Was this publicly announced and I missed it or did CX quietly change the T&C again?
Previously, MPC elite can do ASR for travel companion as long as all are on the same plane. However today my seating for 7 family members + me were messed up, and the 3888 agent told me
"since last November we can only do ASR for passengers in the same booking as per T&C"
and then I found that the T&C now reads:
2. Advanced Seat Reservation for Silver, Gold and Diamond members
- Subject to availability and applicable to paid tickets only, except Group fares.
- Member’s companion can also enjoy this benefit when travelling with the member in the same booking.
...
I questioned the agent does this mean I need to go to "rob" 8 seats with others at T-48 hours though OLCI, he said no but then refused to help me to get my previously allocated seats back... I also asked the agent why suddenly enforce such T&C despite that my companions were being allocated a seat already, then he said he need to ask about both issue, and then hanged up my phone.....
1. Is this change well known or just I was too busy recently and not aware of this change?
1a. Even if such change was in effect last November, I was still able to do ASR for my companion on different bookings as recent as last month... Amid just one companion not 7 in this case.... Anyone also have such experienced recently?
2. I question the agent if he can help me to do a booking with mixed fare (X and Q), mixed itin (we will leave at different time) and have 8 people in one booking, I am willing to do so, but they can't of course... So basically this benefit, like Guaranteed J booking subject to availability, is point-less now... Over 3/4 of my travel with companion are under separate booking... Could be due to different fare classes, different travel schedule etc....
What's the point of restricting such "benefit" at all? Do they really think I'll pay for seat selection if I can't get ASR for my companion? Honestly I'll simply move my flights to other carriers instead....