HKG, but for a situation like this (OSL-HKG in business) the costs to the airline probably aren't worth it, so they move some routes to flight/ day search to reduce the load on their system
Nov 21, 2016, 8:16 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: CX DM, QF PL
Posts: 96
I think that Peasant is correct, this is almost certainly due to so called 'robotic' search behaviour. I work for an aviation tech co and this is a common problem. Removing rarely used ODs from calendar search reduces the impact of robotics.
Nov 21, 2016, 8:52 pm
#6
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MPC,CA,MU,AF
Posts: 8,171
For the last few weeks, every time I try to search for a business itinerary on the Cathay site and select the 'Flexible with travel dates" option, I get the message "Fare search by "Flexible with travel dates" is not available for your chosen itinerary." and have to check every day and flight combo manually for a price. Anyone else experiencing this?
e.g. OSL-HKG RT FEB 1st - 30th
e.g. OSL-HKG RT FEB 1st - 30th
Nov 30, 2016, 1:00 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: SIN
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 59
Sounds like they have removed this itinerary from calendar view for tech reasons .. understandable but frustrating for finding a good fare now
Nov 30, 2016, 2:32 am
#8
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
Have you tried ITA matrix or google flights, they show the same J fares as CX.com would show, although this may not be true for Y or Y+
Nov 30, 2016, 4:22 pm
#9
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: CX DM, SPG GO
Posts: 79
How do people book ex-ARN/OSL tickets given there are no ticketing offices in those countries? London ticketing office was able to price C-class fare for ARN-LHR-HKG outbound and I-class inbound, where ARN-LHR is with British Airways. When I asked for ARN-DOS-HKG, where ARN-DOS is with Air Berlin, they somehow outright refused to price saying since Air Berlin is the first carrier I should contact Air Berlin to price/issue the ticket instead. If that is the case how come they were able to price (and issue) ARN-LHR-HKG tickets? CX doesn't seem to do codeshare on both occassions.
Dec 1, 2016, 1:41 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: OSL
Posts: 2,643
Are the prices on ITA matrix accurate? I was looking at some ex-ARN I class tickets but neither London nor HK ticketing is able to price the tickets in I class.
How do people book ex-ARN/OSL tickets given there are no ticketing offices in those countries? London ticketing office was able to price C-class fare for ARN-LHR-HKG outbound and I-class inbound, where ARN-LHR is with British Airways. When I asked for ARN-DOS-HKG, where ARN-DOS is with Air Berlin, they somehow outright refused to price saying since Air Berlin is the first carrier I should contact Air Berlin to price/issue the ticket instead. If that is the case how come they were able to price (and issue) ARN-LHR-HKG tickets? CX doesn't seem to do codeshare on both occassions.
How do people book ex-ARN/OSL tickets given there are no ticketing offices in those countries? London ticketing office was able to price C-class fare for ARN-LHR-HKG outbound and I-class inbound, where ARN-LHR is with British Airways. When I asked for ARN-DOS-HKG, where ARN-DOS is with Air Berlin, they somehow outright refused to price saying since Air Berlin is the first carrier I should contact Air Berlin to price/issue the ticket instead. If that is the case how come they were able to price (and issue) ARN-LHR-HKG tickets? CX doesn't seem to do codeshare on both occassions.
