Just got back from my return leg of HKG-YYZ-HKG on CX 829 booked on V fare as GO, which departed at 1:45AM of my actual birthday.
Few observations:
- Both Y and PEY departed 100% fully seated (there was a huge tour group from China (at least 50+ ppl)
- Several seats in J were empty
- No mention of birthday at all at check-in or anyone else
- Was upgraded to PEY
- There was some back and forth between my check-in counter agent and a more senior person. They gave me the original Y BP even though I can see 30H on my mobile app shortly after. I was paged to gate to get new BP during boarding.
- The guy who was initially in 30H got upgraded to J
- I received a greeting a bottle of Naya water
Some conjecture:
- I did not get a birthday upgrade but rather op-up due to GO status and oversold Y cabin
Question:
Are outport birthday upgrades less reliable than departing from HKG?
Is there anything in the system that alerts the check-in agent of a birthday or do they need to notice it on my travel document, etc?